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Coastalrev's Jamberoo Model Railway Blog
CoastalRev's Jamberoo Railway in N Scale
The Railway to Jamberoo was proposed but never built. I like model trains but figured I'd have to give the hobby away as a clergyman with a family. But my wife decided that I needed a hobby (and she found she enjoys it too). So we ditched my HO gear and plunged into N-scale. Since I'm the Anglican minister at Jamberoo we figured we'd build the proposed-but-bever-built Jamberoo Branch Line off the South Coast Line to Nowra. This blogs the progress of it.

  • We missed the fete!
    Well, despite our best intentions, we missed showing Jamberoo at the church fete here in Jamberoo. 4 days in hospital and several weeks in bed following that put paid to any hopes of displaying something... anything!

  • Jamberoo from the air
    Hi guys,

    Thought it was time to give an aerial overview of our layout--overlaying the trackplan onto a google earth view of the actual town.

    You can see that the bowling club and municipal pool are under the station yard--these both were built after the time when our railway line would have been constructed, therefore would not exist in a railway world!

    From Jamberoo Rail...

    Above: The railway yard and location of Freddos' General Store etc.
    Click the image to enlarge it!

    From Jamberoo Rail...

    Above: The location of the fuel siding. It's a bit exaggerated because I had to stretch the photo to put everything in the right place!

  • Operations Friday 15 August 2008
    Today we had a day of operations (in my lunch break, of course). This was the first time trains had been run 'properly' since the mass conversion of rollingstock to Micro Trains couplers.

    The first job was to run the three trains set up for Wednesday's photo shoot back to the staging sidings (aka the 'hidden sidings', 'fiddle yard' or 'Dunmore yard': the fictitious junction with the main line and the rest of the world).

    From Jamberoo Rail...
    Above: The three trains still in place after the photo shoot on Wednesday night.

    70xx led its train out first, followed by 4520 and her train and finally 4421 with the "Rapido-coupled" train.


    Above: 70xx leads its train past the dairy siding and onto the embankment above the flood plain.


    Above: 70xx leads its train onto the main line at Dunmore and then into the yard.



    Above: 4520 departs with its train after the photo shoot. It had to wait at Jamberoo until the 'line clear' notification came from Dunmore.


    Above: 4520 passing the dairy siding, viewed from the dairy factory.


    4421 kept stalling and needs some workshop attention, we feel!


    Above: The currently-unreliable 4421 leads its train of Rapido-coupler-equipped wagons back to Dunmore.

    After this, it was time to run the first 'revenue' train with Micro Trains couplings. This train had the following tasks:
    1. Place three empty boxcars at the dairy siding for loading with Jamberoo's finest butter and skim milk products for shipping to the distributer in Sydney (who, we understand from the history of the Jamberoo dairy factory, would mix the product with output from other local dairy co-ops and market them under the Allowrie brand. Allowrie is an English version of the same word from which we derive Illawarra.)
    2. Place the loaded oil tanker in the fuel siding for unloading.
    3. Place a loaded boxcar at the read of Fredericks' General Store for unloading with the finest of General Store dry goods.
    4. Place an empty cattle wagon at the cattle race on the end of the Goods Siding for loading.
    5. Place an empty K-Wagon at the Goods Siding for other local output.
    6. Place two empty K-wagons at the timber siding (formed by the extension of the run-around loop) for loading with timber cut in the Jamberoo Valley.
    7. Return light engine to Dunmore.
    The photos below show this all in action. 4520 was rostered for the run as it was quite a lengthy train.


    Above: 4520 sits at Dunmore with its train awaiting permission to enter the main line before taking the branch to Jamberoo. This view is taken from the parallel stretch of the Princes Highway.


    Above: Boxcars wait to be shunted into the dairy siding. The tanker (obscured beyond the roof of the dairy factory) needs to have its brakes secured first, then be uncoupled and left on the main line, while the rest of the train draws forwards, the points are changed, and the train sets back onto the dairy siding to drop off these three wagons for loading.



    Above: With the tanker uncoupled, the rest of the train draws forward.


    Above: The three boxcars are shoved into place on the dairy siding.


    Above: The train, viewed from above, shunting the dairy siding.


    Above: Having recoupled to the tanker (and released its brakes), it is now shunted into its own siding, blocking busy Allowrie St in the process.


    Above: The afternoon school bus from Kiama waits on Allowrie St, on the outskirts of town, for the fuel siding to be shunted.


    Above: What's left of the train (ie, that which hasn't been dropped off in the diary and fuel sidings!) arrives at Jamberoo in this scene viewed from Tates Hill, on the other side of Hyam's Creek and the floodplain.


    Above: This nifty way of uncoupling Micro Trains couplers uses toothpicks (unused, of course!). This idea came from the Australian_N_Scale yahoogroup, wlthough they suggested the use of skewers. Toothpicks were substituted only because they were in the 'bits box' below the layout!


    Above: 4520 runs around its train at Jamberoo Station.


    Above: 4520 pushes the two empty K-Wagons into the timber siding to be loaded with the finest output of the region's old-growth rainforests.


    Above: 4520 drops the last boxcar at the back of Fredericks' General Store. Freddos' is made from photo paper until we get around to making the real one! It's modelled on the colour scheme of Freddos seen in the 1960s when it was a SCOOP store.


    Above: The railway yard with all the wagons positioned for unloading or loading.


    Above: 4520, running light, returns to Dunmore. This is not normally a light engine run but as the yeard was previously empty, there were no wagons to return to Dunmore.

  • No progress but a photo opportunity
    Well folks, today there was no progress on the railway (some of us do actually work for a living!), but I couldn't resist the opportunity for a 'photo shoot' in the railway yard at Jamberoo station.

    Usually my locos face with the #1 end facing the buffer stops (ie, the DOWN direction) but I turned them around today.



    So lined up we have my three NSW-outline diesels: from left to right, 70xx (still to be painted and numbered), 4421 and 4520.

    They each had a lengthy train worked -- and shunted -- properly:


    The 45's train came out first and, after running around, shunted into the goods siding out of the way.

    The 70's train was next, again it ran around before shunting temporarily up onto the Freddos' siding.



    Finally the 44 came out with my remaining Rapido-coupler-equipped stock and ran into the main. I rearranged some of the wagons and put the caboose on the other end before the whole thing was reassembled onto the run-around loop.

    70xx's train then came back out of Freddos' siding and reversed onto the main.

    I like eye-level shots - we don't look at real trains from afar, do we?

    But this shot was taken by a fit young lad climbing up a power pole:


    We finished the shoot with a shot of the noses of the locos, lined up, with Alwyn Fredericks' house seen atop the highest point in Macquarie St, Jamberoo.



  • We have some hills and scenery now! And 10 Micro-trains coupler-equipped boxcars.


    When 'starting out' in N-scale some 12 months ago, I already owned one piece of N-scale equipment, albeit 1:150 rather than 1:160: the Ibertren 'World Series' Alco, painted locally by someone as 4421. I bought it second hand years ago on the off chance I might some day become an N-scaler and it was a 'grab it when you can' type of deal. I think in the mid 1990s it cost me about $119. I also had a second-hand N-scale US-outline Minitrix caboose... I had dabbled in HOn2 1/2 many moons ago and its chassis was to have been the basis of something for the narrow gauge.

    I was aware from my days working part-time at Northside Model Railways in West Pennnat Hills (for the late Darrel Nelson) that N-scale US-outline boxcars were very cheap... so I went onto eBay and bought a few... I think I have about 15 or so now! I've also got two end-platform ('observation platform' carriages from the US and a set of Great Northern 'streamliner' carriages, plus a minitrix set bought off ebay.

    So I planned that as soon as I got some of my aussie rollingstock converted to MT couplings, some of this stuff would follow.

    So as of today: 10 boxcars using microtrains 1031s plus my 70-class (on the minitrix 0-6-0 diesel shunter chassis) now has microtrains couplings too.



    I had a bit of fun shunting my growing micro-trains fleet with the 70 and the 45, before running several special trains to clear the layout:
    1. 4520 took several boxcars plus the 3 MT-equipped K wagons + my COR tank wagon to Dunmore
    2. 70xx took the remainder of the boxcars.
    3. Thomas (now my only decent Rapido-equipped runner!) came and collected the Peco 4-wheel milk tanker and the 3 Rapido-equipped K wagons.
    This was so I could build some hills to make the village of Jamberoo more, um, village like.



    Despite Jamberoo being on the valley floor - and at the edge of the upstream end of the floodplain, our beloved little village is quite hilly: The main street only ranges from between 25 and 29 metres above sea level - that's not hilly. (The floodplain ranges is about 10-20 metres above sea level). But the highest point of Macquarie St, two streets back from Allowrie, is 60 metres above sea level.



    So armed with the calculations of the heights of the various parts of Jamberoo (thanks to google earth!), we cut up some soft foam rubber using our 'spare' electric kitchen knife - a wedding gift I've rescued from being 'donated' to others many times!

    This method is one I've never heard of before, but we had heaps of the foam lying around courtesy of a mattress that was 'trimmed' to fit in my daughter's half-size single bed. Once we have a basic form we shall papier mache the landscape.

    The pictures show that the heights seem exaggerated; at one level they are: their vertical plane is to scale, but the horizontal plane is compressed. I got this idea on Saturday while sitting in a car on Tate Place (long story; has to do with my job as a minister!). Basically, from the northern end of Tate Place, looking south, one can see the houses in the part of Jamberoo represented by our model railway and they look 'compressed' and almost on top of one another... as they ascend the hill, there is a visual effect that they are closer to each other than they are.

    And so we have deliberately compressed the horizontal while maintaining the vertical.



    There is much more work to be done yet - but as the State Government says, "still a long way to go but we're heading in the right direction". Unlike the State Government, I expect to deliver.




  • Fitting micro-trains couplings to the Aust-N-Rail K Wagon
    I tried googling this article when I couldn't find the printed version, so now I've found the printed version I thought I'd place it here for others to use when they need it.

    I trust Graeme Goodsell is ok with this! If not, I'll write my own procedure. I've added a few comments to Graeme's article anyway.

    Fitting Micro-Trains Couplers to the Aust-N-Rail K Wagon
    by Graeme Goodsell

    Aust-N-Rail's ready to run K wagon comes supplied with Rapido style couplers, but it is a simple task to substitute Micro-Trains 1015 body mount couplers.

    Place the wagon upside down on a firm surface, being careful to avoid damaging the finely moulded brake wheels and steps. With a sharp hobby knife cut horizontally along the coupler pocket to remove plastic retaining the Rapido coupler. Remove the coupler and spring. Make two vertical cuts in the coupler pocket to line up with the width of the 1015 coupler. Remove plastic from between these cuts to the depth of the pocket. Glenn says: This means removing some body plastic as well as from the coupling box. Trim the slot square and remove the end of the spring post in the pocket (see photo). Test fit 1015 coupler (it should be a firm press fit) and check coupler height.

    For a permanent fit, glue in place (with a dot of Selleys water based Kwik Grip or similar) being careful not to get glue in the Micro-Trains coupler box. Alternatively fix with shortened Micro-Trains screws.

    These photos highlight the steps in the article above.

    Converted to Microtrains Coupling and ready to go!

    This is a beautiful RTR model which can now take pride of place in your wagon roster.

  • K-Wagons fixed; sky re-painted
    Well, after complaining in my last post that my attempt to put Micro-Trains 1015 couplings onto my first K-wagon was a disaster (and it was!) I 'miraculously' rediscovered the "NSW N-Scale Group" newsletter that had the instructions. I'll post them here, trusting that Graeme Goodsell who wrote them would be ok with this!

    I fitted two more K wagons with the couplings (this exhausted my supply) and refitted the original one and all three are fine now!



    You can see the 'lighter' coloured sky in the background - still looks dark in this photo taken on a mobile phone camera. But compared with older shots it's much lighter!

    From Jamberoo Rail...

    I also repainted the sky - it was a vivid, bright blue so I attempted to put a wash of white paint over the top. Not as successful as I'd have liked, but it does the job for now. I can't put 'Saddleback Mountain' on the backscene until the scenery--at least in its basic form--is in place.

    The next thing is to fix the track that is misaligned where the two baseboards join, but that's simple.

    A good day for the Jamberoo Railway I'd say.

Copyright © 2009 Michelle and Glenn. All Rights Reserved.
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