Saturday 21 January 2017

That steel ain't light



Following the recent arrival of the NCTY Tubemakers Structural open wagons at Philden, coil steel shipments have begun arriving at the open concrete yard alongside the cement plant. A concrete reinforcing shed has been erected 'just beyond the layout edge' as part of a Nation Building upgrade for the Interstate Highway that crosses the tracks at the mouse-hole end of my layout. The steel rolls are being milled and cut on site to reinforce the giant concrete spans needed for the highway construction. So I thought I'd venture trackside with my camera to capture the first shipment of 1:83 scale steel as it arrived. You may notice the rusted rails from a long abandoned siding that are still embedded in the concrete loading area. I sure hope that 'forkie' knows what he's doing before he tries to unloading the wagons.

She'll be right mate! It just needs a bit more Gumption.

Apparently not. After struggling to lift the giant coil from wagon number 85117G, it appears he didn't have enough back tilt when jolting across the old rails and has ended up with his back wheels in the air, (something that happened to myself a few times during my years driving forklifts). Maybe the site foreman needs to look at buying a bigger forklift!

Those abandoned rails are going to make unloading a pain in the butt for the forklift driver.

By the time he had finished unloading both wagons, it was fast approaching nightfall, and the new LED lights I had installed were on in the yard. While the construction crew probably won't get to work rolling and cutting the steel coils till morning, meanwhile the train crew had returned to collect the empties and were growing irate by the minute that their pick-up wasn't yet ready and were holed up in the platform road at Philden Station, waiting to drag the two empty wagons forward before they could run around to couple on and head off in the up direction towards the staging yard.

While chatting with the Senior SM on the platform, they were however heard to speak highly of the new LED lighting installed recently at the station. The driver even recalled humorously a previous visit when he asked the Assistant Station Master at the time if he was burning the toast in his office. It turned out it wasn't the toast, but the old platform lighting that had begun to melt like toasted marshmallows. Fortunately by now the NCTY's were ready to be pulled clear of the cement road siding and the crew were on their way just as the last slithers of light disappeared in the west.

This short operating session was all just a bit of fun, but it does show that a small bookshelf layout can be used to simulate some real life operation problems. The 86 class, having ventured further than any NSW 86 class has ever ventured before, will now be packed away to await the construction of the upper level of my layout, which will feature overhead catenary and a giant OneSteel receiving shed. Next week 8243 will return in its place. Also due next week, (by means of the post man), is the first of my major rollingstock additions for the as yet un-named upper level, (no, its not the Tangara), but something else that combined with my 86 class electric will provide enough operating pleasure all on its own. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; Auscision Models NCTY/NODY Wagons

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Thanks for taking the time to visit Philden. I hope you'll book a return ticket soon. Cheers, Phil