Mortdale Matters August 2015

Welcome to the August Edition of Mortdale Matters.

That time of year is almost upon us. I am talking of course about our annual exhibition. Barry and his

merry band of assistants have been working feverishly behind the scenes getting all the plans in place to

ensure the exhibition runs as smoothly and as efficiently as always. For all the members, if you haven’t

already received your roster questionnaire yet, keep an eye out for the postie as they should be arriving

any day.

Please don’t feel that you need to volunteer all weekend, any amount of time you wish to offer will be

greatly appreciated. It takes over 100 man hours per day to run the exhibition so even if you only

volunteer 1 hour it will certainly help.

I have had some feedback about the layout of Mortdale Matters and a few suggestions to make it easier

to read. I will be looking at some of these suggestions in coming months, with a view to giving Mortdale

Matters a fresh new look. Should anyone like to make suggestions please feel free to drop me an email.

Finally on the topic of emails, there is a new email address to contact me on. The new email address for

the Mortdale Matters editor is matters@amransw.asn.au, As can be seen, this address is now part of

the Branch IT system and can be easily transferred from editor to editor.

Hope you enjoy the read!

Until next issue,

Damien George

Editor

Glenn Percival

Assistant Editor

FRONT PAGE: 4625 pauses on the turntable at Fayenton on Stoney Creek after having just brought in a passenger service

off the mainline. (Damien George)

PLEASE NOTE:

Images captured in the operational environment are done so with permission and adhering to the appropriate rail safety

guidelines.

Mortdale Matters August 2015

Submissions and Subscriptions

With so much continually happening at our Clubrooms, its easy for something to slip through the cracks.

Mortdale Matters especially needs photos of Branch activities/events, members’ models and covers;

however any prototype photos or information will be considered for use as space permits. Email

matters@amransw.asn.au, or leave a disc in the Journal pigeonhole in the office, with the photo and

a brief description.

All submissions must be original material, i.e. photos that you’ve taken or articles that you have written,

and are published at the editors discretion.

Mortdale Matters is an e-newsletter, meaning simply that it is electronic news. To subscribe please send

an email request to our Publicity Officer, Philip Lee, at pjlee@iinet.net.au. Please note that the file can

exceed several MB; and that Adobe 8.0 (PDF) or later compatibility is required, to minimise file size.

Mortdale Matters is available online from the AMRA NSW website.

If you do not have capable internet or email, please contact the Secretary to have a B&W printed copy

available for you to collect from our clubrooms. Please note that this service is only available for those

without capable internet.

Branch Officers/Contacts 2015

ELECTED

Management

Committee

President Gordon Wallace president@amransw.asn.au

Vice President Denis Gilmore vicepresident@amransw.asn.au

Secretary Ross Mclean secretary@amransw.asn.au

Treasurer Marilyn Wilcockson treasurer@amransw.asn.au

Exhibition Manager Barry Wilcockson exhibman@iinet.net.au

Publicity Officer Philip Lee pjlee@iinet.net.au

Junior Development Officer Rod Fussell juniordev@amransw.asn.au

APPOINTED Journal Sub-Editor Rod Fussell subeditor@amransw.asn.au

Mortdale Matters Editor Damien George matters@amransw.asn.au

Building Manager David Bennett buildingman@amransw.asn.au

Librarians John Smythe N/A

Exhibition Roster Clerk Geoff Lanham rosterclerk@amransw.asn.au

Historian June Larmour historian@amransw.asn.au

Webmaster David Bennett webmaster@amransw.asn.au

LAYOUT 0 Scale (fixed) Lance Pickering TBA

SUB-COMMITTEE Stoney Creek (H0 fixed) Denis Gilmore stoneycreek@amransw.asn.au

CO-

ORDINATORS

N Scale Richard Sinton ngauge@amransw.asn.au

Past and Present (0 Exhibition) Gordon Wallace N/A

East Matelend (H0 Exhibition) Barry Wilcockson N/A

U-Drive (H0 Exhibition) Bill Whale udrive@amransw.asn.au

Mortdale Matters August 2015

Scale Layout

Scale Layout

Lighting of the roundhouse is now completed. More ground cover has been put on Dine-on Yard. Scenery has been completed around the tunnel near Bennett after re-elevation of the track. Two panels of painted backdrop have been completed and installed, with our thanks to Tracey. Richard Sinton

N Scale layout Coordinator

No report received at the time of publication.

Lance Pickering

O Scale Layout Coordinator

ast & Present

No report received at the time of publication.

Gordon Wallace

O Scale Exhibition Layout Coordinator

Mortdale Matters August 2015

ortdale Building Report The clubrooms are being repainted, it is thirteen years since we painted them, a big thank you to Geoff Wallace for his effort. The solar panels on the roof have been connected to the grid with a new meter that measures our export and import electricity amounts.

David Bennett

Mortdale Building Manager

Plans are progressing well for this years exhibition. As mentioned earlier the roster clerk will be sending

out the roster questionnaire around the time the issue of Mortdale Matters is released. If you are able to

spare any time over the weekend please return the form & let us know.

It takes a lot of man power & hard work to pull off an exhibition the size of Liverpool & any help will be

greatly appreciated.

Barry Wilcockson

Exhibition Manager

xhibition Update

- Drive The ‘old’ U-Drive is currently set up & operational for anyone wishing to use it. There has been a great deal of investigation completed into the best way to brace the module of the new U-Drive . A jig is being made for us to be able to accurately drill the holes for the locator pins and “clamping bolts.”

Bill Whale

U-drive Coordinator

ast Mateland

East Mateland is still packed away while Past & Present is being refurbished.

Barry Wilcockson

Exhibition Manager

Mortdale Matters August 2015

GENERAL

Stoney Creek will be going through a slow time as far as achievements, in the next few months. As

preparations is being made for the (final) main line control system. There are many things changing,

some are very minor.

CTC

A link function has been added between Fayenton and MacLeod loop. This is to relieve a bottleneck when

the “plunge” comes.

BRANCH

Full operation on Brewers Creek, Kurranulla and Fayenton has been re-established after some restricted

operation.

FAYENTON

Fayenton yard (terminal station area) is 99% operational. Only the Stationary Sound Mode remains to be

done.

SIGNALS

A great deal of preparation work has been done for the signals on Stoney Creek. Over the next few

months drivers will see more signals come on line.

CONTROL SYSTEM

Some of the final control system has been started but much more to be done.

Denis Gilmore

Stoney Creek layout Coordinator

“PIZZA DISCUSSIONS”

(H0 FIXED LAYOUT)

15/07/2015, 11401 Hours Of Operation.

Stoney Creek

(Denis Gilmore)

A major milestone was achieved in the past week. The 1st of the 7 segment displays has been programmed to accept train info from the train assignment dials. The picture on the left shows the display for train #1 working. Denis is now working on completing the programming for the remaining 9 displays.

Mortdale Matters August 2015

AMRA NSW Branch Inc. Programme - August to October 2015

AUGUST Sat 1st General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late

Wed 5th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 7th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 8th Layout Operation (see Notes) 10am until late

Sun 9th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm

Wed 12th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 14th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 15th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late Sun 16th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished

Wed 19th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 21st Layout Operation – Australian Diesel / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 22nd General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late

Wed 26th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 28th Train Maintenance and Testing Night 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 29th Layout Operation (see Notes) - Stoney Creek Layout - Q & A (1 pm) 10am until late

SEPTEMBER

Wed 2nd “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 4th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 5th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) 10am until late

Wed 9th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 11th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 12th Layout Operation (see Notes) 10am until late

Sun 13th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 16th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 18th Layout Operation – American / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 19th General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) - Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late

Sun 20th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished

Wed 23rd “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 25th Train Maintenance and Testing Night 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 26th Pre Exhibition Working Bee 10am until late Sun 27th Pre Exhibition Working Bee 10am until 4pm

Wed 30th “Daylighters” - Pre Exhibition Preparation 10am until 5pm

OCTOBER

Fri 2nd Exhibition Setup, Mortdale / Liverpool Pre-registered Lunch from 8am until late

Sat 3rd * * SYDNEY MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION * * Pre-registered Lunch 9am to 5pm Awards - from approx 6pm until late

Sun 4th * * SYDNEY MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION * * Pre-registered Lunch 9am to 5pm

Mon 5th * * SYDNEY MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION * * Pre-registered Lunch 9am to 4pm Pack up and return to clubroom after 4pm until finish

Wed 6th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm Fri 9th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 10th Layout Operation (see Notes) 10am until late

Sun 11th General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 4pm Wed 14th “Daylighters” - General Activities (see Notes) 10am until 5pm

Fri 16th Layout Operation – Electric Traction / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 17th Open Day – Preparation / Layout Construction (see Notes) - Ladies Needles & Natter (2 pm) - Monthly Forum (3:30 pm) 10am until late

Sun 18th Stoney Creek Work Day No Facility Fee 10am until finished Fri 23rd Open Day – Preparation 7:30pm until 10pm

Sat 24th * * OPEN DAY * * visitor entry by gold coin donation 10am until 4pm

Fri 30th Layout Operation / Programmed Running (see Notes) 7:30pm until 10pm Sat 31st General Activities / Layout Construction (see Notes) 10am until late

NOTES WORK NIGHTS: every Monday night, please check with the appropriate layout supervisor, 7:30pm until 10pm, No Facility Fee

LAYOUT OPERATION: O and N Gauges operational, HO (fixed) as permitted during construction

STRUCTURED RUNNING: Destination, Sequenced or Timetabled operation as organized for each layout GENERAL ACTIVITIES: the facilities may be used as permitted e.g. layout construction, some running, modelling, library, etc

Members Facility Fee unless otherwise indicated: Adults $7, Juniors/Seniors (70+) $4.

Guests are welcome unless otherwise indicated

This program may be subject to change without notice where necessary. Updated programmes available from the Clubrooms, or from www.amransw.asn.au.

Address: 48 Barry Avenue (PO Box 277), Mortdale NSW 2223 - Phone (02) 9153-5901, Fax (02) 9153-5905

Mortdale Matters August 2015

Two Aurizon 5000 class locos haul an empty coal train across Cemetary Lane crossing at

Singleton. This crossing will be upgraded in the next few months to have lights, bells &

booms. (Andrew Murphy)

A Pennsie road switcher approaches Hoganvale on the inner

universal track of the fixed O Gauge layout. (Mark Dalli )