MM Issue 5

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Issue 5

CONSIST

* GOVERNORS

CAR

* A TYPICAL

TRAIN

* MUSINGS FROM

THE ROOMS

* MEET THE

MEMBERS

* MECHANICAL

SIGNALLING

* HISTORY

Wagga Wagga Model RailroadersPO Box 6340 Wagga Wagga Business Centre

Wagga Wagga NSW 2650

I really thought that filling an E Magazine every month would bevery hard work which is why when I suggested this one to GraemeHearn as a Club Newsletter, I suggested only promising one within

each three months. Hence, this particular issue has slipped back a littledue to time constraints but is still on time.

Ok, so I talk a lot. I have been told I have the gift of the gab, but in mydefence, I have been encouraged by the members and some non mem-bers who receive this, to continue and some have even helped with arti-cles or at least ideas to be included. The page on Car Cards and WayBills last issue was a direct result of a query from a member.

A question and answer page has been suggested. Sounds great, so sendme your questions and I will do my utmost to have the queries an-swered by someone qualified or knowledgeable enough to do so. Youcan place your query directly to me by whatever means you find com-fortable, email, phone or ask through the Club Secretary.

Our Club recently hosted an evening of film for members and guests.Using the West Wagga Parish Hall allowed for far greater numbers thanwe could have catered for at our own rooms. A Ted Egan Documentaryon preserved trains was shown, followed by Supper and the feature filmwhich was the Ealing Productions, THE TITFIELD THUNDER-BOLT.

A Free copy of the Murrumbidgee Mail to anyone who can guess theancestry of the star loco of the show which was crashed into the creekby the local bus operator. (answer in the Home Signal, back page)

SUBMISSIONS:

To the EditorIan [email protected] in word formatand pictures in JPEG for-mat separately. A flash or

thumb drive may be usedor CD. These will be re-turned.

This document is provided free to share without modification or addition. The docu-ment remains the property of the Wagga Wagga Model Railroaders Inc. Where possi-ble, photos and articles used are with the owners permission. Reproduction in partwithout the permission of the owners may contravene copyright laws.

MURRUMBI DGEE MAIL

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T h e GOV E R NOR S CA R(P r e s i d e n t s Pa g e)

WAGGA WAGGA

MODEL RAILROADERS

INC.

PRESIDENT

GRAEME HEARN

VICE PRESIDENTLES WEST

SECRETARY

STEVEN RAVENSCROFT

TREASURER

FLEUR WEST

PO Box 6340Wagga Wagga

Business Centre

NSW 2650

The Club meets so-cially, most Mondayevenings from around7.00P.M. at the BESTRESERVE HALL forrunning on the perma-nent HO layout underconstruction. Membersare encouraged to par-ticipate in the con-struction. Guests aremost welcome.

Graeme is away in Queensland currently and so he has this month offfor his comment.

I am sure he will not mind me showing you on this page, the photothat will be used on our show posters for this year.

The photo is of Max Burkes fabulous Maroochy Lift Bridge. Themodel was scratch built by Max from strip wood and is adorned byneatly finished and placed figures. It is installed on Maxs home lay-out based on various Australian Narrow Gauge Prototypes.

Expressions of interest are encouraged from those wishing to attendthe 2009 Wagga Wagga Model Rail Exhibition as exhibitors.

COMING EVENTSBuilding Plastic models Work shop date TBA.

Max is still working on his layout in readiness for our club visit.

Our annual exhibition will be held November 7 and 8

Dont forget that Epping Model Rail Expo is on the June Long Weekend.

Photo I McIntyre

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TYPICAL TRAINS

I have been asked many times about Typical Trains and recently I have found myselfasking more and more, What is a typical train?. Initially I thought about the piece ofstring answer because there really are so many typical trains and so many answers to thequestion.

Typical trains are typical to what? Time?, Location?, Traffic?, Operator?. Well yes, all ofthe above! So to assemble a Typical Train we need to know where we are going to run it. Ifyou are like me, you have probably had many different favourite trains over the years. Myideal was once a 14XX and Auto-Coach painted Brown and Cream, lettered GWR ingold. I currently have a thing for late steam and lots of 4 wheelers, mostly a dirty grey andof NSW origin. Both were typical trains, but on opposite sides of the world and for com-pletely different traffic and owners.

A typical MAIL train of the early seventies in southern New South Wales, the down Te-mora Mail, was a motley collection of hand me down passenger and parcel vehicles which

had travelled overnight from Central as part of the South West Mail and was taken from therear of the train at Cootamundra. The section of train actually travelled back wards fromSydney and was simply cut away at Coota and a train engine attached at the rear of thetrain, (front of the Temora Mail) and it headed out past Coota West and on to Temora. Ihave actual details of consists in my collection of useless information, but basically thistrain comprised, from the loco, a brake van, dry goods van, parcel van and several pass carsincluding a composite sleeper. The brake van, dry van, parcel van and a pass car were usedout of Temora towards Forbes. 1 or 2 cars went onto Griffith. Lets assemble this train. Atypical loco for this train in the seventies would have been possibly a 48 or if available a 44or one of the box type locos, 80/442/422.

The following is HO scale specific. Behind the loco we need a brake van a dry van and

parcel van. An MHG has been available RTR from Powerline for some time and we nowhave several vans which would also be suitable from Trainorama. I modified and super de-tailed an MHG then placed it on the correct ARKITS bogies. A common dry goods van ofthe period was the GLV. ARKITS have a kit for the GLV/GLX which is what I used. ON-TRACK Models now have a range of vans available RTR and any with roller bearingswould suffice (this is a pass train). Joe Calipari of Casula Hobbies has a parcel van kitwhich suits our purpose. Although it is the wrong vehicle, it looks similar to what we needand is more than a suitable stand in. I built the kit, painted it Indian Red and pressed it intoservice. There are a number of passenger cars now available. We have Clerestory cars fromAustrains, the FS and BS cars from Powerline, and the LIMA 12 wheel cars available RTR.WE have RUB cars from Casula, HUB cars from BERGS and the N Cars from Bergs all

as kits. For our purpose, an assortment from the RTR cars would suit to complete ourtypical train. The N cars can be converted to a range of different vehicles as can theLIMA 12 wheelers. Aftermarket sides are available to convert the Lima cars. I used 3 Lima12 wheelers, 2 heavily kit bashed and one with after market sides. This gave me a very typi-cal mail train which saw service on Stockinbingal. Building this set now, I would proba-bly include one clerestory car at least and probably an FS as well.

At the time, I wanted a typical train to run on Stockinbingal at exhibitions and it feltgood to refer to a collection of carriages as my Temora Mail rather than that genericMail Train. My red DJH 32 class managed to get on the head of this set regularly eventhough a diesel was more correct. What can I say? I like steam!

Researching was fun and stimulating, building it was satisfaction. So, what is your favour-ite train? More importantly, what is a typical train for your layout?

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Musings from The Rooms.

There have been a lot of discussions lately regarding the plans for the layout in the hall. A theme and theoverall area was loosely set some time ago when the Club decided to sell Stockinbingal. The proposal was tobuild a large permanent layout in the hall as well as some smaller layouts able to be transported and operatedby as few as 2 people to maintain an exhibition presence for the club. There have been many proposals for

suitable small layouts, the latest being the Westby proposal.

Back to the hall. It was debated at length and discussion lead to agreement to build the large layout to NSWprototype. It was also decided to provide as much variety in the room as possible, to this end we would havetwo separate main lines, one based on single line sections of the Main South and a dual main based on theWestern line. Both of these Mainlines would join at an area representing The Eastern Seaboard. A junction onthe Main South would feed a branch line with intermediate junction along the line of the Tumut and Batlowlines. All lines would be free lanced within those constraints. So I guess, there is no plan, just a series ofthemes. Within this set of themes, we can design and install the various elements, as we progress. As withmany projects of this type, some things will change as I am sure the various interests of the group will change.For example, I am gaining a new fondness for narrow gauge. No, not Colorado but Aussie Narrow Gauge.Hopefully it is a passing phase, it would be far to big a job to sell all my HO and start over.

Our unnamed City was stage one in our track laying. For some time we ran trains in and out of the city via atemporary pair of return loops. They are gone and the South Main station is now seeing traffic, again via a lit-tle temporary track, but trains are running. Room has been provided for the spiral up to the branch line and thebranch is represented by the red area on the diagram below.

The next step is to build bench work for the Coal Main. The diagram below is definitely not to scale but youcan see the overall size and shape. Where the Main South is a heavy single line Diesel (or steam) road, theCoal line can (and I believe should) have overhead catenary to allow electric locos and commuter trains to plyits rails. We already see a number of electric commuters available and there are plans for more. Electric locoscan also appear on Fast Passenger trains and Coal trains as per prototype.

An idea floated on a recent Monday evening was to use an elevated driving position noted in yellow on thediagram, where trains would be driven over our network, under orders from the various Station Masters. Thissystem is used by AMRA Vic at their Glen Iris clubroom and is an easy way to involve a large number ofmembers or visitors in the running of the layout. By setting a few switches, a single member could still run atrain or two and just sit back and just watch.

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The drawing below, which is not to scale by any means, attempts to show how and where the various itemswill be in relation to one another and approximately how much room will be needed in relation to the total areaavailable.

The branch line is not shown at all and of course some items will change or grow or disappear and some newones will appear.

The line is designed for operation to timetable. It always was to be capable of timetable operation. We mayfind that extra loops (sidings) may become necessary, especially at the city location, to enable a full comple-ment of the types of trains needed to represent the various types which will be called for by the time table. Justthe fact that all trains will at some time visit the city means that it will become a bottle neck. We can fit extraroads for holding 1 or 2 trains in that corner. These need not be added until necessary, but do need to beplanned for.

I am working on several more features to add to the operation complexity. One of these is to incorporate anempties in/loads out ruse. This would entail an empty coal train disappearing at the coal loader on the west-ern line where it would be going to be loaded and reappearing from a power station where it would have beenunloaded, running back onto the main to travel empty back to the loader. A loaded train would make the oppo-site trip leaving the loader full, running down the Coal Main to the power station to unload. Whilst the two

trains will be seen on the track loaded when supposedly loaded and empty whilst supposedly empty, the bal-ance of their trip will be hidden from view, either behind view breaks on indeed inside tunnels to complete theruse or illusion. This type of ruse was used to great success on the N scale Clinchfield built by the Model Rail-roader crew as a project railroad in their magazine. A version has also been built and displayed in Australia.

You can see the proposal in red in the second diagram. The lines simply indicate where everything would needto fit in as well as the approximate location of the power station. Yes this would mean 3 crossovers for downtrains to get to the correct road for return to the loader, but that would be just another thing for the Station Mas-ter at City to manage.

Some members seem to be very concerned at the space which will be left in the hall for meetings and so forthonce the coal main is established. There will actually be more than 3 times the space available for chairs andthe like than when we stored the layout Stockinbingal in the hall. These drawings, even though not to scale,should give a clearer picture of the overall shape and size of the proposed railway in the hall.

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M eet the M embers

This month we are not meeting a member but will meet a guest writer instead.

So, in his own words:-

My name is Dale Richards, I am a member of Mckenzie in H.O.Lland, and I have a pas-

sion for all things NSWGR and signalling.

My Background: I spent the first 13 years of my working life just out of school as anemployee with the then SRA of NSW, I started as a JSA (Junior Station Assistant)

sweeping the platforms and all things lowly at Yass Junction. My job involved going to

places such as Albury doing truck interchange and Newbridge for my first posting as a

SWSA (Safe Working Station Assistant). At 21 I was appointed as a Grade 2 Signaller

at Moss Vale Box, one of the youngest grade 2s in the state. I worked my way up to the

position of Area Controller, District Relief Signaller, Goulburn.

The signalling levels went

SWSA (Safeworking Station Assistant)

Signaller Grade 1

Signaller Grade 2

Signaller Grade 3

Area Controller

Special Area Controller - Sydney, Junee CTC, Broadmeadow CTC, Strathfield.

Train Control

I worked most of the signal boxes on the main south from Wallendbeen to Picton

(missed out on the few that had closed already, i.e Galong, Binalong, Gunning), but I

did get to open and close these boxes during track maintenance. I also worked the

boxes on the Canberra Line and the Moss Vale to Dombarton line (mostly Summit

Tank).

What Id like to do is educate people who are interested in the ways of NSW signalling

so as they can add a bit more realism to their layouts

What I hope to do over a series of articles (with Maccas approval ovcourse) is teach

you about signals and how to recognise and read them. Starting with the distant andlandmark signal and building up to the colour lights.

Over the next few issues, Dale is going to present us with information allowing us tounderstand something about safe working. Just looking through the notes so far I havegained much. Not everyone wants to sit and scratch build working signals, but signalsare something which will make a model railway look complete and can add much real-ism to an operating session. Unlike road traffic lights, which are an optional extra forour purposes, we do need to represent the safe working to have our empire looking cor-rect.

When next you see Dale and Tony at a show, drop past and have a chat with them.

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Mechanical Signalling

The Distant SignalNSW railways used 2 types of distant signals. (For this article I am only concerned withlower quadrant semaphore mechanical signals not colour light or upper quadrant)

The distant signal is the first signal a driver will see when approaching an interlocked station.This signal will tell the driver as to the condition of the signals ahead.

Identifying the DistantThe modern distant was identified by the fishtail arm located half way down the post. Prior tothis the distant arm was located at the top of the post like regular signal arms. Above it is alamp that at night shows a green light. When in the normal or caution position it shows thearm at 90 deg. By night it shows a green over red light. (Diagram 1). When cleared the signalwould show the arm at 45 deg and at night it displayed a green over green light. (Diagram 2)

To give you a better understanding of how the distant works I have provided some examples.

Our train is running left to right in these examples and the driver would only be able toread one signal at a time. At clear, the distant would indicate that the main line is clearthrough the station. At caution, the driver would need to be ready to stop or on our exampleplan below, may be going into the loop to be put away.

Diag 1

Diag 2

This first example shows the correct indication. This will tell the driver that all the signals on the main lineare in the clear position through the station.

This would be a false indication. And the distant would never show this.

This is also a false indication.

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The Landmark Signal

The landmark signal is again the first signal a driver will see when approaching an interlocked station. Thereare only slight differences between a landmark and a distant signal. Firstly, the landmark is a single line ONLYsignal and is generally not used on double line. There is one contradiction to this that I am aware of and that is

a landmark signal which was placed on the up and down line at Yass, more on this later. Secondly, the distantsignal is used on both single and double lines.

Thirdly, a landmark does not inform the driver as to the condition of the signals ahead, instead it is a perma-nent caution indication that tells the driver to slow to a safe speed to be able to obey the next signal.

The landmark signal is primarily used at unattended locations were train crews need to stop for safe-workingduties (electric staff change etc), but it can be placed at attended stations as well. The landmark signal replacedthe distant signal, and as such was sometimes fitted on the same posts, hence the wide variety of posts thatlandmarks can be found on.

Identifying the LandmarkThe Landmark is identified by a Yellow Triangle located at the top of the post. Early versions of the landmarkused to have a lamp fitted to the side that at night would appear as a triangle.

Other versions had small glass marbles on them, these would give a reflection when a locomotive headlight hitthem making them more visible at night. Later, reflective paint became available and was used.

Figure 4 - Gundagai Landmark

Landmark signals are found on a wide varietyof posts, examples include lattice, light rail,and timber.

The photo at right depicts one at Gundagai. Aplain yellow (well it used to be yellow) trian-gle fitted to the top of a lattice mast with or-nate finial found above many signal posts. Aladder is provided suggesting that a lampwould have been placed on the post for nightoperations or that the signal was previously amechanical distant signal . The ladder wouldhave allowed signalling staff to service thislamp which may well have started out as an oiltype which needed attention each 6 days.

Can you imagine climbing that ladder to refilla lamp with the winter winds whistling pastyour ears threatening to tear you from yourperch?

Dale Richards

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HISTORY LESSON:) I guess it was partly our desire as a group to show off that pointedus towards the exhibition scene as participants and not mere attendees. We often discussedthe various displays we had seen during a trip away and graded different aspects of themagainst what we could see at home on a Friday night. We discussed different materials,whether timber frames were better than metal, what legs were the best and easiest to use,

what scatter materials looked best, whether scratch building was actually necessary. Was aparticular kit any good and why not? But we were not the average arm chair modellers andmany were actually doing quite a bit of very nice modelling.

It was more than evident that this wide group had all the skills necessary to build a credibledisplay. The realisation that we should was easy. Taking the plunge took a little longer. Aspecial meeting was held at Barrie Prices home and many questions were asked.

Would we build Pommie, Yankee or Aussie? The claim was made that in the light of ad-vancements made in NSW modelling, Exhibition Managers would prefer to see NSW lay-outs being built. Ok, NSW it was.Would we build a mainline or a branch? Seems that most layouts being shown at the timewere simple dual track main line tail chasers. Ok, a branch line. The majority of suitablelocos available to us at the time were Lima, the 42 and 44 were pretty much it, the 422 justarriving in the shops. So, it will need to be a heavy branch line.What about a cross country line?If you want some operational operations, think about a junction! Said Russell.A secondary line with a junction would mean a lot of space and a huge layout. To includethe junction itself would mean modelling something like Cootamundra or Junee or evenThe Rock.What about Stockinbingal? asked Russell. So I guess we can blame him.

So, how do you all feel about donating towards this project? I asked and over $300 wasraised on the night. Bev Price got to be the first treasurer, well, she hid the tin for us andplanning got up a head of steam.About this time, a railway reviewed in the AMRM built by the Epping Model Railway Clubcalled East Mateland caught our eye. Several of us fell in love with this layout. We set thisas a target for ourselves, firstly, to see it in the flesh and secondly to build a layout as niceas East Mateland or better. It was a very well finished and presented layout and had afabulous stud of diesel and steam trains. We never did manage to get the two layouts in thesame room to judge them side by side, so you will have to be the judge on that one.The NSW Model Railway Group, yes the Armstrongs and Kellys were working on a modu-lar frame design using aluminium. The panels were to be jig built and would allow a strong

unitary construction. We chose a total of 10 panels for an overall size of 3m by 10m.Waratoo was under construction already and we got to see the first showing of this displaywhen it was used to promote these frames at Liverpool. The layout was not running andonly parts of it were anywhere near complete. It was 2m shorter (1 panel front and back)than Stockinbingal was planned to be and I remember hearing the warning that ExhibitionManagers would not like such a big layout. The next time we saw Warratoo, it had grownby 2m to be the same size as Stock!. We are currently seeing layouts much larger.

Stockinbingal, just west of Cootamundra, would be modelled on a set of frames totallingalmost 10m long by 3 wide with the station, yard and silo complex all modelled usingscratch building methods including hand laid track.

It was time for a big breath and another road trip. To be continued.

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Ne w P r od u c t sJoe Callipari of Casula Hobbies has a greatnew model suitable for many of our Pioneerbranch lines.The PC station buildings were of prefabconstruction to allow fast erection on sitewith a minimum of skilled labour neces-sary.Joes PC3 is available for $65 as a kit and for a few dollars more, you can buy the model ready for

detailing. Just perfect for Westby! (Tell him you saw it here)

HOME SIGNALHOME SIGNAL

SCRATCH-BUILT COAL STAGE:-)

It has been said, that if you can see it you can measure it, if you can measure it you candraw it and if you can drawit you can build it. Provingthat is this picture. Part ofthe loco coal loading facili-ties late of Broadmeadowand Demondrille, built toplans supplied by James

Dalton and Craig Mackey.

The HO scale model is thepainstaking work of Ainslieand Shirley, two giftedmodellers as you can see.Apart from Model Rail,they are also into RadioControl helicopters, Slotcars and parrots.

Answer.

1401, the star locomotive of the movie the Titfield Thunderbolt is an ex Great Western Railways

14xx 0-4-2 tank loco.

We see her in the movie in post Nationalisation drab black livery, with a single side door coach, much

like our own CX or BX coach and a brake van. Typical GWR branch line train? The Great WesternRailway, GWR, made great use of tank locos, many looking resplendent in standard GWR green paint

and polished brass.

Their most picturesque use was as motive power for the Auto Coaches used on many GWR branch

lines. These passenger cars were set up so that a driver could operate the train from the rear of the

coach alleviating the necessity to run round or turn the train on many branch lines.Airfix, later Mainline, provided us with models of both the 14xx and the auto coach

PC3 Station Building

Photo courtesy Shirley Hogue