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AUSTRALIAN MODEL RAILWAY ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED Vol. 64 No. 343 Jan - Feb ISSN 0045-0715 Print Post Approved 2015 PP100000/839 Information and Directory of Office Holders - AMRA

Federal Committee President Graham Larmour 42 McMillan Street Yagoona NSW 2199 02 9790 5074 email: [email protected] Secretary Robert Hodges 9 Lord Place Barden Ridge NSW 2234 02 9543 4852 email: [email protected] Business hrs. Registrar Stephen Chapman PO Box 429 Moorebank NSW 1875 02 9824 1295 email: [email protected] Treasurer Brian Tyson 22 Tobruk Avenue Carlingford NSW 2118 02 9872 3512 email: [email protected] Website: http://www.amra.asn.au email: [email protected]

New South Wales Committee President Alan Cross 27 Dardanelles St Mortdale NSW 2223 02 9580 0213 Secretary Barry Wilcockson 11 Richmond Close St Johns Park NSW 2176 02 9610 7356 Treasurer Marilyn Wilcockson 11 Richmond Close St Johns Park NSW 2176 02 9610 7356 Clubroom address and phone: 48 Barry Avenue (P.O. Box 277) Mortdale NSW 2223 02 9153 5901

Victorian Committee President Gary Danson 201/101 Whalley Dve Wheelers Hill Vic. 03 9795 4160 Secretary Ron Polistena 1 Loxwood Ave Keysborough Vic 03 9798 7609 [email protected] Treasurer Don Nimon 18 Keyes St Ashburton Vic 3147 03 9885 4819 [email protected] Clubrooms address and phone: 92 Wills Street Glen Iris Vic 3146 03 9885 7034

Queensland Committee President Bruce Meiklejohn PO Box 352 Zillmere QLD 4034 0433440031 [email protected] Secretary D.Malone PO Box 352 Zillmere QLD 4034 Treasurer Frank Brigginshaw PO Box 352 Zillmere QLD 4034 Club Rooms address and phone 20 Murphy Road (PO Box 352) Zillmere Qld 4034 07 3862 9633

Western Australian Committee President John Maker 0417941553 email:[email protected] Vice President Graham Bell 08 92954461 email: [email protected] Secretary John Gartner 08 92726804 email [email protected] Treasurer John Ryan 9387 2195 email [email protected] Clubrooms address and ph:24 Moojebing Street (P.O.Box 60) Maylands WA 6931 08 9377 3456

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Type Size (W x H) Casual Rate Regular Rate Inside Pages Hobby Shop Directory 85 x 40 n/a $63.00 six issues Quarter page 85 x 130 $20.00 $16.40 per issue Half page 188 x 130 $38.00 $25.00 per issue Full Page 188 x 273 $63.00 $50.00 per issue Inside Back Cover Half page 188 x 130 $50.60 $44.00 per issue Full Page 188 x 273 $88.50 $76.00 per issue

Rates quoted are colour, if supplied that way and include GST. Casual Rates apply for one off advertisers. Regular rates apply when the same ad is ordered to appear in six or more issues. AMRA ‘JOURNAL’ is the official Journal of the Australian Model Railway Association Incorporated and is published six times per year. Circulation is approximately 1,000 copies, Australia wide. Our ABN is 93 381 859 617. Advertising Deadlines: All advertising copy/artwork should be sent to the Advertising Manager by the 14th of the even month (February, April, June, August, October, December). Artwork should be supplied on a CD-ROM / DVD and in PDF or BMP format: please, DO NOT EMAIL. All payments for advertising must be made in advance by cheque or Money Order payable to AMRA Inc and sent to the Advertising Manager at the same time as the artwork. Further advertising enquiries should be directed to the Advertising Manager: Ms. Dale Kay 18 Formby St, Sheffield, Tasmania, 7306  03 6491 2324 email: [email protected] AMRAAMRA JOURNAL JOURNAL NO.343 NO.343 – – JAN/FEB JAN/FEB 2015 2015 PAGE

EDITORIAL Inside this issue: appy New Year to all members, I hope everyone had a pleasant break. As mentioned in my last editorial we have now relocated to Editorial 1 H Sheffield in the NW of Tasmania. My feet had hardly landed off the boat when I was seconded onto the committees of both the The Red- water Creek Railway and Steamfest and have become a participating Treasurer’s Report 2 member of their model railway club. I am now learning to drive the Red- water Creek Railway’s locomotive in order to ob- tain my boiler certification, a Krauss 0-4-0 Steam Minimum Curve Radius 4 Engine. This locomotive weighs 7 tonne and is a combination of the (inside) frame and wheels of ex Zeehan Tramways Krauss – builders# 5800 and Sandfly Colliery Krauss (outside frame 2-4-0)No Rosevale Returns 6 5682 – which came to Tasmania in 1907. The rebuilding was done by the Second River Tramway near Launceston in 1971. The locomotive was Low Cost Occupancy fitted with new tyres in 1986. A new firebox (cost $8,000.00) was fitted in 8 Detector the boiler during a 20 month period prior to February 2003. You can read more about the railway and Steamfest on the internet: http://www.redwater.org.au/ Local Rail News 14 & http://www.steamfesttasmania.org.au/ Should any member be travelling to Tasmania over the Tasmanian March long weekend (March 7th-9th) come along and see for yourself. 18 There is plenty of entertainment to keep everyone happy, wives included. Branch Notes  Look me up if you are in town. On a different note, readers who are familiar with Geoff Brown’s “Local Rail News” will be saddened to learn that the notes in Credits this issue will be the last. Geoff has been writing Local Rail Editor/Publisher Stuart Pattison News for approx. 18 years but has decided it is time to put 18 Formby St, Sheffield, Tas, 7306 away the pen and spend some time catching up on his own Tel:03 64912324 email: [email protected] agenda. I am sure all will join me in saying thanks for a great job Geoff and good luck for the future both personal and Advertising Manager Dale Kay modelling. 18 Formby St, Sheffield, Tas, 7306 That’s all for now so……. Tel: 03 64912324 Until next issue, email:[email protected] GOOD MODELLING Typing Dale Kay Stuart Pattison—Editor  P.S. Please note our new snail mailing address and Sub Editors: landlinelandline numbernumber Queensland Steve Malone Tel: TBA e-mail: [email protected] COVER PHOTO V/Line locomotive N 463 in hamburger livery sits in the platform at Victoria Tony Hough Albury NSW station waiting for the green signal to depart for Mel- Tel : 98024438 bourne with the lunchtime e-mail: [email protected] passenger train. Photo: S.Pattison New South Wales Rod Fussell 24 Martin St Heathcote NSW 2229 Tel : 952069165 NOTICE email:[email protected] This publication accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of articles

Printer Landmark Printing – Braeside Vic or advertising published herein, statements made or opinions expressed in pa- pers or discussions, nor do we necessarily subscribe to the views expressed or Printing Manager Stuart Westerman implied by contributors. Popvalve Photo Tony Hough Neither is any guarantee implied or expressed as to the good conduct or practice courtesy The Dorrigo Steam Museum of advertisers herein. This publication reserves, at all times, the right to refuse acceptance of any matter considered unsuitable for publication. PAGE 2 PAGE 2 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGEPAGE 3

PAGEPAGE 44 AMRAAMRA JOURNALJOURNAL NO.343NO.343 –– JAN/FEBJAN/FEB 20152015

By Terry Flynn (NSW)

DECREASING THE STANDARD MINIMUM CURVE RADIUS. into account all the BR examples Rod uses the AM- IS IT REALLY A GOOD IDEA? RA standard result is a minimum radius of 950mm, a mere 23mm difference in radius compared to In Rod Tonkin’s Article, Journal No341, Rod NMRA RP-11. It’s clear both standards give similar makes an argument to have an alternative minimum results if correctly interpreted. radius standard and makes a number of assump- tions about the current AMRA minimum radius The AMRA minimum radius standard takes into standard. As the primary author of the AMRA mini- account all prototypes, unlike Rods examples or the mum radius standard I would like to correct some of out of date views of a layout designer from 50 years Rods claims about the AMRA standard and add to ago who was using models with less detail than is the discussion. typically available RTR today. The aim of the AMRA standard is to provide a I have made numerous observations and checks set of practical dimensions that will give the model to confirm the accuracy of the AMRA standard, and railway builder a minimum track radius suitable for also have found the minimum radius limits of some reliable operation of locomotives and rolling stock of my locomotives along the way. I can assure mem- without the need for excessive deviation from proto- bers that Rods formula results in a radius too small type vehicle dimensions. It is my view the off the for a fine scale NSW 57 class steam locomotive and shelf 00 scale models Rod has used as examples do 12 wheeled passenger carriages with realistic look- deviate significantly from the prototype in a number ing body mounted couplers, in any scale. I have of areas. For example the large bogie mounted cou- included 2 photographs, showing the clearances of plers resulting in excessive distances between the the wheels of a Lima H0 NSW 12 wheel passenger carriages and therefore are outside the scope of the car with body mounted Kadee coupler boxes. At standard. Rod’s 600mm radius the wheels rub on the coupler box, causing derailments. Firstly Rod infers the AMRA standard is based solely on the appearance of trains going around Rods article comments on maximum train curves. This is only one of a number of factors that lengths. I have observed that the derailing limit of was taken into account in developing the standard. carriages pulling into a curve is well above 100 bo- The wheel rail interface, wheelbase, bogie and cou- gie wagons, if you use the AMRA minimum radius pler clearances were also considered. Rod suggests standard in conjunction with the AMRA carriage the AMRA standard is not suitable for most of our weight standard. I have observed the derailment members, due to many only having the space for a limit for pushing trains is significantly shorter when small layout. I totally disagree with this statement, as using short 4 wheel wagons or carriages with bogie using the standard quickly informs the layout design- mounted couplers through sharp curves. Using the er what is practical and what will look realistic for a minimum radius value from the AMRA standard with given space. body mounted couplers results in the ability to shunt prototype length trains without derailment. I make no apology in developing a standard that helps in designing realistic model railways. If the design using the AMRA minimum radius does not fit I would suggest the layout builder has 5 choices. 1. Change to a prototype that uses smaller locomotives and carriages. 2. Change the layout design a point to point style of layout. 3. Change to a smaller scale. 4. Find / build a bigger layout room. 5. Use the manufacturer’s minimum radius rec- ommendation and build a toy train set. Rod compares the AMRA standard with NMRA RP-11 to argue the AMRA standard’s minimum radius is too large. It is my view Rod has misinterpreted the note about locomotives with flange less centre drivers as not all centre drivers are flangeless on the BR 9F. The NMRA RP-11 class for the BR 9F should be ‘0’ not ‘N’ in my opinion, resulting in a minimum radius of 927mm, larger than the AMRA result of 875mm for the same locomotive. If you take AMRAAMRA JOURNAL JOURNAL NO.343 NO.343 – – JAN/FEB JAN/FEB 2015 2015 PAGEPAGE 5 5

By S.Malone (Qld)

Modellers often take short cuts in building things, especially building things that are not directly related to trains , such as road bridges over railway tracks. Maybe a modeller would use a piece of ply to build such a bridge, instead of board by board construction, or at least scribed timber construction. However the railways of Queensland have done just that, taking a shortcut with plywood or laminated timbers for a replacement road overbridge at Dakabin, just north of Brisbane. A Canadian company built and installed the bridge recently, workmen flying over and doing most of the work on one weekend. The bridge was mostly preassembled in Canada. The only parts used of the old bridge were the vertical supports. The area of Dakabin is well known to rail enthusiasts as it is the top of a grade for north bound trains after leaving Petrie, the first real grade after leaving Brisbane on a trip to Cairns. In the late 70’s I was riding the loco foot- plate of a steam train excursion with BB18¼ 1079, as we climbed the grade, the Driver Neville Caldwell told me how a train ran up the back of another at this location many years ago. On our trip that day a red light on a signal was ahead and Neville applied the air brake, however nothing happened, the air compressor on the loco had stopped a while back, all the air had slowly leaked out and no one noticed. The fireman screwed on the tender hand brake and pulled the train up just past the red signal, fortunately we were on a slight up grade. A phone call to control was made at the phone on the signal to ex- plain the problem, the air compressor was given a tap with a hammer which got it going again and we were soon off on our trip north. Photos Top: The completed Bridge today Below: The bridge under construction PAGE 6 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

By S.Malone (Qld)

One of the best Quality Queensland Railways topher) around 15 years ago and has been rebuilt Large Model Railway Exhibition Layouts is returning completely by the group led by John Lovett over the to the Brisbane Model Train Show next May. past several years. The venue for the last two AMRA Qld Branch Much of the famous railway engineer’s QR S Brisbane Model Train Shows at Doomben Race- Scale rolling stock, the late Ian Macfarlane, is being course in 2013 and 2014 did not easily have the cared for by those in the Rosevale group and often space for such a layout, the venue spread over three sees operation on the layout. Ian saw service in floors serviced by a small lift. Com Eng (building 1900 class QR railcars), in Aus- trade – Railway Division in Canberra; In the AMRA The new venue for the 2015 AMRA show is at a Qld Branch Management committee and was found- new Pavilion at the Brisbane Show grounds er of the Perforail garden railway track system as (formerly the RNA) near the sideshow area, just part of the Brisbane (Gauge 1) Loco Works. In S north of the Exhibition railways station and over the scale, Ian built the QR BB18, AC16, C16, 1450 road from the Royal Brisbane Hospital. The venue class locos and many beautifully made items of gives a single floor space of 110m x 50m with no goods and passenger rolling stock. posts so there is lots of space for the larger exhibition layouts like Rosevale. Also returning to the show is the extra large layout from the Coffs Harbour Railway Modellers, an- The Rosevale Layout is probably the best detailed QR exhibition layout in S scale AMRA mem- other finely detailed HO gauge layout which runs bers have worked on. It started out as a QR layout British, American and Australian trains at selected built by the Hadley family (George, Phillip and Chris- times.

 Stopping For Lunch.  1720 On Passenger Train AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGEPAGE 77

 AC16 At The Goods Shed

Roseville Dock Platform 

Ian McFarlane’s BB18 In Action 

Stationmaster’s House  Rosevale Loco Shed  PAGE 8 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

by Circuits4Tracks

I have always been interested in signalling systems and one important element of this is track occupancy detection. While there are various methods available, the fact that model locomotives draw current makes for a reliable method. It does mean that in order to detect the entire train, it is necessary to make an axle or two on each piece of rolling stock able to conduct a small amount of current. I started on the road to detection in the early 90s with two design goals in mind. The first was to keep the design as simple as possible in order to keep the cost as low as possible. Occupancy detection is one area where small increases in the unit price can have a profound effect, as the number of detectors causes the total cost to climb rapidly (see sidebar on High Resolution Detection on next page). The second design goal was to isolate electrical noise from the computer interface that would be using the occupancy information. The Circuit Design Quad occupancy detector card installed on A current-detecting circuit works by having the power feeding author’s layout. DCC bus connects to the 2‐ the track pass through it. Electrical isolation is provided using an posion terminal at the front le and each opto-coupler. This is a device containing a Light Emitting Diode block feeder aaches to the 4‐posion termi‐ (LED) and an optically sensitive transistor all in a single package. nal next to it. The 5‐volt supply and ribbon Turning on the LED in one circuit causes the transistor to turn on in cable to the computer interface connect at the another circuit,. The two circuits do not need to be electrically connected in any way. The concept is to take the current being drawn in the block and pass it through the LED side of the opto-coupler. The transistor in the opto-coupler is used to control a device or circuit. It’s that simple! Not exactly – there are two major issues that must be overcome. One is that an LED only conducts current in one direction. Current must flow in both directions. For DC operations, the current only flows in one direction at a time, but must be able to change in order to operate a locomotive in the other direction. With DCC, the power is an alternating current. The solution to this is to use two “back-to-back” LEDs. That is, two wired in parallel with their polarities reversed, see Fig. 1. This will allow current in either direction to flow through the circuit and be detected. The other issue is the maximum current that an LED may conduct. If this is ex- ceeded, the LED will be destroyed. This current level can be below the level that some incandescent bulbs draw, let alone the current drawn by a locomotive’s motor. The solution is to bypass a majority of the track current around the LEDs and only have a small fraction pass through it. Since an LED functions like a diode, I use a rectifier diode, or rather two of them for each direction. The reason for two diodes is that LEDs and rectifier diodes have a different “forward voltage”. This is the voltage drop across the device when it is conducting current. This varies slightly as the current through it varies, but for a simple approximation, a silicon rectifier diode has a forward voltage of about 0.7 volts, while an LED typically has a forward voltage between 1 and 2 volts. These values are reasonable rules-of-thumb to use, but the actual value will vary with the selection of device used, load current, and temperature. The key is to use an opto-coupler with an LED forward voltage as close to, but slightly greater than the forward voltage of two rectifier diodes. A resistor can be placed in series with the LEDs to take up the voltage difference at a current level that is appropriate for the LED. In designing the circuit, I was looking at rectifier diodes with a forward voltage close to 0.7 volts, and an opto-coupler with an LED forward voltage of about 1.3 volts, so using two rectifier diodes in series (and another pair in the oppo- site direction) would do the trick. See Fig. 2. Though not absolutely necessary, I added a capacitor on the output of the circuit, though its effect is mainly on the turn-off transition of the detector. That means that a very short loss of detection will not be seen. I found that using a 33 :F capacitor worked the way I like, but another value or no capacitor may be fine for your situation. The voltage rating must exceed the voltage of what the detector will feed into, and in AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGEPAGE 9 9 my case that is a 5 volt digital circuit, so I use a capacitor with at least a 10 volt rating.

In my original design twenty years ago, I chose the MCT6. This device has two separate opto-couplers in a single 8-pin DIP package. Each consists of a single LED and transistor. By externally wiring each LED back-to- back, and wiring the two output transistors directly in parallel, the one device serves a single detection circuit. In recent years, I revisited my circuit design and found a number of other useful opto-couplers were now available, including some with internal back-to-back LEDs. However, the MCT6 was reasonably priced and easily obtained, so I stayed with it. The choice of rectifier diodes required looking at the maximum current that could possibly pass through it. When I first designed this detector twenty years ago, I was using DC throttles with a maximum output current of 1 ampere, so I chose 1 amp rectifier diodes. When I started a new layout that would use DCC, this had to be changed. My DCC system can provide 5 amperes, but I wanted power districts and selected a circuit breaker card with a maximum adjustable trip current of 3 amps. This allowed me to use the 1N540X family of 3 amp rectifier diodes. With the opto-coupler and rectifier diodes selected, I could determine the resistor value. I won’t go into the details of reading the component data sheets, but they gave me a good starting point to work with and some experimentation allowed me to confirm the value. It must allow the circuit to detect the small- est load (one detectable car), but still operate without de- stroying any components when the maximum load current is being drawn (3 amperes). The MCT6 has a maximum current of 60 mA, but I wanted to design the circuit to limit its current to half that value to provide a margin of safety. I found that a 10 ohm resistor works nicely. However, the low end needed to be more sensitive than I initially planned. Originally, I was going to create my own detectable wheelsets with about 1,000 to 2,000 ohms per axle, but later found it to be easier to purchase detectable wheelsets from Logic Rail Technologies (http://www.logicrailtech.com). Thought they can custom- make wheelsets with your choice of resistance, their stock sets have a resistance of about 15,000 ohms per axle. I also figured that my current layout will have more rolling stock than my earlier layout, so keeping the current draw per car was a good idea. I use these on two axles per car. Based on that, my circuit as described so far did not have the sensitivity to detect a single car. Altering the value of the resistor would push the maximum current through the opto-coupler’s LED too close to its limit for my comfort. Instead, I chose to add a 2N3904 transistor on the output. Since I use a fair number of these for other purposes, they cost about 15 cents or less when purchased 100 at a time.

The Circuit Board For my layout, I wanted to have printed circuit boards made to standardize wiring methods. This adds a cost, but since I usually needed more than one detector in close proximity, I designed a circuit board with up to four detectors. Combining detectors on a single board lowers the cost per detector. Not only do four detectors share the cost of a board, but they also share some connectors. All detectors on the board share a connection from the track power, plus they share a connection for the digital ground on the outputs. By doing a little rough planning on where

PAGEPAGE 10 10 AMRAAMRA JOURNAL JOURNAL NO.343 NO.343 – JAN/FEB – JAN/FEB 2015 2015 detection would be needed, I figured that more than four on a single card would be too many for most situations. In a few cases, four is too many, but it is not necessary to populate the entire board if a single, double, or triple unit is needed. I designed the board to allow adding an indicator LED and its current limiting resistor for each detector, which could serve as a pull-up if needed. I find it nice to have a visual indication when working under the layout, and since I had a drawer of small LEDs and resistors, the only added cost was the time to put these on the board. If using the indicators, the board must be supplied with power for them that should be compatible with what the circuit is driving. In my case, I have a 5-volt powered bus from by my computer interface. I don’t need these to be super bright, so I initially used a 1000 ohm resistor to keep their current low. In considering that the open collector output could be used to drive something that uses a higher supply voltage, I terminal block would be used, but when I was sourc- chose 24 volts as an upper limit to come up with a ing parts, I found a more economical source provid- current limiting resistor for the indicator LEDs that ed me with 2-terminal and 4-terminal blocks each in would be suitable for this. In testing with a 26 volt a different shade of blue, which would also be a ben- supply, I found that a 2k7 resistor worked well eficial visual difference. For flexibility, I designed the across a range of supplies from 5 volts to 26 volts. board to use a 7-position terminal block. The first That means, with a 5 volt supply, the LED will be three are the incoming power, and the other four bright enough, but with a 26 volt supply, the current feed the track. will not be too high for the LED or for a ¼ watt resistor. The final circuit diagram is shown in Fig. 3. For a full quad detector, I use 2-terminal block in the first two positions, and a 4-terminal block in the I use screw terminals for the power and track last four. See the opening photo. I have needed a connections. There needed to be a terminal for the few boards with only three detection circuits and no incoming power, and an outgoing power terminal for need for two input terminals. As can be seen in Fig. each of the four circuits. To make wiring a bit easier, 4, these use a single 4-terminal block in positions 3 I thought it would be nice to have two screw termi- through 6. nals for the incoming power to allow daisy-chaining more than one board. This originally meant that a 6- I use a six-pin SIP header plug for the outputs. In addition to the four detector outputs, this also provides connection for digital ground at one end of the connector and power for the indicator LEDs at the other. If the indicators are not used, a five-pin header may be used.

Fig. 4 Triple Detector Boards The author had a location where a reverse loop with three blocks needed separate detection as it was powered from Fig. 5 Diodes inline with yard DCC bus. an auto-reversing circuit instead of the regular bus. AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGEPAGE 11

Caveats Installation Be aware that track power that passes through These detector cards can placed just about any- two diodes will result in a track voltage that is about where a 3.5" square space is available using four 1.4 volts lower. This is generally not a problem. number 4 screws and stand-offs. Many DC throttles have a maximum voltage a little An 18 gauge feeder connects the card to my 14 on the high side, and DCC systems usually have the gauge power bus and if the 22 gauge track feeder is ability to adjust their output voltage. What is important is that if there are any sections of track under a foot in length, it is directly connected to the where you do not need detection, you should take card. If longer, or if one block requires more than four diodes to create a pair in series that are wired one 22 gauge feeder (I use a feeder for each section back-to-back with another series pair and use this in of flex track), an 18 gauge feeder is used between line with the track feeder for the non-detected sec- the card and the final 22 gauge feeder(s). tion of track. If you do not do this, you will observe a Typically, the cost per circuit for these compo- speed change as a train enters or leaves this section of track. On my layout, detection is not used in nents is under $4. The only additional costs are for yards, and the DCC power bus for yards has a sin- the printed circuit board and the connectors. gle set of four diodes to provide this drop. See Fig. 5.  Fig. 6 Circuit Components

©2012 Circuits4Tracks: Individuals may use the circuit design in this article for their own personal non-commercial use and may pass this on to others for similar use. http://circuits4tracks.daxack.ca

PAGEPAGE 1212 AMRAAMRA JOURNALJOURNAL NO.343NO.343 –– JAN/FEBJAN/FEB 20152015

By S.Chapman NSW

Earlier this year we asked members whether number of members renewing through the post it will they were interested in an electronic only member- no longer be worthwhile processing renewals every ship option with a small discount on the regular day leading up to the due date. With processing membership fee. Almost thirty members responded once or twice a week it may take up to two weeks expressing an interest in this including several who for members to receive their receipt instead of re- have not even provided an email address to be able ceiving it within a week of posting their renewal as to access the Member’s Area in the first place. At previously. Can members please therefore wait two the same time the number of members who actually weeks before chasing their renewal in future. have an electronic only membership without receiv- ing any discount has increased from four to thirteen. This year's prize winner of three year's addition- I will investigate what changes are required to be al membership for being financial on the renewal able to offer a discount to the electronic only mem- due date of 1st September is Chris Winston of NSW bers so that it will hopefully be available should the branch. Chris renewed for three years back in 2012 number of electronic only members grow to the which ensured that he would be included the 2012, point where the Federal CoM decides that the num- 2013 and 2014 draws. Other benefits of renewing bers justify the additional complexity this introduc- for three years as Chris did are that you save on any es . price increases during that period and those that don't renew online also save on postage. There are We now have email addresses for 80% of the even bigger savings for those using money orders membership and 45% of members have requested as only one money order is needed instead of three. a password to access the Member's Area. The main reason for obtaining access appears to be so that There were a number of additions and changes the members can renew using Paypal as approxi- to the Member's Area this year. A more flexible sys- mately 47% of this year's renewals were done this tem for generating reports and labels was intro- way. There was also a huge increase in the number duced making it easier to create extra reports to as- of members who had renewed within a couple of sist the branch and Federal committees. A file shar- weeks of the due date this year and by the end of ing option was introduced to allow members to September the number of financial members was share files with other members and the third party over 100 higher than in prior years. The additional photo gallery script we were using that is no longer email reminders sent to those who have supplied supported has been replaced with a simpler one that email addresses and who have not yet renewed ap- provides the functionality we need and works better pears to be having an effect on people renewing with the rest of the site. The forum has also been closer to the due date although we still had only the modified to make it easier to administer. Sugges- usual 50% who had actually renewed by the due tions for further additions to the Member's Area are date. The number of members who had renewed by the end of the grace period is also higher than it has always welcome. been for more than five years. With the decreasing

The Editor AMRA Member 3567 & the G20 bers to have a chance to get together. Member 3567 AMRA Journal decided to go to the branch, with a few tools to do Dear Stuart, some modelling. As the train left Auchenflower, two The recent G20 held in Brisbane was subject to stops from the city, it was announced that there comprehensive security by Sate and Federal police would be a police inspection at Milton, one stop from as well as military precautions by both Australian the city. Along came Constable Plod… “What have and Foreign forces. How complete these were will you got here?”…. “It’s only an automatic centre probably never be revealed but AMRA member punch”…. Automatic? Where are you going?”… 3567 had one contact with it. “Zillmere”… Just as well you’re not going to the G20 Because of the need for security precautions, area, that’s a concealable weapon!”… Friday 14th November was declared a public holiday in Brisbane to reduce the number of people in the Edward H Ward city. AMRAQ decided to open the branch for mem- Member # 3567 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGEPAGE 13 13

CLUES Compiled By Robert Gorrell Across 1 Australia’s leading model railway association 4 Journal Editor (continues at 8 down) 9 Four legged equine as in donkey engine 11 Commonwealth of Australia 12 Mail order specialists at Bayswater Vic 15 Crew accommodation on a locomotive 16 Barely big enough; or frugal with money 18 Leading Ballast supplier @ bigpond 23 King Island, Bass Strait 24 Regular photo feature in Journal 27 On Line, only looking 28 Australian National Line 29 Eight divided by 4, or 6÷3 31 San Francisco, or six frankfurts 32 UK Builder of excellent coaches in O gauge 33 Changeover from AM to PM 35 High Energy or habitual ergasiophobia 36 Source of Journal’s Local Rail News: GB 44 To wake up someone, or to scold 45 On rails, closely related to a train 47 Rack railway toothed gear wheel 49 Running behind schedule, or milk coffeé 51 Table Top gauge – 3mm to the foot 52 Leading hobby shop at Liverpool NSW

Down 191÷2 Two of these make a whole: 3738 CloselyFuel gauge related: ready 4mm for ascale long on 1 LateLate lamentedlamented PresidentPresident ofof NSWNSW 1÷220 Uncle Ivan or Unlimited Income HOlong track trip Branch 2021 UncleUseful Ivan tip for or crossword,Unlimited Income solving 3839 FuelFine gaugeScale Andready Authentic for a long 2 RoyalRoyal AgriculturalAgricultural SocietySociety 21puzzle Useful tip for crossword, solving long40 Elizabeth, trip abbreviated 3 BurntBurnt residueresidue inin thethe fireboxfirebox puzzle22 Last one left: one and …. 3941 FineNicaraguan Scale And Railways Authentic 4 SouthSouth AustralianAustralian TramwaysTramways 2225 LastCompass one left: point: one East-North- and …. 4042 Elizabeth,Brisbane Model abbreviated Train Show, Board 25East Compass point: East-North- 41May Nicaraguan 2015 Railways 5 EMU:EMU: ElectricElectric MultipleMultiple ….…. East26 Australian Taxation Office 4243 BrisbaneDigital Command Model Train Control Show, 6 RoyalRoyal CommissionCommission ExaminingExamining 2630 AustralianWhat the winner Taxation just Office did May46 Swallowed 2015 it, consumed Gobbledegook 3033 WhatRelated the to winner frogs, justtoads, did and 4348 DigitalOrder ofCommand Australia, Control or old age 7 TrainTrain Order,Order, oror TransportTransport OfficerOfficer 33Bert Related to frogs, toads, and 4650 SwallowedEftpos Okay, it, orconsumed egg omelette 8 Journal Editor (continued) Bert34 One stop hobby shop at Parra- 48 Order of Australia, or old age 10 Shoe liners, they come in pairs 34matta One NSW stop hobby shop at Parra- 50 EftposSolution Okay, page or egg 152 omelette 13 Real scoundrel, villain, hooligan matta35 The NSW world’s most popular 14 Nincompoop, idiot 35gauge The world’s most popular Solution page 17 17 Hong Kong gauge37 Closely related: 4mm scale on 19 Two of these make a whole: HO track

HOW TO ACCESS THE AMRA MEMBER'S AREA : [And be able to read Journal on your computer]. Register your email Address – send an email to [email protected] Go to http://www.amra.asn.au and select the MEMBER'S AREA link Get a Password – enter your member number and registered email address and click on ‘New Password’ Check your emails – the one from [email protected] will provide you with a password Enter your member number and password and click on ‘Member Access’. If you later wish to choose your own password use the ‘Change Password’ link,

PAGEPAGE 1414 AMRAAMRA JOURNALJOURNAL NO.343NO.343 –– JAN/FEBJAN/FEB 20152015

By Geoff Brown (Vic) The November Railway Digest reports the Reg- Way back in June of 1980 New South Wales istration of Interest for the construction of the re- Government Railways locomotive 6029 visited Victo- maining sections of the Maldon to Dombarton rail ria. No, it did not get to Melbourne but it did get as freight link opened on October 13th 2014. The pro- far as Benalla. With the recent restoration of 6029 in cess will invite the private sector to submit proposals Canberra the November Newsrail makes on obser- for the design, construction, operation and mainte- vation that perhaps 6029 could once again pay a nance of the freight line. The deadline for responses visit to Victoria, possibly even making it to Mel- will be on February 24th 2015. For those unaware bourne. Now that would be really something! But in construction of the line started in 1983 and was halt- the passage of 35 years what would today’s citizens ed in 1988, the government of the day citing signifi- of Melbourne make of a double articulated steam cant cost overruns. The concept of a private consor- locomotive puffing into Southern Cross station. tium completing the railway is not unusual, however the operation and maintenance of the line is some- In September of last year Chicago Freight loco- thing else. Also the line is referred to as freight only, motives S300 and S311 were transferred to Goul- does this mean there will be no passenger services burn. The reasons were not elaborated on but in the at all! November Newsrail and the December MotivePower it appears the S class will be used on infrastructure As mentioned in the previous issue of Journal trains operated by Espee Rail on behalf of the Aus- the cost of exporting through the Port of Melbourne tralian Rail Track Corporation. The forty plus hopper has reached such a level that the QUBE intermodal wagons used will be from the CHAY and CHOY se- service from Harefield no longer travels in a souther- ries. ly direction, but, as of September 15th the Harefield train now heads north to Sydney. The CEO of QUBE In a change of heart Pacific National have had said that in 2010 the cost per twenty foot container some of their A class locomotives returned to a ser- (TEU) through the Port of Melbourne was $36.00. As viceable condition for a possible selling option. The of mid 2014 the cost through Melbourne Port is A class, being broad gauge locomotives may be of $112.00. By contrast the present cost through the interest to QUBE Logistics, perhaps! Port of Sydney is $76.00. After languishing for some time on the turntable On page 14 of the same issue of Railway Digest roads at South Dynon Seymour Rail Heritage Cen- is an image of an almost finished locomotive for the tre’s locomotive B74, which has been on hire to meat processing and export company Fletchers In- QUBE has finally been sent back to Seymour. It is ternational. Classified FIE 003, the C44aci locomo- understood B74 is in a poor mechanical condition tives will presumably be used on trains from the and is in need of some serious attention. Fletchers plant at Dubbo to the Port of Sydney. The number 003 suggests that engines 001 and 002 have already been constructed. This could be a trend setter for the future where a not so large company buys their own locomotives so as to power their own train. The November issue of Newsrail reports that the Victorian Government has signed an agreement with the Rail Transformation Consortium to start investi- gative work into the Cranbourne-Dandenong Rail Corridor Project. Apparently the investigation by the RTC has to complete the work by mid 2015. Wheth- er this investigation includes work for the Hastings Port project is a matter of conjecture. Also from the December MotivePower is men- As of January 1st 2015 rail car parks will now be tion that Pacific National is to pull a number of louvre limited to users of public transport. Authorised offic- vans out of storage and have them prepared for an ers will conduct random checks on drivers and pas- unidentified customer. No mention of what type of sengers at car park exits to check they have used louvre vans they are, however as they were on public transport while their vehicles parked. The new broad gauge and have since been converted to regulations will be trialled at selected railway car standard gauge my guess is they are the VLEX 56’ parks. It is a well known fact that a number of rail car louvre vans and the likely customer is Sadliers. parks have a high proportion of cars parked that are not owned by commuters, but people working in the Towards the end October 2014 Cargill’s stand- immediate vicinity. ard gauge locomotives G533 and G535 were towed from South Dynon to EDI Cardiff for an overhaul and a repaint into the Freightliner livery. In the December AMRAAMRA JOURNALJOURNAL NO.343NO.343 –– JAN/FEBJAN/FEB 20152015 PAGE 15 15 Australian Railway Illustrated mention is made on Wales. Some load tests were performed some the new owners of the ex Cargill G class. As of Oc- months ago, and that is about it. So what is next, an tober 14th locomotives G521 and G532 have been advertisement on Gumtree! sold to QUBE Logistics and G533 and G535 have been sold to Freightliner Australia. The Australian Railway Illustrated also mentions that Genesee and Wyoming have given loco CLF5 an overhaul and a new coat of paint. Perhaps there is still the possibility that the Aurizon CLF and CLP locos that are surplus can be sold to GWA rather than have them cut up.

Bingley Hall

Chris Walters

From the Australian Railway Illustrated comes a report that in a recent Australian Financial Review a senior figure from GrainCorp has severely criticised a lack of government investment in rail infrastructure. He has said an increasing volume of grain is being moved by road, rather than by rail. “We are in the crazy situation now where to take a 3.5 million tonne crop through Geelong 20 years ago, 2.5 mil- Signalling and other associated work is being lion tonnes would have come by rail. Now 2.5 million carried out on the last section of the Regional Rail tonnes goes by road. Also from the Australian Rail- Link between Manor Junction (Geelong Line) and way Illustrated is an item where Glencore has an- Deer Park Junction (Ballarat Line). By the time you nounced a prolonged Christmas shut down of its read this copy of Journal in early February 2015 the Australian coal mines. Glencore is planning to shut RRL should be all but completed. the mines from mid December due to the current The December Newsrail reports that during the global oversupply situation. Prices for the thermal latter part of 2014 Pacific National has been actively coal that is the bulk of Glencore’s output has gone scrapping surplus and or damaged wagons. Among from $130 a tonne to just on $60 a tonne. the wagons being cut up are grain wagons, pneu- Again the Australian Railway Illustrated reports matic discharge cement wagons, some still lettered the former head of El Zorro has been hit with a Fed- with the large VR and louvre vans. However Totten- eral Court lawsuit over large scale work place law ham Yard still has a large number of tank wagons, violations. The Melbourne suburban train operator log wagons, grain wagons, aggregate wagons and has also terminated a contract with one of El Zorro’s some early versions of the pneumatic discharge labour hire companies that had provided drivers for three bin cement wagons and about five of the four track maintenance trains on behalf of Metro. bin flour wagons. What is their future! The wagon reviewed in the December Australian In the December MotivePower there is a refer- Railway Illustrated is the BGSY grain wagon. South- ence to the new Fletcher International FEI class lo- ern Shorthaul Railroad recently purchased a total of comotives. The indications are they will used on the 44 BGSY wagons for the Weston Milling contract. Dubbo intermodal freight. However before this hap- The wagon is based on the successful Chinese C35 pens track upgrades and bridge strengthening over design that was originally introduced here as the the Macquarie River will need to take place. Motive- Power also reports that Centennial Coal has returned the leased C and G class locomotives to Chi- cago Freight in favour of newer CM class. In the meantime the first generation GM’s are still being used on the Southern Shorthaul Railroads containerised log trains from Kelso. Some typical examples are GM10, GM27, S302 (ex El Zorro) and S317, one of only two S class fitted with the Leslie Supertyphon air chime. The two National Railway Equipment Company 1200 class Genset locomotives are still parked, and unloved, in a siding at Broadmeadow, New South PAGEPAGE 16 16 AMRAAMRA JOURNAL JOURNAL NO.343 NO.343 – JAN/FEB – JAN/FEB 2015 2015 XGAY grain wagon for the ATN Access rail opera- willing to set up solar farms as the US is doing. An- tion. Later on the WGBY and the WGSY arrived and other item mentioned was the hydraulic fracturing of are now owned by Cargill. The empty wagon weighs underground rock to produce large quantities of oil 24 tonnes and the load capacity is 68 tonnes making and gas. .Doctor Chu mentioned in passing that the a gross weight of 92 tonnes. The BGSY grain wag- catastrophic oil spill by BP in the Gulf of Mexico cost ons are painted a bright yellow and they carry the BP around $23 billion. Yes that is the figure quoted. SSR and GWF logos. He went on to say that not many companies in the world can come up with that sort of money. The iron ore spot price on November 20th was just on $70.00 a tonne. BHP and RIO are still com- The Age Business Day of December 18th reports fortable; however the junior miners are not. the Rouble is in Trouble and it’s all to do with the

th. current slump in the price of oil. Russia’s oil and gas The ABC TV News of November 28 The price industry accounts for about half of its export income. of oil was about $70.00 per barrel and likely to fall The global market seems to think that Russia is on lower. It wasn’t that long ago it was $112.00. This the verge of a financial and economic catastrophe. represents a reduction of about 35 per cent. At this Let’s see what the situation is really like by the time price for countries like Iran, Nigeria, Libya, Russia, this issue of Journal hits your letterbox. Venezuela and a few others it is nothing short of a disaster as it less than the cost of production. What Also by the time you receive this copy of Journal has brought this about, well consumption in China most, if not all of the Trainorama 48 class models has dropped, however Saudi Arabia has kept pro- should have arrived. After eight years of waiting all duction at normal levels and the United States has we can say is, finally! become self sufficient to the point it can now consid- er exporting oil and gas. OPEC is talking about cut- ting production however this will kill the economies of the countries mentioned above that need sales volumes just to survive even if they are selling at a loss. According to some experts this power play of West verses East (including Russia) could go on for a couple of years. Enjoy the discounts while you can! In the same vein the Eureka LCH and CCH four The Age Business Day of December 4th. A wheel coal wagons rerun should have arrived. Also spokesman for the London based commodities the tooling for the 40 class has been located as is group HBSC has said the costs involved in investing now in the new factory. It is now anticipated the in LNG supply facilities in the US, and the expense model will arrive in mid 2015. Eureka! of shipping and logistics were being underestimated. “Whatever happens in the States, it is not going to happen fast, even if the States were going to move into a very aggressive export of LNG, which I doubt. I think the competitive edge of Australia is going to remain massive”. The Alan Kohler Report on ABC TV News of December 16th. The price of oil on this day was The Auscision 45 class is due about now $55.41. To balance its budget Russia needs the (February 2015), but what of the similar South Aus- price to be $122.00 per barrel. Diddums! And who is tralian Railways 600 class. Is it possible Auscision Russia blaming for this market collapse! Why the could release the 600 class about the same time as United States, of course! the 45 class, but as an unannounced model! It is always a good idea to keep some extra bikkies in In a recent talk to the Press Council of Australia the bank, just in case! by noted US economist Doctor Steven Chu (ABC TV 24 News) talked on the energy efficiencies that have been brought about in the US. The changes have lead to better business outcomes on electricity generation, reduced power needs in new buildings. These changes have not been brought about by Federal persuasion but by individual states such as California, Massachusetts and a few others making their own decisions on climate change. Doctor Chu ponders why Australia, a leading exporter of urani- um, does not look at nuclear power as an alternative More great news from SDS Models who have clean generator of power. He points out however announced they intend to produce the MBC and that Australia has an abundance of sun light and MRC vans, as well as the later NRY refrigerator wind power, so why is the Australian Government vans. All are expected somewhere around mid 2015. not granting low interest loans to companies that are AMRAAMRA JOURNALJOURNAL NO.343NO.343 –– JAN/FEBJAN/FEB 20152015 PAGEPAGE 1717 This edition of Local Rail News marks the end of ceived a Meritorious Award in 1992 for the contribu- my contribution to Journal. It has been an interesting tions he has made to both the Victorian branch and and sometimes frustrating experience to produce the AMRA as a whole. this article. Also there was always the problem of out In 1994 Geoff took on the position of Branch of date information. Starting somewhere around Subeditor of JOURNAL a position he held until 2000. 1996 it was then, the equivalent of one or maybe It was during this time the branch followed Western two A4 pages. In recent times it has been around Australia's lead in introducing a Bereavement Assis- four A4 pages, however some of this has not been tance Scheme and Geoff was appointed Registrar of actual rail material but it has certainly been related the Victorian scheme in 1997, a position he still to the rail industry. I must also thank Stuart our Edi- holds. tor/Publisher for his efforts in making the Local News Geoff had a management role with the Victorian more interesting to read with his photographic addi- Railways and in retirement he has provided mem- tions that he has sourced from elsewhere. A simple bers with regular updates of railway activities task you might say, but it has still taken up a lot of through his Local Rail News articles in Journal. This Stuart’s spare time. Also thanks for those who en- newsletter keeps members up-to-date with rail news couraged me to continue writing, even when I felt both prototype and model and because Geoff keeps the articles were not of much value to the hobby. his ear very close to the ground we learn of many Perhaps someone else may like to have a try. Re- interesting issues that have been reported in media member it is your hobby and it’s what you put into it that is not available to everyone. Geoff is a regular that makes the difference. attendee on layout operation sessions, he is one of our very quiet achievers to whom nothing is ever a trouble and Geoff never looks for recognition. Editors Note: In recognition of Geoff's contribution to I would like to take this opportunity to thank Geoff on JOURNAL over the years I present a small insight behalf of the JOURNAL staff for his ongoing and into the person behind the name. committed support. His articles will be sadly missed Geoff joined the Association on 18 August 1970, but as Geoff says, he has been contributing for a as member number 1573 and was elected to the very long time and now it is time for a rest. Also time Victorian Branch Committee of Management in June for him to concentrate on his own modelling inter- 1978. He was elected Vice President in 1980 and ests. Thanks Geoff and good luck for the future 1981 and again in 1984. Geoff was elected Presi- dent in September 1985, a position he held until 1989. In all, Geoff served a continuous 11 years on the Victorian management committee. Geoff re-

CROSSWORD ANSWERS ELECTRONIC MEMBERSHIP WHAT’S YOUR OPINION A small number of members have been strongly advocating that the Association provide electronic membership and in particular, JOUR- NAL, via the internet, rather than in printed form. Presently, approx. 80% of members have an email address, although , surprisingly, last year only 11% paid their membership fees through the membership website. Unless there is an overwhelming desire by the membership for change (especially regarding JOURNAL), the Federal Committee is not inclined to change the current arrangements. This view is on the basis that any reduction in the print order for JOURNAL will only increase production costs, per unit. It should be noted in any case, JOUR- NAL is available for viewing on the Association’s website. Have your say! Let me know your view by either email, or snail mail, by the end of this month.

Robert Hodges Federal Secretary PAGE 18 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGE 19

AMRA NSW Branch Inc. PROGRAMME – February to April 2015 FEBRUARY Wed 4th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 6th Layout Operation / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 7th Layout Operation (see Notes) 10am until late Sun 8th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 11th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 13th Layout Operation / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 14th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late Sun 15th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished Wed 18th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 20th Layout Operation – Australian Diesel / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 21st Layout Operation (see Notes) - Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late Sun 22nd General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 25th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 27th Train Maintenance and Testing Night 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 28th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late

MARCH Wed 4th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 6th Layout Operation / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 7th Layout Operation (see Notes) - Stoney Creek Layout - Q & A (1 pm) 10am until late Sun 8th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 11th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 13th Layout Operation / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 14th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late Sun 15th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished Wed 18th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 20th Layout Operation – American / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 21st Open Day – Preparation / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late Sun 22nd General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 25th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 27th Open Day – Preparation 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 28th * * OPEN DAY * * visitor entry by gold coin donation 10am until 4pm

APRIL Wed 1st “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 3rd CLOSED – Good Friday Closed Sat 4th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) 10am until late Mon 6th Public Holiday – Layout Operation (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Wed 8th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 10th Layout Operation / 24 Hour Running / Structured Running (see Notes) 7pm until … Sat 11th Layout Operation / 24 Hour Running / Structured Running – cont. from Friday night (see Notes) Breakfast available. - plus Ladies Needles & Natter until late Saturday Sun 12th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 15th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 17th Layout Operation – Electric Traction / Structured Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 18th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) & Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late Sun 19th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished Wed 22nd “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 24th Train Maintenance and Testing Night 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 25th ANZAC Day - Public Holiday Layout Operation (see Notes) 1 pm until late Sun 26th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 29th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

NOTES WORK NIGHTS: every Monday night, please check with the appropriate layout supervisor, 7:30pm until 10pm, No Facility Fee LAYOUT OPERATION: O and N Gauges operational, HO (fixed) as permitted during construction STRUCTURED RUNNING: Destination, Sequenced or Timetabled operation as organized for each layout GENERAL ACTIVITIES: the facilities may be used as permitted e.g. layout construction, some running, modelling, library, etc. Members Facility Fee unless otherwise indicated: Adults $7, Juniors/Seniors (70+) $4. Guests are welcome unless otherwise indicated PAGE 20 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

FROM THE PRESIDENT BRISBANE MODEL TRAIN SHOW 2015 NEWS Applications are coming in steadily. It could be As we close proceedings to AMRA Queens- the largest Model Train Show in Australia under one land’s activities for 2014; the 60th Year of AMRA in th roof, in a 110m x 50m space. Speaking of roofs, Queensland and the 20 year since we moved to this new pavilion, known as the “Marquee” at the our present location (20 Murphy Road, Zillmere). At th Brisbane Showgrounds (RNA) stood up perfectly in our recent Christmas and 20 Anniversary Party, we the wild storms and large hail that hit Brisbane re- were entertained by Bob Mawson, Tony Weber, and cently, proving that this new venue is more weather Steve Malone (All past Presidents). They told the resistant and waterproof than venues used in the story of how we came to find and pay for these facil- past. The horticultural and animal pavilions used ities. With some laughs, the members present were previously at the RNA often had problems with draft taken down memory lane with our recent history. A and leaking roofs, while the Doomben venue was display of electrical equipment used in the old open and windy for some exhibitors. Last year at clubrooms was presented with previous clubroom Doomben a large section of ceiling fell down after layout track plans and photos. rain and the associated leak in the roof. Fortunately It was an excellent night. it was in an area just before a Trader “Simply Glues” set up shop, otherwise someone could have got One of the most pleasant duties a President has hurt. Rusty and the previous committee did a great to perform is to present awards. In this case I was job getting 8000 customers in two days in the move asked by the Federal President to present long ser- from the RNA to Doomben in 2013, hopefully we vice awards to George Bray (50 years), Debbie can do the same in this new venue in 2015. Please Malone, Barry Petersen, and Ted Ward (30years). help promote this new venue and the different Congratulations to the recipients, for their long term weekend for the AMRA Qld Branch BRISBANE commitment to AMRA. th th MODEL TRAIN SHOW 9 , 10 May 2015. It was sad to see the last Sunlander go past the clubrooms recently, my father and mother worked OPEN DAY on these long distance trains in its early days. The Branch Management has decided to have an last train headed by three locos, had AMRA mem- OPEN DAY and BUY and SELL on Saturday 14th bers on board and we hope to hear about their ex- March to help promote awareness of the new venue periences in due course. The Sunlander train had a and weekend for the Brisbane Model Train Show in connection with the branch in its early days, mem- May. Please help promote the open day; posters bers building models for QR to promote the new and flyers should be available at the clubrooms for train 60 years ago. At the Countess Street you to distribute. Operating times are 9.30am – clubrooms in the late fifties and early 60’s I am told 2.30pm, Sale Tables are $20 each for large and $10 the AMRA meetings used to pause to watch the small. Members can sell things on the members evening Sunlander depart from Roma Street station, 10% table if required. We need your help as usual the track passing by the clubrooms supplied by QR . with crowd control, layout operations and food.

Following 10 years without clubrooms in 70’s LAYOUT NEWS the Branch received its big break in 1980 when the MAIN CLUBROOM LAYOUT new Commissioner for Railways, Jim Goldston, after Brett continues to coordinate small improve- reading a letter from the new Branch Secretary Bob ments to Wyreema station so it follows a standard Mawson, offered the Branch clubrooms at South format like Bald Mountain. This includes fitting LED Brisbane station until 1994, provided we build QR all indicators showing point positions on control panels. the models and layouts they wanted, quite a big North Arm and Calliope are next. task at times. Mr Goldston started his working life as a loco fitter at Mackay, his favourite locomotive With the conversion of the 12mm roadbed to was the C17 4-8-0 steam loco; an Sn3½ scale mod- 16.5mm track, the tunnels under the spiral area el of the C17 was built by branch members for his have limited height clearances. To prevent mem- retirement gift. bers trains becoming stuck in the tunnels from

Mayne Central to Bell and Wallangarra, loading Bruce AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGE 21 gauges have been inserted at the entrance to these y Saturday 21 Garden Rly Day tunnels. The tunnel to Bell has a height restriction of 57mm and the tunnel to Wallangarra has a limit of y Sunday 22 Running Arvo 56mm. For example, a standard Bachmann 2-8-0 y Tuesday 24 Running Day USA HO scale steam loco has a chimney height of 55mm but the whistle is 57mm, so you cannot use y Friday 27 Running Night the Wallangarra tunnel unless you shorten the whistle. March WARRINGS LAYOUT y Tuesday 3 Running Day The Daylighters on Tuesdays continue to work on the 16.5mm track so it is suitable for DCC opera- y Saturday 7 Running Day tion without short circuits. A 12 volt bulb overload indicator has been installed to prevent melting wires. y Tuesday 10 Running Day Young members such as Bruce & Tyler continue to y Saturday 14 OPEN DAY & BUY & SELL work on the 12mm circuit, hopefully once completed it will attract more QR HOn3½ modellers to join and y Tuesday 17 Running Day use the facility. y Thursday 19 Gathering night SUGGITT’S SIDING y Saturday 21 Running Day This shunting Puzzle which was dug out of the shed after a 10 year slumber proves to be popular y Saturday 21 Garden Rly Day and Ray Adams and others have been doing repairs and improvements. y Tuesday 24 Running Day

N GAUGE LAYOUT y Friday 27 Running Night Ray Adams continues to do amazing things with y Sunday 29 Running Arvo this layout, while providing a track for members with 9mm gauge rolling stock to have a run. y Tuesday 31 Running Day

OUTDOOR TRACK With the two trees gone, planning and design continues for the extension which will provide an ex- NOTES ON THE TIMETABLE tra new circuit or an extra long run on an old circuit Tuesday Running Days – Known as the Daylight- depending which way you go. Donations from the ers – 10am-3pm outdoor modellers will cover most of the cost of Saturday Running Days – Regular running Days – these improvements. first three Saturdays of the month – 10am – 4pm 3rd Thursday Gatherings – 6.30pm – 10pm, Month- GARDEN RAILWAY MODELLERS NEWS ly management report to members at 8pm plus lay- Recently extra running days have been held at out operation and general clubroom activities before the Zillmere Track, weather permitting, plus an occa- and after report sional visit to a home track. New locos and rolling Last Friday running nights – 6.30pm -10pm – stock continue to arrive and generate interest such sometimes timetable operation as well as the Victorian Railways NA class “Puffing Billy” in Last Sunday running afternoons – Noon – 4pm or both electric and steam operation. We look forward so 7 to seeing a /8 scale model of the Fairymead Baldwin Outdoor Garden Rly – 9am-2pm, The 3rd Saturday 0-4-2 that used to work in the Bundaberg area, the is usually the main operating day full size version now operating on a private 2’ line Layout Workdays are arranged as required - to not near Newcastle. John has just completed his Edwin interfere with running days. after many years work, it runs very well indeed, Con- There is a $5 entry fee for running days, For gratulations John. frequent attendees this can be paid in bulk, $80 for the 6 months January – June 2015. No fee for the rd BRANCH TIMETABLE 3 Thursday Gatherings or for accompanying wives February & carers/parents. Please bring correct change for your purchases and fees, our supply of change is y Tuesday 3 Running Day limited. y Saturday 7 Running Day FOR MORE UP TO DATE AND DETAILED INFOR- MATION – Receive the Qld Branch weekly email y Tuesday 10 Running Day newsletter – email Bruce at [email protected] y Saturday 14 Running Day to get on the list.

y Tuesday 17 Running Day

y Thursday 19 Gathering night

y Saturday 21 Running Day PAGE 22 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

OTHER EVENTS Photo 4 The last Sunlander after passing Zillmere The second Bundaberg Model Railway Expo is on enters Carseldine (Chris Malone photo) at the Civic Centre 21 & 22 March 2015 Photo 5 A 1/64 Sunlander train as it looked in the The All Gauge MRC, Carina, is having a Buy & Sell 70s and 80s on the club layout approaches North on Sunday 29th March 2015 Arm Station Photo 1 The 2014 AMRA Qld Branch Christmas Photo 6 A 1/64 Sunlander train as it looked in the Party, here Tony Weber and Bob Mawson did a 70s and 80s on the club layout at the Bluff presentation on the history of the clubrooms. Photo 7 Two Beyer Garratts steaming on the AMRA Photo 2 The last Sunlander runs past the Zillmere outdoor track Clubrooms Photo 8 Johns Edwin coming along nicely Photo 3 The 2015 Venue for the AMRA Brisbane Photo 9 Brians Hunslet crosses a bridge on Peters Model Train Show, with extensive parking nearby, F.A.I.R.Y. garden railway and the exhibition railway station on the right were Photo 10 The height gauges fitted to tunnel en- the Workshops Museum Steam Train trips will de- trances with limited height clearances part. AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGE 23 PAGE 24 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGE 25

PRESIDENT’S PIECE MODELS Another year has ended. I wish you a Very Hap- The Model Competition results are:- py New Year. November:- Locomotive, no entry submitted. We have made great progress in many areas, December:- Open, Two model entries gained 73 especially renovations to our building, completion of Points each, these being, the Maryborough layout and the increase in our 1) James Pearson with a Vic. Prototype, 2 aspect membership numbers with DCC sessions and jun- lineside operating signal made from a San Mateo kit. iors. Also activities undertaken giving us exposure at kindergartens in Box Hill & Sam Routledge at the Arts Centre. All these activities need member support. To keep the layout working with its very busy schedule, we need the efforts of the Tuesday Night group. Thank you to these members, especially the newer members, who have become involved in club activities and not just running trains. Gary Danson President.

SECRETARY’S REPORT We welcome the following new members to the Victorian Branch and hope you enjoy the benefits of membership. Kenneth Waldron 8069 Tyler Howie 8070 Margaret Delphin 8072

COMPETITIONS The competition results for the previous months are advised as follows:- Photos: October:- Newport Railway Museum. Winning photo, Jim Pearson 85 Points November:- Upgraded Railway Station Post 2005, Winning photo, Ron Polistena Springvale Station, 90 Points December:- Open Photograph yet to be judged. 2) Jacques Molineux with a Kit bashed Steam era VR T Van modified to represent the 12’-0” wheel base prototype. See photo next page Ron Polistena, Secretary

SOCIAL MEETINGS The November Social Meeting kicked off at 8.07pm when President, Gary Danson welcomed twenty four members. As is usual, members were invited to display their new models. Alex Miller responded with a Roco VR F class diesel which he obtained from Brunel Hobbies. He explained the prototype was introduced to replace the E Class steam locos which operated the Melbourne Hump PAGE 26 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015

Yard. Geoff Brown had his collection of NSWGR G An 8.02 pm start saw 25 members welcomed by wagons in differing liveries. One set were of the President Gary Danson to the December social HGM models featuring the signage “Return to Bro- night. On the invitation, ’models to display’, Don Ni- ken Hill” which indicated they were part of the fa- mon was the only member to step forward. He had mous ore train W44 that was pulled by the 60 Class found an old issue of the local newspaper which fea- Beyer Garret steam locos to Cockle Creek. tured an aerial shot of the Glen Iris level crossing back in the time when our Club house was still an Roger Lloyd announced we had been invited to RSL Club. It had struck Don that others may be in- exhibit Maryborough at the Waverley Model Railway terested in looking at the road changes around the exhibition this year. After investigation it was found area which have been dramatic since that time. we would not be able to fit the layout through the doorway at the Brandon Park Hall. Consequently we Gary raised a matter of concern which has been have declined to accept the invitation. discussed by the CoM. It appears the honour system for purchase of soft drinks which has been in The swindle (Lucky door prize) was won by place for many years has broken down. The money Jacques Molineux collected from the honour box is falling far short of the items taken. If this continues then it places the The presenter for the night was Jacques honour system in jeopardy, as it will have to be re- Molineux who took us on a tour on the internet start- placed by a system with tight control. It is up to the ing with British layouts. Using his laptop he used a members to prove that the present honour payment data projector to show the scenes from the clubs system can be retained. Alan Armstrong raised an mentioned below. Those visited were Edinburg Lo- associated question namely shouldn’t members con- thian’s Miniature Railway, The Model Railway Club tribute to the cost of the tea, coffee & biscuits pres- which featured drop down layouts, Falkirk Model ently offered to members free of charge? President Railway Club with its’ 14 layouts, Birmingham- Gary’s responded, “there was no intention by the Bourneville Model Railway Club. Moving to the USA CoM to do so”. he visited The Sun Coast Model Railroad Club, and Glendale Model Railroad Club. Closer to home Mod- When the question was raised about the Agen- elling the NSWGR Main North in DCC was viewed. da for the next six months and in particular competi- Jacques finished by inviting members present to tion subjects for February, Secretary, Ron Polistena view layouts of their choice on the laptop. commented that while it remained to be completed the subjects had been chosen for February. These AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 PAGE 27 would be Photo Competition Railway Bridge and this third prize. These wins should have ushered in model Goods Rolling Stock. Christmas for these members. It is the intention to repeat this aspect of the December Trivia night next At this stage the meeting closed and the night’s year. event, the Annual Trivia Quiz was held. This year, LAYOUT REPORTS for the first time, teams were chosen by a system OUTER CIRCLE GARDEN RAILWAY employed of breaking up the order members arrived Bill McKenzie reports that serious maintenance at the meeting. The CoM saw this as a better ap- needs to be carried out on the tunnel as there is rot proach as all the gurus didn’t team up to obliterate in the tunnel roof. He anticipates this maintenance the opposing teams. The system choses teams by will be carried out early in 2015. Bill goes on to re- random and therefore tends to distribute the gurus port that due to member demand, an extra running across the teams. While it may not achieve this per- day was added over the Christmas period. fectly it tends to even out the chances of teams being more equitable. Five teams of five members did battle on the night. STONNINGTON LAYOUT. The winning team for 2014 consisted of mem- Bill Secker reports that maintenance and repairs bers who appear in the attached photo from L to R are ongoing to the layout on an “as required basis”. were Phillip Barrett, Ron Polistena, John Harry, Alex The container terminal work undertaken by the Miller & Allan Armstrong. They won by 3 points clear younger members remains to be completed. of the runners up and win the right to set the ques- tions for the 2015 Trivia Quiz Night.

As with last year there was a Christmas treat for MARYBOROUGH LAYOUT. attending members as part of the Trivia Quiz night. Roger Lloyd advises changes have been under- Organised by Don Nimon during the Trivia Quiz taken at the junctions between the loops and the there were special swindle (lucky door) draws. The adjoining modules to allow for better operation. The first was for a HO Scale Bombardier Tram courtesy changes will also allow adjustment of the track to of Metro Hobbies which was won by Alan McKenna. compensate for movement in the timber due to The second, courtesy of Burfitt Tools was a mani- changes in weather conditions. It is proposed to set cure set won by Wayne Armstrong. John Davidson up the layout in the hall early in 2015 to further im- was the winner of a HO scale DHL Freightliner Cas- prove and test the electrics. cadia semi-trailer. Brunel Hobbies having donated PAGE 28 AMRA JOURNAL NO.343 – JAN/FEB 2015 RAIL HOBBY BUYERS GUIDE

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BERG’S HOBBIES For the N.S.W prototype modeller we have our own range of HO scale steam and diesel loco kits, passenger and goods wagon kits. We also cater for the American and English modeller with brands such as Athearn, Roundhouse, Hornby and Bachmann. A full range of Shinohara, Peco and Atlas track and points is always in stock. Make Berg’s Hobbies your one stop hobby shop. BERG’S HOBBIES 181 Church St Parramatta NSW 2150 Ph: (02) 9635 8618. Fax: (02) 9689 1840 Website: www.bergshobbies.com E-mail: [email protected] Staffed by experienced modellers seven days a week.

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EDITORIAL BRANCH NEWS ADVERTISING MAILING DATES COVER MONTHS Last Monday MATERIAL 4th Day Odd MATERIAL JOURNAL NO Months Odd Months Last week days 14th Day Even Even Months Odd Months Months 344 MAR/APR 29/03/15 27/02/15 04/03/15 14/02/15

345 MAY/JUN 25/05/15 30/04/15 04/05/15 14/04/15

346 JUL/AUG 27/07/15 30/06/15 04/07/15 14/06/15

CLOSING DATES & REQUIREMENTS Set out above are the CLOSING DATES for JOURNAL, in the various categories of material, for 2015 KEEP THIS TABLE HANDY ( YOU MAY PHOTOCOPY IT OR, EVEN CUT IT OUT!) BUT, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T LOSE IT.—Editor. All material not in electronic form should be sent to the Editor or the Advertising Officer as appropriate, with hard copy to the editor. All material in electronic form should be directed to the Editor or the Advertising Officer. Deadlines will be strictly observed; that means material MUST be in the hands of either the Editor or Advertising Manager by the dates set out above. If you do write an article and you use a computer please send an email or disk copy to the Editor. It saves a lot of time as articles don’t have to be scanned and corrected. All deadlines will be STRICTLY enforced. Memories of a bygone era. Once upon a time these gantry cranes were a common sight on the Victorian Railways. This rusty specimen sits in the yard at Albury NSW. Photo: S,Pattison (Vic)