Volume 5, Issue 12 November 2014 The Flimsy The Newsletter of Division 2 of the NMRA AR OUR NOVEMBER MEETING At Brian and Fran Thomas’s place today 24 turned up. Someone tactfully drew attention to the fact that Peter Dinham was here (and for the second consecutive meeting, what’s more), prompting the immediate and not very polite question “Why?” This being the first time a Division Two member has ever been called upon to explain his PRESENCE rather than his absence, much interest was aroused – requiring this event to be faithfully recorded in the annals of Division Two. Peter’s response could not be heard above the ensuing hubbub, but we may rest assured it was apt. The meeting was called to order. Announcements Our Valiant Leader announced changes to a couple of dates in the Division Two programme for 2015. These will appear in the next issue of our 2015 Calendar. John Bullen mentioned that he and Yvonne are facing a domestic removal at fairly short notice. By recent government decree their house is to be demolished and the entire property cleared, along with more than 1000 others, due to asbestos insulation installed in 1975 and removed in 1991. This is the only way to be absolutely sure no asbestos fibres remain. The government is buying back all houses and is waiving stamp duty on purchase of a new home, so John & Yvonne are now house hunting and will probably be moving early in 2015. This decision to buy back and demolish is a huge relief to John & Yvonne after all the worry and media publicity of the last year. But the removal will mean drastic downsizing from a house to an apartment – which requires disposal of many possessions. Model railway items, both HO and G scale, need careful thought. John has many railway books and about 40% will have to go. He’s keeping everything Swiss (they’re nearly all in German anyway) and all his tram books, but the other stuff (mainly Australian and world railways) will be culled, so members are encouraged to come to future meetings prepared to buy, preferably with prior approval from the Ministry of Domestic Affairs. John Gillies brought us up to date on plans for the Division Two Christmas Dinner at the Olive At Mawson restaurant at Southlands on Friday 12 December. Our Fearless Leader reminded us that Mainline is now solely accessible on the Internet – though still in portrait format (these things take time). We now no longer subscribe to the printed version distributed by post. Those who have paid their subscription well in advance need not worry – NMRA subscriptions are individually being adjusted accordingly. MainLine now has a new Editor, Rod Tonkin – Continued on page 2)
Transcript
Volume 5, Issue 12 November 2014
The Flimsy The Newsletter of Division 2 of the NMRA AR
OUR NOVEMBER MEETING
At Brian and Fran Thomas’s place today 24 turned up. Someone tactfully drew attention to the fact that Peter Dinham was here (and for the second consecutive meeting, what’s more), prompting the immediate and not very polite question “Why?”
This being the first time a Division Two member has ever been called upon to explain his PRESENCE rather than his absence, much interest was aroused – requiring this event to be faithfully recorded in the annals of Division Two. Peter’s response could not be heard above the ensuing hubbub, but we may rest assured it was apt. The meeting was called to order. Announcements
Our Valiant Leader announced changes to a couple of dates in the Division Two programme for 2015. These will appear in the next issue of our 2015 Calendar.
John Bullen mentioned that he and Yvonne are facing a domestic removal at fairly short notice. By recent government decree their house is to be demolished and the entire property cleared, along with more than 1000 others, due to asbestos insulation installed in 1975 and removed in 1991. This is the only way to be absolutely sure no asbestos fibres remain. The government is buying back all houses and is waiving stamp duty on purchase of a new home, so
John & Yvonne are now house hunting and will probably be moving early in 2015. This decision to buy back and demolish is a huge relief to John & Yvonne after all the worry and media publicity of the last year.
But the removal will mean drastic downsizing from a house to an apartment – which requires disposal of many possessions. Model railway items, both HO and G scale, need careful thought. John has many railway books and about 40% will have to go. He’s keeping everything Swiss (they’re nearly all in German anyway) and all his tram books, but the other stuff (mainly Australian and world railways) will be culled, so members are encouraged to come to future meetings prepared to buy, preferably with prior approval from the Ministry of Domestic Affairs.
John Gillies brought us up to date on plans for the Division Two Christmas Dinner at the Olive At Mawson restaurant at Southlands on Friday 12 December.
Our Fearless Leader reminded us that Mainline is now solely accessible on the Internet – though still in portrait format (these things take time).
We now no longer subscribe to the printed version distributed by post. Those who have paid their subscription well in advance need not worry – NMRA subscriptions are individually being adjusted accordingly.
MainLine now has a new Editor, Rod Tonkin – Continued on page 2)
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Division Four Superintendent in Western Australia. This change in MainLine Editor has brought about a substantial change in editorial policy. To catch up on all this, read Page 4 of the latest (Spring 2014) issue which is the last issue by the current editor. See http://tinyurl.com/lgtk2zs
Tony Payne mentioned that on his recent visit to Queensland he had met up with a good model railway group at Cooran in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and was made to feel very welcome. Show & Tell
John Bullen displayed the newest additions to his G scale tram fleet – a power car with trolley pole and an unpowered trailer, both fitted with internal lighting and headlights which change according to direction of travel. The prototype is a coupled pair of the earliest electric trams to run between Nürnberg and Fürth around 1910. John already has the driver, conductor and passengers, yet to be fitted. John’s other two G scale trams are also of similar vintage – from Köln (the city’s first, in 1910) and an open crossbench (‘toast rack’) car from New Haven, Connecticut (1901).
Jess Brisbane informed us of the existence of a cheap imports shop near the back entrance to Woolworths at Southlands in Mawson. This cheap shop sells small flasks that are ideal for dispensing water based glues.
John Payne has discovered that he can convert his Southern Pacific Daylight train from 1937 vintage to 1956 simply by adding a dome car – which John displayed today. John also passed around his well illustrated book ‘Southern Pacific Railroad’ by Brian
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Solomon, published by Voyageur Press, 2007. See http://tinyurl.com/o5lo8vl
John had obtained his copy of this book from Booktopia for $10 plus $6 postage, drawing a howl of anguish from Rob Nesbitt who had paid considerably more for the same book from a different source. Rob’s glum gloom generated great glee and jubilant high fives from Graeme Hodges the First and John Payne. Ah, yes! That’s what mates are for, isn’t it. The meeting was again called to order.
John Payne also passed around his massive copy of ‘A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives 1862-1962’ by Guy L Dunscomb, 500 pages, well illustrated, published in 1967 and later in various editions by different publishers.
Specially to please our Union Pacific fans, John also handed around his copy of ‘The Roaring U.P. Trail’, first published in 1918 and written by none other than the Wild Western daddy of them all – Zane Grey himself. This was USA’s best selling book of 1918 and it contains an unforgettable description of one of the very worst of those end-of-the-track hell-on
-wheels temporary towns along the UP RR. John Gillies displayed his HO scale Northern Pacific
hopper wagon made by InterMountain Railway Co based in Colorado. This model has good detail and
substantial weight. See http://www.intermountain-railway.com/
Graeme Hodges the First showed us his book on railway politics and greed ‘To Hell in a Day Coach’ by Peter Lyon, 324 pages, published by J B Lippincott, USA, 1968. Sub-titled ‘An Exasperated Look at American Railroads’, this book gives the inside story on how US railways were built to serve their owners not their customers and to crush their competitors. For example, while touting free enterprise, railroads are shown to have benefited more from public grants than any other sector of the US economy. This book exposes the rogues and entrepreneurs, together with their later successors, the corporate managers. By way of illustration, Graeme read a couple of passages – much enjoyed by his audience.
This led into a lively discussion which soon diverged somewhat, leading eventually to John Bullen quoting from the latest issue of Australian Railway History (November 2014, page 15) which tells of the little old lady at Sydney Central about 50 years ago who complained to the Senior Station Master that “A pigeon has just pooed on me – there it is up there, the brown one.” The quick-witted SM was up to the challenge, replying “Oh, we cannot do anything about that. The brown ones belong to the Postmaster General’s Department. You should walk down the road to the Post Office and speak to the Postmaster.” Before the meeting could come to grips with carrier pigeons and the PMG, our Imperious Leader called the meeting to order, yet again.
Matt Waterreus showed us his recent purchase of the N scale Shinkansen set produced by Kato in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Shinkansen
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railway. The basic set consists of the two end cars (with driving compartments) plus two other coaches
and the extension pack consists of an extra four coaches to make up a full train. Mathew also passed around two books to add to the hefty library on display today. One was the very new ‘Santa Fe Los Angeles Division’ by John R Signor, 584 pages, published by Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society. See http://www.atsfrr.com/
store/book1.htm Matt’s other book was ‘Union Pacific in the Los
Angeles Basin’ by Jeff S Asay, 500 pages, published by Signature Press, 2012. See http://tinyurl.com/o5bakq6
Ross Balderson displayed his latest handmade models for his N scale Newcastle 1899 layout. The waterline model paddle steamer is now partly complete. Its body is built from sheet styrene and its fine parts are from etched nickel-silver. The whole paddlewheel and its elaborately patterned side housing are entirely from nickel-silver.
Ross passed around several of his horse drawn vehicles, all modelled entirely in nickel-silver. The fine
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detail of these models is truly exquisite. They are also surprisingly strong, despite their delicate appearance.
An old horse drawn dray was spotted by Ross beside the Monaro Highway near Cooma, so he measured and photographed it. Using CorelDraw he transferred the measurements into drawings which were then used for photo-etching the nickel-silver plate to make the parts which were then soldered together. The finished product was among the models passed around today.
Ross prefers nickel-silver because brass conducts heat faster – a disadvantage in soldering.
Jack Child showed us his O scale 0-6-0T locomotive made by Ixion. A fine model, but there is no information to suggest who owned the prototype. Jack believes the prototype to be a Hunslet loco introduced into NSW in 1926 and he plans to give it the appropriate NSWGR livery. But was it really a NSWGR loco? Or was it
perhaps a private loco, operating at a colliery or something similar? No-one at today’s meeting was sure and a quick check later of Leon Oberg’s
‘Locomotives of Australia’ (1850s to 1990s) and Jim Turner’s more comprehensive ‘Australian Steam Locomotives 1896-1958’ failed to shed any light on this loco’s service in Australia or its livery. Any clues, anyone? The Main Show
Brian Thomas introduced those visiting for the first time to the handmade O scale South Australian steam locos built by Fran’s uncle and eventually bequeathed to her.
Brian also gave a summary of South Australian steam loco development which falls into three distinct eras
….pre-Webb .…the Webb era .…post-Webb. William A Webb was Chief Commissioner of the
SAR from 1922 to 1930. An experienced railway administrator in USA, he brought much needed reform to the SAR. Inheriting an outdated and uneconomic system, characterised by fragmented authority, ponderous decision making and a complex administrative structure, Webb revolutionised railway
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most effectively.
After Webb’s departure many of his reforms were discarded and American influence declined, but enough remained to carry the SAR forward until after World War Two. Thus pre-Webb SAR locos are mainly of British design, Webb’s are purely American, and the post-Webb locos show less American influence.
Opening the double doors into the purpose built train room, Brian now introduced us to his and Fran’s layout. The progress since we last saw it a year ago was immediately apparent. Not only has the trackage expanded, but there are now lots of electrical control panels spread around the layout. As in the real world, industry is expanding and (to Fran’s concern) the space for rural scenery is diminishing.
The layout is representative of the stretch from Adelaide through the hills to Murray Bridge, incorporating features of Port Adelaide, Mile End, Adelaide, Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge.
The trackage runs around the room in a complex pattern that defies simple description, offering through
running on the upper level and point to point running on the lower level. This ensures that the duck-unders are comfortable and do not require a drop to hands and knees.
Gradients are less than 2% and the minimum radius is 1.5 metres or 60“. There are five separate electrical power blocks and the whole layout is DCC controlled.
The room was plenty big enough to accommodate us all as we spread out around the layout, focusing on whatever aroused our interest – which was a lot. Jack Child gave his Hunslet loco a test run and off it merrily went. But you have to be careful. Take your eye off it for a moment and it has disappeared into this complex track network. It must be in there somewhere!
Brian ran a couple of diesels – a railcar and a mainline 930 Class loco. And in that big room they sound every bit as good as they look.
Time for the lovely afternoon tea prepared by Fran. z
management by rationalising the basis of operations. Recognising the need to increase full carload lots, Webb introduced large wagons, big locomotives, heavy track, stronger bridges and efficient practices.
Webb’s programme was costly and attracted heavy criticism which he ignored. SAR expenditure became political and Webb’s position became ever less tenable until he resigned in 1930 and returned to USA.
Webb’s best known contribution to SAR is his introduction of big locomotives. In the pre-Webb era, the Mt Lofty ranges were a formidable obstacle to efficient railway traffic. Webb’s big locomotives, based on American design principles, overcame that obstacle
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Amazing what you can Amazing what you can do with Photoshopdo with Photoshop
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From the Editor:
We have now caught up with ourselves, with two month's Flimsys (Flimsies?) in three days! Woohoo—what a Christmas present.
I’ve had a hard time getting enough hosts for
next year’s meetings although that now seems to be fixed. I have asked you all to comment on the way ahead for our regular Division 2 meetings; frequency, what day, content and so on, and so far I’ve got several suggestions and comments, of which, surprisingly, none have been rude or physically impossible! There is obviously some scope for change and we will discuss these at the last of our regular meetings for 2014.
Jitts 22 Glebe St, Yass, NSW 2582 at 2:00 pm, where we will learn about the latest incarnation of the Kangaroo Valley Railway.
Our Xmas dinner (did I really say “farewell dinner” last month?) will be held at the Olive at Mawson at 6:30 pm on Friday, 12 December. If you’re coming, please make sure John Gillies is aware as he has to con-firm the booking.
Back Page Photo
At the rear of an eight unit lashup, BN GP39-2 number 2732 leads NYSW Sea Land double stack train at Sandpoint Junction 10 Sep 1985.
