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Information, Layout Design, Magazine, Publishing, Web

Site Seeing – December 2025

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It has been a while, I know. I promise you, it’s me, and not you. However, there are some really neat free (as in beer) e-zines that I’ve found over the last couple of days that I just had to share with you. Let’s get into them.

Free E-Zines

Free, yes, you guessed it, free as in air, electrons and radicals.

  1. Produced by the “Toowoomba Model Railway Club Inc.” in Queensland, Australia (that’s the pointy bit of our country on the right-hand side), Train Talk is a monthly publication. Certainly club-based, but plenty of modelling information inside too. You can read online or download it here: Train Talk
  2. Railway Modeller Australia, another E-zine in Australia, is a reincarnation of Rail Modeller Australia magazine, which was started in June 2020 by Robyn Taylor. I could not find any mention of the original in my searching, though. Lots of modelling content and well worth the read. You can read online or download it here: Railway Modeller Australia
  3. This last one you may already know about, but super worth mentioning. Ian Holmes has been producing the Micro Model Railway Dispatch for nearly 5 years now. For those of you looking into small layouts (and I know you are), this is a great read. Produced quarterly, get on Ian’s mailing list to get a reminder when the newest E-zine is available for download. Head over to the website here: The Micro Model Railway Dispatch

Finally, Ian Holmes has a new E-book available for download. A Journey into Micro  Layouts. I’ve just bought the book, and as soon as this is published, I’m off to read it. Available from Ian’s Buy me a Coffee page. Not free, but more than well worth the low cost (I only paid A$15.53 in Australian Pesos for what I think is a US$10.00 book).

And that is all for this Site-Seeing adventure.

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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

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

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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:

HO Scale, Layout Design, Layouts, Personal Layouts, Scales, Switching

Evans Hollow layout hits a milestone (been a long time coming)

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The Evans Industrial shelfie layout has hit a major milestone! Read on…

A quick heads-up for those of you following along with the slow build of this layout. We’ve hit a major milestone, with the completion of the wiring of the layout underside. No track down at this stage, but that is coming in the next day or so, and aiming to be at the testing stage during the Mothers Day weekend.

(That’s the second week in May if you need reminding like me!)

I’ve completed the wiring to my wiring standards. You can download a copy from this site, just head down to the resources section at the bottom of the page.

Just a couple of notes for those of you wondering:

  • Yes, I love wiring and electrics
  • Yes, the wiring is designed as a modular unit, to facilitate troubleshooting and replacement as necessary over the years
  • Yes, the wiring is extensible, in that this layout will be able to join up with other small layouts  being planned in the future for this series
  • Yes, I had a lot of fun, and a little frustration – more on that in the article that I’ll be publishing in the next week or so – plus there’ll be a video too that I’m working on for the remainder of my vacation – I go back to work Sunday.

Hope that you have been able to get out and also do some modelling, and thanks for continuing to follow along with me. Stay well, stay safe, and stay modelling.

Regards Andrew

Resources

Staying in Contact

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

Web

The ‘…and we’re back…’ update – December 14, 2019

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Evening all;

At least here in Melbourne it’s a very late evening. What a saga getting the internet back on has been. So much for a few days. It took in all 14 days to move a service into (as Optus said) somewhere that has already been connected to the NBN.

A screw up at the get go, with Optus’ overseas helpdesk, saw them move our service to some random location in Ballarat, instead of into our new home in Melbourne. That took three days to sort out. Then NBN noticed that they could not see the terminating unit. In fact the original installers had not completed the job. Done the absolute minimum and not completed running the lead-in cable from the cable head in the pit a couple of doors down. The poor bloke they sent out (alone) to do the job was about pulling his hair out. So I stepped in and gave him a hand to run the cable in the street and get us up and going; almost.

Then Optus screwed up again, and no internet for another 48 hours until late this week. We are still in the midst of unpacking and setting up. The layout is still in its moving state and standing on end in the garage. Hoping to do a little more work tomorrow on one of my days off to carve out a space in that area for the layout and a worktable. There’s good northerly natural light in there.

More for you soon on the layout build with updated posts and pages as I create the new section from the original posts. Wiring is next. Lots of photos and a video to boot showing how I wire, as an old telephone tech, by comparison to some who’ve not the background I do. Hopefully some more on Tuesday to read. I have to get my son working on the video part.

Then I’ve got 9 days straight through until Christmas day to work. Oh the life of a tram driver. All the best and talk with you soon.

FInally; don’t forget the survey is still on. Drop by the link from the main page and take the survey to help me understand what it is that you are looking for.

HO Scale, Prototype, Scales, Site Updates, This Site, Web

Site Update – RailBox XAF10 Modelling pages updated

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The modelling article on the RailBox XAF10 class cars have been updated. There is new content and the third step of the rebuild article promised some time ago. There’s more information below.

What’s happened

My last update on this project covered the addition of a short history of the class. This time we’re getting into the meat of the project.

This new page covers the dangly bits between the frame and the rails – brake rigging. This is a task focused modelling article on how to simulate the brake rigging on the model without going over the top. Thanks go out to Tony Thompson whose original post on his blog got me started on this particularly enjoyable journey. (There’s a link from the new page to Tony’s original blog post.)

Throughout the series I’ll be aiming to complete the entire project section within an hour (between getting home and dinner for example) and at the end of it have a model that you can be proud of. Here’s what I mean using before and after photos:

Image 1: The basic Athearn BB kit sans brake rigging

Image 2: Same kit (undec) with brake rigging – a subtle difference but well worth the effort

You can head direct to the page by clicking this link, or head over to the project home page clicking this link. I hope that you enjoy this new part of the project. Like, subscribe and follow to keep up to date with all the new content here on Andrew’s Trains.

Site Updates, This Site, Web

Site update – January 21 – No you don’t need an optometrist visit

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In my last post the photos that I uploaded seemed to behave poorly once uploaded through WP.

An overall view of the module
An overall view of the module

I’ve reworked them all in Paint.NET and uploaded a new set.

I’ve just checked the newer versions and these appear to be better. Sorry for any inconvenience, or for any unnecessary trips to the optometrist.

Andrew

Site seeing, Sites of interest, This Site, Web

Site Update – March 16 – Ballarat Tramways Gallery

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I’ve begun uploading images to the Ballarat tramway page, spurred on by working as an assistant conductor this weekend.

Zip over to the page to take a look at the growing gallery.

Like this post and comment if you find it useful or would like further information; if you’ve not already subscribed to keep up to date you can do so now using the link at the top of the post.

About, Information

Operations section added to the blog

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I opened a new Operations section to the blog today. This is from an old site and has been moved and updated to reflect changes made in the last 4 years.

You can get to the section from the main header – look under the Yard Office and then choose operations.

Regards

Andrew