Happy New Year all.
It's already 2022 Down Under and being from the future I can tell you it's not much different from 2021 so far 
Wishing you all a fabulous year ahead full of great modeling but more importantly good health. Take care out there of you and yours.


David

Quote from: deemery on October 22, 2021, 08:08:40 AM
Question for those of you outside of North America:  How wide are your standard gauge railroad bridges (pre WWII)?  A friend asked me this question.  I responded "It's the same gauge, and I don't think there's much difference in engineering standards, but let me ask around."


Thanks much in advance!


dave

Hi Dave


Hope this might be of help to you.


Prior to 1901, Australia was made up of 6 seperate  British self-governing colonies.
Following Federation in 1901 the six colonies that united to form the Commonwealth of Australia as states kept the system of government that they had developed as seperate colonies.


Which in these COVID times have created headaches for the Federal Government. But that's a story for another day.


Prior to 1901 each of the 6 colonies adopted their own rail gauges.
It wouldn't be until 1995 that all mainland capitals were joined by one standard gauge.
The three railway gauges in Australia are narrow (3ft 6"), standard (4ft 8 1/2") and broad (5ft 3").


The predominant gauge is standard.


The problem with the colonies was that each self governing body decided which gauge they would use based on their own preference.
For example in the state of Victoria the gauge was 5ft 3" and in New South Wales it was 4ft 8 1/2".


By the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 there were 13 break-of-gauge locations, with upwards of 1,600 service personnel and many more civilians employed to transfer 1.8 million tons of freight during the period.


I can remember as a child travelling from NSW to Victoria and having to change trains at the border because the gauge was still different.
So today we have 7,300 miles of narrow gauge, 11,000 miles of standard gauge and 2,000 miles of broad gauge.


Hope my long winded reply helps in answering your friends question.


Cheers
David

Wishing you a speedy and healthy recovery Tom.
Best wishes
David

A friend sent me this link today.
Pretty cool I reckon. I wonder if it's a case of life imitating art ?
Enjoy
Bagman


https://youtu.be/6TLcaJdsRr0

G'day
A very dear friend of 47 years passed away recently.
His passing came out of the blue but when he's the same "vintage" it rocked me completely.
Thom Driggers came up with the suggestion of making a car in memory of my good friend so he'll always be "present" when I'm working on my layout.
Stephen ran his own rubber factory in Charleston SC and if you look closely Thom has modeled pallets of rubber product inside the car.
Thom completely modified an existing boxcar with custom decals and hardware.


Thanks for coming up with this brilliant idea Thom and making a lasting memory for my dear friend.


David

Quote from: tct855 on August 19, 2021, 06:39:43 PM

Quote from: ACL1504 on August 19, 2021, 07:00:01 AM
Davis,

Congratulations in having your layout featured Lances's book. What an honor.

Tom 

Davis, I agree with Tos, Congratulation you deserve it my friend!
                                                                                                  Thanx Thom...

Better than Gavid Mr T !!

G'day
I feel very privileged that my layout is mentioned in Lance Mindheim's latest book. Thank you Lance for including me amongst other well known modelers who are way more talented than myself.
Indeed an honor.
Lance designed my layout many years ago as a freelance line set in the Adirondack region. A few years ago I decided to go proto-freelance based on the Saranac branch of the NYC. Track layout remained as Lance designed but I renamed the towns based on actual locations and industries named after those that resided in the towns.
I had Rich Cobb build some structures based on real life examples such a Lake Placid and Ray Brook stations.
Thank you again Lance for including my small "kingdom" amongst so many other well known modelers.
David

Quote from: ACL1504 on May 27, 2021, 09:04:19 AM
Morning all,

Spent a good deal of time on the layout yesterday. Update later this afternoon.

Nice photo Bob, that trip to Scranton was really fun.

I've also mentioned to the Judge and Greg, that post Covid-19 I find myself not being able to focus for more than an hour or so. Yesterday is the first day since last November, I actually worked on the layout for more than 6 hours. Just saying.

Have a great day ya'll.

Tom 

Photo by John Sullivan -

G'day Tom.
This COVID is devastating for people, like yourself, who have contracted it.
There are a number of side effects that are not talked about.
I had a couple of friends who suffered from COVID in varying degrees of seriousness but what they both said was they noticed a loss of short term memory after they had recovered.
And age had nothing to do with this memory loss.
They were both in their 40's.
They did say recently that their memory is slowly improving so let's hope that happens for you.
Wishing you continued good luck with your recovery.


David

Peter....


This is a very, very impressive build you are doing.


A lot of the construction from "scratch" so to speak ?


You are one clever guy. What scale is this being built in ?


Cheers
Bagman

Thanks Dave for posting all these photos.
I am just in awe of the skills, artistry and build quality of all the contest models.
There sure are some very clever people out there !


Bagman

Whatever you think looks best works for me Thom !
You have a done a great job over the years on my loco's and rolling stock.


That being said, I agree with the thoughts of Chairman Bob. Weathering is very subjective and I believe he is correct in saying that most people sit somewhere in the middle.


What I look for is a "goldilocks approach"...not too much but just enough to take the shine off loco's, freight cars and structures etc.
But that's just me....I can understand why other people like to go the whole hog and weather something so it replicates the real world.


As has often been quoted in the past, it's your model railroad and you can do what you want no matter what other people think.


Now get back to weathering those cars I sent you Thom !


D

Quote from: ACL1504 on August 20, 2017, 07:15:45 AM
David,

Great job on your version of the FSM JS-19 kit. It fits perfectly.

Tom

Thanks Tom. Appreciated

G'day
Here are a couple of photos of my version.
I decided to eliminate the trestle and build as a ground level unloading facility.
Actually, to be perfectly honest I couldn't be bothered ripping up the existing track/scenery to accommodate the trestle.
Some more details to add plus more weeds to plant etc but pretty well finished.

A fun kit to build as George's instructions are first class.

Bagman

Quote from: tct855 on August 17, 2017, 05:00:47 PM
Hi all,
       Haven't seen a post here in awhile so I thought I post a set of plastic Red Caboose flat cars I did 6 months ago for a customer.

I started with rebuilding and modifying the frame and trucks to allow for proper weight at empty and better tracking.  Followed up with scribing & lifting individual boards for a board by board wear n tear decking.  Melted in place Cerabin for distributed weight and then painted to match underframe weathering.

Heavy weathering with some extra odd detail parts hanging around for a hopefully interesting-wonder what the last load was- viewing.  Air release & coupler lift bars with brackets finishes off the simple detailing.    Thanx Thom...

Love your work Mr T !!

Tom...

These latest scenery photos...out-bloody-standing, as we would say down-under.

You are building a fine looking layout. You must be very pleased with the progress.

David