CCSM members and visitors scrapbook: you send it, we paste it in here. It stays until we need the space. Newer contributions are at the top. As far as we can manage, the scrapbook also serves as a "What's New" page for the whole CCSM site.

Please send in your news or photos: (attach your photos to the e-mail form that opens when you click here -> <- or refer to our contact info. Due to e-mail size limitations please send large photographs one at a time.)


You can check for last minute announcements about rain cancellations and extra running days at https://www.facebook.com/CentralCoastSteamModelCoOp. (You can also post comments and photos about our activities on that page.)


This page contains scrapbook entries older than 2010, other than obsolete calendars which have been removed. For our latest scrapbook page please click here.

October 2009 The running day was very wet but the next weekend saw some of us down to work on our equipment.

There was no coal burnt this afternoon.
Annual meeting - September 2009: Sam Hawkins replaced Alan Fogarty as secretary, all the rest of the team remain. Members expressed their gratitude to Alan for his long service, particularly in arranging the placement of much of our concrete track base and also supervising maintenance of our lawns and gardens. A never-ending task, we hope that we can keep up your high standards.
September 2009 Running Day. This month three photos from Mitchell Cameron.
2705

3298

985


Birthday Run - Please add your photos here. This is an experiment. (Album just created - 4 August 2009 - so nothing here yet, but please click to see progress on the album.) If this system proves popular we shall expand it to other events.
25 July 2009 Work day: getting ready for the big running day next week. Most jobs done by lunch time so the painters had the place to themselves in the afternoon.

Xin Liu arrived from Shenzhen this week, just in time to volunteer at Narara.

Natalie Fraser and Xin ready to put the brushes away for the day. All railings will be green by next week!

4 July 2009 A great fine day: trains full, queues short. Your correspondent was there with his camera as usual, unfortunately his battery was not! By the way, members are reminded of the extra running days in July and August. Please see the revised calendar below.
1st and 2nd of August 2009.
Birthday Run Gosford N.S.W

- Notice to fellow AALS members -
The Central Coast Steam Model Co-op invites you to our 28th Birthday Run to be held at our grounds at Narara 5kms north of Gosford.
  • Saturday public running from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm then private running until late. Sunday is private running from 11.00am.
  • Compresed air, 240V and 12v available in our covered steaming bay. Char, water and unleaded petrol provided. AALS code of practice applies so bring your boiler certificate and membership card.
  • Morning and afternoon teas and canteen open for lunch on Saturday. Saturday night dinner for those who want to stay.
For further details please contact the secretary on 02 4328 1838.

4 April 2009 Running Day. A dry but overcast day, most suitable for running trains! Afterwards some of the members were chatting with the new president about our club website. A couple of suggestions for improvement were made. First, they wanted to see more of the club paperwork available for perusal or downloading when required. Secondly they suggested that a video of a complete circuit of the line would interest prospective visitors. With regard to the first, your webmaster respectfully suggests that if those who have them send me electronic copies of the club documents I would be happy to post them in the appropriate part of the site. As for the second suggestion, a quick search of Youtube finds that it has already been done, thanks Mr Harris! Here it is:
A ride around our railway

Youtube movie will appear here, if you allow IExplorer to run scripts.
(Taken about 5 July 2008)
Back to home page
Following the resignation of the President we have elected Greg Rowland to fill the vacancy. Other officers remain unchanged.
22 March 2009: A Podcast by Greg Lawrence of Talk'n Tours from Ettalong. Click here to listen now, or right click to save and listen later, thanks Greg.

7 February 2009 Running Day: We frequently have visitors from other Australian live steam clubs. Today we had a visit from Peter Sheppard, a railway engineer from England. Peter has his own railway, the Lackham Museum and Woodland Railway, in Wiltshire. Unfortunately, due to extreme fire danger, there was no steam running today, just battery and petrol engines.

3 January 2009 Running Day

It was a cool summer day and almost all our 7 1/4" gauge engines were running, and one or two 5" gauge. Many visitors came to ride, perhaps as an alternative to the beach. Our revised station arrangements kept the queue for rides reasonably short. The signal and communication system continues to improve and there is less need this year for drivers and pointsmen to call out to each other. Aside from routine operations, here are a few pictures from the end of the day:


One of our members is building this Forney-prototype engine in 5" gauge. It is at the stage where its ability to follow the track needs to be checked. After some adjustment it was successfully pushed around the entire network.

Shunting riding cars.

After the last public run some of us stayed around to clean up and try our rolling stock. We were rewarded with the sight of this brush turkey crossing the 5" and 7-1/4" main line.

Up to its perch above Narara Creek.

Looking like something prehistoric as it prepares to leap down.


(Back to the CCSM home page)


Recent Activity:
  • October work day - The main achievement was completion of the next phase of the north end signal box project. It is now weatherproof and painted to match its environment.
  • 2009 Calendar - for visitors planning to come and ride next year we have a provisional calendar.
  • Board members for 2008/9 - After the annual meeting in September the board is unchanged.
    June 2008 Running Day (Two movies should be visible in this section. If not, and you want to see them, then you should try telling Internet Explorer to "Allow Blocked Content" on this page.)


    The club steamer at work, 7th June 2008.

    The club diesel shows what it can pull. (YouTube video, date taken uncertain. Someone let me know please!)

    Short movies of activities at the track seem to be breeding on YouTube. Some that we have noticed are collected here. You can also search YouTube for more recent ones.


    April 2008 Running Day


    Our new steam engine.


    Electric, Steam and Petrol engines at the pedestrian crossing to the party area.

    Some movies taken today are here (near the end of the page).


    (Back to the CCSM home page)


    Board members for 2007/8. After a casual vacancy was filled at the November special general meeting the board is now:
    President - Arthur Minter;
    Vice-President - John Crowhurst;
    Secretary - Alan Fogarty;
    Treasurer - Norman Browne;
    Director - Ken Howells.
    (August 2007) "Harris Hobbies" sends this photo of Xavier with John Gordon's engine. It was taken in early 2004. Since then we have extended the station canopy and rearranged the tracks for safer loading and unloading. No doubt Xavier has also changed a little!

    [This contribution reminds me to remind any other members with stories or pictures of the club activities, or of members' engines in the workshop or visiting other tracks, to consider sending them in for our website!]
    (15 July 2007) Benjemin decided to help by digging out the headshunt from under the silt left by the flood.


    July 2007 Running Day This was our first running day after the June floods and only the inner loops were available.

    An industrial Garratt in 5" gauge during a commissioning run.

    The new signals and point motors in the north-east corner survived.

    The old main lines are under the new beach at the left. Fortunately we were able to clear the inner loops (approaching from the right) in time for the regular July running day. The rest of the line, but not all the lawn, was cleared before the annual birthday run in August.


    December 2006 running day


    The simple lines of a British 4-4-0 inside cylinder engine in 7 1/4" gauge. In the background you can see the results of one of our recent projects: a roof over the steaming bay.


    A 5"gauge petrol-mechanical engine with a load of happy children leaving the double-gauge section approaching the car-park level crossing.


    Round the track movie - 20 April 2006

    Click here to see a movie by Maikha Ly of a visiting BB181/4 running around our track.

    There will be "oil, steam and kerosene" field days at the Cambelltown Steam and Machinery Museum on 20th and 21th May 2006. Their grounds are on the Menangle Road, 4km south of town. More details: www.csmm.com.au.
    We've had another note to remind us about the 50th AALS Convention at SSME Easter 2006 (souvenirs now available).
    January 2006 Running Day.


    50th Annual AALS Convention at Sydney Society of Model Engineers, 14~17 April 2006. Click here for details.
    December 2005 Running Day.

    Trying out the new signal gantry ...
    and power operated points.
    Something for the kids to drive. A radio-controlled Hi-rail conversion by Leon Brack.

    "Twin Lakes" and a rake of scale waggons.

    A classic British prototype in 5" gauge departs the party station.


    2005 AGM The new officers are:
    President: Arthur Minter
    Vice President: John Crowhurst
    Secretary: Allan Fogarty
    Treasurer: Norm Browne
    Director: Ron Cowell

    On Saturday 17th September 2005 we held a special running day to support the Community Chest Project.
    June 2005 Running day a big success. The weather was fine - a beautiful winter's day on the coast. There were plenty of visitors wanting to ride and plently of trains to carry them.
     

    The club train approaching the top of the site, where the "party" station road, the inner loop, main line and the main station roads all converge at a pedestrian level crossing before diverging again. This 7 1/4" gauge train is owned by the club. We use it when the demand for rides is likely to exceed the capacity of trians brought along by members and visting model engineers.

     

    Running along the "back straight". On the left is the 5" gauge track. As far as possible the two gauges are kept separate on our layout so that trains can operate at a comfortable speed without being too worried about slower or faster models.

     

    Time to pack up.

    A 7 1/4" Blowfly and a rake of S trucks.

     

    Definitely time to go!

    The fire has been dropped and the remaining water in the boiler is being blown down.

    The next runnning day will be Saturday 2nd July 2005.
    The May issue of Short North is here (thanks Rob).
    Advance notice: 2005 Birthday Run
    We shall hold our next club birthday run (our 24th) on the weekend of 6th and 7th August 2005.Members and visitors from other clubs are welcome to run from 1000 to 2200 on Saturday and 1100 to 1700 on Sunday. There will be the usual char, petrol, tea and coffee provided. Please let Edith Bearman know if you are coming to dinner on Saturday.
    Unfortunately the provider of our free forum (cjb.net) is withdrawing support for the current system and has replaced it with a new one. It might be better, of course. Have a look and tell us what you think: Our new forum and junk exchange.
    Well, they have deleted our forum three times now so I don't think I shall put it up again for a while. I guess the product is worth what we pay for it. Sorry folks. (17 May 2005)
    Photos from our January 2005 running day are here.
    News from our 2004 AGM: Tonight we have a new board. Our president is Kelly Maybury (Ted Williams did not stand). The vice-president is Rob Lougher. The treasurer remains Norm Browne. The new secretary is Alan Fogarty. The other board member remains John Crowhurst. We also agreed to replace our rules with new ones that reflect recent changes in NSW co-operative societies law.
    The new board members met just after the close of the meeting to address our loading and unloading problems. They decided that the long-proposed traverser should be built immediately and we would get a fork-lift truck to modify for transferring engines to and from road vehicles. (30/9/04)
    Photos from our January 2004 running day are here.
    News from our 2003 AGM: Peter Holt has retired as secretary and Arthur Minter was elected to fill the vacancy. Otherwise the same team soldiers on. Thanks guys.
    News on our successful birthday running day in August 2003 :- click here.
    June 2003 - XPT comes to Narara. Click for more pictures.
    2nd and 3rd of August 2003.
    Birthday Run Gosford N.S.W

    The Central Coast Steam Model Co-op invites you to their 2003 Birthday Run to be held at our grounds at Narara 5kms north of Gosford we have ground level 71/4" and 5" gauge track.
    Running will be from 9:00 am Saturday until 10:00 pm. Lunch will be provided and a bottomless cup will be available on the day. Dinner will be available to those people who wish to stay on Saturday night at a cost of $7.50.
    Details of the Birthday Run will be posted to all clubs towards the end of June and the closing date for registrations is the 18th of July 2003.

    On the Sunday this year we are going to try and have a shunting competition and details of this will be sent out to clubs.

    Details will be available on this site later, also from the club secretary Peter Holt on 02 4397 2700 or by writing to the Secretary Central Coast Steam Model Co-op at P.O. Box 692, Gosford, N.S.W. 2250.


    I've added a few links about modern steam to our links page. I suppose it just modelling in 12" to the foot scale. Click Here.
    (27/3/03)
    SHORT NORTH, our monthly newsletter, is here at last. Thanks to Rob for sending the copy.

    January 2003

    February 2003


    A quiet Sunday afternoon.

    Place holder: something useful to come? Web site news
    Our former unofficial site shows a few views of the track as it was in 1997. Visitors to the track will see how much progress we have made since then. Trains at Narara in 1997.

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    Central Coast Steam Model Co-op. Ltd. - Club Track: Lot 10 Showground Road, (opposite Bellbowrie St) Narara, NSW - Running Days: 1st Saturday of Every Month from 1100 hrs (anyone expecting to ride the trains must wear proper shoes) - All correspondence to: PO Box 692, GOSFORD, NSW, 2250