We're on a Roll - A Little More Progress.....

We must be on a roll because things are still moving in a forward direction.

Monday 30 January saw Raymond receive a parcel from Canada with more of his E-Bay purchases. This time he got an AMS Denver & Rio Grande 0-4-0DM No.50. Raymond already has one of these but he was stymied when trying to fit a DCC sound chip and speaker. This one is fitted with a DCC chip and works well on the layout when he test ran it, EXCEPT, the gearbox hangs low and hits the track nails AND the rail through the points. Some work required there. He also got, in the same auction a Grandt Line Gramps frameless tank car and a brass Denver & Rio Grande long caboose by Pacific Fast Mail.

Tuesday, 31 January, yet another parcel arrives from Canada. Another E-Bay purchase, this time there are three San Juan Car Co D&RGW High-Sided Gondolas and two San Juan Car Co D&RGW box cars. I also got my January/February issue of the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette.

The Weird Geezer (Craig) rang to ask if I had ordered the plywood yet and if not could I order a sheet for him too? So, Tuesday afternoon, I ordered four sheets (one for Mr Weird Geezer) 2400 X 1200 X 12 mm ply CD Grade from Mr Ply at Underwood. The cost was $34 per sheet plus $25 delivery – a bargain. I told the rep want I wanted it for so he gave me a “good deal”. That major hardwarehouse mob charges something like $85 for delivery alone.

Wednesday, no more parcels for Raymond but I got my copy of Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review from the UK. This is the English equivalent of the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette (USA) and Narrow Gauge Downunder (Australia). These are all fantastic magazines and thoroughly recommended. They have some great modelling tips even if you are not a narrow gauge modeller. The plywood was delivered mid-afternoon Wednesday.

I had the day off Thursday as the concreting contractor who had quoted on job for me last Friday arrived to dig the area out and box it up. The concrete will be poured Friday. This concrete work is to provide a two foot wide walkway around three sides of the shed. I thought I would help and pulled a few small clumps of grass from along the back of the shed. The contractor came along shortly after to discover a Brown snake rearing up at them. How I didn’t see it and how it didn’t get me is a small miracle. They are very aggressive and very venomous.

Because of all the recent rain the contractor could not get any concrete delivered until 7:30 am Saturday morning. The concrete pumper truck arrived at 7:00 and the concrete pour was finished by about 8:30 am.
The new concrete path along the left-hand side of The Shed. Raymond's future Garden Railway will take up the grasses area (and save me some mowing)
The concrete path across the bag of The Shed. The air-con unit will sit on the concrete near the power point half way along.

Craig came over Saturday afternoon with his jig-saw and cut up his 2400 X 1200 mm sheet of ply and then started cutting out some 90 degree curves for me. We went into The Shed and Craig gave us a few pointers telling use where we were going wrong..
Craig (The Weird Geezer) weaves his magic with his jig-saw as he cuts up his sheet of ply.

We discussed a number of other issues and he was most helpful.

Following some divine guidance from Craig I spent Saturday evening totally redesigning where the track would go along the right-hand wall and relocating the curve around from the back wall. I drew this up to scale and it seemed to offer some better possibilities both as a “fit to space” and operationally.

When Raymond finally “surfaced” Sunday morning we had a discussion around this new concept plan. We both agreed it would suit our purpose and seemed better than the original concept.

Sunday afternoon was spent with SWMBO going to Bunnings to look at bathroom furniture and fittings for the rebuild of the upstairs bathroom. We didn't really find anything but I bought some strong herbicide to kill lantana growing into our property from the railway land along our back fence instead. This lack of progress then also necessitated a visit to Ikea as SWMBO wanted to go there too. While SWMBO didn’t see anything she wanted I bought a cork board to help in making some of my laser kits. So, all in all, a reasonably successful afternoon.

I will spend some time in the evenings this coming week finessing the track plan along the right-hand wall. Oh! And it is Tueday Nighters this week. We are going to Bob's place. I haven't been there for a while so I hope my GPS Unit (Raymond) can give me the directions I will need.