The End of the Beginning.......

Just a quick update on what's happening with my layout.

For those who came in late you should know that my Vietnam Railways layout in N Scale "Ga Hong Ha" recently suffered the indignity of being moved from the garage to another room. This means that currently it is still in pieces.

It looks like I will have to rebuild the centre section to fit into the smaller space. This changes the layout into 3 sections, the 2 ends and a new modified centre section. The layout then becomes a 'dogbone' style layout.

At the moment I'm designing the new centre section, as well as seeing how much I can salvage from the old sections. When there is something to see I'll post some pikkies. It now seems that there is a lot more work to the move to another room than I had originally planned but the rain outside is keeping me indoors so I have some motivation to 'get cracking'.

In the meantime here are a couple more photos from the Vietnamese modeller who I have featured before (I still don't know his name). 

I'm jealous! These are nicely built models. They appear to be in N Scale so that's two of us modelling in N. Not sure whether the models are 1:160 or 1:150 but very nice anyway.

This sort of modelling encourages us all to 'have a go' I think.

Until next time.....

The Beginning of the End......?

These are the last photos of Ga Hong Ha in it's present form. In the next couple of days it will be taken apart and moved to it's new home (just up the hall and around the corner). How long it will be before it's in its new format is any ones guess, but it is a hobby, so the rebuild has to fit in with all the other tasks I have to perform, like work etc...

Above: Probably the most complete part of the layout. Still not totally happy with the colour of the river.

 Above: Looking down on the river area from a great height.

Above: Part of the cityscape, including the scratchbuilt level crossing gates.

Above: Another part of the layout starting to look almost 'finished' (if a layout ever is finished!) That's my scratchbuilt XT brakevan in the background and my pretend G covered van on the adjacent track.

Above: This is the other end with an attempt at rice paddies.

Above: This is the three track 'fiddle yard' at the back. Unfortunately the new version probably won't have enough space for an equivalent.

Above: The new station building in place with my card D19E hiding behind some container wagons.

Above: A long shot of most of the layout. What a messy garage!

Above: The bridge and the pagoda behind up on the hill. The bridge courtesy of Mr. Kato.

Above: Another view of the 'city' with two foreign locomotives 'on shed'. 

Above: The engine shed. If you look very carefully you will see the start of a military monument in the background.

That's all I've got for this time, but one more photo. It's the card station I downloaded. Not finished but looks good already I think.

Hopefully I'll have some photos of the move in progress next time.

Changes........

Ga Hong Ha is moving!

As part of some changes in my home, the layout is moving to another room.We've decided that it's better to put the car in the garage rather than leave it outside. This means that the layout is changing from a long thin layout with a fiddle yard located in the garage, to an L shaped layout with all of the trackwork on show.

This could take a little time, so I will take as many photos of the layout as it is now, before some parts of it disappear and are replaced with slightly different ones. I'll put up some of the photos in the next blog.

I don't plan to change the basic layout design but there will have to be changes because of the shape of the space I will have available. In particular because the layout will be up against walls I will not have a fiddle yard like the current version.

In the meantime I've finished the basic station building (see previous blog) and now need to add Vietnam specific details. I also need to think about a design for a goods/freight shed.  I think the one at Thap Cham will suit my purposes. Just need to draw a plan before I scratchbuild.

On with the move......

Stations......

I've been undecided as to what the main station at 'Ga Hong Ha' will look like for some time. I've tried using the model of Dalat I picked up in Saigon last year but we all know it's Dalat and it's to a smaller scale so looks a bit odd. Then I thought I'd scratchbuild a modified model of Thap Cham or perhaps Hue? Again, a bit odd, as we all know what Thap Cham looks like and we all know what Hue looks like.

So I was surfing around the net a couple of weeks ago and I came across a card model of an old French station to download for free. It's in N Scale would you believe. Then I thought. Hmm. Some of the older Vietnam stations looked very much like French ones since they were in fact designed by the French. Then I had a quick look at some photos of old VN stations. Amazing. Very French indeed.

This is the completed French model as depicted on the website:

I'm currently building it and adding Vietnamese modifications. I'll post a photo of the completed model in the next post.

The main changes will be to add the larger extension on the other end as well and to add a station name sign as seen on Hue station. I'll probably leave the chimney's off too.

This is an early version of the station sign. Some of the spelling needs to be corrected.

Next time I'll have some more photos of the layout and hopefully a photo of the completed station in place.


See you next time....

Yes, we have no bananas....

A  new post seems to becoming an annual event!

I apologize for being so slack. But you'd be surprised how much I have done since the last post. The basic layout is all but complete with all track laid including a completed 3 road fiddle yard, lots of scenery in place and the ability to actually run trains.

I've almost completed my XT brake van:

Only the lettering and a bit of weathering to do. I still have the problem of not having the correct bogies but I do plan to try to create 'look alike' ones even if they are not perfect.

Locomotives are still an issue, but after a couple of aborted attempts to 'kitbash' models, I feel that it would actually be simpler to scratchbuild them, so that's what I intend to do. There is an Australian N scale model of an Alco based diesel electric made by Gopher Models which is almost perfect as a chassis.

There was an article in an edition of the British model railway magazine "Continental Modeller" of a modeller building Indian locomotives, one being a YDM4 (we know it as a D13E class). The modeller used a similar Australian HO scale model. So what's good enough for HO has got to be even better for N! It's not perfect but not bad. At least it's a reasonably quick way to get a locomotive up and running. The N Scale model is available unpainted. I've ordered 2 (maybe for one red and one blue!)

I am also currently building a model of a G 50ft covered van (you know the green ones). Hopefully I will be able to make a rubber mould from the original and then make some copies.

A member of the Vietnam Railways Forum recently directed me to some very nice scratchbuilt N Scale models of DSVN freight cars.

I would like to tell you the name of the modeller but I don't know. I'm still trying to make contact with him. He has set a very high standard. It's great to see Vietnamese modellers tackling subjects from their own country.

And the bananas? I'm still looking for N scale banana trees for my layout.

A Long Time Between Drinks...

It's been a while since the last post. I've been doing other things, like going to Vietnam and getting married.

That doesn't mean I haven't done any modelling. Here's a quick run down of what I've been up to:

1. XT brake van is almost finished. Just needs painting.
2. Drawings for older 40 ft boxcar almost complete.
3. 'Pagoda' end of  the layout has most of the basic scenery completed including the river.
4. Some scenery work on the other end of the layout. Some simulated rice fields etc.
5. Some work on other parts of the layout including the fiddle yard.
6. All track layed and ballasted.
7. More work on the backscene.
8. Level crossing gates etc at Hong Ha City level crossing almost complete.

So there. Lots of things happening.
Photos next time.

Busy....Busy...Busy...

I've been working hard on my DSVN layout with almost all the track down and some scenery being attempted. Still a long way to go, but at least we're moving forward. I'm concentrating on the 'pagoda' end of the layout as far as scenery is concerned with tunnel, hills and river underway. The other end is still involved in tracklaying and ballasting so nothing much to see there.

My beautiful Vietnamese partner has been staying with me here in Sydney so she has been encouraging me to get some work done in between showing her around!

Here are a couple of photos to show what I mean.

 Above: 'City' area with loco depot and 'pretend' D9E locomotive (actually a Bachmann GE 70 tonner). The Vietnam flag is still upside down!

 Above: The 'pagoda' end showing work on the river and hills, with tunnel mouths in place.

 Above: Another view of the hilly end. The pagoda will go on the slightly flat section of the hills with stairs taking worshippers up to the buildings from the roadway along the river. Something like a pagoda I visited in Hue earlier this year.

 Above: Station area with temporary station building. My partner wants me to name it after her so it's going to be 'Ga Hong Ha', as is the rest of the 'city', so TP Hong Ha (Hong Ha City).

I still haven't got a proper operating locomotive (the D19E) is still the cardboard body, but I'm working on a 'near enough' D13E' modified from an Atlas RSD 4/5. It will probably be in the blue and white colour scheme.

Ok. That's your lot for today. Until next time when I should have at least one locomotive in operation, and be able to run a train completely around the layout (that's my plan anyway).