After Hours

I came across this channel the other day whilst browsing the piles of channels I now have access to since I recently upgraded our Foxtel cable TV. It is of course railway related. The channel is ch 656 "NHK World" and the program is called "Japan Railway Journal".

What an interesting half hour program - I am quite taken with it, as it is different. So a bit of looking around and I find there is a website for this:

  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/japanrailway/

So if you don't have Foxtel, you can actually watch for free on your PC each week or whenever it comes on. You can also see last week’s episode as well, as they keep it available for a week before the next one comes out. Oh and by the way, if you have an Android or Apple tablet or decent phone, you can download an app and watch the current show and the past weeks one on them.

BUT, I have also found that some busy little beaver has actually uploaded the whole 27 episodes (so far) of the series to YouTube. So you can watch all the episodes in one sitting if you like and all for free. So here is the list I have made of all the episodes on YouTube for you. But keep going back every now and then as they are making more with another coming out in the new few days.

Episode	Title
1	The Railway Revival: 4 Years after the Great Earthquake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9KjKnq9VFA
2	The New Shinkansen: Technology and Economic Effects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_TwUCJga8
3	Isumi Railway: There's Nothing Here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObihvYWDmRk
4	Diesel Hybrid Trains: Japan's World Leading Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhTY6HMGnvw
5	Battery Hybrid Trains: Development of the Global Technology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlAawGwpi5Y
6	Japan's Subway Technology in High Density Operation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZRD9Ovrg40
7	The Secret of Operating Preserved Steam Locomotives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q64twg-OeVI
8	Special Preview - Hokkaido Shinkansen: Hopes and Challenges https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZdlzhG7O0w
9	Yamanote Line: The Green Rotating Heart of Tokyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avMa_vEjPN4
10	Seven Stars in Kyushu: The Local Revitalizing Cruise Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzr_O4UZnME
11	Second Chances for Used Trains in Southeast Asia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXr5N8V-T3c
12	Earthquake Safety: What 5 Years has Taught Us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YsCWRvjeRA
13	Superconducting Maglev: The Extreme Speeds of Tomorrow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Q4IsQDBYo
14	Ekiben: A True Rail Traveling Companion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hv2PwXn77w
15	Premium Express Shimakaze: A Train of Dreams to Reality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHhjvV8GwXc
16	The Cat Stationmaster Who Rescued a Railway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bACOzHX7B50
17	New Generation Express: Journey to Speed and Comfortability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8QijliWgc0
18	The Future of Rail Freight Transport https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-1LydLm1A
19	Light Rail Vehicles: Modern Trams Reshaping Urban Transit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVCOL-_QBdg
20	Kyoto Railway Museum: The Story of Rail Transport in Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3dvgwvnvGQ
21	Keikyu: The Strive for World-Class Rail Operation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kjy1YsCAbA
22	World-Class Maintenance: The Backbone of Shinkansen Operations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5GtGJ2WPNE
23	Railways Back on Track: Six Months after the Kumamoto Earthquakes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCXeEjNRfpA
24	Future Prospects Made in the Past https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL5jqyRW5tY
25	Picking Up the Pace: JR Shikoku's Tactics for Survival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3RYWnmCq7o
26	The Seeds of Success: Kyoto's Sagano Scenic Railway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6tNU7pd1VY
27	Turning Problems into Opportunities: The Tsugaru Railway's Strategy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzthZjaq3k

A Fortnight Past

Besides being in a model railway club, the RMCQ, I am also in a loose bunch of ratbags that go by the name of the Toosdy Niters, or some such spelling. Once a fortnight this group of predominantly south of the river types, meet up at one of their houses on you guessed it, a Tuesday night, to talk trains.

Not a bad bunch actually, except I reckon I got ripped off at today's buy & sell at RMCQ, by three of the ratbags of this bunch - Scooter, Geoff and Darren! Nah, I think we all did OK in the transactions where I was the one parting with hard earned cash. Anyway, back to the story - last fortnight's meeting was at the Doctors house (not Doctor Who, but Dr Peter). Such workmanship on his layout. So here are a crapload of photos I took to show some of that great detail work he does.

Check it out above, there are even cow pats around the paddock. Where the cows regularly walk, the grass has also been worn away. There are patches of long grass and rocks. And of course there is a Kelpie helping round them up.

Notice some of the wagons are already loaded. Some cows are also taking it easy, as they do when waiting around. A nice cattle truck is also at the right, and of course some more Kelpies - so it must be an Aussi setup I reckon.

 What a great scene as we leave the farm and cross the dirt railway crossing, once the live stock train has passed.

Notice some lumps of wood on the shed roofs holding down the iron sheeting in places? This is a typical "can do" fix that works for farmers. Notice the scrap and old items also kicking around as detail?

So when cattle are brought in to the pens near the rail-head, they'll need some tucker wont they? So here is a really nifty concrete feed trough.

And they will of course need to be watered as well, wont they?

The old farm house is a really great scene as well. The cows are all lining up for milking and there are the scraps of trees and timber around a you would expect to find on a farm. There is even a nice little milk loading dock on the railway as well as I think the local fruit and veg vendor has dropped in for a chat.

Now we are looking from the station area over to the roundhouse, maintenance and freight areas.

For the steamers we have a nice coal loader

And waiting at the station for the passengers to load, is a nice NSW railmotor set.

And all good country stations will also have the freight right next to it, and here is some of it.

And then we have a really nicely detailed are that contain a number of fuel depots. We have areas for trucks and areas for trains.

In such a small space, Peter has managed to squeeze in so much it is fantastic, and it doesn't look cluttered either.

The above three shots show some of the town area, also the usual ton memorial and a nice railway crossing that leads into some of the fuel depot area.

The above two photos show the approach to the station and fright/maintenance area - protected of course by the ever present control tower.

Now ou cannot run grain wagons without a grain silo, now can you...

A nice timber country road bridge leading to the back country.

You have to have a mine somewhere too don't you?

So all up it was great to see all the work Peter has been putting into his layout and of course ho does put on a good nosh-up for a Toosdy Nite event as well :o)

Documentation Begins

OK, so as to shut-up some of the more vocal of the bunch, Yeh, I'm looking at you Mr Parkinson, I started something with the SHED.

First thing of course is to document the shed, yes, document it. I need to know where each noggin is and where all the cables are, because once the sheeting is in place I cannot easily go peek-a-boo I see you to any of these. So it is out with pen, paper and a measuring instrument or two.

Oh, and of course once I got in there, it is stinking bloody hot - no sh!t Dick Tracey I says to myself - you have only been using it as a drying room for two years! I should have remembered it gets hot in a tin shed - duh! So into shorts and short sleeve shirt and a reminder to self that this all deserves a beer or two at the end of the day :o)

Anyway, so I have the radio blaring away outside on 4KQ as usual and I step into the shed and... hear nothing. Bugger, even without insulation all external sound is muffled. So I remember I have an unused DAB radio somewhere and I go dig it out. With an extension lead plugged in outside I put it in the shed so I can listen to my 4KQ. I turn it on and start working. From time to time I exit the shed and go to the tool room, where the other radio is, an old AM/FM jobbie. Wooooo   spacey   trippy   time warp.

The shed appears to be about 10 to 20 seconds behind mainstream time.....  wow, head spins and no alcohol involved!

I wonder if I can use this to my advantage... Oh well, back to my work in my shed.

Modelling the Railways of Queensland Convention

So last weekend, the 17th Sept, was the Modelling the Railways of Queensland Convention. What a great weekend I had.

These things of course are not scale specific, so it was relevant to all scales. AND of course you do not have to specifically model Queensland outline, as making a tree is the same no mater which state or country you model. So do not write off going to these events because you think they are totally not relevant to you - a lot of them are relevant to you in the most part.

So we have O, HO, HOn3½ and TT to look at for a start at this convention.  There of course were vendors there and the odd purchase or two might have been made by your scribe.

Of course besides the hob-nobbing, purchasing, lecture listening and forums, there of course was the nosh up in the evening if you wanted - a BBQ and a Bar - nice combo.

The Sunday was of course visiting a pile of different modellers layouts and a couple of clubs for layouts and Buy & Sells. I decided to take the car out for a long trip over to the "Wattle Flat" layout that is being built by Darren Lee. It has been quite some time since I was over there and crikey, what a change - it is runnable and a lot of scenery is in place - fantastic. Darren had three fellas (Anthony, Mark and Brendan I think it was) running some operations so we visitors could see it all with action happening. I think the drivers were all having a ball actually.

So I wont comment on most of the photos as they speak for themselves. So a brief description would be NSW, HO, 2 centre peninsulas and 2 wall peninsulas and point to point running. Shed size is 9m x 6m, which includes the TV and sofa for the crew lounge.

So here is the quick shots of each of the four peninsulas. From all of this I have now decided, that yes I can have two middle peninsulas myself for the layout I will one day build.

The crew lounge can just be made out at the right, with the work area under the fiddle yard and storage yards - again ides now float in my mind for my own layout. There is nothing like seeing something to clarify it in your own mind.

Let's start with the left hand of the point to point. We have a turntable for turning locos, a small loco shed and a house.

Here we are looking away from the turntable down towards the station and goods yard section of this area.

Here are some photos of the station and goods area.

And at the right of the station area is the Coop and stock yards.

Next we have some shots from the next major stop on the tracks. We have a fuel facility, some shops and houses and a hall.

And here are some shots of that fuel facility.

Now on the other side of this peninsula we see Brendan shunting the grain storage whilst a goods goes past on the mainline.

Now behind Brendan is the next peninsula with a station, small yard and also a fuel facility.

On the other side of this peninsula is an ore loading facility.

And lastly we have the other point we are running to. This is a very long yard with multiple facilities and of course the fiddle and storage yards hang off the end of this over the modelling benches.

And finally another overall shot. We see the drivers driving, visitors ogling and our host Darren in red answering all questions put to him. Oh, and he does put on a good arvo tea this Darren fella.

Without even trying, I had spend over two hours at Darren's taking some photos, asking 1,345,233 questions and mostly enjoying the layout and company.