Welcome to the forum Sandbar

Thanks everyone, I came from G scale back down to ON30 when the back yard became to steep and my mountain goat ability declined due to age & eye sight on rough ground. All my layout is now in my 4 X 8 metre shed.
Some photos of my old layout can be found if you google "Sandbar & Mudcrab Railway"

Thanks for the warm welcome and looking forward to some constructive time.

Cheers from Andrew

 

Welcome aboard Andrew
From Sydney
Andrew

 

My layout was the copy of Thunder Mesa.
Here is the link to the track plan. http://thundermesaminingco.blogspot.com.au/p/track-plan.html
The main frame for the layout is constructed from steel purlins from the former garden railway with timber risers. Plaster is coloured with pigment that usually is placed into cement, this gives a red (Ayres Rock) look.
It is installed with all the gradients and I have since added another 5 metre leg with sidings. All DCC powered (NCE Twin) with 2 bachman ON30 Porters with sound.
The Porters had very bad pickups on the back of the wheels, which I think was due to poor quality brass material. I added DCC Concepts wiper pick ups plus extra pickups on a OO gauge coal wagon permanently attached as a tender. This loco can crawl around with wheels just moving without a stall if required.
There is a reverse loop at each end with auto reversing system.

Presently the stage is at the making of trees. these are just basic pine trees. I have made about 100 so far. Also thinking about some buildings, as a ore mine is already in place but with so much track it needs a purpose to operate.

Forgive the bit of a long rant, but it should give you an idea of what is happening "up in the shed".

Cheers from Andrew

 

Gary, yes I am thinking about Liverpool.
My nickname of Sandbar came about when I was a Paddle Steamer Captain on the Murray River at Echuca. P.S.Canberra was my main vessel. The nickname came about because there were no charts of the Murray & at low water during winter I had to find water to operate. I think I hit every sandbar around the town. I might add that that year I was the only vessel to operate due to low water, (2 ft) with natural deep water holes in the river bed as well as snags.
High river goes up to 32 ft in flood time depending on rain & snow melt upstream.
During my time there I replaced the tubes in the boiler and was preparing for restoration. I used to fire her up for heating in the winter. She was diesel powered but now has been converted back to steam with a Marshall steam engine of 12 nominal HP.
Fuel is red gum logs.
Cheers from Andrew

 

Yes that's right Gary, it is supposed to be the old story of men falling into the wet cement while building the bridge pylons & they could not be recovered.

But that story has no concrete evidence!

The other paddle steamer is the Adelaide, built 1866 & now fully restored. Her power was an old steam locomotive with the wheels removed & coupled to the paddles. She could pull 2 barges and is known (unofficially) to do 16 knots.
Steam is very quiet on the boats, you can talk to people on the river bank as you go past. The only sound is the paddles as they dip in & out of the water.
The "chuffing" you hear on some boats is the valve settings adjusted so people recognize the steam engine sound as the boat passes by.

Cheers, Andrew

 

Pete, my wife has the photo put away somewhere (due to scrapbooking). She has so many albums that I have to ask her where certain photos are!
Also I have some home videos of Canberra, Adelaide, Emmylou, Pevensey & also the restoration of P.S.Enterprise, built 1878 which is now on Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. Enterprise was restored at Echuca for the National Museum Australia.

Cheers, Andrew

 

For all who have never seen the paddle steamers in the Murray River, here is a video of the paddle steamers at Echuca. I acknowledge this was Taken from Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSMhflcrXpM

Features mainly the steam engine of the P.S. Etona. She was built as a missionary boat for the Murray River in 1898, and funded by the boys from Eton College in England. You must remember that the river at that time was the fastest means of transport until the railways came. Plenty of footage of firing and running of the steam engine.
As a extra bit of trivia, my son was baptised in the Murray River using Etona to steam down stream to a nice sandbar for the ceremony.
Cheers from Andrew

 

This Pevensey is named after a sheep station of a small holding of 116,994 ha. They had there own wharf to load bales of wool which Pevensey towing 2 barges carted the wool down to Echuca & then placed on a train to Melbourne to be sent overseas.

Andrew