Progress on the layout.

[3-Gees]

G'day all,
Haven't posted for quite a while, have been busy in the shed building the train room and layout. Last time I was on I didn't realise we had a Railway forum!! Anyway, here's a couple of shots of the layout and progress so far, I'm also doing a video series of it's construction on my you-tube channel "Fishplate Films", look for the "Birdwood Sub" clips.
Any U.S modellers or railfans are more than welcome to visit for a run , cuppa and a chat!
Cheers Gregg;)
FishplateFilms - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/FishplateFilms)

[robbotd5]

Looks very impressive Gregg. HO I'm guessing. I have a little bit of HO/OO stuff and some N. I would love to just get a simple layout happening to tide me over until I can get a lathe and mill. Live steam is my passion. Would love to see more!!!
Regards
Robbo

[3-Gees]

Thanks Robbo!,
I take my hat off to anyone who builds live steam!, I don't have the patience(or skill?) , those engines are works of art!. Yes the layout is HO, the room is 9m x 6m but it's hard to get a good pic of it duue to the shape. When finished????, the mainline will be close to 200m including a 20m run up the Helix. I'll get some more pics, but for a better look, go to my you-tube page and look at the "Birdwood Sub'" updates.

Ps, isn't that 7 1/4 Big-Boy amazing:o, and I bet the guy who built that dosen't spend all day looking at his phone:angel:
Cheers Gregg;)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

WOW!
love the cab view up the helix!:clap2::clap2:

[3-Gees]

Thanks very much Pedro!,
I'll be doing a lot more "cab rides" in the future,that camera takes great shots but I can't shoot in HD as the other camera is SD, but it still is pretty good. We've run a 40 car freight up the Helix with 4 locos and that looked pretty cool:D, it nearly wrapped over itself twice;). I'll post some more pics soon.
Cheers Gregg;)

[3-Gees]

Hi all,
As promised , here are a few more pics of the "Birdwood Sub" progress.Track is being laid in the lower level yards and a temporary yard is being built on the top level ,this will enable trains to go to the upper level and be broken up. Also, some signals have been installed (temporary) to prevent drivers running through turnouts!. I'm looking at having a run day in about a month , if anyone wants to join in, let me know.
Cheers Gregg;)

[drivesafe]

Hi gregg, love the layout so far and a couple of questions.

How do you get the track work so tide?

And why do you use the such a thick baseboard?

[3-Gees]

Thanks Drivesafe!
As far as the trackwork goes,patience,patience,swearing, more swearing, then patinence..:D, plus I've been doing it for a few decades so I should be ok at it?. It's one of the few things that is not made difficult by having only one good eye, not having any depth perception is a pain when working with small tolerances:(..Having a thick baseboard means less supports and a more sturdy base for the track and scenery, good trackwork , like most things, needs a good foundation, so the thicker ply results in smoother track.

Rail expansion is a huge problem in the shed, so gaps are left in certain sections of rail to allow for expansion on summer, and yes, I have had buckled rails in the past:eek:.
A new "layout update" will be on my channel in a couple of weeks.

Thanks and cheers ,Gregg;);

[spitfire]

Hi, I have just discovered the railway section of the forum,i'm a big fan of live steam,all gauges, i built my first loco at 19 and am still going 50 years later,i have built 10 locos 3 1/2",5" and 7 1/4" g, 3 traction engines up to 1/2 full size, weighed about one ton, sold my last 5" loco last month and now concetrate on the smaller gauges,HO,O, and G all outdoors,i run DCC also outside,i put down a multi gauge layout 100' approx in each run,expanding that to 300' next year. I run 16mm and 7/8 scale live steam on the G 45mm track, the boys are coming over this week to help with a roof over part of the layout to keep the sun off us old farts,we play trains every wednesday,...pete:D

[drivesafe]

Hi Spitfire and welcome to the magic ( read sickness ) of the rail enthusiasts Section.

Can I suggest you start a new thread about your gear, BUT, you must have pictures!!!!!

[drivesafe]

As far as the trackwork goes,,swearing, more swearing,..:D,

This part I practice religiously.

[3-Gees]

This part I practice religiously.

LOL, yes mate my neighbors must think I'm losing it sometimes:eek:, but you can't loose your cool with anything, it's all to delicate:p
Cheers Gregg

[Deefa]

Nice layout, I have track plans for a layout under my house one day. Had lots of layouts when I was a kid so itching to get back onto it. Have to build in under the house first though. Plus restore an 80 inch.....Plus work,. Land rover club, GT Falcon restoration....er need a few more lifetimes to do it all!

[3-Gees]

Yes Deefa, it gets a bit like that. A layout takes up a lot of time, especially doing most of it yourself.
Cheers Gregg;)

[Pickles2]

Hello greg, Living at Drayton (near Toowoomba) in the 60s, I was very interested in your BB181/4 video.....it sounded really "Healthy" & bought back some good memories for me.
Cheers, Pickles.

[3-Gees]

Yes Pickles2, QR keep their Heritage fleet in good condition and the BB' is one of my favorites ! I have more Steam footage to upload to you-tube so I'll let you know when it's done. Glad it brought back some fond memories:p
Cheers Gregg;)

[robbotd5]

Hi Gregg.
Do you have a YouTube channel? If so I'd be interested in watching your postings.
Regards
Robbo

[3-Gees]

Hi Robbo,
My you-tube channel is "Fishplate Films" here's the link...
FishplateFilms - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/FishplateFilms?feature=mhsn)

Hope you enjoy it!, not a lot of Steam on it yet, but more to come.
Cheers Gregg;)

[drivesafe]

Hi Gregg and was there any particular reason for the 48 running long end leading in your Bethungra Loop clip?

[3-Gees]

Hi Drivesafe,
If I remember correctly,we had a big delay in Junee and got to Coota' very late , so there wasn't enough time to turn the locos. There is a "wye" at the junction north Coota', but we were getting in the way of freight traffic so had to depart almost straight away:(. Even so , it was a great trip! and the cab ride back was a real treat!
Cheers Gregg;)

[drivesafe]

Hi Gregg and have you managed to get a few cab rides?

Before I transferred to ETR ( elec train running ) I’d say half my loco work was done on 48s and I loved them, but I did everything in my power to make sure they were short end leading, unless there was no way around it.

The 49s, 48s and the 45s were gross to drive long end leading.

Strange though, the 47s and 73s were sort of OK long end out.

I did a lot of work in the North West ( NSW ) and even though steam was replaced very early on in that area, most terminal depots still kept their turntables, so it was easy the have short end leading most of the time.

[3-Gees]

Gee's Drivesafe,
Sounds like you had a great time back then! Locos today are very "sterile" compared to the older days, I wish I was around filming when I was younger but the gear was too expensive!. I haven't done many cab rides at all, I was invited onto the footplate on that occasion buy one of the drivers after having a chat with him on the platform. I must say that every time I'm in a cab I feel at home and familiar , I'd love to have a crack at it , but signals will do for now!
Cheers Gregg;)

[drivesafe]

I enjoyed the loco side but I have to be honest, ETR was much more fun.

And I mean fun. I enjoyed going to work.

It’s a different kettle of fish these days and I while I love driving trains, there is no way I would take it up now.

Most of the mates I had on the job back then have either retied or are about to and every one of them has been only too happy to leave as soon as they reached 60.

[3-Gees]

Gday,all,
Progress has been a bit slow on the layout, due to work and doing o/time to pay for it all:p anyway, heres a cllip of a train doing a lap of the lower level then climbing the helix to the upper level!
Hope you like it, Cheers Gregg,


BNSF Birdwood Sub' HO Scale Cab ride. Part 1. - YouTube

[Tank]

Incredible, I wish I had your expertise and patience, well done, regards Frank.

[3-Gees]

Thanks a lot Frank!,don't know about patience, you haven't heard me when things don't go to plan:D There are some amazing layouts out there, especially in the States' where they have the basements to put them in!
Glad you liked it,
Cheers Gregg;)

[jerryd]

That's quite an amazing piece of work :)

My 16 year old son has just started making a layout of his own which is taking shape.
I note that there is a model railway sale and display at Caloundra on 12th Oct between 9am - 2pm at 5 North Street, Caloundra arts Centre.

He wants to go and see if he can pick up a bargain or two.

[drivesafe]

Great video Gregg.

The view from behind the third unit is identical to what the train crew sees when bank ( helper ) engines are working a train up grades like over the Liverpool Range.

I like the large diameter curves too. They boost the realism of the run.

Good stuff mate.

[3-Gees]

Thanks Jerry!, it's got a long way to go ansd as I'm not much good at scenery, that will be an interesting challenge!

Gregg:D

[3-Gees]

Thanks Drivesafe!,
I have lots of ideas for the "Drift" camera in the future. I like the Liverpool Range and have a few clips of the pushers at Ardglen on my channel. I'll be going back there again soon as it's a rare thing to see and access to the track is easy. I would've liked to have even larger radius curves, but room stopped me at 800mm radius, still not too bad !

Ch;)eers Gregg

[drivesafe]

I would've liked to have even larger radius curves

Not need, the combination of the slow speed and the existing curve diameters is fine. As I posted, it looks very realistic.

I love the sound system. Especially the water being ejected from the air reservoirs.

The only drawback is the lack of a decent base sound. Diesel engines have a very low hertz sound base and even the G gauge sound system fail to create the deep base sounds.

Give it time and someone will come up with a way to do it.

Anyway that is a very realistic video now, so it will be VERY interesting to see one done once the scenery is in place.

BTW, I have a couple of videos of cab rides over the range, if I ever get a chance I’ll post them up and I’ll sort out the many hours of video I recorded on the range.

[3-Gees]

Thanks again mate!, the bottom curve outside the Helix is a 1000mm radius and the trains look magic going round that, only 200mm larger but it makes a difference......maybe the next layout:p The decoders are very nice and in person there is more "Bass", plus I have them very quite to make it sound more realistic, when your running a dozen or more , it can be very loud!!

I look forward to your vids of Ardglen mate!!
Cheers Gregg;)