2017: An on track ending

It's hard to believe that 2017 is drawing to a close. It only feels like yesterday that I was putting the finishing touches to my layout ahead of the start of another year. Fast forward 12 months, and the activity centred around my desk and the bookshelf layout that stands above it has now yielded 3 model train exhibitions and 6 published railway books. In terms of having something to show for my time... 2017 was a huge year for getting things back on track.

My desk is now in a new position, featuring my 6 new books for 2017, and awaiting the next chapter!

Of course, nothing ever happens smoothly for me. It never has and probably never will. Following the Gold Coast Miniature Train Show in late October, a crack developed in the ceiling above my desk at the worst possible time. Right when I was busy finalising the release of my latest book Last Train to Grafton, and preparing to see my set of 4 Train Tripping books published in printed form for the first time, all our furniture had to be double-stack at one end of our apartment so that the ceiling could be patched, sanded and painted. Philden went from having just been re-assembled following the Gold Coast Train Show, to dismantled and stacked atop of chairs that were stacked atop of tables. Half of our furniture was in our kitchen, while the other half was in our bedroom.

To say that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction is an understatement, when the day after getting back from the Gold Coast Model Train Show I also underwent root canal surgery to save a front tooth from an abscess in my jaw that had gone undetected for months. There is usually a 1% chance of these things becoming infected, which you guessed, it happened to me. After a week of treatment with some pretty heavy antibiotics that prevented me from doing anything for days, I was able to return to work running our business with my wife. A week later, my shoulder went. Scans showed some long-term calcification of the tendon in my shoulder, which in turn had caused a case of bursitis and fluid build-up around the shoulder joint. The fluid affected area then burst, causing a couple of days of severe pain until I was able to be booked in for the good-ol' cortisone injection. Doctors assure me that my shoulder should feel 100% by this Friday. Coupled with our tax bill which arrived in the middle of all of this, my wife Denise and I dubbed it Black October, and it has taken us until the end of November to get over it all.

I'm glad it is all over. I'm also very glad that 2017 is almost done with. Hiccups aside, launching Philden onto the exhibition circuit and releasing 6 books between June and November has been a huge undertaking. Planning for both of these projects began back in 2015, around the same time that I launched this blog. With our apartment, and life, seemingly back in order, I can now begin planning for 2018. There's a lot I want to launch into here but I will save that for another time. So in the spirit of on-wards and up-wards, here are some highlights from 2017...

Philden's 1st public outing at the 2017 Brisbane Model Train Show in May.

Last Train to Brisbane followed in June 2017.

The Pine Rivers Hobby & Model Train Show followed in August 2017 at Strathpine in Brisbane.

It was all smiles at the 2017 Gold Coast Model Train Show in October... but root canal surgery the next day!

Last Train to Grafton paid homage to The Glenapp Boys for its November 2017 release.

 

 

After first being released solely as eBooks back in 2014-15, all four of my Train Tripping Series were released in print for the first time in November 2017 to cap off a huge year. Train Tripping Coastal Queensland was the book which was nominated for the 2015 Global eBook Awards, only to miss out to the hugely successful Lonely Planet Guidebooks. Still, having this book in print with the official award nomination badge on the cover is a pretty good feeling. All of this costs money of course, and also consumes copious amounts of time, something which becomes harder and harder to come by when things go wrong. That aside, I plan to finish my series of railway books in 2018 with at least 3 more Last Train photographic bush poetry collections, and another 2 Train Tripping adventure books. I head off to Western Australia in just 3 weeks time in search of my next adventure, and in early 2018 I will also take a week off to explore the forgotten railway lines across central and western New South Wales, staying in a different town each night. After that, there won't be another railway book for quite some time, as for the next 2 years I'll be sitting down to have my 5th attempt at writing that elusive New York Times Bestselling novel.

2018 will also bring about some exciting changes on Philden. While I'm yet to lock-in which exhibitions I will take the layout to, I've already tired of the simple 2 track staging shelf. It is going to be replaced with a new, slightly longer staging yard. While I mess-about with plans to add a wheat silo opposite the cement plant, it seems more likely that I will punch a hole for a third track through the mouse-hole end of the layout, and turn the current dead-end siding into a run-around track connecting with the new staging yard. I'd like to be able to park 3 short trains hidden from view with the added option of being able to use one of the staging tracks as a run-around track. Finally, after 3 exhibitions, I also plan to add an auto-reversing switch for the Xplorer to run up-and-back unassisted on the mainline.

The amount of exciting new releases on the Australian model railway scene doesn't seem to be letting up either, and there are a number of upcoming models I am trying to formulate a way that they can make it onto Philden. I've been thinking that the postman will turn up 'any day now' with my pre-ordered Southern Rail Models XGAY hoppers since May. I bought the ATN Access L Class earlier this year simply to have something to pull them. Sometime in 2018 I'll also have the patched-out Southern Rail Models NTAF Freight Australia tank cars to look forward to, (for a new petrol siding project to be added beside my goods shed).

But it is the Auscision 48's, 442's and fishbelly underframe NCNX steel wagons that I seem to be stuck on. All would fit nicely in my 2002-2005 era. The 48 class in the Freightcorp livery with PN decals, the 442 in the unique CFCLA JL406 livery and the NCNX coil steel wagons in SRA red with the tarp supports. I've had the tarpaulin covers and spare packets of coil steel loads put aside for these since purchasing the NCTY steel wagons this time last year. The NCNX's I really need, but the 48 and 442?

I settled on the idea of selling my 82 Class in an attempt to afford both. I have fond memories of watching Freightcorp blue 48's shunt at Grafton whenever I'd stop at McDonald's on the way back from a holiday with my family, and the 442's were one of my favourite locomotives on the Main North Line when growing up back when the electrification ended at Gosford. I love that everything old is new again flavour, and an L class, 421, 48 and 442 (in the guise of a leased JL Class) would make for a motley collection of refurbished locomotives all as old as I am. By comparison, an 82 class on anything other than a coal train between 2002-2005 was a rarity. I've loved running this loco on Philden, and despite the difficulties I had removing the body shell from this model (see finding Gremlins post here) it has since run faultlessly at my last 2 exhibitions. In a year when I've managed to get everything back on track, it seems my On Track 82's time at Philden is coming to an end. I guess that is how you keep a small layout fresh, by keeping the rollingstock fluid.

Selling the 82 class at auction yielded a very pleasing result, and I should now be able to secure a blue 48 class as its replacement and a pack of NCNX's that I will keep 2 of and sell the other 2 still in the box to effectively halve the cost as I did with the NCTY wagons. I'll place my last minute pre-order straight after the Christmas holidays. As for the 442, I plan to let go of a few very rare NSWGR timetables that are surplus to my collection in the new year, including a 1956 and 1960 complete country train timetable. Those two alone should get me halfway there. Beyond that, there is very little that is planned for the era that I model that would actually be of interest to a small layout such as Philden. Aside from the long awaited re-run of the Eureka Models 620/720 railcars in City Rail grey ghost livery, but as that has been promised since 2008, and next year is 2018... I thinks its safe to say there is no need to panic with that one.

Failing that, it you're after some light-hearted railway reading, each of my Train Tripping paperbacks are between 72 and 90 pages long and priced at only $7.99 AUD. For those unfamiliar, they are a stop-by-stop guide to some great D-I-Y railway journeys in Australia. Profits from all sales go directly to the Philden Locomotive Fund, or PLF for short.

Now to get back to all my research. I have another book to write!

Exhibition #3 Gold Coast

Hey there Humphrey Bear! Thanks for stopping by to see Philden at this year's Miniature Trains on the Coast. Fresh back from my 3rd public showing of Philden on Australia's Gold Coast, I must admit that the warm weather over the weekend signalled the Queensland model train exhibition circuit is coming to a close for 2017. Swapping the Sunshine Coast for the Gold Coast for another weekend of running trains, I once more dismantled my bookshelf layout, took it down six flights of stairs and packed it safely into the back of our hatchback for the two hour trip down the highway. The warm weekend called for the air-conditioning to be on high and some Coldplay on the car stereo.

The 2018 venue for the Commonwealth Games hosted this year's Gold Coast Miniature Train Show.

Down on the Gold Coast, Carrara is being transformed ahead of the city hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games in April 2018. The old Gold Coast Rollers basketball stadium was once more the venue for the Miniature Trains on the Coast over the weekend of October 28-29, but this time the giant yellow Gold Coast Sports Complex building behind it was being opened for the public to view for the first time. I think organisers were expecting a bumper crowd next door with food vendors, live concerts and activities throughout the day, but the spies I sent next door to tell me what I was missing out on reported that the numbers were thin and there were more people inside the old building looking at the model trains.

I don't get to park this close when I go to the AFL at Metricon Stadium! Did anyone notice my Brisbane Lions plates?

Saturday saw a good amount of visitors through the doors and called for exhibitors to park their cars next door at Metricon Stadium, the home of the AFL's Gold Coast Suns. Last time I was here was to watch my Brisbane Lions defeat the Suns by just 2 points. Back then I had to park the car 7 kilometres away and walk to the game. This time I was directed to park much closer than anyone with Lions number plates on their car has ever dared before. I just couldn't help taking the above photo!

Denise spent just as much time at the controls as I did over the weekend.

A basketball stadium as a venue for a model train show is superb, in that the floors are dead level and the amenities a cut above most others. Denise and I had no problems in setting up the layout, and posted a new record for packing up and loading the car for the trip home on the Sunday evening of just 20 minutes. The quality of layouts on display over the weekend was the best of the 3 shows I have taken Philden to so far.

Despite adding a new illuminated layout name sign that said PHILDEN, I still had someone point out that my layout looked nothing like the Granville Bridge on account of the 'All Stations to Granville' memorabilia that is attached to the layout's frame. It only proves you can't win them all. I suppose it was nowhere near as bad as the gentleman who stopped, screwed up his nose and exclaimed, "it's nicely detailed and all, but why would you want to build something that just goes up and back? To me it's just a waste of space and may as well not be here. In fact I'm bored already just looking at it." I suppose its each to his own, but if by comparison he's only got a box of old train parts tucked away in a garage he plans to do something with one day, I for one would like to return the compliment when he exhibits his layout someday. If indeed he ever gets around to building one at all.

Exhibiting my layout three times over the course of 2017 has however been a rewarding experience. Now that the Gold Coast Miniature Train Show is done and dusted, I feel like a footballer whose season is over. In fact, at this stage I am unsure whether I will exhibit Philden again next year. The layout from here on can only be tinkered with as far as any changes are concerned, and for the large part I've exhausted what I can write about it here on this blog. I don't want Philden to become one of those layouts people tire of seeing. During the course of the past 2 years, I've not only been enjoying my hobby, but taking the time to self-produce some railway books of my own. To a large point that has been a rather disappointing affair. Readership here and on my author blog hasn't necessarily translated to sales and it is time for me to give it the flick and move onto something else. At this point I am committed to finishing my set of 4 Last Train railway bush poetry photo books by mid next year, after which time I feel inclined to pursue something entirely different in life. By then I may have finished that other layout I've been referring to, and Philden might not make another public appearance at all.

Regardless of what the future brings, I plan to keep Philden standing proudly above my desk.

Armed with the memory of posing for that photo with Humphrey B. Bear at the 2017 Gold Coast Miniature Train Show, and with Denise having recorded just as many scale miles as I did on my small layout over the weekend, we headed home. A stadium quickly becomes a lonely place after the game is over. So with Coldplay filling our ears, and summer storm clouds chasing us in our rear view mirror, we headed north on the highway. Another show over. Another one to come. Perhaps. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; Exhibition #2 Pine Rivers

Signal Box Part Two

After completing my small New South Wales signal box in my last post, I found myself staring long and hard at the photos I had taken of Neath Signal Box in the Hunter Valley. While it captured the essence of the hardy little survivor from the steam age, I soon realised that I was only going to get one chance to make this look like a replica of the original before gluing it into place on my layout. And that meant taking a scalpel to the so-far finished model to give the building some cosmetic surgery.

The long vacant concrete slab still needed some modification to fit the signal box's shape.

With the assembly and painting of the Walker Models kit already finished in my Signal Box Part One post, I started by testing that the structure was going to fit on the concrete slab I had built into position two years earlier when first constructing my layout. It turned out it didn't. Fortunately the building fitted perfectly between the lengthwise gap I'd left between the fencing. The foundations however were about 9 mm too narrow for the width of the building, which called for me to scrape away some of the scenery base and cut, paint and glue a fifth strip of balsa foundation in the area shown above.

Leftover flextrack ties or sleepers and some 1.5 mm round polystyrene make for easy line-side fencing.

Next up was the white metal post and rail fence shown in the photo. For this I cheated a little and used some 1.5 mm round styrene strip shoved through the holes of some plastic PECO sleepers or ties that were trimmed from a scrap piece of flextrack. I then pre-drilled the holes where the fence would sit alongside the track, and cut the sleepers to the desired height.

I glued the fence into position as I constructed it.

With the extra strip of balsa wood foundation now secured in place, I then glued the sleeper posts with the styrene rod in place into the pre-drilled holes and fixed a second railing to the top using some super glue. I came back to paint the posts white later.

Some orange paint applied to my silver mesh ribbon turns it into some modern orange safety barrier mesh.

Next I turned my attention to the orange safety barrier mesh that had been tacked onto the bottom of the stairs in the photo. Using the same silver ribbon as I did for the security screen mesh on the windows, I painted this with some old Humbrol Enamel No. 18 Orange and set is aside to dry while I turned my attention to the awning supports. There is a strip of piping conduit on the corner of the building that runs all the way from the roof awning to the ground. I cut this using the same 1.5 mm round styrene strip and glued it to the painted using some balsa cement before painting it in the same Senco Off White Acrylic that I used for the weatherboards. I then matched the bottom of the styrene strip to the photo by painting in in the matching Tamiya XF-11 J.N. Green that I used for the brickwork.

Finally I cut the cross beam supports away from the side roof fascia, and also the platform awning support post from the corner of the handrail. Turning to my box of scrap parts leftover from my Faller Cement Works kit, I found a leftover section of 1 mm diameter drain pipe complete with a 45 degree angle bend, and used this as the awning down pipe that is awkwardly positioned between the signal box and the stairwell. I then used a leftover off-cut from this to glue the angled awning support beam that can be seen beside the door on the original. I then drew the latchbolt onto the balsa door with a black pen, and added the blue rectangular security company sticker to the left of the door.

The end result viewed in daylight, and once more out of place against the Caloundra skyline, 

My photos also showed an interesting radio antennae that was anchored to the platform base and platform awning. In the photo it is quite tall, and I guessed it to be around 4.5 metres tall. So I cut another length of 1.5 mm round styrene strip to a height I thought looked right, and then glued two angle brackets from my leftover kit scrap-box either side of it before painting it with my silver paint pen. Finally I could then add all these signature pieces to my finished model, and weather it accordingly.

I next added the LED light and glued the structure to the layout.

To add the tiny LED light inside the signal box, I taped the wire to a 1.5 mm x 40 mm high strip of styrene rod and shoved it up from underneath the layout into the pre-drilled holes in both the concrete slab and the base of the Walker Models building before gluing the signal box in place on my layout. The styrene riser holds the LED just above the height of the window frame so that it is not visible through the security mesh windows. If ever I need to replace the LED, it can be pulled back out from underneath.

The completed signal box now stands guard by the entry to Philden Station.

On the rear of the signal box I added a resin cast silver power metre box. The resin casting was a seconds sample given to me by Stuart from Walker Models to play around with, and I just gave it my silver paint pen treatment followed by a little dab of Rustall. I don't know if there was one on the back of the signal box as it was the one side I forgot to photograph when I visited the Hunter Valley in 2016. But for the sake of adding a little interest, I think it looks pretty neat.

Its a little bit ramshackle, but still structurally strong. Just what I was aiming for.

I measured the length of the orange safety barrier mesh before I trimmed it to ensure it just tucks messily in behind the white track-side safety fence. I've set my model in the era between 2002-2005, and the photographs I took of the building a decade later in 2016 show the building in a little worse condition and the safety barrier near trampled to death. So for arguments sake, we'll just say that this captures the beginnings of trespassers pushing their way through the safety barrier.

The end result was a pleasing enough match to Neath Signal Box. That's me on a visit in May 2016.

Since purchasing this kit two years ago, Walker Models have since released a newer version of the Neath Signal Box kit that is more accurate when it comes to the window sizes, roof awnings and supports and the shape of the platform as you can see on the real life version above. The original version I have just shown you how to build is now sold as the small NSWGR Signal Box. For myself, I'm glad I stuck with building the original kit, as it still enables me to keep the bus set down area on my layout that sits between the backdrop and the end of the railway station platform. Making the few cosmetic changes has enabled me to at least capture the essence of that day back in May 2016 when I visited what remained of Neath Railway Station, didn't see any trains, but at least had a great dinner at the nearby Neath Hotel.

See also; Signal Box part One