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D I S PA T C H E R
Volume 28, No.3
April 2012
Official magazine of the South Australian N Gauge Society: Founded 1983
N Scale Naturally for 29 Years
VIEW FROM THE CAB
sangs.asn.au
Keeping it all Together
DCC Running within the Clubrooms
INSIDE THIS MONTH
3
Boys Annuals of Yesteryear
4
Babe in Wunderland
7
Brassed Off!
8
To Sell or Not to Sell on EBay
9
On the Platform with the Famous
10 USA Mail Forwarding Service
12 Another Job for Babe
15 U.S. Railroad Revival Tours
Working for the Club Lately
Neil Tonkin, Greg Milner, Patrick
Brown, Arthur O’Connell, Jim Love,
Hutch Hutchinson, Andrew
Young, Derek Moore
Duly Noted
Contributors this Month
Babe Lane & Ace Granite, Rick Halls,
Peter Merkel, Phil Southam,
George Johnstone
R
ecently your commiee considered the results of the DCC Survey put
out by your club secretary many months ago.
It took Arthur considerable urging to get a majority of members to complete
the quesonnaire and basically it told us very lile regarding when members
thought or liked when DCC sessions should be held on Montana.
The basic result was that take any day of the week and two or three members
cked that box! In other words, there was no consensus as to when DCC running would best be held. However, importantly, most responders either fully
endorsed DCC operaon at mes on Montana and a minority had no interest,
but importantly were not against DCC running.
Therefore, given these results, your commiee resolved to recommend to
members that DCC running on Montana should be held on any day of the
week at any me with two important excepons, i.e. no DCC on Tuesdays
between 1800-2000hrs and on Saturdays between 1200—1600 hrs.
Boom line again: any day of the week except the two restricve mes menoned. The General Meeng of 31 March 2012 endorsed this approach.
The meeng also endorsed commiee member Hutch Hutchinson as the DCC
special interest group leader; however I would point out that that role has
been Hutch’s for the past two years [look at the back page endorsement in
every issue of Dispatcher]! Doesn’t anyone read this official club organ?
Just in case there is any further doubt in anyone’s mind, let me state again:
Your commiee fully endorses the adopon of DCC within the club and expects that SANGS will use state of the art equipment in that regard notwithstanding financial constraints at mes and/or other cost benefit maers in
relaonship to further hardware/so0ware acquisions.
Hopefully, here endeth the DCC Lesson! But do read Page 2 overleaf ………...
WARNING: Occasional
MA15+ content within
Chris Finney
President & Editor
20 April 2012
SANGS CALENDAR is on Page 2
Stay ‘N’ Alive, Stay ‘N’ Alive ….. In the Red Devil RX8
Dispatcher Editor: Chris Finney can be contacted at : [email protected]
Please submit written material to the Editor by eMail in a doc file Downsize your jpeg & gif files and forward them separately from the written words; ideally they should be no larger than 100k
Page 2
DISPATCHER April 2012
Further to the President’s
statement on page 1 our
DCC Coordinator Hutch
Reports:
Running Times
I have come to a decision regarding the operang mes for the DCC interest group [make that all club
members]. To cater for as many interested members as possible one operang session per week will
be arranged as follows:
The First Saturday and the Third Saturday of each month from approx 9.30/10.00hrs unl 1200hrs,
and the Second and Forth Thursdays of each month from 5.00/5.30hrs {1700 /1730hrs} unl late.
The DCC operang sessions on Saturdays must finish before 12noon so the DCC wiring can be unplugged the DC wiring plugged back in and tested!! All DCC loco must be removed from the layout, so
there is no chance damage being done to decoders.
The reasoning behind this decision is: Saturday mornings should expose more members to the idea of
DCC and as many club members have both DC and DCC locos I am sure they would sll like to run their
DC loco/trains, plus going to the club more than twice a week could be a financial strain for a lot of
members, including me!
The mes and dates can, and no doubt will change as more club members become confident operang DCC.
Operaon
This will have to be looked at, as currently just running trains around and around defeats the whole
idea of DCC.
We need the trains to be doing something, i.e. picking up dropping off freight cars at yards, with passenger trains stopping at staons, in other words operate as close to the real thing as we can.
This can be with a me table, train order sheets, and later add a fast clock. This can and will take me
to implement but I am sure once it is, using DCC can be great fun.
The first operang will start on Thursday evening 10th May.
If you have any suggesons and idea's please email me or bail me up at the club.
Rick Hall writes
about the new
Peco 3-way Points
I recently bought three SLE399F 3way points; I didn’t intend to electrify immediately, but will need to
purchase the required point motor and switches before I complete my sidings otherwise these expensive
points are useless. I saw no reference to the need to electrify during or since there release; not a real
problem, but it does add another $30 to the cost of the point to get it operating.
Peco’s Technical Department advised as follows: “The SLE399F 3way point is designed to have the frog
polarities changed automatically using PL10E point motors fitted with PL13 switches. If you wish to operate the point without point motors you will need to link suitable SPDT switches to each tiebar and wire as
required so that as the tiebar is moved the switch will operate. We do not have recommended switches
for this as modellers usually have their own preferences”.
Member No. 174
George Johnstone
SANGS CALENDAR
Saturday
5 May 2012
General Club Meeting
Saturday
2 June 2012
General Club Meeting
Scheduled Committee Meetings
Saturday 28 April 2012
At the Largs Bay Hacienda—
12 noon
Salma Hayak asks “Do
you SANGS guys run
Mexican models?
DISPATCHER April 2012
Page 3
I
f you are as old as the Editor, you may remember those fabulous [it seemed at the
me] Children’s annuals that always appeared in the city’s book stores or departments
just before Christmas each year. They seemed to disappear from the shelves in the early
1960s, no doubt overtaken by TV in the age when children and teenagers just seemed to read
less.
These hard cover books had been around from the late 1920s and almost always emanated
from large Brish publishing houses of the me. Some of these really specialised in them; e.g.
Blackie’s, Warne & Coy and Collins. There were a few from American publishers as well, but
most of these didn’t make it to Australian shores.
These edited annuals usually contained a mixture of factual arcles and short stories; there
were some that were annual specials for weekly children's papers, e.g.
the Eagle, the Champion, Boys Own etc.
However, the great a$racon of these old books these days is the vibrant and evocave front covers and the colour plates within—usually
about four to six. These pictures were not photographs, but generally
beauful examples of the illustrators’ art of the me. Some very famous arsts also provided illustraons for these publicaons.
Of course the Boys’ books o'en featured the latest in mechanical
transport, i.e. trains and planes and boats etc.
The front covers from top down: Southern Railways loco #903 with admiring schoolboys; the latest
LMS Stanier loco with a Gloster or Hawker fighter of the day; the Flying Scotsman and a Jaguar SS
sports car in front of the Queen Mary, which probably dates this one to around 1936/1937; and at the
right “Cock ‘O’ the North” racing through a level crossing with our chaps in a MG or Riley roadster and
on a Norton motorcycle.
This pic was taken c1984 in the Editor’s lounge at Edithburgh; it shows a modest shelf display layout including a ConCor/Heljan turntable and an assortment of rolling stock, as well as two locos.
So, what do you reckon the writer still has in his possession in 2012, some 28 years or so later? The short answer: not much.
The ConCor DL109s went to Sangser Ian Bannon several years ago; well why wouldn’t they? He still has the Pennsy Power II
book by Al Staufer, the two Kato JNR container cars [much altered to carry USAF rockets] and a couple of the Atlas cattle cars
now in a circus train consist. Oh, and the Rivarossi Jersey Central full baggage car and the plastic re-railer! The rest, all sold or
swapped off to help financing fleet refreshment—something that every member should be doing to support the Scale.
DISPATCHER
Page 4
April 2012
Continuing the mis-adventures of
Dispatcher Reporterette Extraordinaire Lois “Babe” Lane, her handbag
Ace Granite and the dreaded HO HO
Gang led by Mata Hari no less!
BABE IN WUNDERLAND
A
Lear Jet rolled up to the executive terminal at Hamburg airport. The door
opened and the air-stairs extended to reveal first the shapely form of Lois ‘Babe ‘Lane,
Ace Reporterette of the influential N Scale magazine ‘Dispatcher’ and then the wiry frame of world famous pilot, aerial crime-fighter and Babe’s distant cousin, Biggles. They descended onto the surprisingly
crowded tarmac and through a blaze of camera and light flashes of TV crews,
were hustled inside and into a even more crowded press conference.
The room was filled with eager and excited media, and as a background, the
walls were covered with posters of Babe, first as the ‘Stunner from Down Under’ in the English press, some photos of her at training for her Olympic beach
volleyball bid and, prominently, her recent Harley Davidson promotions in Munich for all-round millionaire sleazeball Adam Pegler.
“It’s all been arranged from Munich”, Pegler’s gushing PR person explained, “Just a few questions, a few pics
and TV footage now, then we’ll whisk you off to Wunderland. You
must be terribly excited, not just by the media, but by having your
dream come true to see the largest and most magnificent model railway in the whole world. Just smile for the cameras. They have a press
release in German so you only have to say ‘Ja’ and nod. Lots of teeth
Babe and lean forward a lot. Good. Good. That’s it. Really stretch up
with that ball. Now bend down to catch it. Wunderbah.”
The conference was no big deal for Babe - she herself was ‘of the media’, and it all passed by quickly with sprawling on the motorcycle
shots and jumping around with a
volley ball, looking thoughtful then, with a final ‘Danker minor Herrings’, from Babe she was bundled into Pegler Industries’ limo.
There was a quick wave to Biggles as he tried to keep a straight face
at Babe’s German ‘thank you’, as he headed off to check the Lear Jet.
The TV press were stunned and quickly edited and did voice overs to
mask embarrassment, while the print media just relied on the press
release and lots of photos for the Page 3 spreads.
……………….
“What a gas!” Babe’s expectations of ‘Wunderland’ were exceeded.
The model train display covered several acres divided into eight areas,
running from Austria and Switzerland, including a remarkable operating airport in the alps, through Germany to the North Sea coast,
and further on to Scandinavia, and finally across the Atlantic to
America.
Train movements were complex and continually moving carrying passengers and freight. Over 13,000
metres of track with 930 trains and 15,000 wagons travel the layout’s rails.
The modelled areas were incredibly detailed. The scenery featured realistic mountains, alpine areas,
woodland, seas oceans, and rivers while the built environment of villages, towns, cities were convincingly
complex as were industrial areas and individual premises.
The layout used 250,000 figures and had moving land vehicles, cars, buses and even aircraft that took off
and landed.
“Only photos can do all this justice”, Babe, stunned by the complexity and realism, exclaimed. “And the
Sangs boys will just have to come and see it, or at least look it up on the web Google thingy that has lots
and lots of pics and YouTube videos. Btw, I hope the editor puts in a few of my snaps to give the boys a
few ideas.”
continued next page
Page 5
DISPATCHER April 2012
BABE IN WUNDERLAND CONTINUED
At one stage in the proceedings Babe cried “But I can’t see Sodor” The bewildered Wunderland Director was
not au fait with Thomas the Tank Engine’s backyard and moved her quickly to the control room where she
admired the work of the operators on the 46 computers that monitored and ran the layout.
After that exhausting tour with the curvaceous Babe, Mein Director was pleased to escort her to her Beemer
and wave her off to her hotel – the Munich Mὅvenpic.
Next morning German Breakfast TV and the tabloids were full of pics and stories about the photogenic [and
hardworking?] Aussie chick who was fighting to achieve Olympic glory. Babe’s famous [notorious?] red leather jump suit may well have been a plus for the pressmen, especially as the front zipper threatened a malfunction at any time.
Later Babe, pleased and a little dazed by the PR attention, decided to ignore the icy weather and went on her
daily jog along the Elbe River embankment; male stares were everywhere as Babe bounced pointedly along in
her summer togs.
At this juncture Babe was spotted by Biggles who had come to the Mὅvenpic to
tell her that the jet was ready to take her off south to warmer training quarters.
But he was puzzled by the two people - a nun and a priest who seemed intent on
getting Babe into a car.
Beneath their clever disguises Biggles recognised the dreaded HO HO gang
agents Mata Hari and Quentin Snade and he increased his pace until
just as Babe was about to step into the rear seat of a black Mercedes he
drew alongside, grabbed his cousin and with his other hand pushed
aside the grasping hands of the evil duo.
Realising they had been spotted the two gang members, with curses at
Babe and Biggles, jumped into the Merc and sped off leaving a puffing
Biggles and a puzzled Babe behind. “I’m getting a bit old for these
shenanigans o cousin of mine” opined Biggles as he reached into his
pocket for a restorative mint.
“But Biggles” Babe complained “Those hip cool churchy people just
saw me on TV and asked me to help with their anti-drug campaign – “The Reefer Ban” and to go
hang out at their place in Hamburg”.
Biggles stared and began to laugh, but for Babe’s sake
composed himself and leaned forward and whispered the
real pronunciation of the place down by the docks in
Hamburg the HO HO gang had in mind and her probable
fate.
Babe blushed and her VY eyes widened. “Were those
poor chics forced to do the busin…..? Oh right; really.
Oh no; you mean those slime balls were going to sell me
into one of those dives? Wow, saved at the bell, I’m not
going back to that life again!”
“Well cousin Thank You, but don’t ever talk about it
again” ordered Babe, straightening her shoulders,
tossing back her blonde locks and then boasting
“I’m still worth it so let’s get down to work; there’s is a beach volley ball Olympic Medal to win!”
“Remember, you’ve got to save N Scale too in your busy schedule, young Lois” Biggles noted somewhat wearily, “but for the moment lets just get that Lear Jet into the southern skies!”
To be continued
DISPATCHER
April 2012
T-Trak Corner
this month with West
Australian N Scaler
John Rumming
Page 6
The Editor was recently in contact with John Rumming, a fine modeller by any
standard. He sent me pictures of a couple of his very nicely done T-Trak modules
[singles]. They both depict outdoor museums, viz: old tramcars and aircraft. Now,
what a good use of those inexpensive Japanese/Chinese Tomytec and like models—see the pics.
John then told me: “I know of Hutch. I met him when I did the ‘T-TRAK Trek’ and
did the exhibition in SA. The T-TRAK Trek started here at the show in Perth, which
is one week before SA. Then it was packed up in the suitcase, and travelled with
me to SA for your show. Then after it was packed up again and travelled to Melbourne, straight onto the Spirit Of Tasmania to see Adrian
at his show in Launceston the week following. On the boat I met Martin
Watts, the captain of the ship and avid T-Trak fan too!
A few months later the Canberra N Scale convention came around and
it went there too. So, 2 singles and 1 double module have travelled far
and wide!”
Recently noting some
exceptional value at
M. B. Klein’s “Model Train Stuff”
These two Bachmann beauties are on sale currently at M.
B. Klein’s “Model Train Stuff” online shop.
The Heavy Mountain is a relatively recent addition to Bachmann’s inventory but it has none of the old bad traits of previous Bachmann steamers. At $149 its very good value for a
smooth running steam loco with a DCC chip already onboard.
Of course, the other great story from Bachmann is that they
have completely re-tooled their Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 J
Class loco. It now runs so smoothly and gets an “A” rating
from the “Spookshow Man”. So it should and not just because
of the price—US$70!
Page 7
DISPATCHER April 2012
Sangser Hutch Reports on his
latest challenge—assembling
brass locomotive kits
Here are some photos of my three SCT class brass
body kits from N Scale Australia.
They are not very easy to put together; you start off
with a flat fret then you have to bend the three sides
and finally very carefully solder or glue them together.
I don't do very much, just hold the parts together
with the “Third Hand” - you know the gizmo with a
base and a arm with grippers on each end, dab on
some flux and just solder the parts together, or if I
cannot do that just glue them.
I do have a temperature controlled soldering iron; this makes assembly a lot easier The main thing
is to keep everything clean, i.e. the metal parts and the iron tip. Additionally, I do have a resistance soldering iron but I only use it for very tricky bits where the already soldered parts may
fall off when soldering next to them!
These particular units fit on Atlas SD 50/60 chassis, with some
styrene sheeting being placed between the brass body and the
chassis to stop shorts of the electrical kind!
Of course, my three units are DCC—the locos came with a decoder already fitted from
Model Train Stuff—M. B. Klein—for $70.00 each, a Good Price!
H
ere’s the poster for a great lile comedy film
produced by the Poms in 1952 .
The story: When BR threatens to close the Ti=ield
branch line, the pillars of the community band together and resurrect the great days of steam. A
charming slice of an England that is no more and
the first of the Ealing Comedies to be produced in
Technicolour.
You can get it on DVD.
Isn’t Any Sangser Doing Any Modelling Work?
Dispatcher
Notice
Come on fellas. We always need contributions for Dispatcher. Especially descriptions of your
layouts, scratch-building efforts, scenery tips and other “how-tos” etc.
How about it? Its not rocket science and the Editor will tidy up any writing for you. It
doesn’t have to be a full-blown article; a few notes will suffice. C’mon …….
DISPATCHER April 2012
Page 8
Peter White from St. Augustine
in Florida recently posted on
the Yahoo N Scale forum. His
edited comments are printed by
permission
Since early February 2012, I have been monitoring every aucon in the eBay N Scale/
Micro-Trains category. Bear in mind that we are talking predominately rolling stock not
higher priced locomoves etc.
That is about 16,936 lisngs to date, just in the MicroTrains category. The top 5 sellers who have about 40% of all
the lisngs are:
1. jointlinenscale 15.9% of all lisngs. Aver price per lisng=$27.44
2. danstraindepot 7% of all lisngs. Aver price per lisng=$7.84
3. pmpexpress 6.3% of all lisngs. Aver price per lisng=$39.35
4. storman2 5.9% of all lisngs. Aver price per lisng=$44.69
5. eothbs 4.7% of all lisngs. Aver price per lisng=$5.86 All of these sellers predominately use the Buy It Now facility except for danstraindepot and eothbs who use the Aucon style lisng.
How effecve are the Buy It Now vs Aucons? Buy It Now items have 18.6% sold rate, 81.4% are unsold .Aucon
items have 46.8% sold rate, 53.2% are unsold. All items have 35.6% sold rate, 64.4% are unsold. The Buy It Now sell
rate maybe low because dealer lisngs generally ask a higher price for their cars. In some cases, I have seen Buy It
Now cars listed for 2 or 3 mes the starng price of aucons.
Obviously, dealers have the move for profit whereas modeller sellers just want to recover the list price they paid
or close to it. There are excepons. EBay fees have increased over the years. For Aucons, they now take 9% to a
maximum of $100.00. For Buy It Now, they charge 11% plus 6% for sales between $50 to $1,000.00, plus an addional 2% over $1,000.00.
Now those fees are based on the total invoiced amount. That amount includes shipping, etc. costs. If the buyer pays
through PayPal, eBay includes the PayPal cost to the seller in their commission! (eBay, of course, owns PayPal so
they also get the PayPal cost to the seller). So the Seller's eBay commission is also on PayPal charge to the seller
when the buyer pays with PayPal!
Naturally, a seller on eBay may increase their lisng prices to recover these fees. Add something fancy in your
lisng and the inseron fees are in addion to the above. EBay’s Feedback system favours the buyer. It used to be
that both the seller and the buyer could leave Posive, Neutral or Negave feedback. Now, only the buyer can leave
one of the three types of feedback. The seller can only leave Posive.
EBay’s stock has gone from $28 on Nov 25, 2011 to currently $38. No wonder!
Another alternave is to use the [email protected] eGroup. It is N scale only. All dealing is between the buyer and seller. The eGroup owners do not get involved in the transacons. There are no aucons nor
any fees when using this list. Granted, eBay probably has a lot more buyers looking at the lisngs compared to
1,732 people on NScaleYardSale.
In my experience, I have had a beer sell rate on NScaleYardSale than on eBay. And I do not have to pay any fees at
all.
MysteryPainting
The Editor loves this painting, but does not
know who the artist is or was. Can any reader
help?
Clearly the railway station is in the Middle East,
perhaps Egypt, Arabia, Jordan, Syria, or even
NorthAfrica.
The steam loco is almost certainly of European
build; the western adventurer looks a little like
Indiana Jones, sitting there on his kit. Station
seatingappearstobeataminimum,howeverall
the prospective passengers and the caged bird
appear comfortable as they await the call to
board.
Page 9
DISPATCHER April 2012
On the Platform with Famous Figures: Episode 27
Ginger Rogers
Its October 1931 and the great Hollywood star and subsequent Academy
Award winner Ginger Rogers, well rugged up, is seen departing New York for
her west coast home on New York Central’s 20th Century Ltd.
She had appeared in her first movie the year before and was destined to star in
nine films with dancing actor Fred Astaire. Married five times she was lifelong
friends with fellow actors Bette Davis and Lucille Ball.
Rogers, a lifelong conservative, was a member of the Republican Party and
also a founding member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the
Preservation of American Ideals—an anti communist group,
with other notables being Garry Cooper, Clark Gable
and Barbara Stanwyck.
One of her husbands [of seven years] was actor Lew
Ayres, the first “Dr. Kildare”. Ironically, he suffered at
the hands of the M.P. Alliance in the 1950s and was
virtually banned from Hollywood.
Ginger Rogers died in 1995 probably of a heart attack after a stroke a short time before. She never
consulted doctors and was never hospitalised!
A great quote from Ginger about her co-dancer Fred Astaire:
“Sure he was great, but don’t forget I did everything he did backwards … and in high heels!”
Courtesy of Norfolk Southern Railroad here’s a pic
of one of the first “heritage” liveries now being applied to some eighteen or so new locos, viz: ten
SD70ACEs and eight GE ES44ACs.
Tinted Graphite Paint
Experienced modellers will know that those shiny black trucks on N Scale
rolling stock items look far from realistic. In fact many of us “weather” them
for two good reasons, viz: realism as stated, but also to bring out the details
of the intricate bearings and springs etc.
So, you can use a graphite paint from one of the
model paint companies or for $4.25 from all good
newsagents you can buy a bottle of Mont Marte
“Tinted Graphite Paint”. This brand is the Chinese
art supplies you see at all those newsagents and
bookstores.
However, the good thing about this paint is that it
dries very rapidly to a very flat finish which is particularly realistic on grimy rolling stock trucks. Being
water based, clean-up of your brush is rapid. Why
don’t you try it?
Page 10
DISPATCHER April 2012
Thanks to Peter Merkel for this
very useful info …..
U.S.A. ADRESS AND MAIL FORWARDING
Some club members have reported that they are having difficulty purchasing model
railway accessories from U.S.A. because retailers are reluctant to mail goods to Australia because
of the extra work involved in packing and posting items overseas. One possible solution is to use a
U.S.A. address and mail forwarding company.
How the system works
The client contracts with the mail forwarding company to provide a postal address in the U.S. It is
not a Post Office box as some retailers will not send goods to a P.O. Box address. The address
used is a Suite No. # and a street address. The client then orders their goods from the retailer giving the U.S. address as the address to which the goods are posted or delivered. The Mail Forwarding Company then receives the goods and photographs the parcel and measures and weighs it.
The client is then advised that the article has been received and is being held in storage awaiting
further instructions.
The client then can choose to have the article forwarded to their Australian address immediately or
held in storage until several purchases have been accumulated and then all forwarded to Australia
together. By having several parcels combined there is an obvious cost saving in overseas freight
and insurance.
The client is offered several options for sending the parcel on to Australia either by post or freight
company such as FedEx or TNT etc. The cost of each option is detailed in the notification to the
client.
The client then notifies the company when they want the parcel or parcels sent on and by what
means. The client must also provide a customs declaration at that time.
The forwarding company consolidates the order, packs it, photographs the finished parcel, weighs it
and measures it and forwards it on to the client. The client is sent an email confirming the process
and a tracking number for any necessary follow up.
How much does it cost
As a guide one company charges the client about $50 per year to maintain an address (Suite No.)
or about $8 per month. There is also a fee of about $2.50 per article handled. The cost of shipping
to Australia depends on the method chosen and the size and weight of the total package. Cost savings can be made by asking the forwarding company to remove superfluous packaging and padding
especially if combining several purchases into one package. The cost of the service can be offset
by the savings to be had from purchasing from U.S.A. especially while the Australian dollar is so
strong against the greenback. Other savings can be achieved by several friends combining to use
the services of the company but beware not to exceed the Australian Customs limit for duty free imports.
Payment to the forwarding company can usually be made by credit card or PayPal.
Disadvantages
There may be a problem with returning goods to the retailer if the goods are found to be faulty. Another unforseen problem is the delay within Australia because the shipping company does not have
deliveries to all suburbs or regional areas every day. For example the goods may be sent promptly
to the shipping company store in Sydney and held there for a couple of days until they have a delivery to the outer western suburbs if that is its final destination.
More information
One company which offers this U.S.A. address and mail forwarding service to Australia is Shipito.
Their website http://www.shipito.com offers detailed information about their service. They also provide a similar service in Hong Kong and China.
Page 11
DISPATCHER April 2012
Sangser Phil Southam
relates
The February 2012 Warrior Dash
Picture this – a scenic 5.3km running course on tracks and across grassy paddocks, along and
across creeks, and interspersed with a range of obstacles not unlike military training. There are inclines
and ropes, barbed wire and fences, cargo nets, parallel ropes over water, mud and logs and several other
man-made and natural hazards. And to finish off, a couple of fires to jump over followed by a 50m crawl/
dog paddle along a muddy trench under wire.
Oh yes, and over 9,000 entrants starting in regular waves from 0900h-1800h. Add to this rain, rain,
and more rain, capped off by a severe hail storm at 1400h, made for more mud than you could imagine. So why did Canberra based member Phil Southam decide to drive four hours up from Canberra to Peats Ridge near Gosford in New South Wales and compete? Because he likes a challenge! At his age he should stick to model railways!
Fortunately for Phil he was still half way there when the hail hit but the impact in terms of the quagmire that was the ‘car park’ showed, as did the queue winding its way in a long snaking line of hundreds of entrants waiting for the start. Every 10 mins or so a wave of competitors were released
and although Phil’s start time was 1700h, there was such a backlog, including some people who
were meant to start at 1400h still queued, that it wasn’t until around 1800h before he got underway.
Phil managed to stay relatively clean and wore an old shirt and shoes, while others were prepared
to literally bathe in the mud wearing all sorts of attire and costumes, including three young men
resplendent in cricket whites, yes whites, complete with long white trousers, white shirts and off course
white shoes and caps and the obligatory white zinc cream. There were many strange sights and some
appeared from the mud looking like the ‘creature from the black lagoon’ – for those whose age means they
can remember that movie! The photos show Phil in action (?) on the day.
Apart from a slight pulled calf muscle, which occurred early in the
run, no Club member or animal was harmed in the making of these photos, other than the calf of course. Maybe he should stick to
trains – no he’ll do something else just as silly in the future.
Oh, and by the way, it was me, Phil, who wrote this so I’m allowed
to poke fun at myself.
Result: 7,907th out of 9,167. But hey, it was FUN.
Footnote: if you watch The Biggest Loser episode 12 http://
thebiggestloser.com.au/video.htm you would have seen the
course used for the ‘Valley Stampede Challenge’. Some of the
obstacles used in that are different to the ‘Warrior Dash’ but the
venue is the same – only it was much, much muddier for the
Dash.
Rod Poole continues to keep us up to date with the Seaford
Rail project
The Bridge construction from the Noarlunga end of
the new line continues to progress across the river with
four sections of pylons as is the Southern end - see
lower pic.
The upper picture, taken from a road bridge about 400
metres South of the Noarlunga Station shows progress
as the new track heads towards the Onkaparinga
bridge, and having crossed another road via an overpass.
DISPATCHER
April 2012
Page 12
Another Job for Babe – The Patrick Brown Interview
Wherein our cute Reporterette Lois ‘Babe’ Lane attempts to elicit a profile for Dispatcher from this wily
SANGS member
At dusk on a warm autumn evening the red Chevy Corvette glided down
Semaphore Road, in the eponymous and increasingly trendy seaside resort.
At the wheel was the liberated and always captivating Lois “Babe” Lane,
sometime Ace Reporterette of the notoriously edgy and politically incorrect
South Australian N Gauge Society house magazine – Dispatcher.
Always on the que vive when Babe was driving, your Editor was occupying
the death seat in front, and Babe’s second cousin Biggles, he of combat flying
fame, was squeezed in the back jump seat, head down and knees up, reminiscent of his last ditching
in a Hawker Typhoon late in ’44 in the steamy jungles of Burma.
Although due in Britain to finalise her training for the 2012 London Olympics Beach Volleyball event,
Babe had answered her boss’s call, left Germany, and returned briefly to Oz with Biggles in his Lear
Jet so as to interview the reclusive and elusive SANGS member, Patrick Brown.
“He’ll be a right challenge for you, Babe”, opined the editor over the phone to Babe a week or so before. “This recalcitrant fella won’t do his Bio for Dispatcher, won’t answer emails of great importance
sent to him by other important members of the SANGS Executive; he’ll be a hard man to nail down.”
Babe, always good for a challenge, especially where men were concerned, eagerly agreed to this
assignment to get Brown’s Bio and of course, any other material that she could uncover about the
“Man from SCT” as he was known around the traps [and elsewhere – Ed]. Hence her arrival at RSL
headquarters, Semaphore, where SANGS enjoyed a relaxed landlord and weekly Zumba exercise
classes at reduced rates for members, but we digress as they keep saying in that Murdoch rag, “The
Australian”.
“You’re showing your colours a bit there, young Babe” said Biggles, as the trio alighted from the Corvette. Babe wasn’t sure to which he was referring, her G-string flashing under the sodium street lamp,
or her expressed opinion of the Oz national broadsheet. It might be reported that although Babe had
exited the Corvette with grace and ease keeping herself tidy; the old timers displayed no such finesse
scrambling from the low-slung ‘vette!
Knowing that her mission would be compromised if the two old boys were present when she interviewed Pat the Lad, Babe shooed them into the RSL Italia Lift while ordering them to have a “couple
on her” in the upstairs bar for the next hour or so.
It had been a long flight for Biggles, who was without a co-pilot on this trip. Algy and the other chums
had preferred staying in at their London digs in Mount Street, now that “Downton Abbey” was being re
-run on BBC2. And of course, Babe’s long-time beau and handbag, Ace Granite was still recuperating
in a London rehab centre after his recent nasty and telling prang in a Tiger Moth. ”I wonder if they
serve Horlicks in the bar?” mused Biggles, as the Editor ordered a stiff Real Coke on the rocks.
Entering the SANGS establishment via the intimate club library door Babe came face to face with the
object of her article – one Patrick Brown. Before she had even a chance to sign in, he was regaling
her with his latest acquisition from Model Train Stuff in the States. “He doesn’t know me from Adam
or Eve; I could be anyone” thought Babe, as the eager man continued his discourse about mail times
from the old US of A. Mind you, his rotating eyes had already taken in her trusty, but scant, red leather jump suit, Babe noticed.
Grabbing a second, Babe endorsed Arty O’Connell’s dreaded public service attendance book, and
then made a bee-line for Ian Bannon’s green monster [his personal chair], still the only decent one in
the place, noted Babe.
Turning slightly to joosh her hair, Babe was startled to find that the Patrick Man had already invaded
her personal space big time and was sitting up close and personal. He was thrusting a shiny plastic
thing at her, but “thank God” thought Babe, “it’s only a Kato box; I thought it was something more intimate!” “It’s the latest Kato 40th anniversary P42 loco” averred Patrick, “Do you want to hold it, Babe?”
he asked, with an odd look in his crafty eyes. At this juncture, Babe thought that he might not be solely referring to this latest Kato offering.
continued next page
DISPATCHER
Page 13
April 2012
Another Job for Babe – The Patrick Brown Interview continued
With the two old boys due down from the upstairs bar at any minute, Babe realised that she was
getting nowhere with this Bio interview. “However, I might get a few points down” she thought, so
getting out her trusty pink notebook and Schaefer pen [a personal gift from that legally blonde
Reese Ditherspoon girl she met while in the States] Babe crossed her knees and was about to
ask her first question when Patrick piped up “have a look at my coal train, Babe, it’s just come in
from Klein’s”.
“I’m still not getting anywhere with this infuriating bloke” mused Babe resignedly, “it looks like I’ll
have to come back another time to continue my in depth interview; this joker certainly knows how
to evade the issue”. [Right on, Babe: Ed]
“See ya again, Pat” said Babe, as a few minutes later a tired Biggles and the Editor guided her
out of the seaside venue. “Always happy to play trains with you, Babe” murmured Patrick, with a
glint in his eye. Score: Patrick 1; Babe 0
“Cripes” exclaimed Babe to the fellas as they lowered themselves into the
Corvette, “I need a reviver after that experience. We’re going up to Pirie
Street in the City to my favourite cake shop, the BTS Cafe, for a sugar hit”.
“Why’s it called the BTS?” enquired Biggles, who it must be said was also
in need of a reviver after failing in his bid for a Horlicks in the RSL bar.
“Don’t you blokes know anything? BTS stands for ‘Better than Sex’ – the
cup cakes are to die for!” retorted Babe, as she deftly evaded a menacing
Indian taxi entering the traffic on her right.
The Corvette sped on up the Old Port Road; the ageing male passengers privately looking forward to the BTS experience awaiting them in the City of Churches. It had been a long time for
both of them.
to be continued
An occasional series
featuring
“Canadian Pacific”
Railroad Movies
During the 1940s few epic railroad films were produced partly due to
World War II when trains were needed to move supplies and material
for the war effort.
In 1948, producer Nat Holt stepped in to fill the void with his first
independent film, Canadian Pacific. Holt chose to film on locaon in
the Canadian Rockies, in an area bordering Brish Columbia and Alberta at sites in Banff and Yoho Naonal Parks, such as Lake Louise,
Kicking Horse Pass, and the Yoho Valley, and the neighboring Indian
reserve at Morley. A vintage 1880s wood-burning locomove was procured from the Canadian government for the producon. Gladwin Hill, a Hollywood correspondent wring in the New York Times, noted that for pickup shots back in
Hollywood, a train from Nevada was used.
The Canadian Pacific railroad of the film’s tle was built between 1881 and 1885 to link Canada’s coasts. Set against this
historical background, filming began in August 1948 with a cast that included Randolph Sco0, Jane Wya0, and J. Carrol
Naish. Writer Hill called the film the first railroad epic since Union Pacific; the 1939 film that producer Holt admi0ed was
an influence. The film opened to generally favorable reviews in April 1949, most notably for its acon sequences. It was
jammed with acon—“fist, gun, horse, girl and Indian”—according to one reviewer.
Page 14
DISPATCHER April 2012
An emerging trend
at US Train Stations
A quick Google will show you that an emerging trend in “official” wedding and engagement photography in the United States is to use railroad stations as backdrops.
At no cost , I suppose, but probably you would have to use off-peak
times to get uncluttered shots.
1930’s built Union Stations seem to be the most popular, with the Los
Angeles one featuring regularly in photo shoots by professional photographers/companies. Certainly, the art deco interiors are quite splendid.
The photograph at left is a typical example; the shot below taken by
the Editor in 2011 shows the station interior looking behind the photographer.
The leather and oak lounge chairs are truly outstanding and were certainly designed for long distance travellers—waiting for the Coast Starlight departure was extremely comfortable.
An exterior Engagement shot
taken on one of the LA Union
Station platforms—a Metrolink
passenger set makes a good
backdrop.
At le: Thomas Graon shares his latest ideas on N Scale Modelling bases. Hills and bushes seem to abound.
It seems that body painng is popular in Germany as the picture
below indicates; it was taken by the Editor at Munich Staon in
June 2011. Apparently something to do with Harley-Davidson
motorcycles.
Page 15
DISPATCHER April 2012
Railroads have played a very important role in the development of
the United States of America, from the industrial revoluon in the
Northeast to the colonizaon of the West. Since their first appearance on the American landscape, railroads – and all the imagery they
conjure up – have featured prominently in works of popular art. Many
a pulp novel, manee movie, and
Broadway melodrama has used the
aura of the railroad to tell its tale. But
it was through music that railroads
really made their mark.
Mishel Prada and Stewart Cole get their first look
at the Austin skyline after arriving at the Amtrak
station on Monday, April 25, 2011. They are part
of the Railroad Revival Tour which includes several bands and their entourages. Cole is a musician with Mumford & Sons who took the opportunity of waiting to board a bus to play a banjo.
The Railroad Revival Tour glorifies this historical romance for an experience that reaches far beyond typical music tours and fesvals.
Our train, composed of vintage railcars from the 1940‘s, travels
across our great American landscape, stopping along the way for live
performances in unique locaons beside the train tracks.
A'er years of planning, the tour was finally launched in 2011, with a
lineup that included Mumford and Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnec Zeros and
Old Crow Medicine Show. Fi'een vintage railcars consisng of lounges, sleepers, dining cars and one converted boxcar filled with vintage instruments were pulled by two
modern Amtrak locomoves across the American Southwest.
The tour began with 8,000 people in the Port of Oakland overlooking the San Francisco Bay and traveled south to the shipyard city of San Pedro, CA. Downtown Tempe,
AZ followed with the tours largest audience of 12,000. The Iron Horse then snaked its
way across the painted landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico on Easter Sunday for
the ny Texas town of Marfa, where the number of people a$ending the show
(2,000) matched its number of residents.
The Iron Horse then made its way for America’s music capital, and the tour's
hometown, of Ausn, TX. For its grand finale, the tour crawled alongside the powerful Mississippi River, landing at the Railroad Revival Tour's final stop, New Orleans.
Along the way, a documentary was born under the direcon of Filmmaker Emme$
Malloy. A combinaon of 16mm and Super 8 film was blended with digital cameras
to capture the live concerts in each city and the moments shared in between stops.
The result was Big Easy Express, a revealing look at
the Railroad Revival Tour and the experience
shared by the arsts through the musical collaboraons that grew from the camaraderie of traveling by train.
In the film, Mumford's Ben Love$ sums the magical trip up by saying, "on the train, the music just
never seemed to stop". The film premiered at the
2012 SXSW Film Fesval.
Page 16
DISPATCHER April 2012
The Ever-present Modelling Friend
We all have an ever present friend, even the most solitaire modeller. He is the greatest
friend of all exhibition layout modellers. His name: Murphy.
Here are some experiences with him:
1. Measured flex rail, when cut, is always too short.
2. A model with add on parts, does not fit into its original box anymore, when all these
parts are fitted. This will only be discovered when the most difficult to fit part has come
loose and disappeared through the time barrier.
3. This add-on part, ordered as spare, costs more than the original wagon it belongs to. After the add-on
part has been ordered as spare, the original part turns up at the most unexpected place.
4. Is the ballast glue of the right consistency; is the ballast completely disturbed? Is the ballast finally in
its correct position again, has the glue dried out.
5. The more you worry about a part breaking during an exhibition, the higher the change this will occur.
6. Trains run off the track at spots that are inaccessible or very difficult to reach.
7. The more the rail alignment is tested the higher the change a train will run off.
8. Point motors don't work reliably after final alignment under the layout. After removing the motor it
runs flawlessly on the workbench.
9. When visitors arrive nothing functions anymore.
10. Breakdowns wait until the most embarassing moment.
11. The more the item costs, the greater the damage / breakdown.
12. The more expensive, the more "kaputt"
13. The most admired loco has the worst running performance.
14. When one has started to build, after a very, very long debate, a trackplan, comes a proposal with a
more elegant, more fitting plan. Already built layout parts are not suitable for use with this new proposal
Last Page
DISPATCHER April 2012
Free Advertising Billboards/Posters from the Good Old Days
Colourful & sometimes enlightening examples of commercial poster art;
this month we feature some old Continental stuff …..
Make some billboards with these little gems.
Print out on inexpensive matt photo paper, glue
to thin styrene sheet, add two strip legs at rear
and Bob’s your Uncle, they’re ready for your
layout or module.
President
Chris Finney
8449 4620
[email protected]
Secretary
Arthur O’Connell
8182 3114
[email protected]
Treasurer [Yardmaster]
Jim Love
8252 3970
[email protected]
LIFE MEMBERS
Ian Bannon
Peter Marshall [dec]
Graham Cocks
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Chris Finney
THE MONSTER QUIZ
Co-holders of SANGS’
annual “Smarty Pants”
Award
Perennial winner Greg
Milner & Ian Bannon
Track Man & AMRE Rep
Patrick Brown
0428 321 881 [email protected]
Library
Ted Heath
8522 6774
[email protected]
DCC Man
Hutch Hutchinson
8344 8271
[email protected]
Publicity & Webmaster
Andrew Young
0447 552 468
sangs.asn.au
The Procurer
Thomas Grafton
82352202
[email protected]
SANGS’ Can Man
John Toth SB&L
SANGS’ only Hungarian UP Fan
Hon. S.A. Member
George Johnstone
03 8338 8285 [email protected]
Club Guru Member No.1
Ian Bannon
8356 6750
[email protected]
SANGS’ clubrooms are on the ground floor of the Semaphore RSL building
Open: Tuesday evenings [approx 5.30-8pm] and Saturday afternoons [approx 11.30-5pm]
SANGS
Open Days: Held at holiday times; details are advised in Dispatcher, and by eMail beforehand
General Meetings: Start at 1.30pm on the first Saturday of the month [usually]
Postal Address: SANGS, PO Box 95, Semaphore SA 5019
Sayonara for this month