Yes, it’s been a while. Again. You have my permission to chuckle. Amidst webserver woes and general life challenges I have not had the time or energy to post, much less make significant progress with my model train setup. But that doesn’t mean that nothing has happened in the past two years. I’ve renewed my control setup, made some tweaks to make trains move more smoothly and consistently, and when nothing else helped, well, I got some new trains.
So let’s start with those, at least the latest additions (otherwise this post will take me the whole year to finish).
For something a bit different, a key addition to the fleet this year was the South Australian Railways 900 class. This was the first mainline diesel locomotive built in Australia for an Australian railway operator. 10 units were built between 1951 and 1953, and despite the shape, these were not license builds of American units. Instead they were designed from scratch by SAR, and equipped with motors, generators and traction motors by English Electric. The model by SDS Models leaves little to be desired, it is exquisitely detailed and the sound is lots of fun.
There is no rolling stock for this loco yet – SDS have announced matching passenger cars which I am waiting and saving up for.
The second significant addition is another model from SDS – the 81 Class diesel locomotive of the New South Wales State Rail Authority. I’ve had a hankering for the colourful original livery of these locos – nicknamed ‘Candy’, and the previously acquired NLBX banana vans were a great period fit as well. This loco too is nicely detailed and comes with great sound.
Lastly, I’ve finally gotten around to get loads for the RQTY container wagons I’ve had for quite some time now. A while ago I got a single container just to check the fit and looks, but that wasn’t enough. Fun fact, Australian model manufacturer On Track Models have produced several runs of – again – period-appropriate 40ft curtain-sided containers with a variety of motifs. In one of the earlier runs there were advertising graphics of some Australian products which tickled my fancy, and even though they were largely sold out, I managed to get my hands on a few, namely the containers advertising peanut butter, Vegemite, and laundry liquid.
To fill the gaps on the 63ft container wagons, a bunch of 20ft container models from Auscision came into the fold. Yes, the overall base colour is blue, but that wasn’t too much of a bother to me. Most other variations from those production runs were sold out, and new runs will take some time.
And a fully loaded container train looks a bit like this.
Other highlights are:
- A change of the control setup. I got rid of the DR5000 and positively splurged on a completely different setup, with the ESU ECoS and its wireless Mobile Control II. The ECoS has now been in poeration for over a year and I can say I’ve never been happier with my controls. The form factor combining a versatile touch screen with physical speed controllers and function buttons is near perfect for me.
- I’ve started working on signals and feedbacks.
- I fixed some bad track geometry at the expense of a few extra points, but with the benefit of much more reliable train running
Also, as a real life highlight, I traveled on the world famous Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin. In the course of that trip I finally got to see the mighty NR class up close. Also, I visited the Adelaide Railway Museum which, among other things, exhibits one of three remaining exemplars of the 900 Class locomotive – an absolutely impressive machine.
As for future plans, I mainly want to spend more time in the train room. I’ve gained some momentum over the holidays and completed some experiments that will help me move forward with signals and feedback automation. Landscaping is pretty high on the list too, but that will be very slow and steady. The static grass applicator is already on the shelf.
As far as this blog goes, there will also be some necessary changes. I’ve already moved my video hosting to Peertube (still using Youtube as a backup) and am going to link to those videos going forward. The blog backend itself will also change. WordPress has gone all in on generative AI, which I personally abhor and don’t want anywhere near my texts and media. As I am self-hosting now, I have more control and flexibility, so I will be trying out some alternative options soon. If this site looks completely different some day soon, you know what happened.
Lastly, of course, there will be more trains. And I’ll close this post with a quick clip of two of my favourite freight trains: the container train and the banana train.