Moving the coal: A United Effort on the Sandstone & Termite

[gregh]

GRASS is a loose conglomeration of 5 garden railways that serve adjacent communities. It consists of the Peckforton Light railway (PLR), the Turrella Tramway (TT), the Baron Tableland Railway (BTR), the Bottle Creek Tramway (BCT) and the Sandstone & Termite Railway (SaTR).
A large export order recently resulted in a major coal lift. SaTR asked all the other operators to provide trains to help out.

Well, in reality, a few mates got together, each with his own coal train, and we had fun.

Here’s the day compressed into 10 minutes.....

If that’s not enough action, this video is made up of the cutting room floor bits and pieces that I deemed not good enough for the main movie.

And this old video follows one coal train from the mine to port

 

[The Tinker]

Out standing as usual Greg.

 

[dunnyrail]

Gregh, nice to see a set of Prototype action Vids od a Garden Railway. Running Loaded Coal Trains passing Empties plus Pass n General Goods going the other way and changing Engines for bigger Power en route over the Hills. Reminded me of what things would have been like in Oz during the kast days of ROD's at Mines just as the takeover would be occuring with Modern Traction and Stock muscling in. Superb.

How do you schedule your line, do you have a Base Timetable (Schedule) then overlay the additional Coal Workings with a Special Notice, or Control Orders? Not used to Oz Practice so interested to learn.

I expect you have told the story before, but how does the Coal Loader work? We tried to get a working Gravel Loader on the Ruschbahn but gave up after sticking gravel thwarted my release mech. Yours sounds like it may be Motorised in some way.
JonD

 

[gregh]

How do you schedule your line, do you have a Base Timetable (Schedule) then overlay the additional Coal Workings with a Special Notice, or Control Orders? Not used to Oz Practice so interested to learn.

I expect you have told the story before, but how does the Coal Loader work? We tried to get a working Gravel Loader on the Ruschbahn but gave up after sticking gravel thwarted my release mech. Yours sounds like it may be Motorised in some way.
JonD

Thanks for the comments.
Nothing is organised on the SaTR. My mates just run their trains and I run a coalie or a passenger in between taking videos. Crossings just happen! I noticed after the day, that only Ti-tree and Melaleuca were used for crossing (at least that I got on video). Never happened at Lilyvale or Maple Jn.

The coal loader is another 'fudge'. I built it as a non-worker, but decided to try and use it in the video. So I removed the top and drilled a 1" dia hole in the wood plug I had used in the bottom of the hopper.


I then just poured the 'coal' (gravel/ballast) down a tube. That's why you don't see the top of the loader in the video. And like you, I found the gravel sticks in a 1" hole especially if it's wet (I had wet it to make it look darker, like coal)

 

[PhilP]

The only way to make a model loader work, is to cheat a little..
Instead of a hopper full of 'stuff' and a gate / baffle at the bottom, use a powered conveyor to feed the hopper, which is straight through.. Stop the conveyor, and the flow stops.

 

[dunnyrail]

The only way to make a model loader work, is to cheat a little..
Instead of a hopper full of 'stuff' and a gate / baffle at the bottom, use a powered conveyor to feed the hopper, which is straight through.. Stop the conveyor, and the flow stops.

So cheeting works, Conveyers sound good but you have to load them somewhere probably with a Cup or something. I wanted to do what Gregh did on the Ruschbahn, but the Ruschfuhrer vetoed that so we just had removable Loads. Did make life much easier at the other end of the line.
JonD

 

[gregh]

So cheeting works, Conveyers sound good but you have to load them somewhere probably with a Cup or something. I wanted to do what Gregh did on the Ruschbahn, but the Ruschfuhrer vetoed that so we just had removable Loads. Did make life much easier at the other end of the line.
JonD

The SaTR uses cheating. I only loaded a few wagons with the 'gravel' from the hopper, just for the video. All my loads are removeable - just real coal glued over a piece of balsa or similar.
Dunnyrail's suggestion of a conveyor sounds like it would work, but like your Rsuchfuherer, using real coal all the time would be just too hard for me.

 

[Madman]

I've made several attempts at building a working loader that drops coal, gravel, sand and even tiny (1/4") steel ball bearings into waiting wagons. I had some success but after all of the experiments I gave up. So I have to give Gregh a thumbs up for doing it the smart way.

My method of loading tippers and other freight wagons is with my modified Playmobil tower crane. I've wired it to run on battery power. I modified an LGB control box with DPDT momentary toggle switches. The crane is fitted with an electro-magnet. It works very well. Here's a clip of it loading freight.

 

[Tropic Blunder1]

this is the only railway ive seen that actually has working loading/unloading

will definitely be attempting something similar once I figure out the finer points!

 

[dunnyrail]

Dan's Loading Crane is very interesting and a great way to utilise/introduce perhaps new and younger ones into the joys of Operating a Model Railway.

Consolidated Mines is a real benchmark line for Operations, the whole thing has been worked out carefully with well executed Modelling. One can believe you are watching the real thing. His Ballast Loads looked to be quite dusty when loaded into the Wagons, so perhaps he is using equipment that is brought inside outside of Operating Days. Certainly that would make some sence with his Front Garden Location. The Token System for Single Lime Working is extremely interesting, being limked to Signals with auto return to Danger. Possibly more complex for most of us. But a superb achievement.

As for Single Line Working, with many visitors as with Gregh's recent Vid. A simple set up can be easily achieved with Coloured Pens as Tokens. One each for each section between Passing Points.

Rules of Road 'You do not enter the Section without the Token (Pen)".

The one exception is that "Two Trains may follow each other with the Token Held by the following Train".

This works very well in ensuring no "Cornfield Meets" as the American Terms them IE Head On Collisions. If things get clogged up it is within order to Get the Token by a Man on a Bike, IE if the Token is at the wrong end of the Section you can walk over and claim it for access to the Section.

This system copies what is known as the Staff and Ticket System used for many Years on BR Single Line Railways. It could be used to great effect on any Model Line with Multiple Operators and Trains running in Opposing directions.

I have a Vid pf the Sputhwold Light Railway that explains the Syetem very well, sadly it os not on YouTube. But it is the best I have seen for explaining how SnT works with super graphics. It also illustrates what can be the limitations of the aystem, hence the Man on a Bike to collect the Token addition to help unclog workings at times.
JonD

 

[idlemarvel]

this is the only railway ive seen that actually has working loading/unloading

will definitely be attempting something similar once I figure out the finer points!

I love this video, in particular the operational aspects, token signalling, etc. All the locos look home-built and are certainly "hands-on", no remote control as far as I can see.

The owner has since moved on to 45mm and now has overhead electric motive power, see here:

Also new auto load/unload mechanism

There's a facebook page as well if you're into that, google consolidated shales railway

 

[Tropic Blunder1]

To me he looked like he was using kitty litter or something similar for his mine loads which would be ideal as its about the right side and wouldnt really break up into dust after repeated use and most importantly its cheap! the hardest part is building doors into wagons that arent oversized but still rigid, 3d printed guide rails and a brass door would be the way to go i think just got to figure out actuation

 

[Thomas Lambo]

Hi Greg,

Simply amazing videos and what a great layout (wow, 260 meters of track)...so many incredible features (love the cliff overhangs and the stream among others).

And nice to see you've gone over to Battery power and RC.

I'm just getting started in my back yard with a Garden Railway and plan to document the entire process here on GSC (I'll use RC/battery power as well).

Thanks much

 

[gregh]

Hi Greg,

Simply amazing videos and what a great layout (wow, 260 meters of track)...so many incredible features (love the cliff overhangs and the stream among others).

And nice to see you've gone over to Battery power and RC.

I'm just getting started in my back yard with a Garden Railway and plan to document the entire process here on GSC (I'll use RC/battery power as well).

Thanks much

Thanks for the comments Thomas.
Just to clarify - the stream scene is not on my railway - it's on another member here - GE_RIK. The video was partly to illustrate the way my mates and I get together to enjoy the hobby. Unfortunately Rik lives 20,000 km away in the UK but is an honorary member of our group. So I included a little footage of his line. It's worth having a look at his GR here:
http://riksrailway.blogspot.com.au/
Keep us posted on your line's progress.
.

 

[GAP]

Greg,

It looks like I missed a really fun day.

I was really looking forward to making it, but the hip just will not let me do anything.

But I am getting it fixed tomorrow into hospital for a replacement.

Will make an effort to visit when all is well and that work rubbish doesn't get in the way.

 

[dunnyrail]

To me he looked like he was using kitty litter or something similar for his mine loads which would be ideal as its about the right side and wouldnt really break up into dust after repeated use and most importantly its cheap! the hardest part is building doors into wagons that arent oversized but still rigid, 3d printed guide rails and a brass door would be the way to go i think just got to figure out actuation

We tried Kitty Litter on the Ruschbahn, problem we found was that it does break up somewhat and the Dust Clogged moving parts. Possible that the Litter your side of the World is different of course.
JonD

 

[Tas devil]

Gregh, nice to see a set of Prototype action Vids od a Garden Railway. Running Loaded Coal Trains passing Empties plus Pass n General Goods going the other way and changing Engines for bigger Power en route over the Hills. Reminded me of what things would have been like in Oz during the kast days of ROD's at Mines just as the takeover would be occuring with Modern Traction and Stock muscling in. Superb.

How do you schedule your line, do you have a Base Timetable (Schedule) then overlay the additional Coal Workings with a Special Notice, or Control Orders? Not used to Oz Practice so interested to learn.

I expect you have told the story before, but how does the Coal Loader work? We tried to get a working Gravel Loader on the Ruschbahn but gave up after sticking gravel thwarted my release mech. Yours sounds like it may be Motorised in some way.
JonD

Hi Jon

I managed several rides on RODs when the railway was truncated to just one colliery.

My memory says that the RODs were not replaced by modern traction, but ultimately by 2-8-2 '10' class tanks on hire from nearby South Maitland Railways.

When the mine owners tried to shut the last section of the railway, one of the '10' was kidnapped by the workers close to the mine. Alas road transport took over and eventually I think mine closure.

South Maitland Railways and their remaining fleet of 10 class were eventually replaced by diesel traction, and to my knowledge, still serves several mines.

Hope that's of interest. Cheers