The Newsletter of Division 2 of the NMRA AR

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Sheila Harrington
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Fifteen turned up at Viv & Sylvia s today, though this did not include the large and enthusiastically friendly dog who very thoroughly checked out everyone he suspected of

Still behind in paying his NMRA dues, our canine friend was, to his great disappointment, forcibly banished from the meeting.

Announcements The Hall Village Band and the Belconnen Bellydancing Brigade had yet to arrive but the occasion was far too important to delay any further.

.. Stephe Jitts MASTER MODEL RAILROADER Stephe wasn t here today, so celebrations were delayed for the moment. But wait! There s more!

1 Volume 4, Issue 9 September 2013 The Flimsy The Newsletter of Division 2 of the NMRA AR Today s meeting was planned to be at Rob Anderson s but it had to be shifted to Viv Brice s. Why? Is Rob too embarrassed and in deep mourning over the non-arrival of his beloved VR...? Stop! Don t mention the R Class! Fifteen turned up at Viv & Sylvia s today, though this did not include the large and enthusiastically friendly dog who very thoroughly checked out everyone he suspected of having touched a dog or a cat in the last 24 hours. Still behind in paying his NMRA dues, our canine friend was, to his great disappointment, forcibly banished from the meeting. Staring reproachfully through the window, he made us all feel bad. Announcements The Hall Village Band and the Belconnen Bellydancing Brigade had yet to arrive but the occasion was far too important to delay any further. Division Two is honoured to have its very first Master Model Railroader... Stephe Jitts MASTER MODEL RAILROADER Stephe wasn t here today, so celebrations were delayed for the moment. But wait! There s more! Our Fearless Leader summoned Peter Dinham forth to receive his Achievement Program Award... Peter Dinham Master Builder, Structures Congratulations were offered by all to Stephe in absentia and to Peter. With assistance from John Gillies who had the exact figures, our Intrepid Leader briefed us on the rapidly approaching NMRA Regional Convention. We now have 69 registered to attend, plus 20 attending the non- Continued on page 2) John Payne in full flight remonstrating about NMRA Prototype Photography Contest rules to (L to R) Tony Payne, Stephen O Brien, Jess Brisbane, John Martin, John Bullen, Ken Macleay, Peter Dinham, Fran Thomas, Mal Risby and Brian Thomas

Peter Dinham receives his Master Builder, Structures AP Award railway programme, and 85 have booked for the Convention dinner.

Our Imperious Leader warned us of the pressing requirement for All Hands On Deck (yes, this means YOU) at the Convention venue at Kaleen at 16.

And, thinking of dinners, our Christmas dinner this year is on Thursday 12 Dec at the Delissio Restaurant in Curtin.

Conductor. Proudly claiming this award to hold international standing at least equal to that of an NMRA Achievement Program Award, John outlined the arduous qualifying requirements.

2 Peter Dinham receives his Master Builder, Structures AP Award railway programme, and 85 have booked for the Convention dinner. From NSW we have 42 coming, plus 16 from ACT and about a dozen from Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia combined. Our Imperious Leader warned us of the pressing requirement for All Hands On Deck (yes, this means YOU) at the Convention venue at Kaleen at on Friday 20 to help set up, and again from 12:30 onwards on Sun 22 to pack up. Got that, everyone? The Convention dinner is to be at the Ainslie Football Club. And, thinking of dinners, our Christmas dinner this year is on Thursday 12 Dec at the Delissio Restaurant in Curtin. Show & Tell John Bullen eagerly brandished his Certificate Of Appreciation awarded to him a few days earlier by Melbourne s Puffing Billy Railway, appointing him to the exalted rank of Assistant Conductor. Proudly claiming this award to hold international standing at least equal to that of an NMRA Achievement Program Award, John outlined the arduous qualifying requirements. As a passenger on the train, apparently you have to... (a) Ask lots of questions that give the Conductor the opportunity to show off his knowledge to all passengers in the carriage, and (b) Be aged under 10. It would appear that John qualified handsomely on both counts. John Payne then sought to raise a serious matter, thereby deeply offending the previous speaker who took grave umbrage. The question of what is and is not eligible in NMRA John Bullen tries vainly to equate his Puffing Billy Assistant Conductor award to the NMRA s AP awards. photo competitions led to a debate that became somewhat tangled to say the least. The rules 2 allow each competitor to enter a maximum of five entries in any one category, eg Prototype, colour print. OK then, suppose you photograph a train for entry in the Prototype category (by the way, what is a prototype?). But your train is too long to fit into one photo. So you take several photos, say five, which together cover the whole train and then you artistically assemble them into an attractive montage within the maximum size allowed by the rules for a single photo. Now does that count as one photo? Or five? Our experts ripped into this with gusto. Confusion reigned for several minutes while all the red herrings were rounded up, chewed at length and eventually tossed out. Finally, some sort of consensus was reached to the effect that this would count as five photos. However, the High Court might well rule differently. A test case is needed. Any starters? Jess Brisbane displayed the base board for her planned On30 scale Comatose Creek microlayout (less than 4 sq ft in area). It will portray a typical small outback village in NSW, South Australia or Victoria, just large enough to have a small Country Fire Authority building. Scenery will include an eroded gully. Rob Nesbitt showed us his two latest models. For a change, neither model was of rolling stock. We viewed an elegant Sydney terrace house Surry Hills perfect for a street/tram scene made from a Little Building Company kit. This Queensland company offers excellent models The start of Jess microlayout of period Australian buildings in laser-cut kits. See Rob s other model was of a rural water tower suitable for HOn3 scale This laser-cut and strip wood kit came from Banta Modelworks in Vermont, USA. See John Bullen showed his latest acquisition a brass HO scale historic curiosity. The model was made in the (Continued on page 3)

Rob Nesbitt s exquisite water tower from a Banta Modelworks laser-cut stripwood kit.

This was the E2E (later De2/2) class loco of the Burgdorf-Thun- Bahn in Switzerland.

Running on 3-phase AC power, it had four overhead current collectors taking power from two parallel overhead wires.

3 Rob Nesbitt s exquisite water tower from a Banta Modelworks laser-cut stripwood kit. (Continued from page 2) 1970s by Metropolitan, a high quality Swiss firm which went out of business almost as long ago. This model is of the world s first mainline electric locomotive. This was the E2E (later De2/2) class loco of the Burgdorf-Thun- Bahn in Switzerland. It was one of two identical locos which entered service in 1899, hauling trains along a 40 km route in central Switzerland. Running on 3-phase AC power, it had four overhead current collectors taking power from two parallel overhead wires. Developing 200 kw it was capable of two speeds 17 kph and 35 kph and the speed had to be selected before the train started. The drive was transmitted from the two motors (one on each side) by jackshaft and driving rod. The original locos are preserved today in the Swiss Transport Museum in Luzern and in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. audience. Rob Anderson might read this, so kindly don t mention the R Class! Abruptly changing the subject, John then displayed his N scale model of a unit of the Japanese Rail Shinkansen high speed train given to him by his daughter. Going even further away from what mustn t be mentioned, John passed around his new book on Burlington Northern Branch Lines in Nebraska by Michael M Bartels & James J Reisdorff, published by South Platte Press in With 80 pages, mostly copiously illustrated in colour, this book is a useful reference for the BN modeller. See oqcecp7. John also brought us up to date on details of his latest planning for his HO scale BN layout currently under construction. Tony Payne briefed us on his recent UK visit, including attendance at the local O and OO scale model railway club. Stephen O Brien showed us two books that he had bought recently in the bookshop on the east side of Garema Place, specialising in book remainder sales. One book was of considerable interest to many here today Steaming Across Britain. This 256 page book by Julian Holland is published by the Automobile Association in 2011 and is right up to the high standard of AA publications over many decades. With excellent illustrations and maps, it gives comprehensive coverage of all steam railways operating in Britain today. And, thanks to the success of the preservation and the restoration movements in the last half century, there are a lot. Stephen also showed us a mini sand blaster kit, available at a reasonable price from Supercheap Autos which should work just fine for stripping the paint off our beautiful plastic models. I think I ll let him try first.. on one of his own models! Model of one of the world s first mainline electric locos John Gillies was on the point of mentioning the promised imminent delivery of the Eureka Models HO scale VR... but was stopped just in time by his alert The Main Show Our Indefatigable Leader then instructed us on Running Trains with a Smart Phone. Obviously it is very useful when train drivers turn up for a model railway operating session with their own potential loco controller already in their pocket. To drive a loco with a Smart Phone you need a few basic things... (Continued on page 4) 3

Rob s Terrace house by Little Building Company of Queensland (Continued from page 3)...DCC operation....computer....wireless connection....software....smart Phone. Gosh! Is that all? Yep, that s all.

In regard to software, you need JMRI Decoder Pro which is readily downloaded from the Internet. (JMRI = Java Model Railroad Interface).

4 Rob s Terrace house by Little Building Company of Queensland (Continued from page 3)...DCC operation....computer....wireless connection....software....smart Phone. Gosh! Is that all? Yep, that s all. Well, no, actually. You also need a model railway and that can cost a bit certainly a damn sight more than all the rest put together. In regard to software, you need JMRI Decoder Pro which is readily downloaded from the Internet. (JMRI = Java Model Railroad Interface). Having taught us all the basic theory by PowerPoint, laptop computer and TV screen, our Redoubtable Leader cheerfully asked if there were any questions. Not a sound came from the school of stunned mullets still staring open-mouthed at the TV screen. Well, says our shoulder sloping leader, if you do think of any later on, just ask Gerry Hopkins in Sideshow Alley at the NMRA Convention. Our Dauntless Leader now led us out to the train room for our practical. His own Smart Phone ran a loco faultlessly. Terrific! But how do we know it didn t take him a week fulltime to get everything set up? Right then, who s got a Smart Phone in their pocket? Ken Macleay owned up and was immediately recruited to be the guinea pig. A quick connection to the Brice wi-fi network and Ken was controlling a loco with his Smart Phone before our eyes. Most impressive. It really is that easy. Since many people now have wireless networks, plus DCC and an old computer to connect to the DCC system, the use of smart phones becomes very cost competitive with more traditional wireless throttles, It was mentioned that the cheapest wireless throttle was around $75 while Officeworks currently had smart phones on sale at $59,95. And not only that, but, just in case you didn t already know, your pocket model railway controller can also be used for a whole host of other useful applications sending messages, taking photos, surfing the Internet and even ringing people up (just as long as you don t mention the R Class). After all this, a rest in order to gather wits was clearly needed so we adjourned for afternoon tea thanks Sylvie. It s crowded in here. Better call the roll. Hey! Who let that dog back in? z 4

5 From the Editor: I have to point out that Rob s inability to host this month s meeting was caused by the vagaries of South Coast builders either be here to build your new abode or have a meeting we lost! This is the last issue before the convention and preparations are going full blast. All of our clinic presenters are now locked in, together with vendors and side-show alley demonstrations. The venue looks great and the staff there are most helpful. Hopefully we can all have a great time. For a while it looked as if I might have to host yet another meeting as Dave Mitchell is keen to get his rather wobbly knees replaced but the medical profession being what it is, it gave him more time to wait than he expected. Viv div2sup@nmra.org.au National Model Railroaders Association Australasian Region Division 2 ACT Bringing model railroading to you News Next meeting will be at Dave Mitchell s abode in 37 Nangor Street, Waramanga, on Saturday, 14 September. The 2013 Convention here in the ACT will be held 21/22 September Called Canberra Rail 2013, it will be held in the University of Canberra High School Kaleen (was the Kaleen High School). Disclaimer: Any resemblance between characters in this newsletter and real model railroaders is purely intentional but no offence whatever is intended. Only the facts may have been altered to protect the guilty. Every reader has the right of reply and we look forward to publishing them! 18.4 x 13.6 Opened in 1899, Europe s highest tramway runs 700 metres from Switzerland s Riffelalp station up to the 5-star Riffelalp Resort at a speed of 8 kph. Originally powered by overhead wire, the tram is now powered by 80-volt batteries and two 10kW DC motors, partially recharging its batteries on the downhill run. There are two powered cars and one luggage trailer. Track gauge is 80 cm. Yes, that is the Matterhorn in the background Photographer: John Rogers (LGB Tours, Germany) using John Bullen s camera, September Tbfpmox # 5

THE FLIMSY. From the Editor. In This Issue. From the Editor. March meeting. Show and Tell. Buffer Stop. The last say...

THE FLIMSY. From the Editor. In This Issue. From the Editor. March meeting. Show and Tell. Buffer Stop. The last say... THE FLIMSY NMRA Division 2 Newsletter March 2017 From the Editor As you can see from this issue, and past issues, the Show and Tell part of the monthly meetings generates some very interesting show pieces.