Rail

Posted on June 13, 2019 by benjaminsmall1991

The Yass branch is coded a Class 4 branch, according to the NSWGR Way and Works document I have. In essence, all this means is that the branch is laid in 60lb rail, and renewal is to be done using reclaimed 80lb rail. This, of course, translates to Code 100 and Code 125 rail respectively. As part of the overall ethos about making sure it has ‘the look’, I delved into the various companies that produce these codes and in what materials they offer. Here are, simply, my findings and what I ended up choosing.

Image
NSWGR Standard, S.P. 429A- weight of rails to be used. This drawing is invaluable for those who want to model a particular line prototypically.

I guess the first comment to be made is on PECO and why I chose to avoid it. It is two-fold: firstly, it isn’t to gauge. PECO finescale track is set to 32mm. Because I am modelling to ScaleSeven standards, I cannot use PECO track. ScaleSeven (and true scale 7mm:1ft) equates to a track width of 32.98mm, rounded to 33mm. My locos, wagons and carriages simply won’t run on PECO track. Secondly, even if PECO managed to produce a ready-to-place track that was 33mm, it could only be used in fiddle yard locations. It isn’t even close to NSW prototype. PECO finescale O scale track follows UK practice, in that the rails are chaired and bolted. This is not to say that PECO doesn’t have its place (it most definitely does), but for my purposes, it is not appropriate.

Image
PECO O gauge finescale track, with a piece of Karlgarin Code 125 in the centre for comparison.

With this in mind, my track (rail, sleepers, spikes) must be handlaid. I’ll add a post on the other topics shortly as well. This post is devoted to the rail I chose.

When considering the handlaid track options, there are a few manufacturers of rail that you can use. The largest manufacturer (probably) is Micro Engineering. ME Rail comes in a variety of sizes, as they cater to modellers across scales and gauges. In cross section, it is also quite good, however, there is an issue that I found which resulted in its dismissal. ME rail is rolled in nickel silver and, in spite of this, it tends to have a slightly yellowish tinge. Even when the rail head is highly polished, it still bears this yellow tinge. Again, ‘the look’ is crucial to me, and our rails don’t have a yellow tinge at all. I kept looking…

Enter Gary Spencer-Salt. Proprietor of Model RailRoad Craftsman here in Blacktown, Sydney, Gary is a good friend and an excellent modeller (when he applies himself). Like us all he’s got other hobbies (not to mention owning a shop) and it tends to drag him away from his modelling pursuits. Gary built two large modules on our front verandah for his O scale layout and, in his attempt to get closer to the prototype, he used steel rail from the US. This stuff in cross section is as good as any other, and as it is made from the same material as the real stuff, when polished, it looks exactly right. Spectacular in fact. But, there are some issues. Rust being one. Conductivity is another. Not that hard to overcome, but around the same time, something else came into my possession.

This time, enter another Sydney modelling identity- Keiran Ryan. Keiran had seen Karlgarin rail from the UK. It is high nickel, nickel silver rail rolled to a slightly different profile. Significantly though, the Code 100 option is closer to actual prototype in cross section, with the head formed differently. The photos are more helpful in this instance than my words. I contacted Richard from Karlgarin and ordered some rail. A bit of money and a week or so later, the rail arrived. Brilliant stuff. And when painted and weathered…but that’s for another posting.

Image
Karlgarin Code 100 (on the right) and Code 125 (on the left) showing the rolled profile they use.

Ultimately, I know this is a longer post, but I wanted to make clear a few things. There is an importance in doing research and looking into the options available. Equally, never stop pushing to find the better option. Always seek the best option. I chose Karlgarin rail because of its colour and its profile- both of these things contribute to ‘the look’. And it is ‘the look’ that I am most concerned with. Others may disagree, and that’s totally fine. This is just my take on this.

Happy Modelling!

Ben

Posted in Rail, Track | Leave a comment

My Yass

Posted on June 11, 2019 by benjaminsmall1991

In honour of the sign at the McDonalds at Yass, I thought it would be most appropriate to make this the title of this, the second blog posting on my blog. Sure, it’s been 2 years since I started the blog, but a lot of things have happened in those 2 years. I was teaching in the UK, teaching English to English kids (the irony wasn’t lost on me ever), and pining for home and the modelling I could have been doing, had I been in the right hemisphere.

In actual fact, the whole concept of Yass as a modelling possibility began years before our current date. A good friend of mine, an esteemed modeller, sent some photos to me of a train. Another esteemed modeller had sworn to never build a model of this train, as it was simply too difficult. In fact it was the amount of chopping required to generate the number of window frames that was the main issue. This train was the NSW Commissioner’s Train. The train, photographed at Yass Junction in late 1966, was preparing to visit Yass Town on a tour of inspection. I went on a tangent and, through my skills as a historian and researcher, gleaned during my completion of a BA degree at Macquarie University, I found a plethora of information about the train. In fact, I even found the Commissioner’s notes from the tour, carefully archived and housed in the NSW State Archives facility at Kingswood.

A number of things came together around this time. If I was any good at drawing graphs, I could probably draw a horizontal bar graph that highlights the various moments over the years. But I won’t. Put simply, I became more interested in 7mm modelling than I did of HO scale. Through many internal discussions (luckily no one ever answered), the idea of Yass continued to grow and develop. The branch quickly became an obsession. Research was both haphazard and serendipitous; exciting and all-consuming. And whilst different ideas would come and go, the idea of building a model of the Yass branch remained the constant throughout.

As my life has changed once more, and I find myself in a permanent state here in Australia, I decided it was time to reboot my modelling and just ‘get on with it’. No more theoretical modelling to be done- it’s now time to get cracking. And so, the blog restarts. Coughs and splutters into life.

Put simply, get off my ass and, like that famous brand slogan, ‘just do it!’.

Ben

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A re-boot

Posted on March 29, 2017 by benjaminsmall1991

I signed up to WordPress with the express aim to create a blog of my modelling exploits quite a number of years ago. It was actually mentioned by a friend of mine, Ian Phemister on his Blog when I did it. http://iansmuswellbrookmerriwa.blogspot.co.uk/ As you can see from the postings available to be viewed, I had incredible success with it and showed soo much of my modelling. Sarcasm is the greatest form of insult. In a vain attempt to re-start my modelling, I thought that actually making an effort with the blog would be a good thing. So here goes.

I should probably outline my life at this point. I don’t live in Australia anymore and I don’t have any modelling tools at my immediate disposal. At this point you’re probably thinking- what?! And yes, I too am somewhat grappling with the decision to re-boot a blog about modelling when the person in charge of said blog hasn’t touched a model in nigh on a year. Why on earth would I choose to do this now? And more to the point, what am I going to write about that would keep you interested?

For you, my widespread and greatly numbered readership, I will impart some knowledge about myself. I quite like imparting and disseminating information to people of various ages and abilities. It is in my nature to do exactly this- teach. So it should come as no surprise then to find out that I am a teacher. The purpose of this blog is to not only to try and hold me accountable (the extent of which will be proven in the coming months), but also to try and teach other modellers some of the skills I’ve learnt, the information I’ve gained and the experiences I’ve had so that you can improve, or at the very least, know how to improve. I’m not saying I’m the clichéd ‘be all and end all’ and I certainly don’t know everything. But as modellers, we implicitly belong to a community, of both shared experience and shared, collective knowledge. Hopefully you’ll find the postings I make amusing, intriguing, engaging and thought provoking.

I should also mention that I’ve finally updated the banner image at the top of this blog. The location- Yass Town. The importance…to be revealed.

Cheerio ol’ chums!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment