An Afternoon of Bench/Trackwork

Laid down some more of the plywood base for the trackwork this afternoon.

A test run with my articulated loco and 2 wagons it seems to handle not only the tight curves but the steep grades without even the hint of a hiccup. I ran out of daylight and the mozzies came around for a visit before I managed to complete the upper track loop. Hopefully I can get that done early tomorrow morning so I can give it a better test run.

A bit of Bench Work

Added the lower layer of track bed

Hopefully I'll be able to get the track roughed out tonight ready for a test run.

TMTEX 2015

So over this last year a lot of things have happened for me. One thing that stands out is my new obsession for all things Anime which included the regularly seen train lines of Japan.

 
So I've being doing some research over the last week or so and found a particular line that I was interested in modeling. using the ever favorite models license of course.

 

The Ōito Line is a railway line in Japan which connects Matsumoto Station in Nagano Prefecture to Itoigawa Station in Niigata Prefecture. There are two operators on the line: East Japan Railway Company (JR East) operates the section south of Minami-Otari Station in Otari, Nagano Prefecture, and West Japan Railway Company (JR West) operates the remaining section.

The entire line is just 105.4 km (65.5 mile) in length. Originally the line between Matsumoto and Shinano-Ōmachi was built between 1915 and 1916. By 1926 is was the line was electrified.

The rest of the line was built by the Japanese Government Railways (JGR) and the Japanese National Railways (JNR) between 1929 and 1957. The Shinano-Ōmachi - Minami Otari section was electrified between 1959 and 1967. CTC signalling was commissioned in 1983, and freight services ceased in 1987. The line has been closed several times throughout its life due to land slides and snow fall.

History lesson aside while is it strictly narrow gauge (3'6" gauge), and anyone reading my blogs would know that, this is my thing. This model is going to be  made using standard gauge track. N gauge to be specific and yes before all you die hard rail purists email me about "its meant to be N-Scale not N-gauge". I know but N-Scale is 1:160 on 9mm track. but this model is 1:150 on 9 mm track, hence Nine mm track gauge... N-Gauge. Its a real thing look it up. Anyway... Why 1:150 I don't know but that's what the train is and most of the Japanese model buildings are scaled this way so I'm just gonna roll with it.

Since today is my day off I decided to get started on construction of the base board.

It's a New Year so is a new model railway project

Peach Trees

Yesterday and today I made 3 peach trees for the second module., I may do 2 more so I have 5 in total but I will do a mockup of where they sit first to see if I have the space.

 

and some closeups

 

TMTEX 2014

One of the Photos from the Toowoomba Show. The layout ran well the whole weekend and of course I come away fired up with a bunch of new ideas for the layout and its expansion. I even have an application for the Ipswich show ready to fill out.

Some Progress

Started adding some scenic detail to the layout and gluing down at least one of the buildings.

Less than two weeks until the show. I still have my work cut out for me