Macarthur District Model Railway Club

Yesterday me and a mate went trainspotting at Menangle. In search of something to do when there weren't any trains around, we noticed a few cars parked around the goods shed, with the cars owners walking into the shed with suspiciously familiar boxes. After walking into Menangle township to find lunch (that pie was tasty!) we looked into the shed and what did we see? A model railway! After asking if we could have a look, we spent most of our time there looking at the layout and taking photos of trains from their veranda, which used to be a platform for the goods shed the club is located in.

Here are some photos:

The view from the clubhouse.

Wagons for PPL Train

So I have been thinking about what numbers to use for the wagons on my Patrick Portlink and this is what I've come up with:

Auscision RQIW's 60309E, 60313E, 60318D, 60330Q, 60336B (I already own these)

AMK Design VQOF 1119U

AR Kits NQOX's (I don't know the number series of these wagons yet) :P

The BIG update

It has been a while since I updated my blog, and quite a bit has happened in the last few days so I will do an update now.

Firstly, I have a new loco!! I bought it from a friend at AMRA, the club that I go to for $150. It is an Austrains DL50 in the National Rail Charcoal livery that has been weathered, detailed and had the lighting removed so it runs better. Here are a few photos:

Drivers side

Co-drivers side

Back

Front

An idea for a train I am going to to is a Patrick PortLink trip train with 14 wagons and 2 locos:

AN6, DL50, 5x RQIW, 1x VQOF, 8x NQOX. The wagons for this train will cost $278.95 and the AN will be $275 or $300, depending on weather I pre-order or not.

But first I have to build a yard, because the loop and 2 sidings at the front of my board is getting crowded and it is too short. Here is the plan (click it for a bigger version):

The space avaliable is 3.4m by 40cm, the existing track is right on the edge of the board. The yard will have the first automated points on the layout, as I will be unable to reach them from the front of my board.

I have worked out the costs to be:

11x Peco Flexi track, $54.45 based on $4.95 a peice from Hobbyco

$103.40 for 2 electrofrog 3 way points from Tom's Hobbies

$95.75 for 5 electrofrog small radius points based on $19.15 per turnout from Toms Hobbies.

Various Atlas standard sections I.E. 9" straights, 18" radius curves, 1/2 and 1/3 18" raduis curves.

Just a small point I noticed with my RQIW wagons, I bought pack RQIW-2, which should include RQIW's 60319X, 60321N, 60323X, 60334C and 60338P. I didn't get any of these wagons in my pack, instead recieving RQIW's 60309E, 60313E, 60318D, 60330Q, 60336B :S

I have also started a new page, called AMRA NSW, which will contain photos of my visits. I will post here when I update it, in the same way that I post when I update my photography page.