The Dreaded WHX. . .

Look! Real modeling happening on my workbench! Early progress on the fleet of WHX wheat hoppers, specifically, the beginnings of the maze of pipes, hand-holds and air brake mechanism on the "brake" end of the AR Kits model.

Okay, so I chomped the big, thick bullet and decided to get started on making a credible fleet of WHX grain wagons.

Those Auscision WTY/NGTY/etc. cars really raised the bar on detail for a grain wagon. Placing these next to a basic AR Kits WHX wagon really lets one see the short-comings of the WHX kit. The WHX model is a good foundation for a dynamite model, though, if one wants to do the time, research, and most of all, fussy, detailed modeling--like Andreas Keller did with his stunning rendition of the AR Kits model. Modeling like that is truly inspiring, and though I got to see the model in person last April, I was unable to distract him long enough to slip it into my pocket so I could take it home and dissect his modeling method from all angle. So, a few photos will have to suffice. Ugh. That is a LOT of really nice work. Kudos, bro'!

And there's certainly a lot of "stuff" on the prototype WHX. Hey, look at this view of just half of the "brake" end platform. If that isn't enough to give you nightmares of little styrene, brass strip and brass wire parts, I don't know what is. It certainly was enough to keep me from going beyond the basic assembly of 10 of these cars 18 months ago.

But, again, that Prototype Modeler's meet is lighting a fire under me, and I vowed to get four of these cars ready in time for the show; it'll also give me a running start with getting my fleet of 10 done before Austrains delivers its version of the WHX sometime in 2010 (or 2011. . .). That too looks like it'll be a stunning model.

So using the excellent Kieran Ryan website detail photos and Andreas' model as a guide, I've set out into the first true "heavy duty" modeling I've done in a couple of years (defined as "something more than just repainting an R-T-R model").

I'm working on all four models at the same time, breaking down each task of detailing the model into smaller sub-sections. The "model engineering" in how to create each item is the most time-consuming. Once a good solution is reached for the first model, parts for the next three come along pretty quickly. After a few night's work, I've made good progress on the brake end platform. The main thing holding me up now is looking for a suitable stand-in for the Aussie equivalent to our "triple valve" in the states. I'm sure I've got a box of old Intermountain and Branchline models brake sets where I could harvest a triple-valve.

I've stocked up on various angles, channels, and strips of styrene, as well as the Kieran Ryan etched brass details kit (looking forward to making four ladders--yeah!), several sprues of AR Kits brake gear (not the stuff that's included with the basic WHX kit--the after-market sprue offered separately), and a selection of various diameter phosphor-bronze wire.

I don't expect this model to be an exact replica of the WHX. I've not got the 3-D modeling resources to pull that off, and my abilities aren't quite up to that level of detail. But I think I can make a reasonable facsimile that will be "good enough" for me and "complete enough-looking" to satisfy visitors. I'll try to keep it from getting to close to Andreas' model.

But so far, it's looking pretty good, and not as intimidating as it once was.


Using a jig, I added eight slices of 1.5mm styrene channel (Evergreen 261) on one side of each car for the slack-adjuster rod to ride through.

One down, eleven to go. . .

Roof-down view on the first of the WTY fleet, 36129.


Actually, that's not quite true.

This is the first of the painted WTY conversions of the Auscision NGPF models to roll out of the shops here in Texas, with eleven more to follow. Though it looks pretty complete, it still hasn't been weathered, and you can't really model the WTY grain wagon without weathering it up to some extent!

The fleet started as undecorated NGPF's purchased with an eye towards modifying them to as-delivered WTY codes circa 1979. I'd procrastinated on getting started in modifying and painting them, instead putting my modeling efforts largely into building a suitable layout to run them on. But now that I'd got that monster under control, I have no further excuses.

Backdating them involved removing the air rams between hoppers, hopper discharge controls, and additional air lines on the sides and ends added to the WTY/NGTY's in the late 1980s. I replaced the supplied couplers with Kadee #78's, and will replace the too-thick wheels with Intermountain 36" .088" semi-scale wheelsets when available.

The shiny aluminum of the new cars in 1976-77 weathered quickly down to a dull medium grey by my modeling era, 1979-80, and I used a mixture of Floquil Polly-S Undercoat Lt. Grey and Grimy Black. The roof hatches are straight Undercoat Lt. Grey. The blue on the ends, grain hoppers, and discharge gates is a mix of Polly Scale D&H Avon Blue and GN Glacier Green--it's what I had on hand, and it looks pretty good to my eye. It's been lightened up a tad with a bit of white. Of course, most of the blue won't be visible once a couple of years of wheat dust and road grime are added. I used Ozzy Decals #1055B for the "L7" herald and created my own code board in Photoshop on an ink-jet printer.

The blue paint in hard-to-reach places necessitated removing the discharge gates (48 total on 12 models, most of them very securely glued at the factory). I also removed the side ladder (and didn't break one!), roof walkway and roof hatch assemblies to paint separately and make the job of masking the ends easier. Given the many, many parts on this model, I'd much rather wrestle with a few parts to remove, paint, and reassemble versus building this thing from a kit to begin with!

Most of this would not have been necessary had Auscision released the WTY/NGTY to begin with, but they didn't of course, though their advertising now shows they're in the pipeline. . .for an undetermined time in the future. I figure my working on them will help Auscision push a second-run up the production line.

I'm in an active model-building mode the likes of which I haven't experienced in a few years, attempting to get a number of NSWGR models built, painted and weathered to exhibit at an upcoming "Prototype Modeler's Meet" in Fort Worth in late May. I'm hoping to be the only one these exhibiting Australian models (ha!).

After a string of WTY (I'm aiming to present four at the exhibition), I'd like to work on completing:

• 620/720 diesel motor car set (weathering)
• 1 47 Class Diesel (weathering)
• 1 49 Class diesel (weathering)
• 1 44 Class diesel (weathering)
• 3 RU wheat wagons (weathering)
• 4 BWH wheat wagons (weathering, 2 grey, 1 each PTC blue and SRA tuscan)
• 2 GLX/GLV louvre vans ( weathering 1 grey, 1 very grimy PTC blue)
• 1 BDX open wagon (weathering NSWR rhomboid placarded grey)
• 2 guard vans (weathering GHG/FHG )

Two dark-horse projects may or may not be ready in time: a TRC refrigerator car, which will need extensive underframe and brake component detailing; and one or more WHX wheat hoppers, which have been giving me nightmares thinking about fabricating the brake rigging on the very-visible end platforms.

I'll also have on display the on-going project to construct and power a Stephen Johnson models 400 class motor car.

That's a fair amount of modeling to complete in the next month. I'll certainly do what I can to best represent Australian modeling to this little part of North Texas.



Standard three-quarter view of WTY 36129, pre-weathering.

Tax preparation will wait. . .

. . .just a little bit more as I goof off on the computer once again, and add a benign North-West afternoon sky through Photoshop and Flickr to pump up the realism on this shot just a bit more. Sure, no ballast or ground cover, but so far, so good. And thanks to Ray P. for inspiring me once more to take it a bit further with his contribution from the morning "inbox."

A Goods Shed for Wee Waa

The afternoon passenger train back to Narrabri awaits its departure from Wee Waa. . . a cloudless day, no doubt blazing hot. The residents sure could use a little Ray Pilgrim Photoshop sky complete with cooling thunderstorm!

Moving right along with the Wee Waa structure project. Got most of the station completed, and turned my attention to a "standard" 60' NSWGR goods shed. Many of the sheds, especially in rural areas, were built to a standardized plan, but with many variations such as length, type of roof, and the attached office. Wee Waa was no exception.

The goods shed is another piece built from Evergreen styrene. Windows and doors were salvaged from the "on hand" pile. I've still got to build a ramp for the good citizens to wheel their goods up to the top of the platform. The building isn't weathered yet, and I'll need to weather the timber base as well as replace a couple of the pilings that have been knocked off. But it certainly looks the part, doesn't it? (Chris Nelson's website has a photo of the actual item, circa 1975).



Here's the "Country Railway Stations of NSW" view of Wee Waa. Seems the station master gotten fed up with the Galahs crapping all over his Holden and has chopped the big shade tree down. He's wearing a regulation white shirt since being written up by the inspector for wearing a non-standard green shirt on the last surprise visit. Still has to put a blue hat on, though. . .

Since our last visit, I decided on painting the station a faded shade of the standard station yellow used into to the 1970s. The actual station by the period I model--1978-82--was painted in a very light gray with white trim. . .utilitarian, and cheap to paint, no doubt, but rather drab! So, I'll throw prototype adherence to the wind in this case. I hand-painted a couple of light layers of a cheap acrylic paint found at local craft mega-stores and Wal-Mart, the Ceramcoat brand. $1.39 a bottle. The shade is "Butter Cream," and it looks like the faded yellow structures found throughout the Country Railway Stations of NSW books. I brushed it on since I was too lazy to haul the air compressor upstairs and set up the airbrush! But it went on smooth and even.

Much yet to do; my Sentinel 5-tonne goods crane has been assembled and it's just looking for an appropriate concrete base. And that station building needs a good earthen bank to sit atop; then there's the load bank, and . . . .well, enough to keep me busy.

All for now. It's approaching midnight, and "real world" railroading calls in 6 1/2 hours.

Cardboard is nice, BUT. . . .

Ah, that's much better! 3/4's of the way done, the Skillion-roofed A-4 depot, similar to Wee Waa. Of course, the doors and windows aren't all in place, the piping to the water barrels isn't in, either, and it needs to be painted. . .

As much fun as I had putting together the basic walls, floor, and roof of the LJ Models A-4 Skillion roofed cardstock kit that made an appearance in the last installment of this journal, it soon became clear that cardstock kits, for the most part, are best when supplanted with strip wood or styrene enhancements. Let's face it, cutting and gluing four layers of cardboard together to make one beefy wood stringer for the foundation is a tedious and not-too attractive alternative to just opening up the box o'plastic strip for a more suitable replacement. And you'd still have to paint it.

So the more I thought about using the LJ kit as a core for the Wee Waa station, the more I decided I'd much rather start, um, from "scratch" and use the LJ kit as a template for an easier-to-build and much heartier styrene version.

I'm quite comfortable with a pile of Evergreen plastic, a paint brush, Xacto knife and straight edge, and a small bottle of M.E.K. for solvent--in fact, I rather enjoy scratchbuilding.


The "real deal," circa 2004, mostly boarded up and with most of the platform removed. . .

I used various Evergreen sheet and strip styrene stock along with Grandt Line doors (#5058) and windows (5117--slightly larger than those on the LJ models cardstock sheets), and scratchbuilt the "out ofs" cargo room doors.


Side elevation of rear of station. .

I have several view of the front and ends of the station at Wee Waa, but none of the "backside" that faces the aisle of the layout, so I went on the assumption Wee Waa was built to the "standard" A4 plan (there are a couple of small variations on the prototype vs. the LJ Models version,largely a window on the Out Ofs end of the station and a different-shaped window for the ladies bathroom).

3/4 rear corner view, of the station end with the additional window in the Out Ofs office. . .

Platform side of the station will be, of course, at platform level, with a 2:1 slope of the earthworks towards the station's back side, where it will be supported by wooden pilings. I've yet to add the earthworks to the layout at this point.

the other rear corner (down end). . .

There's still a bit more to do before it's done of course; I need to paint it, but am unclear as to what colors it wore in the late 1970s, though a tight platform view on page 33 of Vol. 5 of Country Railway Stations NSW by Train Hobby Publications shows it wearing a very pale yellow tint, with white trim--a much lighter shade than the yellow printed on the LJ cardstock. . .an effect of bleaching in the sunlight? A photo from the same period of Narrabri on the inside back cover of the same booklet shows it wearing a more rich shade of yellow, with yellow trim work as well as a yellow-painted galvanized roof. Should the metal roof at Wee Waa be painted? Yellow? White (to reflect sunlight, seen in many stations in this book series)? Or left natural metal? And what about the interior rooms? The big windows will at least allow the interior walls to be glimpsed, and I've modeled the open frame wall exposed in the waiting room--what color should these rooms be? Photos inside the Narrabri station staff hut I took last year show the pale yellow color scheme carried indoors as well.

These color questions help delay the painting, but I don't mind too much as I'd rather have a few more structures ready for paint in the same session than setting up the airbrush for one building to paint! The building will be painted, interior walls and windows separately, then final installation will take place, wit a big of detail painting coming before placing it on the layout.

Broadside track-side view. . .the side you'll never get to see once it's installed on the layout!

Like I said, I enjoy scratchbuilding. Off the top of my head, I came up with over 25 structures for this layout I'll either have to kitbash or scratch build. . .not that there's anything wrong with that. And few of them will be cardboard.

The guard working Branch Line Goods Train #695 awaits departure from Wee Waa sometime in the early 1970s. The station master's 1958 Holden FC is parked under the shade tree next to the station.

With one operating session under the belt, I guess it's time to do a bit on the scenery/structures front before the next one. So, to accelerate the process, i'm assembling a few L J Models cardstock models of NSWGR prototype structures, including an S008 silo, a G2/3 goods shed, and an A4 station.

The A4 is perfect, in fact, for two of the stations on my railroad, as these were built at Gurley (peaked roof version) and Wee Waa (narrow skillion version) on the prototype.

You can get as involved as you'd like with the LJ models. An old Australian Branchline Modeler magazine showed how individual boards could be scribed onto the cardstock walls and the models repainted, super detailed, etc. Or, you can be content with four walls and a roof. I'll probably go "halfway" for now on these. . .until I decide to max out the detail using styrene trimwork or not.

This afternoon, I put together the basic "box" for the Wee Waa station, and it looked so good at 25% done, I thought i'd get a loco and a guard's van and some scenery material scattered down on the baseboard and snap a piccie or two. And I'm amazed how good it all looks, even in this admittedly crude form. I'm sure I'll revisit this scene later when details and scenery are futher down the road, but for now it's definately motivated me to keep moving forward.

For now, here's two versions of Wee Waa, as you'd probably see it as you drove up to the station circa late 1960s. The guard bides his time on the station platform awaiting the departure to Walgett of Branch Line Goods train 695. The station master's well-maintained 1958 Holden FC sits in the shade, out of the harm of the sun but a prime target for roosting galah's, who are sure to shit all over the car by the end of the day.



Version with Clyde-GM branchliner 4914. . .

Milestone Met: First Operating Session.

Branchline goods trains 695 departs Narrabri for Wee Waa behind a 47 class. Just peeking into view in the background is the Narrabri shunter with a 49 Class EMD.


Well, that's done.

After 18 months of construction, I had the "Pie Night" guys over for a little operating session. It went about as good as could be expected, I guess, considering I'd immediately lost 30% of my "throttle capacity" due to some sort of issue with the radio throttles. This cascaded into tossing my "schedule" out the window, as I was unable to run the trains I'd planned in the sequence desired.

Our group of Norm Bruce, Frank Treadaway, Donovan Furin, Lance Lassen and Randy Nelson showed up anxious to take a throttle and run. Lance brought a throttle, to add to my three, as well as two NSWGR locomotives (allowing me to avoid the ignominity of using some Union Pacific Atlas locomotives to fill out the roster, thank God!). But clearly those 18 months without operating a model railway left me less than familar with the intricacies of EasyDCC and radio throttles. It was easy to run three throttles at a time, but couldn't acquire locomotives when a fourth throttle was turned on.





Randy switches the branchline goods at WeeWaa. Check out that snazzy new Holden--just arrived today from Casula!

Frank assured me that all my worries would vanish if I just opened up my wallet for a couple hundred dollars of software upgrades from CVP. I was hoping he wasn't going to say that! I'm hoping just re-reading the set-up documentation will help alleviate a recurrence. . .

Aside from the radio throttle problems and subsequent schedule snafus, the session went fairly well. Track was clean. No mysterious shorts appeared. The points did their things without derailing equipment. . .even the little S trucks stayed on the rails. These are all encouraging signs. I was honestly sweating the mechanical potential for disaster more than the electronic. Lance bailed me out by bringing along a nice Indian Red 49 Class and a "Red Terror" 44 Class, allowing me to avoid the ignominity of having to roster a pair of Atlas Union Pacific SD24's to fill the loco roster shortfall! And while we didn't have enough throttles to keep everyone running trains all the time, Lance's Aussie Railway Porn videos entertained those without trains to run--they seemed to enjoy, for example, watching the Ardglen Bankers almost as much as running the North-West mail.

I've got aways to go to feel comfortable with the layout. I'm still dealing with coming up with a good system for paperwork and dispatching the trains. And I've still got to more fully develop my roll during these session as Station Master/Controller/Benevolent Dictator.

But, it's a good start. And none of this would be possible, of course, without my fellow Pie Nighters, as well as model railway friends foreign and domestic who've helped me reach this point. I'm excited about what lies ahead.

While Lance and Norm grind away in Narrabri West, Frank, Randy and Donovan enjoy some Aussie Railway Porn Videos. . .

Thanks, Joe!

Only a few hours before my mates stopped by to run trains, a nice-sized box of stuff arrived overseas from Joe Callipari at Casula Hobbies. Joe really helped me out last April by putting together a sizeable order for me to be ready when I popped in his shop to pick up almost more stuff than I could fit into my suitcase. His assistance and service, and good-nature in fielding my inquiries, were much appreciated, and I certainly didn't hesitate last week to turn to Joe and Casula for fill another order. Once again--first rate. And the Casula website has a lot to do with why I turned to Casula in the first place: among the Australian model railroad shops I'm familiar with, the Casula website is the most complete and easiest to use. And that really helps from 10,000 miles away.

Railroading Back in the Day

My work e-mail filter apparently blocked a message from Ray Pilgrim the other day alerting me to a couple of amazing You Tube videos, from around 1974, showing "how it was done" shunting the goods sheds at Darling Harbour--back before it was condos and museums and other tourist attractions.

The movies are here and here.

This really is a wonderful film, not just for the enthusiast of New South Wales railroading, but for fans of railroading in general. Watching the group of 20-something shunters work as a team to bang cars around really reminded me of my own experiences watching railroaders work 30 years ago. That was back when railroading was a "craft" and one didn't come to work carrying a 20 lb. book of rules.

Most appropriate was this quote from one of the shunters, words that ring as true today as they did in 1974: It's okay, the railway will let you break every rule in the book, as long as you get the trains out on time--they'll let you break any bloody rule you want, until something goes wrong, then they'll hit you with the rules!

Thanks, Ray, for passing these links along. Thanks also to the film crew who deemed the daily routine of a shunting crew to be of sufficent interest to record this slice of life for all time. And thanks to the shunters, themselves--looking at their work from a 2010 perspective, it's amazing how loose and wild the work rules were (let along those long Barry Gibb-like hairdos!). No steel-shanked boots? No high visibility vests? No safety visors? No shirts? Oh, I guess thanks also to the railway for allowing the cameras on the property in the first place.