The Sandstone & Termite

My Sandstone & Termite should more accurately be called a BACKYARD railway as there is little garden – about 5 sq m  I’d guess.  The rest of the yard is BIG rocks or is so steep that bridges are the only solution. The railway is supposedly set in the 1950s. 
Most of these pics are from the last 6 months. Recently it’s been so drizzly in Sydney that GR operations are virtually suspended.
We enjoy having visiting trains, so lots of these pics show ‘foreigners’
 
Here a coal train needs assistance in the rear.

 
This shot shows the lower track from the pic above. A Shay (Bill Cooper) wanders under the rocks. Very reminiscent of the Wolgan Valley railway in NSW – compare it with this http://members.optusnet.com.au/limashay/wolgan11.jpg.html 

  
 
How about this for the large and the small?  Kerry Patterson from NZ dropped by with his tiny 
0-4-0 Dubs  and we posed it beside my Big Blue Garratt.

 
Here’s a sight you don’t see every day. Double headed B class Climaxes. The front one’s a visitor (Keith Lindsay) and the 2^nd one is mine.

 
A 3rd Climax takes its log load through Melaleuca.

 
 
Somehow this monster diesel has time warped back to the 1950s, and scares the motorist at Lilyvale level crossing. The car driver might need to visit the pub at right to calm his nerves.

 
 

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Like it!

Has some kind of:
"this is the landscape, lay down a track"
and not 
"there will be a track, how should the landscape be?"

Greetings

Frank

Great shots of a really atmospheric railway. There are some lovely things goin' on down under.

Cracking shots of lovely line and great looking locos , really like your large blue Garratt looks as if it should be on the Somerset & Dorset in that livery

coyote97

Has some kind of:
"this is the landscape, lay down a track"
and not 
"there will be a track, how should the landscape be?"

Exactly Frank.  took me 15 years living here to realise  I could fit some track.   But  I prefer it to 'constructed' landscapes.  And I don't have the imagination to be able to visualise building dirt hills etc. Just can't think in 3 dimensions.

Very nice Greg.   I too prefer to put the railway into the landscape I have, rather than the other way round - but it's probably due to lack of imagination on my part also.

Love that shot of the diesel passing the pub...

Marvellous pictures. Lovely locomotives.

A real railway - nice photos Greg!

Mick

Great, and I like the bar rail track.

More please Greg, specially the Class B Climax.
Always enjoy pics of your railway, man have you got some big boulders.

Me thinks my Dubs A should visit one day, Kerry's was the inspiration for mine

JRinTawa

More please Greg, specially the Class B Climax.
Always enjoy pics of your railway, man have you got some big boulders.
Me thinks my Dubs A should visit one day, Kerry's was the inspiration for mine

Thanks John. If you're ever over here, there's always a bed for fellow GR people.
Your picture thread is my inspiration.  Will get some more pics of the Climax.

It's Garratt day!
I just love Garratts and I’ve built two.   Both are radio controlled with twin sound units so you can really hear the two separate engine units.  I've never heard a real Garratt running, but old drivers say that the 2 units actually synchronised themselves above about 20 mph.
 
Here they are side by side.

 
 
My red Garratt leaves Sandstone. It’s a 2-4-2+2-4-2 using Bachmann chassis.  It has an inherent ‘hunting’ motion as it goes downhill that I’ve never been able to cure except with liberal application of WD40 to the gears before every run.  I’ve just put 2.4 GHz RC in it.

 
And Big Blue at Ti-tree. It’s a 2-6-2+2-6-2 using Bachmann Big Hauler chassis.  It’s so big it doesn’t get run very often. I can’t really put enough wagons behind it to look ‘right’.

 
Another Garratt (by Bryan Coppock) climbs out of the tunnel, past Ironbark and up towards Termite.  It's modelled on the original K1.

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Twin sound units in the Garratt, that's a clever idea Greg.

Great shots.  Love the class B climax.  Thats a project on my to do list.  Hopeing to start it this fall

Brilliant pics

Here’s a few more pics of my Climax loco. It uses an Aristo motor block. Batteries and lead in the water tank. RC stuff in boiler and sound system in vertical firebox with speaker facing downwards through the floor.
 



 
 
Here’s an unusual scene – a triple header of Climax types A, B and C !
Mine is the middle class B. The A and C belong to a mate, Keith. (taken on Keith’s Bottle Creek Tramway)

 
The class A is scratchbuilt and even has RC crammed in.

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Lovely garretts and railway. Awesome. Love the track through the rocks.

It’s Railmotor Day on the Sandstone and Termite.
 
In the beginning there was the old Queenslander.  It was the first ‘loco’ I built and has rubberband driven rear axle.  It has been pretty well been pensioned off now.

 
It is operated by a magic (magnetic) wand. You can see how in this video
http://www.youtube.com/us...mite#p/u/3/WAWgXCok7fU
 
 
My likeness of a NSW  ‘Tin Hare’ now provides the main service. It’s built on an Aristo short diesel motor block (ART29356) , with 433 MHz RC and (my) sound, including an engine starting effect.
 
The early morning sun catches the railmotor departing Lilyvale.

 
and as it leaves Maple Junction. No, the car is not on the wrong side of the road – this is the station car park.

 
And arrives at Sandstone.

You can take a ride on it in this video…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8R5BkrWUyQ
 
 
The Tin Hares are a favourite for NSW modelers.
Here’s Keith’s version – a true 1:30 scale model, whereas mine is a shortened likeness.  His is made of wood on the same Aristo short block.  2.4 GHz  RC and sound including starting engine sound and driver cursing before it finally starts.

 
And Mark’s version:

 
Railcar ‘Nick’ provides an alternative and can operate as a small shunting loco too. It has a simple forward/off/reverse switch type control, is based on an Aristo ‘long’ diesel block (ART29351), running on 5 AA cells. It has a simple sound system which slowly increases in revs as it starts, even though the speed is constant. Fools the eyes nicely, so that you really think it’s accelerating.

 
 
When all the railmotors  are out of service, the old tram is dragged out to provide the service.
This is a model of the Baldwin motors that ran Sydney’s trams in the 1890s. Also on an Aristo short block, with 433 MHz RC and (my) sound.

 
Queensland had some ‘classic’ railmotors – here’s Geof’s model of Red Fred on the Lilyvale viaduct.

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Love it.  I really like the wood ties.  I keep toying with the idea of takinng out the plastic ties and replace with wood.  It looks so much better that way.

gregh


It’s Railmotor Day on the Sandstone and Termite.
 

 
My likeness of a NSW  ‘Tin Hare’ now provides the main service. It’s built on an Aristo short diesel motor block (ART29356) , with 433 MHz RC and (my) sound, including an engine starting effect.
 

 
Queensland had some ‘classic’ railmotors – here’s Geof’s model of Red Fred on the Lilyvale viaduct.

Hi greg nice bits of kit those 'Tin Hares'
Are the inverted cow catchers on the roofs actually there to catch the 'drop bears' in the Oz outback?