Ringbalin Light Railway

[Old Man Aaron]

Looks right at home in the canefields. I've also found yellow difficult to weather, for the same reason. Quite like the squat appearance of the loco, it's reminiscent of the locos working the Redlynch line.

[GAP]

I grew up just south of Redlynch (North Cairns) and that was a common occurrence everytime it rained and Freshwater creek filled up.
The locos on that line had specially lowered cabins so they could fit under the Kuranda/Tableland line they were originally from Hambledon mill at Edmonton if I remember correctly, later they went to Mulgrave when the Edmonton mill closed and the land was turned into sub divisions.
Living next to the Kuranda line is what started my love of steam engines as they ran right past our back fence and the drivers/firemen used to give us a wave and a toot.
When they got rid of the steamers the diesel electrics could not go through the water and the Kuranda run was cancelled till it went down.
Ahh the good old days, life was good in the 1960s/70s in North Queensland.

[gregh]

Not sure I can give the weathering a thumbs up. But it's your loco.

[GAP]

Not sure I can give the weathering a thumbs up. But it's your loco.

I did go overboard with the weathering I did not dilute the wash enough.
The wash was actually drying as soon as I painted it because the shed was so hot (about 38C).
I am planning to wipe a lot more of the wash off, the shown result was after I had removed some already, think that a less is more approach is needed in future.
I will put the Stainz conversion next to this one and copy the amount of weathering.

[GAP]

I have been busy the last 2 days updating my blog to show the state of the railway at this point in time.
Added are descriptions of my locos and some rolling stock, this is in addition to the posts about the cane line feel free to have a look around.

https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... -page.html

[GAP]

After tumultuous 2022 I have updated my blog to show some of the little work that was done over the year.
I added a "Scenery Construction" Log tab and posted (been sitting in draft for over a year) then updated a post about my scratchbuilt wagons. It has details of some 3D printed Bogies and knuckle couplers. I can put the stl files into the 3D print area if anybody is interested, Hmm might add them to the blog as well.

[GAP]

I made the decision to dismantle the HO division of the Ringbalin Light Railway as I had not touched it since Jan 2021.
This blog post explains more.
https://ringbalin.blogspot.com/p/lat.html

With the demise of the HO a real estate grab is in the making which will involve moving my work nook into the bigger of the 2 sheds and filling the smaller shed with track, it will be a hybrid indoor/outdoor layout utilising the HO backdrop and putting buildings on the inside portion keeping the outdoor scenery minimal.

P1050231.JPG (50.4 KiB) Viewed 38672 times

The original plan was to have storage tracks in 1 half of my smaller shed with loops running through so that I did not have to carry trains outside before running them and then bringing them back into the shed when finished but the radii for multiple tracks would get to tight quickly hence the expansion plans.

A small shunting layout inspired by Gregs tiny layout is also at the dreaming stage.

Wish me luck as I embark to this grand adventure, the 3D printers most likely will get a work out throughout this (if it ever happens )

[GAP]

Latest developments on the railway
Stage 6 has begun description of what is planned at the moment, subject to change of course.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... age-1.html

New workshop area completed and an area of 5.3M x 4M cleared for expansion, this is in the shed pictured in the preceding post.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... st%20Posts

[GAP]

Blog has been updated showing progress made.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... st%20Posts

[GAP]

Latest post to the blog showing a minor setback which resulted in a change to my well laid plans.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... tling.html

[GAP]

A New Configuration for the Ringbalin Light Railway

I became bored with my twin loop train chasing their tails layout so tore down one end of the loops and so that I can run into my shed making a "point to point" with yards each end to give some shunting and operation interest.

I am using elements of my old HO layout to give me a yard with background scenery to start with.
The blog has more detail and shows what I have done so far (see re-configuration construction logs).
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... -page.html

As a parallel project I have started to look at incorporating train tracking using sensors, signal control and points control all to be displayed on a computer monitor, I do have an idea for using CCTV cameras triggered by sensors so I can see distant parts of the layout from my shed.

This project is only possible because I saw a remark on here about using ChatGPT and after years bashing my head against a wall trying to write programs (I am to long in the tooth to try and learn how to write my own programs.) I opted for a 21st century method and got a bot to do all the work for me giving me more time to run trains.

This is the results of my efforts so far.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... splay.html

[GAP]

Blog updated to show where I am at with the re configuration.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... st%20Posts

[Bad Droid]

Blog updated to show where I am at with the re configuration.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... st%20Posts

I'm waaaaay behind on this forum, so some of my new reading is from a few years back. Like when I read about your fencing from early on. You just gave me a great idea for our raised garden on the opposite side of the soon-to-be dwarf goat fence.
This week we are finishing up on the outer perimeter barbed wire fences here on the 2 acres as well as the 4 across the driveway. I'm going to get some costs put together for our inner (goat/garden barrier) fencing next. It will be metal posts and it will "wander" around inside the perimeter in the shape of a railway. I was initially visualizing building within the goat fence and outer perimeter with rock, fill, etc, but now I'm giving some thought about doing what you've done here. Maybe I'll fabricate some hangers that weld to the fence posts, I can attach Braces and horizontal to that, go from there.
Hmmmmm... you may have helped increase the radius, size, and perhaps speed up my initial time line....
Thanks for that!
I still have catching up to do with reading about your railway but I really like what I've seen so far.

[GAP]

This is my latest project inside the big project.
I am being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century (cheating by getting ChatGPT to write my programs)
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... rk-in.html

[GAP]

An update of where the railway is at.
I finally got sick and tired of spraying, chipping, pulling weeds from my pathways around the railway.
As part of the re configuration I decided to lay artificial turf.
This is the first stage around the old firepit that was not being used, the plan is to plant a tree in the middle and plant ground orchids around it.
As part of the new paths I will be putting down proper new pine garden edging as the old fence palings I used before have started to rot.
The turf is coming from a cheap shop (the Reject Shopin Aust) in 3M x 1M rolls I need about 17 rolls I have calculated and the offcuts I am using around the track.

Firepit.jpg (56.06 KiB) Viewed 31653 times

Old Firepit

pathe to pit.jpg (53.71 KiB) Viewed 31653 times

Entrance to inside the layout paths either side of "turf" to be done yet.

[philipy]

Thanks for the update Graeme.
I finally got around to looking at your programming blog entry which I've been meaning to do since you mentioned it a while back. I also previously saw the comment by somebody about using ChatGPT, as you did, but looking at it I didn't have a clue how to use that, any more than I did about DIY programming the Pi ! So hats off to you for getting as far as you have done.

[ge_rik]

Looks very green and verdant, Graeme. Are you setting up for bowls or croquet next?

Rik

[Phil.P]

Isn't it cheating, to have a hole on the green, of that size?

Phil.P

[GAP]

Thanks for the update Graeme.
I finally got around to looking at your programming blog entry which I've been meaning to do since you mentioned it a while back. I also previously saw the comment by somebody about using ChatGPT, as you did, but looking at it I didn't have a clue how to use that, any more than I did about DIY programming the Pi ! So hats off to you for getting as far as you have done.

The secret with Chat GPT is think about what you want the program to do (I write it in a word doc to get it the way I want) then ask the question like you are talking to a 10 year old (you have to spell everything out).
With the python programs you can copy from ChatGPT and run it in an IDE (I use Thonny as it is easy to use) check how it functions and then go back to the AI and tell it to add, remove or change the bits that do not work as required.
A lot of perseverance and rewrites. The only thing is if you use the free version you get limited amount of questions, I can't justify the fee/month for the paid version for this small project.

[GAP]

Isn't it cheating, to have a hole on the green, of that size?

Phil.P

But the lip height compensates for that