Blowfly dismantled

The Blowfly (Metallea) is in bits, all required parts on hand. Now for paint and new plumbing...

Newer sewer hatch = track back

Well, well well... no its the sewer access hatch in place. Two new rings of concrete, one with a steel seat for the sealed steel hatch. It will settle on the rings of goop (the official name for the concrete to concrete joining stuff) and is not quite level. So I will wait a while to make appropriate thickness timber sleepers.

Took a while when the old hatch was lifted to clean out half a bin of palm roots. Now to back fill and settle the dirt.

Meanwhile SRR is back in service!

The Newer Sewer

Ready for the Council to install their custom extension and steel (sealed) lid. They tell me it will be a 19cm spacer ... as long as it is less than 21cm overall, all will be well.

Then the SRR will be back in business!

The Sewer

The Council has decided, quite reasonably, to bring sewer surge, access pits to the surface for... access! Sadly we have one in our yard - under the track. I knew it was there, but my recollection was out by about 60cm. (Council data was out by a metre) Decided to expose it myself rather than have them mess about. Had to cut the track as the removable section was out by, yes, 60cm. Apparently steel rings and a new steel sealed hatch is the plan. 210mm total rise makes the hatch level with the bottom of the steel ties. So that is the maximum it can tolerate.. Top left is the new hole about 30% bigger than the hatch.

So here is the access hole... I reckon, since I have done the spade work, literally, in the rock hard ground, the Council guys will be able to accomodate with a 190mmm or MAX 210mm collar... Note the two 90mm stormwater drains that had to slightly bend around the pit. Underneath at the bottom of that 65cm trench is 240VAC, a high pressure PVC pipe and stormwater on top...

Blowfly - Metallea

Grey Rhiniin Fly - Metallea incisuvalis. Family Calliphoridae... is an Australian Blowfly - as is this fine little 5" gauge, coal fired, live steam locomotive.
It is now named "METALLEA", maybe it's LEA for short... and it is metal!
It has a new home track at SRR - while it has a refurbishment and upgrade with added water injectors. Then we will be out and about.

Still working on the 5"

This is the start of a 4wheel AWD tram with two 150 Watt motors.                             It may look like this...

Carriages for no: 12

Fuses for No: 12

Added 3A PPTC fuses (or Polyswitch) to the Li'l Big Hauler. These haver low resistance until a specified current is reached. The 'poly' film then rapidly heats and its resistance vastly increases. When current is removed the film cools, circuit restored... So they are really an auto resetting circuit breaker!

 

G gauge RC...

Found a cheap Bachmann G gauge Li'l Big Hauler, and thought I could RC it with bits I have... So here it is with forward reverse with the RCS handset - and a directional headlight... Runs on 45mm track, and guess what... with 12mm rail head the distance between the 7 1/4 an 5 inch rails is 45mm!!     Cute eh?

 That's a 1.25 Ah LiPo, RX in the dome and ESC on the backhead , 10mm LED headlight.

New Axle and Suspension Experiment

I will need longer axles for the adjustable pillow blocks. The bearing centres are quite long. So I have put 75mm wheels on the standard sized axles with a simple suspension of 15mm pillow blocks, coil die springs and 1/4" bolts. This is for a small driving car... a 1 1/2 seater. It will have a simple rectangular frame of mild steel angle or RHS. We will see how we go...
There is not enough ground clearance with the smaller wheels so the pillow block will be inverted, mounting flanges on top...

Axle experiment

Working out more substantial driven axles with good suspension for two axle battery powered loco, or tram... So experimenting with 15mm bore spherical/self aligning bearing in a modified, adjustable pillow block. and with a 30mm OD coil spring. Horn slot on the bearing housing is 12mm and 75mm wide. Here is before and after on an un-wheeled axle.

... a 'shed' for the Carriages

Procured a couple of sheets of Colourbond - cut and folded to make weatherproof enclosures for the passenger carriages, which will have to live outside for some time. 

Ends are underway from the offcuts. I can handle them on the 70cm folder...

Is this what SRR needs?

Really Nearly There!

Just waiting on the new two-piece seat for Car#2.  White bead on the front and black on the back, at the moment... Grommets for cables to Anderson Plugs, 6 pin data sockets, two red LED markers on the rear on each car.

Nearly there...

Figure that the 1.5m riding/passenger cars are the right size for SRR. Fit in the 1.8m trailer, don't overhang the inside of the tight curves too much, fit three adults - cosily... And are not to heavy to lift.

This is how our cars are constructed.  Warrick Sandberg's bogies.
Simple frame - 25x25x3mm side rails, 75x10mm bolster support, 50x50x3mm buffer bar/ends, 20x20x3mm corner supports. 
Sides are one piece with 20x20mm top fold, 245mm high  side, 100mm footboard with 15x20 folded edge. This is Car#2 with 1mm steel sides and ends... I have ditched the handles on both - just as easy to grab under the ends.

Lights and cabling to go... Both cars are directional, having the brake pedal only on the driving end of Car#1, and Car#2  also has only one  braked bogie - which should be on the front for effectiveness. So red lights only need to be on one end - of each!

The Carriages

The Indian Red carriages so far. I used incompatible primer on one side of #1 and had to strip it and start again... bugga!

Coupler Pockets

First pair of coupler pockets for the ride-on cars. 40x40mm outside 32x32mm inside. 1/4" pins, per AALS  5"gauge standards. The mounting holes are 70mm between centres for 1/4" HT bolts through the buffer beam. Height above rail top 3 1/4" or 82.5mm to the centre of the pocket...  Like this...






Shows the different colour too, Heritage Red semi-gloss (on the drawbar/ coupling bar) to Indian Red full gloss. The drawbar will probably end up shorter too.

Carriage rebuild

New buffer beams from recycled angle

Another Board decision: to rebuild the original ride-on with coupler pockets, and repaint Indian Red!
The original coupling bar passed through a slot in the end panels - to keep the pivot close to the bogie pivot. Examining the geometry in use indicates that a coupler pocket on the end panel will be okay, easier to couple - and more conventional. 

Welded cleaned up and painted

So I have two new ends for Car#1, have added (internal) buffer beams to both cars. So basically dismantled Car#1 and rebuilding to match Car#2...

Car#2 is a little different with narrower angle side frames, bogie support plates of 10mm rather than 8mm flat bar, and the sides are 1mm rather than 0.8mm sheet.

Bogies back on with 1/2" UNC bolts as pivots

Now I am busy repainting the original sides and new end panels... A bugger getting the signage off!

Also making coupler pockets out of 40mm x 5mm SQ RHS to weld onto 50mm flat and bolt on through the buffer beams. Will still use the same coupling bars and 1/4" pins.

Before you know it there will be two ride-on cars... All we need then is something that will pull six people...

Connections... and Braking

A decision was made by the SRR Board (me) that train carriages and locos on the SRR will be connected by 12mm, 6 pin plug/socket with multi-strand 6 core security system cable.

The cable is really data cable but should easily carry enough current for led lighting and relay coils. The pin connections are rated more than 5A.






This will be the electric brake actuator for carriage #2, activated by microswitch on the mechanical brake, and a relay. It's a  24v push solenoid 20kg at 10A, 50% duty cycle

Instant Thomas the Tank Engine

Thanks to Rob VDD  we have another option for the universal chassis. $4 from the community op shop. Still some work to do, like a short Troublesome Truck body for the back half...