 Rocky
Creek Railway
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What's New?
For all the latest happenings, newest at the top.
18 January 2009:
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| Thanks to Kevin Leigh, the Dub's C finally has a number plate.
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11 January 2009:
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| Another nice day for runing trains.
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9 November 2008:
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12 October 2008:
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October was busy. I had my Gn15 layout in the Chrischurch Big Model Train Show (see the Gn15 page for the updates and new video of the layout).
Ian and Ann Galbraith came down from Masterton, and Ian bought his new Mac shunter which he had just built.
It is seen taking a run on my railway after the show had finished.
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9 August 2008:
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| Trains in the snow again on 9th August.
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9 July 2008:
Gn15 page updated, and now includes video.
link to Gn15 page
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25 June 2008:
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Dub's C traveling through the remains of a light snow storm on 8 June.
Most of my time lately has been spent working on my Gn15 layout which is about to apear in its thrid public train show.
Photos later when I get time.
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13 April 2008:
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Double Dub's: In March, the new C class loco made a trip up to Wellington, for the NZ G Scale Convention, and is seen here
teamed up with John Robinson's NZR Dub's A on his H & M Railway.
Now I am working on my Gn15 layout again, as I have two shows in the next three months.
Unfortunately my digital camera has stopped working, so there won't be any new photos until I get another one.
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23 February 2008:
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Finished: 5 years after first starting, the dub's C is finally finished!
I also built a new water wheel this afternoon, and finished the ballasting around the small bridge ready for the open day tomorrow.
The next constuction project will be a railcar.
But first I have to finish my Gn15 layout for a show in May.
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2 February 2008:
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Unwelcome visitors: I Woke up this morning to find two Hedgehogs stuck in the bath.
I guess they had gone down there looking for bugs to eat in the night, and the sides were too steep to climb out again.
Unfortunately I had just cleaned it ready to put the 'rock coating' on it today. But they made such a dirty mess,
that I had to clean it again. Now I have to wait for it to dry properly again.
On the positive side, the steam engine parts are now being painted. Look for the completed engine soon.
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25 December 2007:
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My C class 0-4-2 loco with it's new cow catcher, dome and chimney out for a test run on Xmas day.
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December 2007:
12 October 2007:
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My new (still incomplete) Gn15 layout appeared at the Christchurch Big Model Train Show on October 6 & 7.
For more details See the Gn15 page.
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20 July 2007:
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Bad outdoor winter weather has meant I have been hiding indoors.
This is the first piece for a proposed small Gn15 scale layout.
It is intended to be a stamping battery for a quatz mine, and will be motorised.
Gn15 scale is 1:24 scale models on HO scale track representing 15" narrow gauge.
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Also see my new Gn15 page.
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4 June 2007:
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Not much new to report, except that winter has arrived.
After an overnight snow fall on the mountains, the air temperature has dropped.
Now the frosts have started. This is the white frost still on the railway at 10am today.
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6 May 2007:
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Getting closer to finishing the waterfall.
Another test today. I was able to run the pump at full speed today, which gave a very good water flow. There is no chance of hearing the pump motor over the noise of the water now. But one pond now needs a bigger retaining wall due to the increased water flow.
I have finished concreting around the where the pump sits, and found rocks to stack over it to hide it. I have fitted a quick release fitting on the pipes so I can lift the pump out and store it in the garage when its not in use. I was going to leave it permanently mounted in the hole, but its in the shade right through winter and I was worried about the motor getting damp and rusting.
The roll of hose in the photo is for the feed to the water wheel. It has already been plumbed in at the other end with a cut off tap to control the water flow. Next job is to finish the water wheel, a good inside job for winter! |
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14 April 2007:
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The new water pond getting its first test.
After putting in 3 layers of concrete on the new pond at the bottom, it got its first test today.
I was pleased that the water flowed as I had hoped. It gave a good sound going into the bath.
I have dug a channel back to the power point and buried a power cable in conduct to run the pump.
The next job is to create a cover for the pump so the motor is protected from the rain. |
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20th March 2007:
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The final bridge.
I have decided to finish the last few outside jobs before winter comes.
Here is the last bridge to go in.
For some reason it's called Mill Creek. I don't have any idea why, because there is no mill anywhere near it. Eventually there will be some coal mine loading bins beside it.
Now I am working on finishing the water fall. I was never happy with the way water flowed from the last small pond down into the bath. I have since found a much bigger rock, that should produce a better water-fall sound. So tonight I set up spot lights outside and chipped away the old rocks and started concreting in the new rock. It will take a second layer of concrete to get it waterproof, so no photos to show yet.
I have also added two new links to New Zealand Garden Railways on the Links page
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25th February 2007:
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Progress so far of the C class 0-4-2.
It is seen here during a test run to check the swing range of the buffers around the curves.
It passed with plenty of room to spare. It also had some fine turning of the trailing wheel under the cab, to make sure it runs through points when running in reverse.
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24th February 2007:
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After building a driver for the Big Hustler, I decided to could make some small coal wagons for it to tow.
They are based on old 2ft gauge coal tubs once used in coal mines on the West Coast.
My attention has now turned to finishing my first scratch built steam engine, an NZR C class 0-4-2.
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1st February 2007:
The Christchurch Garden Railway Soc visited late January, and a number of differnt trains were run.
A selection of photos have been put on the Photo Gallery page.
7th January 2007:
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Recent progress:
1. I made a man to drive the Big Hustler shunting engine. At the moment he is called 'Slim' because I can't think of a better name yet.
2. The remains of the Christmas tree has ended up on a wagon. It's not chained down yet, so don't tell OSH!
3. The last piece of track arrived in the post. It has been laid to complete the third loop though the station, around the back of the station building. Just the engine shed siding to do now.
4. Two concrete platforms have been poured for the station buildings. (Ross Godfrey the concrete expert from Hokitika did that for me).
5. The whole station area has been ballasted, so hopefully no more weeds here now.
My work is sending me out of town for a couple of weeks, so next update will be beginning of Feb, and contain plenty of photos of the club running day on the Rocky Creek Railway.
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25th December 2006:
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Merry Christmas!!!
Santa rides one of the trains run on Christmas Day 2006. |
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7th December 2006:
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The second NZR loco has been started. The loco is going to be a C class 0-4-2 saddle tank loco. It was cut up from a Bachmann Porter loco. The driving wheels have been respaced an extra 10cm apart. This means the rods need to be lengthened. The motor has also been mounted vertically so it fits inside the boiler. Watch for progress over the next few months.
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| All chopped up. |
Remounted for tests |
Underneath |
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| Drilling the rods |
Short and Lengthened rods |
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30th November 2006:
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Now the track is nearly finished, I have started unpacking some of the boxes which have not been looked at since I packed them to move house 3 years ago.
One of the projects I was part way through was a small fleet of 'La' high side wagons.
I have eight in various stages of constuction. Two were almost complete, so I spent a day and finished them off.
The photo was taken during a test run at the ChCh Garden Railway Society November meeting which was held at Karl Arnesen's very nice Mt Catt and Jessie Falls railway. |
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11th November 2006:
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Another weekend, another rock wall.
Then ballast, (which is now in short supply), and finally a few of Brenda's succulents moved into the garden.
They were moved from another area, which is next on the list for a rock wall. Maybe next weekend?
I am trying to get it finished before the Christchurch Garden Railway Soc visit in January.
The railway is quite spectacular at the moment, with the flowers in full bloom, as you can see in the background. |
I have recently updated the Bridges
and Construction pages on this site.
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5th November 2006:
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Another small rock embankment built and track the ballasted.
The rock is West Coast Schist. I got one big rock and broke it apart with a
hammer and chisel. Schist has seams through it and splits quite nicely and predictably.
The thin remains where then stacked in layers with concrete mix poured along the back to
keep it together. Some of the smaller rocks where glued on the top with 'liquid nails' builders glue. |
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29th October 2006:
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After 7 months of builders working in our house, and then having to do painting jobs once they left,
work has at last been re-directed towards completing the railway.
During the intervening months since the last report I was fortunate to be able to
purchase some second hand track.
Thanks to Trev in Gore, who pulled up his railway, I was able to buy enough track
to replace all of the old hand built stuff.
So over the last few weekends the old track was pulled up and the replacement
track laid down.
All that remains now is to finish the 3rd loop (more track required), and complete the
wiring to the control panel.
The photo shows track testing through the yard.
As can be seen, the loops are nice and long, much longer than what my current locos
can pull up the grades. So a bogie diesel engine may be required in the future to make use
of those nice long sidings, but there are a few other locos to complete first.
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A snow photo from 12 June 2006, which I never got around to putting up until now. |
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Older items have been incoporated into new pages Bridges
and Construction
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