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Workshop Report – October 2023

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A short overview of the goings-on at the Sebastopol Works this month…

What’s new

Car Ordering & Switchlist spreadsheet – DRAFT

I finally have a fully working spreadsheet for Car Ordering operations, in a DRAFT state now. I have been working on this for ages.

It came from an original idea of Mike Rosenberg. I’ve spent quite some time now refining and making the spreadsheet work for the small operating layouts I love. [If anyone knows of Mike and has his contact details I’d appreciate an email or contact so I can share with him what I’ve done with his spreadsheet idea.]

I wanted to share some of the images for the spreadsheet. I’ve done a lot of tidying up over October, and am pretty pleased with it. I’ve been running ‘mock’ operating sessions based on my stalled Evans Hollows layout (still sitting in the garage due to a lack of funding). So far all of the automation (and there is only one piece of code in the spreadsheet) is working well. Doing only what it should and not causing any major issues or dramas with the data.

Switchlist Version 6

The Switchlist is printed out and then filled in by the Conductor, in this case Mr Phil McCracken, as the work is completed. Brief notes can be added, as in the case of the UP gondola left on-spot at Scrappy’s recycling, to assist in the movement of cars onto the modelled portion of your layout, and then back into staging (in my case fiddle sticks).

If you are unaware of Car Ordering, full documentation is being completed at the moment to help anyone interested try this out. I am hopeful that I’ll have this completed before the end of November. However, I’ll be spending some time on the operating table then, so it may be finished sometime in December.

I’ve created a page for the project on GitHub for those interested. You can find that here: https://github.com/iandrewmartin/small_ops_switching

The draft version of the spreadsheet is available right now for you to play around with. I am aiming to do some testing later this month on both Google Docs and Open Office/Libre Office to see if it works there too. There is nothing major that should stop the migration outside of the Microsoft space as most of the work is done by formulas with a single macro to move data around with a button press. More of that once I get the documentation finished.

YouTube Video Series for 2024

Small Layouts Designed for Operations has been my passion since 2003. I’ve been working away at this, solo, for 20 years now. My son, a talented musician and writer/composer has been egging me on to make this a passion project on YouTube. He’s very persuasive, and I’ve updated my channel, rebranded and am in the early stages of script writing and filming a new series for debut in January 2024. I aim to pump out 1 video each month that will be a series in 12 parts throughout 2024.

I may make more than this, once I get my workflow figured out, but there’ll be a minimum of 12 videos in that series. The focus initially will be on designing for operations, and then how to get operating using the spreadsheet above. I don’t like the complexity of car cards, and train orders, and blah, blah, blah. The focus is on car ordering by online customers, fulfilling that need, delivering the car, and then picking it up again. I’m going to be using the Evan’s Hollow layout design as an example.

If you are interested in that sort of information, please visit the page on Facebook, the YouTube channel and of course right here. See the staying in contact section below for more details.

Resources

Files and other resources will begin popping up there during November and December as they are completed.

Staying in Contact

Interested in keeping in touch or discussing posts, pages and ideas?  You can do that in several ways:

Information

Delays

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I’d promised the final part in the series “Operations on a Maintenance Centre Layout”, how to put the ops system in play, by the end of November. And then I got COVID-19. 

Work in progress

Despite being double vaccinated, I still managed to catch this damned virus. And it has not been fun. So far, I’ve spent a week in home isolation, not really able to talk, coughing most of the time. After a week of that, I hurt everywhere. Every muscle involved in coughing is telling me to stop. Today, for the first time, I’m finally able to talk, quietly, and not cough. So there is some improvement. But I’m a ways from being out of this.

The final post, “Operations on a Maintenance Centre Layout (Part 7 – Op till you Drop)” will probably not reach your notice until Christmas at this stage. I apologise, however, the tank is empty and I’m just trying to get through the day.

Here’s hoping that you and your families are all well. So far, no one else at my home has caught the virus. For which I am very grateful. I hope that remains true for you as well.

All the best and I hope you’ll look forward to “Operations on a Maintenance Centre Layout (Part 7 – Op till you Drop)” in a couple of weeks.

Staying in Contact

Interested in keeping in touch or discussing posts, pages and ideas?  You can do that in several ways by:

      • Commenting on this post (I read and answer each one)
      • Sending me a note using our About page (email)
      • Connecting with us on Facebook at Andrew’s Trains
Information, Reports

Workshop Report – June 2021

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Getting old sucks. In some aspects, it’s truly great in that you have perspective (time on the planet) to measure against. My eyesight is not enjoying its perspective. However, today my workspace has seen the light…

What’s new

Modelling later in the evening, when the space is quiet, and others are in bed and I can lose myself in the moment, is my favourite and most productive time. Of late, I have not been able to work past sunset. My original light, a sunlight fluorescent lamp, just wasn’t up to helping me see.

Thanks to the IKEA Tertial Work Lamp and their RYET (4000K) LED lamps, I now have a very well lit, energy-efficient space and better lighting for photography to boot. Here is the before and after shot showing the (very messy) space. Note that both images are untouched, exactly as they came from my phone camera.

Before

After:

The work lamp was only A$14.95, and the LED globes only A$8.00 a pair. Frugal as always, and yet a great outcome. So no more tired eyes for me and more modelling time after dark. That’s a major win.

Work in progress

There’s not been much in-progress work of late. That will change now that I can see. I have plans to complete the O Gauge Shunter locomotive over the next week or two, prepping her for final paint, and finishing. Then it is on to more locomotive projects including the:

  • 1/4″ O Gauge GP38-2 projects ( 2 x Weaver 2 Rail Units mentioned here on my modelling site)
  • 1/4″ O Guage EMD  F9 (2 x Atlas by Roco 2 Rail units from the 1970s) mentioned here on my modelling site

HO scale sees:

  • 2 Bachmann 70 Tonners (DCC but no sound) that need to be repainted, numbered and lettered for use,
  • some more freight car projects including more work on the Australian freight wagons that I’ve started but not yet finished, and I’m sure there’s more, but I’ve lost the plot for now and I’ll close out here.

Completed

Nothing to report for June 2021

Resources

Staying in Contact

Interested in keeping in touch or discussing posts, pages and ideas?  You can do that in a couple of ways:

About, Exhibition, Layouts, Reports

2017 Corio Model Railway Club show report (28-29 January)

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The city of Geelong (of which Corio is a suburb) is just over 90 kilometres away from home, that’s around an hours travelling time each way in the car. I may be getting fussy in my old age. I find myself considering the costs of getting to and entering shows versus the enjoyment gained as a criteria for attendance. The Corio Club’s show is still one of the best large non-metropolitan Melbourne shows going, although I find that my fascination with the ‘BIG’ exhibition layouts diminishing, and the desire to find and watch small layouts is growing rapidly. Don’t mistake that I am only interested in small layouts. What I want to see at exhibitions are more layouts by individuals, for individuals. That is people who’ve built a layout, who can show others how to build a layout for themselves. The large club layouts are fantastic to me but I know that they are beyond my personal reach, and I am sure that when the punters who come through the door so full of enthusiasm get home, take a long hard look at the price of trains, track, baseboard, effort, blah, blah, and blah are left with a hollow feeling. That is the feeling of not being able to achieve. I’m hoping to reverse that trend with my own small layouts this year. More on those for later posts; during the meanwhilst let’s on to the exhibition report.

Exhibition report

The 44th MR Exhibition was very well attended. So well attended in fact that it was very warm inside the location and packed to the gills. Moving around was difficult to achieve, photography even more so. The site this year was larger than in previous years, moving from Geelong West out to Belmont, near Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus. It appeared easy to get to by public transport and by car. Well supported by the local and national vendors including Broad Gauge Models, Outback Model Company, SDS Models, Kerroby Models, Train World Pty Ltd, Road and Rail Hobbies, and many more. This year there did seem to be more vendors than exhibitors though. I understand that you need vendor support, yet I felt crowded in by vendors and struggled to see enough layouts.

One brighter note was the layout bought by, and showcasing the models of, Phoenix Models and Hobbies. Not only the best layout at the show (small of course), even though it was not listed in the program. I was impressed by the central idea which dovetails nicely with other layout ideas I’ve been working on for some time. Now let’s get into the images.

Image Galleries

There were several layouts of note. Some I’ve shown on the blog before, others new.

Yendys

The first is Yendys from the ACT Model Society. A large layout imagining a section of the leafy outskirts of the Sydney are. As a Sydney boy born and bred it reminds me most of the main western line between Stanmore and Ashfield. It could just as well be the Bankstown line between Sydenham and Hurlstone Park. If you’ve ever spent any time in Sydney’s inner city by the railway you can smell the brake dust and diesel fumes the moment you see this layout.

Alexandra

This HO scale layout displays the area around Alexandra in Melbourne’s north-east as it was in 1947, prior to the closure of the timber tramway. The track plan is the original Victorian Railways (VR) track plan. Buildings are scratchbuilt from photos with the Broad Gauge (5’3″) VR line coming in from the left side of the layout and the narrow gauge tramway coming in from the right. Each has its own fiddle yard. You can read more about the tramway by visiting the museum’s website. If you look closely you’ll see on the model the green Kelly & Lewis 0-6-0DM of 1935 in the images.

Alexandra – looking from the broad gauge end toward the station and narrow gauge timber tramway
Alexandra – it really is big – but so well presented
Alexandra – another higher view of the layout again from the broad gauge side
Alexandra mainline fiddle yard complex on the left of the layout.

Phoenix Models and Hobby display layout

This layout was the standout of all layouts at the show. Yet it was not in the Exhibitors program. I hope they’ll bring it to many more shows in the future. There’ll be more on this layout and it’s features in another post soon.

The main shed with gantry crane
A look inside the two road pit shed

Thanks for stopping by. I hope that you enjoyed the layout tours. This is not all of them mind you but the standout ones I wanted to share.

 

Exhibition, Reports

Exhibition report – March 12, 2016 (Kyneton & Sandown – in that order)

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Trip Detail

Wondering if we could make two exhibitions at opposite ends of Melbourne with nothing but public transport, boy wonder and I headed off early (07:19 hours) from Ballarat station on a joint VL34 – VL04 (with VL 1234 trailing the consist) to Southern Cross.

Vlocity set VL21 at Ballarat Railway Station Image courtesy of “Wongm’s Rail Gallery”

Quickly moving over to platform 12 we picked up the suburban service and headed off a few minutes later.

Sandown Park railway station is on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines in the South-East of the city. Roughly an hour out-of-town we arrived at the gates of the exhibition at 09:55 hours.

With the crowds already building and the exhibition opening at 10:00 AM we were pleasantly surprised with how they managed to move the crowd quickly through the racecourse turnstiles; our experience was smooth and speedy.

By 10:10 we were inside and looking around. Now onto the exhibition report.

Sandown

Overall I was disappointed; mainly because I want to see layouts at a model railway exhibition. I understand that vendor support is critical to the running of all shows that want to be around more than once. However, moving to an exhibition model that has few layouts and lots of vendors is not my idea of how to spend 10 dollars adult and five dollars a child, plus fares/fuel and maintenance. Unfortunately this is what Sandown is; a vendor fest. I’ve not been for a couple of years and have no intention of returning until the list of layouts are more numerous.

The verdict: If you want to buy something then you should be there. If you want to look at new and exciting layouts, I’m sorry but this is not the place to be.

Highlights:

  • There were many large layouts, among which boy wonder delighted in the Lego display. Big and well done. Nice one Lego lads and lassies.
  • Neil Cowie’s Northern Pacific – a basic 4 x 8 with two 6 foot wings on opposing corners. This was the first run of Neil’s layout on the exhibition circuit, and what I saw I liked. The group he is a member of will be holding an open day in April I believe. More about that in another post.
One of the wings on the end of the 4×8
Another view of the wing
  • Leopold – while a roundy-roundy had a lot of interesting track and operational potential. The modelling was very good.
Looking up the layout
The far end of the layout looking to the fiddle yard
Nice work on what can be a tricky kit – the silos
Looking down the layout – loved the trackwork and yard design
  • Finally; Ravenswood was again another roundy-roundy with excellent topography and scenery and I believe based on an actual location here in Victoria (I’m from Sydney remember).
Looking down the layout – trees, good ones and lots of them
Loved the timber station that apparently was never updated on the line

Sandown to Kyneton

We left the exhibition at 11:30 and headed over to the station, which is a walk of only a couple of minutes. Then a suburban train back to Southern Cross (that required a little work since the train was 9 minutes down and finished at Flinders St). Due to the late running train we missed our connection to Bendigo and had to wait an hour for the next train. On time our Velocity’s left Southern Cross at 13:37 heading for Kyneton. The run down to Kyneton was speedy with few stops, but the track left something to be desired with several kinks throwing the train and passengers about.

Velocity and Sprinter DMUs at the fueling facility at Southern Cross
N457 and cars waiting for the signal to run to servicing
VL28 powering up to leave platform 7A – Southern Cross
VL28 leaving platform 7A and moving into the station throat
VL39 arriving on the 16:31 Kyneton – bound for Bendigo – right on time
VL52 stabled at Kyneton

Kyneton station is beautiful. An old fashioned bluestone edifice that says Victorian Railways from the foundation up; modernised of course but still lovely. Arriving on time at 14:39 we walked the 1100 metres to the venue (which crosses a river and beside the town’s botanic garden) to the venue.

Kyneton

Kyneton is not a small exhibition, nor is it a large one. Well supported by the vendors it’s the layouts that rule the show. Suffice to say that Kyneton is my preferred long-weekend model rail show. They seem to attract great modellers to the club and have a great selection of layouts every year.

The verdict: Kyneton is the go-to exhibition on the March long-weekend. If you’ve not been before I suggest that you put it in your diary and take a trip on the train out with boy-wonder and I next year.

The Highlights:

  •  Glyn Halt – a simple narrow gauge layout shown on the blog before.
The layout that is Glyn Halt
  • Great Colne – a freelanced North British layout this is a work in progress, but it looks like a real cracker. I am looking forward to seeing this finished at next years show.
An overview of the layout
The goods shed – all built using card and paper products
A look along the siding
An overview of the station are
The owner talked with me for quite a while telling me about his techniques – really nice bloke
  • Alexandra – wow – nothing more needs be said, except that this is what Sandown should have had.
Wow
Wowier
Wowser
Brilliant
Gobsmacking

Colinsville Riverland Railroad Company – a great little whimsy, with outstanding modelling and imagination.

Nice
Great presentation
Fine modelling
  • Beechy – an 0n30 masterpiece with great scenery and modelling making an eye-catching package
  • Town and Country – first seen at the Albury (Laverton) show in 2015 still a great layout after seeing it at several shows recently.

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