Taita Gorge Railway

[Gavin Sowry]

View attachment 212945

We all like pictures. And now, a hitherto unavailable angle, the reinstated Outback section with big tree removed. Boy, it makes a difference, the area so much more open, and lighter..... time for some 'advanced' scenery to by added.

Something got lost in the translation of this photo.... it appears a bit fuzzy on here, but, the file copy from which it was uploaded is so sharp, that you can zoom in, and read the word Climax on the cylinder steam chest.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Storm warnings, Roads closed, snow to low levels...... pull the other one.

Shorts, and tee shirt weather on the Taita Gorge Railway this afternoon, but, that winter sun plays hell with the shadows this time of the year, so, when I glimpsed this 'enlightening' scene, I thought it best to share with you all out there in Garden Railway land. Yes, the lawns had just been mowed, the ground still being firm enough..... almost Spring

 

[trammayo]

View attachment 213518

Storm warnings, Roads closed, snow to low levels...... pull the other one.

Shorts, and tee shirt weather on the Taita Gorge Railway this afternoon, but, that winter sun plays hell with the shadows this time of the year, so, when I glimpsed this 'enlightening' scene, I thought it best to share with you all out there in Garden Railway land. Yes, the lawns had just been mowed, the ground still being firm enough..... almost Spring

Wish our summers looked as good!

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Jack visited last night.... trains this morning refused to start, 'I ain't getting full voltage, so I'm shutting down.'
Well, that was the prototype, no such trouble tonight on the Taita Gorge. I think Jack may be back again later tonight.

 

[Melbournesparks]

Jack visited last night.... trains this morning refused to start, 'I ain't getting full voltage, so I'm shutting down.'
Well, that was the prototype, no such trouble tonight on the Taita Gorge. I think Jack may be back again later tonight.

Wusses. The EE sets would have worked just fine.

I used to regularly catch the first train of the day to work, you could read a newspaper by the light of the arc going up the 1:40 grades.

We've mercifully avoided any bad frost so far this winter here, it took out a whole lot of my plants last time.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Yep, with the just retired Ganz trains, I used to rate the severity of a frost by the number of trains that would pass my place with significant arcing, Usually a 5 train frost was getting pretty bad.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Confirmation that it is Spring..... the Annual Daffodil Excursion passing by the Taita Gorge Railway a few minutes ago.
Galloping through at its regulation 70 km/h. hence a slight lack of sharpness.

Now that it is Spring, time to play trains..... because my Grandaughter wants to (and is Grandad complaining?)

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Don't leave the lap top laying about.....

This is what my 10 year old Grandaughter ended up doing to the last photo....



Spring has sprung.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Spring cleaning, literally. The Porter was hissing and fitting around, even though I'd cleaned the wheels, and track. So I whipped off its bottom cover and found years of accumulated grease build up on the contact bearing, quick wipe with a rag, and away we go. She's been on passenger duty all day, running faultlessly, now.

 

[dunnyrail]

You guys in NZ are all getting excited about Spring, us poor souls in UK are bracing ourselves for Winter. Now if only we could have 4 Springs a Year, what a wonderful Planet we would be on. Must have a chat with Slartibartfast.
JonD

 

[PhilP]

Don't leave the lap top laying about.....

This is what my 10 year old Grandaughter ended up doing to the last photo....

View attachment 214825

Spring has sprung.

Yeah-but...

I bet you end up with that as your desktop picture!

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Taita Gorge Railway announces the opening of a box, a red box (of the darker variety).

A 'get well' present for SWMBO, another Beer Car for her train.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Taita Gorge Railway announces the opening of a box, a red box (of the darker variety).

A 'get well' present for SWMBO, another Beer Car for her train.

Well that box opening drew a thunderous silence, let's see what the opening of the camera does...



Not the prettiest car on the bar shelf, but another one nevertheless. Taken today as the spring rains were changing from north to south.

Oh, I kept dry, I was standing under the eaves of my house.

I was thumbing through some old issues of Garden Railways magazine, and happened across the advertisement for the Coors car, it was a limited edition of 1504 units by LGB for an outfit called Dept G.
It may be limited (collectable?) but that's not stopping me from modifying it. It didn't come with a brake wheel, so a bit of rod, and a Bachmann wheel from my spares saw to that. When I chucked metal wheels into the LGB trucks, they shorted, and as I wanted metal wheels, I fitted USA Trains Bettendorf trucks with Bachmann wheels, since the prototype wagon also has Bettendorf trucks. I also picked the Coors car to be my battery car, as, unlike other brands, the roof is screwed on, rather than clip on. Of course, after fitting it all up, I found that I can do battery changes through the side door!

 

[Gavin Sowry]

This is the time of the year for my annual indulgence..... spending money under the guise of a birthday present. Last year, it was my Alco FA from Trainworld. This year, somewhat fortuitously, a large estate lot of 'stuff' hit the local market. Lo and behold, mixed up in the middle of the mix, were the LGB 41770 Log Disconnects that I've been chasing ever since I got my Climax. I got through a rather aggressive bidding war last night, and at lunchtime today, I became the proud owner of said item.... advertised as 'used', but clearly, they had never left the box.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

The disconnects are now officially 'used'. I've set this up as empty running mode, i.e. all the bogies just coupled together for the trip to the loading skids. That's the way things were done in NZ (usually).

Connecting bars were placed as required when the logs were loaded.

The Climax coupling pocket required a slight modification.... there was not enough sideways swing on R1 curves, so the side of the pocket (just the bottom one, which is the one that lines up with the bogies) was cut away..

 

[Gavin Sowry]

......like this.

Photo courtesy A Bellamy/P Mahoney

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Inspired by a photo in Paul Mahoney's book 'The Era of the Bush Tram in New Zealand'

 

[Gavin Sowry]

A few days after the last post, the latest NZ Model Railway Journal arrived in the mail. Feature article was on another of the Climax locomotives in NZ (#1317, if you really need to know). This illustration just cried out to be modelled (as they say).

 

[Gavin Sowry]

For those that can't remember B&W photography, here it is in colour.

 

[PhilP]

? Black and white photography ?
Was that when the cameras were horse-drawn?