Model Trains and Things

Working from home, as I do, has its good points and its bad points. One of the bad points is that I tend to get very lazy about the desk in my office and seldom make any attempt to keep it tidy.

But this week it got all too much for me and I just had to clean it up. While I was doing so I found this:

Lord knows how it got there - and it certainly hasn’t been hiding on my desk since 1988 but there it was and for me it was a blast from the past.

The illustration on the front of the brochure came from James McInerney’s wonderful layout Lambing Flat.

Inside the brochure is a list of presentations that were to be made that day. Those presentations included Researching and Building Richmond (in N Scale) from Phil Badger. Phil Collins talked about modeling mail trains.

Ian Dunn waxed lyrical about the fact that it was always spring inside an air-conditioned train. Keiran Ryan talked about wheat silos and if I remember correctly he also displayed one of his amazing wheat silo models.

Ian Thorpe talked about researching and building goods vehicles and a totally unknown speaker made his one and only appearance as a speaker at Modelling the Railways of NSW conventions when I gave a talk on card order operation - subtitled How to Work No. 52 Pick-up.

These days I can’t remember how I came to select that number for a train but oddly enough only the other day I found the display cards I used in my presentation.

Those conventions were always packed with information and I learned a lot every time I attended.

Premier Anna Bligh today welcomed news that a rail link between Moree and Toowoomba is progressing.

“A nation building project such as that proposed deserves careful consideration,” said the Queensland Premier.

“We will work closely with the New South Wales government in coordinating and evaluating the proposal’s assessment.”

“The Border Railway has the potential to open up new transport and mining opportunities.

“I look forward to seeing the business case behind building a high-speed standard-gauge rail link between Melbourne to Gladstone. At first glance the project looks very exciting and now the hard work of assessment and evaluation will determine its viability.

“I congratulate ATEC on having the courage to progress their idea and look forward to seeing their business case,” she said.

Siemens in Australia and New Zealand has been awarded a A$170 million contract by Queensland Rail (QR) to supply 25 Class 3800 heavy haul electric locomotives. The contract comes as an extension to an existing order placed last year for 20 new locomotives.  It is also in addition to the contract with QR to upgrade 63 Class 3700 locomotives.

The additional 25 Class 3800 heavy haul electric locomotives will be delivered over a period of 12 months commencing at the end of 2009.

The upgraded Class 3700 locomotives have commenced revenue operation in Queensland, delivering improved productivity with more coal being hauled by fewer locomotives. The first 20 locomotives already on order are now under construction in Siemens main locomotive factory in Munich and are due to be delivered and placed into service in Queensland during 2008. 

Siemens Transportation Systems Executive General Manager, Paul Bennett, said the new locomotives will expand QR’s locomotive fleet in the Goonyella Coal Systems and provide increased haulage capacity.

“The new, state of the art Siemens Class 3800 electric locomotives will provide improved performance to the upgraded Class 3700 locomotives, allowing QR to increase the payload of each train, improve cycle times and lower operating costs. All locomotives are equipped with Siemens locomotive ac traction technology, which has been proven in Queensland to exhibit high reliability in harsh operating conditions.

“Siemens is pleased to have again been entrusted to deliver this prestigious project and we are delighted to be continuing our valued relationship with QR,“ said Mr Bennett.

The Siemens locomotive factory in Munich is the centre of competence for construction and produces approximately 150 electric and diesel locomotives per year.

It’s hard to believe that it’s 10 days since I had a chance to post here but business has been absolutely crazy … plus one of our daughters came up for a week and we did the family thing … and had a great time doing it.

Now she’s gone back to Goulburn and we’re getting back into the working groove. While I’m finding my stride I’ll leave you with this link to a photo of an unusual shunting loco from Chile.