Official publication of the Central Coast Steam Model Co Operative Limited
July 04
Edited by Kelly MayburyIn this issue
All Aboard
Birthday Run
Colour Comes to The Short North
Shocking! Why go Electric Drive
Official Notice No. 01/2004
June and July Running Day Reports
The Grand Plan - Update
Contributors
Up, Up and Away. The need for a Traverser/Unloader
Letters to the Editor
News in Brief
Are you a big sucker? A question of Vacuum
The Funny Side
When did it all start? A History lesson
Gallery
Next Issue
All Aboard
Welcome to the July issue of The Short North. This issue is the first that I know of being printed in full Colour. I hope that all members will join with me in thanking those who are responsible for the printing. This does not imply however that the quality of my editing skills will increase, just that The Short North will give the impression of being enhanced.
This issue will be limited to 12 pages in length and by the next issue I should have a decent word processing program to produce The Short North on. May I thank all of those who have offered their encouragement with The Short North it means a great deal. Allan Fogarty, Bruce Langdon, and Edith Bearman have provided some articles. Trevor Crowhurst provides the photos. A true club newsletter.
The Hot Pot Run has been and gone. I was fortunate enough to go this year and I am already planning a return trip next year (Oh no they cry!). May I thank Illawarra Live Steamers for opening their club grounds on a non-public run day and allowing us to just ‘play trains’. I renewed many old friendships and made many more new ones. I judge that events like this are one of the greatest ways to encourage us all to pursue Model Engineering and hopefully to encourage others to join what I cogitate is a hobby that offers many different pursuits and the retention of skills and knowledge which, I suspect, is sadly being lost from our contemporary society.
Birthday Run
The C.C.S.M. Co-Op Ltd Members and the Board invite members of your club to help us celebrate our Birthday on Saturday 7th August. There will be a BBQ on the evening. We would like to have numbers by the 28th July of anyone wishing to stay for the BBQ. Saturday will be our normal run day, if any visitors wish to run for the public they are welcome to. Please remember to bring your boiler certificates. Please ring Arthur Minter (02) 4344 2791 if you intend staying for the BBQ.
Edith Bearman.
(Note well. Yours truly will be running into the night and Sunday so you are most welcome to join me either for the night run or Sunday. If you wish to stay shower facilities are available.)
Shocking….. Why go electric drive ? An article by Allan Fogarty
Some time ago I wrote an article for our magazine that looked at the various methods of powering our miniature locomotives. One of the methods discussed was the use of electric drive for 5” gauge. As many years have passed since then and with recent improvements in technology an update of ideas may be of interest.
I first used the electric drive concept in 1980 when the 80 class locomotive was constructed. It used a modified Lucas C40 automotive generator as the power unit, powering all axles on one bogie, two deep cycle 100 AH batteries, with mechanical switching for speed and direction control. Following shortly after the 80 class was a locomotive of the 73 class, due to its smaller size the batteries needed to be carried in the following riding carriage, necessitating the use of power cables between the carriage and locomotive, always a problem with the high currents needed. The 73 class had all axles on both bogies powered and used mechanical switching similar to the 80 class.
Over the years since these locomotives first ran there has been much development in the area of electronic speed control for DC motors. While I have not used this method of speed control, many locomotives are now using this type of control successfully. I myself have always preferred to use the modified generator and mechanical switching to achieve the necessary speed control.
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Using the Lucas C40 automotive generator from around the 1960’s era, the original field coils were removed and a new pair wound of heavier gauge wire consisting of 75 turns with a tap at every 25 turns, thus giving 3 taps and by using a ½ ohm 60 watt resistor in series with the first tap, 4 speeds were able to be obtained. Also the earthed armature brush had to be insulated from the frame, this allows the polarity to the armature to be reversed in order to change the direction of rotation.
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The biggest problem that has to be overcome when using this method is the arcing of the switch contacts used for the speed control switching. When an electric current is flowing through a coil of wire such as the motor’s field coils and armature , a magnetic field surrounds these coils, when the current is switched off, this magnetic field collapses, this collapse causes a current flow to be produced in the same coils in the opposite direction and can be many times stronger than the original current, this is known as Back EMF and is the cause of the arcing that occurs across any contacts that switch current in inductive circuits, it only happens when the switch is opened.
In 1992 another method of switching was used in the 42105 locomotive and to date with over 10 years of constant use it has not required any electrical service of any kind. This method involved the use of high current automotive type relays to switch the current to the different taps of the filed coils for the speed required and also to switch the armature connections to allow forward or reverse. These relays were placed near the motor and batteries resulting in shorter power cables and are controlled remotely from the driving car by using low current cabling and switching.
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The back EMF is suppressed by the use of one power diode across the contact of each relay on the speed control and one power diode across the motor armature. The action of these diodes allow the Back EMF to be shorted out before it can build up to arc across the contacts. While the purists may disagree at the crudeness of the method, it works well in practice. The diodes need to be strong enough to short out the high current and withstand the high voltages encountered. A stud-mounted type is available which meets the requirements but as several are needed it becomes quite expensive. I am at present using automotive alternator power diodes in the XPT, but as their voltage ratings are unknown only time will tell if they can withstand the high voltages. Recently many of the automotive type relays were upgraded and now there is quite a selection to choose from. I now use the 24 volts type with current ratings of 22 amperes for speeds 1, 2 & 3 and 30 amperes for speed 4. For the armature switching to give forward or reverse I use a pair of automotive dual head light relays (4 relays in total), these are the 12 volt 30 amperes variety which require the use of two resistors to operate from 24 volts. While these relays are at times operating up to their rated maximum current there has been no problems so far
Allan Fogarty
From the Office of Training and Safety.
Official Notice No. 01/2004
All locomotives upon approaching the car park level crossing are to sound their audible warning device as such; Long-Short-Long. Drivers should be prepared to stop. The long sounding shall not be less than 5 seconds in duration.
Arthur Minter
Training and Safety Officer
Running Day Reports
The June running day saw Arthur Minter as the Fat Controller with a total 8 locomotives recorded. 3 184mm gauge and 5 127mm gauge. Jack Rutherford and Evelyn Crowhurst were on the main station. Helen and Stan Smith controlled the foot crossing and the party station. Bob Newman worked the points with John Mills and Erik Thorvldson. At one stage 4 St John Ambulance members were in attendance just in case. A great sunny winters day and the crowd was almost into Gosford station at one time. Bruce Langdon was in the canteen and Edith Bearman was selling the tickets.
As a matter of note. The Short North will be placed in a box somewhere near Edith on the run day following the meeting of the month of publication ( just like working out when Easter is…ed) for collection if you are not at the meeting. This should help us save on postage to our local members.
July saw 961 rides given by our active members. I was acting as Fat Controller (Yes I know I fit the role well) for the day as well as running No. 24. Many thanks to Mick Farrell for driving 24 for the day. Perhaps we can convert him to 5” gauge after all. I was also pleased by the number of self starting members who went and performed those duties that need to be done every running day without having to be asked to do so.
I was informed by one member of the fact that the car park driveway level crossing was unmanned at 10:54am and what was I going to do about it. After that member left to unload his loco, another member who had also noticed the same problem came over and offered his services to attend to the problem. I relate this story to illustrate just how short staffed we can be on a running day. I am here at 7:30am and leave about 4:30pm. I use these times to highlight the fact that there is a lot of work to be done before and after the official running time.
Most of the morning work is carried out by those members who are running their own locomotives and they are hard pressed for time as it is especially if they own a steam engine. So can you please think about the needs of your club and try to get here by 9am to lend a hand to set up and pack away. We are continually working to minimise the amount of set up time needed for a run and substantial improvements have been made over the past 12 months.
However there is still 2 to 3 hours work for the small number of members who set up each running day. If we could double the workers we could halve the time and more fun could be had by all. As the men from Mitsubishi say….Please consider.
The Grand Plan - Update
The members who attended the March meeting were presented with an overview of some project ideas from some of the interested members, which has been compiled by Allan Fogarty. Also included was a long list of unfinished projects as well as some new ideas. One of the main views was various ways of changing Narara Junction to enable a better way of handling the extra traffic. Interested members can view some of the variations in the carriage; why not present your own views on this important idea. Some of the other projects are:
(I received this list some months ago and I thought that I would list all of the jobs even those that have been finished so we can all see the wonderful amount of work being undertaken by members of your club….ed)
Extra sidings for the 7¼” Loco parking and maybe future storage, (Started)
Bridge outlines in keeping with the railway theme, (Finished with thanks to Allan Fogarty)
Party area changes, such as new fencing to blend in with the size of our railway and party children, (Underway)
Level crossing gates with the correct railway theme.
Also a storage tunnel for 5” carriages ; (Underway)
Unloading Bay, (See story this issue)
Water and power to 7 ¼” steaming bay,
Path to 7 ¼” steaming bay (Finished thanks to John Crowhurst and Keith Lewis)
Fill to retaining walls, (Ongoing with fill from 5” storage sheds)
Drain in front of carriage,
Drain from top driveway,
General site clean up , (Ongoing as time permits)
Bottom area picnic tables (Finished See story May 2004 issue)
Hall and Kitchen
Triangle
Signals (Ongoing as time permits)
Track maintenance
Cuttings (Waiting for tunnel specifications)
Mowing ( At last its winter)
Contributors
Allan Fogarty, , Edith Bearman, Bruce Langdon, Arthur Minter and Trevor Crowhurst
Up, Up and Away. The need for a unloader/traverser.
For some years now there has been a lot of talk about the pros and cons for having some form of mechanical unloading device that would suit both 5” and 7 ¼” gauges with only the heaviest locos having to use the fixed ramp near Narara Gospel Chapel.
The pros are I believe
Ease of use by both members and visitors alike
Safety increased by use of bridge with stops at both ends
Time saved unloading and loading, ( It takes me 1 hour to get out No. 24)
Should encourage other clubs to come and pay us a visit if the unloading facilities are easy and safe.
Easy to build and store in its’ own little house
Will ease the burden on our backs and knees.
Similar ideas operating at other clubs over a number of years.
The cons are I believe
The initial purchase cost ( If we go the electric forklift way)
Someone to build the unloader, rails for traversing, and house. (Keith??!!)
Will anybody use it other than yours truly?
Can we manage with what we have? If so for how much longer?
Do we need another project considering the amount of work we have to do.
Does this increase the publics enjoyment of our hobby? Or are we building it for ourselves?
Is the electric forklift idea the way to go or do we go for a cheaper option?
With these ideas in mind here is what I propose for your consideration. I must state that owing to my locomotives’ physical dimensions I have a vested interest in opting for the electric forklift option.
When I first became interested in miniature engineering I was lucky enough to be accepted as a member of Lake Macquarie (Edgeworth) Live Steamers. I was an active member and one of my interest was working the hydraulic unloader at the 3½” / 5” steaming bay. This consisted of a hydraulic ram which had a bridge mounted on top of the ram. The ram was raised by pumping an handle and lowered by turning a hand wheel. This unloader worked very well for many years but it was limited in length to about 6’ if memory serves.
During the 1994 convention I attended Illawarra live steamers along with other members from Edgeworth and witnessed what I believed was a newly installed electric forklift which was mounted on rails and had about a 12’ bridge mounted on top of the forks. Sometime after this owing to work commitments I left Edgeworth. LMLSLS now has and has for some time had an electric forklift. This is mounted in the same way as Illawarra’s with the exception that LMLSLS built a house for their unloader.
Late last year Ken Howells and I spent a great day at Galston (HDMES) and saw in action their electric forklift. Once again this is mounted in a similar way to the others. From what I understand all have been operating well with Illawarra’s running for over 10 years.
With full and frank consideration given to all available options, I would suggest that we purchase a second hand electric forklift, mount it on wheels, put a 12’ bridge on the forks, build a little house for it (Keith??!!) and rest easy.
So what do you think? Why not write us line and tell us.
Letters to the Editor
Sir,
Some major works of the last year have seen completion of the Steaming bay and Loading bays along with the main drive and Top Driveway with the new entry and walkway from showground road operating well, now it is time for some of the workers to take a well earned rest break.
From talk around the local area there seems to be many favourable remarks as to the improvements and the presentation of our facilities to the public views. Let us keep it that way by maintaining the image.
Some of the members now feel we are at a stage where we can now improve our facilities in two directions.
1 To make things easier and more comfortable so we can enjoy our hobby with more satisfaction.
2 Improve facilities for the Public so we can continue to offer value for money and attract enough patrons to maintain our hobby.
I know we would all like to just “play trains” but as we have to have some form of income to meet the necessary commitments we are obliged to run for the public, so most of the time we have to settle for a compromise. Does this mean we have to have a separate “play day” on another day during the month?
Allan Fogarty,
Wyoming
News in Brief
Thursday 17th of June saw a hive of activity at the club with 2 5” passenger cars arriving at the club completed along with the seats. These are the new club cars and many thanks to Stan Smith for the building of these. Arthur Minter will finish the painting of them and they should be in service by the July running day. The bogies for both cars were built by Ken Howells. John Mills, Ron Cowell and Ken Howells were busy cleaning number 5 workshop bay in preparation for track for the 7 ¼” and 5” storage sheds for our passenger cars.
The 7 ¼” storage shed has utilised the existing road beds in the party area with concrete being poured between the road beds to form a continuous concrete slab for the rails and side walls (besser blocks). Our resident brickie Keith Lewis is working apace on the walls with assistance from Tom Walker.
Allan Fogarty having poured the concrete slab for the 7 ¼” has commenced with the approach roadbed and footings for the concrete culverts. 3 culverts will be placed upside down to form the walls and roof with besser blocks used in the intermediate gaps to get the required length for storage. Ken was assisted by Ted Willams and Kris Macey
John Crowhurst continues with the party loop fence. Peter Le May has already commenced with the painting of this fence. The walls for the drain behind the 7¼” steaming bay (should we call the drain “ Where is Creek?”…ed) have been completed along with most of the fence. This will provide a concrete/ grass path for our patrons on a running day from our bottom car park.
Our club 80 class locomotive will be shifting house. Stan Smith has offered to take over from Bruce Langdon in the repairing of the loco as Bruce is unable to continue with the project due to other commitments. Many thanks to Bruce for all of his hard work with our club loco and good luck to Stan with his efforts on your clubs behalf.
Stan had also been busy in painting the party area tables. Not that I like to list names too often, however, the turnout on the 17th is worthy of mention. Many thanks gentlemen for your tireless work.
Peter Le May, John Mills, Stan Smith, Ted Williams, Keith Lewis, Tom Walker, Norm Browne, John Crowhurst, Trevor Crowhurst, Ron Cowell, Ken Howells, Allan Fogarty, Kris Macey, Arthur Minter, Bruce Langdon and last and certainly least yours truly.
Just as well we have been vigilant about fully covered in footwear. During the July running day one of our guards on the club loco stopped a passenger who was wearing thongs. The guard pointed out the requirements under Workcover and the person duly went away and changed his shoes. At the end of the day this person introduced himself to the guard in question and made it known that he was a retired manager of Workcover NSW. Just goes to show how careful we have to be in our litigious society.
Many thanks to Gosford City Council for giving us one of their Kubota Ride-On Lawn mowers
Contact Details for your club and yours truly. The Secretary, Central Coast Steam Model Co-Operative Limited. P.O. Box 692 Gosford, NSW 2250. Ph Arthur Minter, Secretary on (02) 4344 2791. Yours truly can be contacted at PO Box 209 Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 or Ph: (02) 4937 4740. Our Web Address is www.narara.cjb.net. The web page is provided and maintained by Tom Fink. Yours truly has no association with its contents other than what is provided in the newsletter.
Are you a big sucker? A question of vacuum Part 1
Brakes is a subject which is always in the back of our mind especially when hauling the public and with the ever presence of Workcover all around us. Gone are the days of digging in the thongs and trying to defeat the force of inertia.
I thought an article on vacuum brakes might create some interest and maybe bring back memories of those science classes during your school years.
Vacuum Brakes
There are many different variations of the vacuum brake system in use today, but for our application to miniature trains the Simple Vacuum type is the easier to make and maintain and with care should be reliable and safe for a long time.
The vacuum brake system uses the pressure of the atmosphere to move a piston in a cylinder or a diaphragm in a chamber and this in turn is what moves the linkage to apply the brake shoes.
The engineers among us will know the behaviour of pressures but there may be some non-engineers that will enjoy some of the aspects of this part of our hobby.
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I always find it easier to be understood when discussing or working with pressures (in simple terms) to use the old Imperial system of measurement rather than the present SI metric system where the numbers relating to pressure tend to get rather involved. So therefore we will use an Atmospheric Pressure as quoted of 14.7 pounds per square inch, of course this is taken at a known standard reference of mean sea level and at a certain temperature, but I think we all know that this pressure is always changing slightly, just look at the weather on TV from day to day. Now to make things even easier we will disregard the standard reference and also round up the figure to 15 psi.
To understand what 15 psi means, think of a column of air going up into the sky as far as air goes, one square inch in area. If we could weigh this column of air it would be
approximately 15 pounds, and as it is only one square inch in area we say the 15 pounds is acting on this one square inch of area, therefore we use the term 15 pounds per square inch.
Also remember that this pressure acts in all directions. On the weather map it is stated as 1013 millibars, in every day metric terms we use 101.3 kilopascals (kPa). Remember the trouble you had pumping up the tyres on your car when the metric system first came in. A simple conversion, 1 psi = 7 kPa (approx) So if you require 30 psi in your tyres, use 30 x 7 = 210 kPa. (Make sure you read the correct scale of the tyre gauge!)
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The funny Side
From Bruce Langdon The Golden Rule continued
Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for
Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.
If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.
If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.
When did it all start? A history lesson
I thought that as we have many new members of late and some like me who were not around at the start, I was only 6, we could look at how this club was formed and who was involved at the time.
On the 1st October, 1980 a Steering Committee was formed by interested people on the Central Coast with the aim of setting up a club for the building, exhibition and running of model trains. After a series of meetings, on the 25th July, 1981, it was decided to form a Co-Op and hold regular monthly meetings. These regular monthly meetings have continued without a break to today, and are held in the Gospel Hall adjacent to the grounds on the last Thursday of each month.
Some of the early activities of the Club involved exhibitions at the Imperial Centre, Australia Day celebrations and preliminary negotiations were held with Gosford City Council with a view to obtain the use of a vacant block of land adjacent to the Gospel Hall, which in fact is the present site.
On the 5th November, 1981 the society was officially registered with the Co-operative Affairs as a Community Advancement Society, this was the birth of the Central Coast Steam Model Co-Op Limited.
After a great deal of clearing of rubbish, car bodies and the like the grounds finally took shape around April 1983, with the connecting of water, courtesy of e Gosford City Council. It was also at about this time the first lengths of steel were purchased to begin the building of the track.
By August 1983, about 900 feet of concrete base had been laid and about 300 feet of straight track welded and bolted down with a further 300 feet of curved track ready to be welded. This work comprised in many places digging out for the 3" thick bed of concrete to be equal to land surface and the actual laying of the concrete and finally the assembly of the track and then bolting it down to the concrete.
Membership had grown in the first year from an initial 9 members to 36 by the end of August 1983.
Between August and December 1983, the balance of the grounds were fully cleared of rubbish, grading where necessary was carried out and stage 1 track was well under way to completion.
The first milestone of the new Co-Op was reached on April 27, 1984 when the DIR approved the use of the first 500 feet of oval track and station and it was registered as an amusement device.
But wait….there’s more (Next issue)
Gallery
2 7 ¼” Mick Farrell’s 985 left (2-6-0) Leal Brack heading out for a run.
With Ken Howells NSWGR 59 (2-8-2) with 7 ¼” 14 in front of his blowfly
Right.
A couple of old shots of the drain near the 7 ¼” steaming bay so you can see the comparison between them. (Next issue)
Leal Brack drives his 7 ¼” blowfly while Leon looks excited
The end is in sight.
Graham Crowhurst’s 7 ¼” Truck driven by Michael Crowhurst.
Henry Lawrence’s loco loaded with Lions club members who help each month in the canteen. Thanks Guys!
In the next issue
Are you still a big sucker? A question of vacuum (part 2)
What does that do mista? Valves and valve gears
How do you keep your friends in suspense? As always
May your pressure be high, your glass half-full, and your fire bright. Alternatively, for the electrics may your extension cord be just that little bit longer. Kelly
Official Publication of the Central Coast Steam Model Co-Operative Ltd Page #
The Short North July 2004