Know Your Loads & the 2015 Epping Seminar.

Yesterday (11April15), about 80 modellers attended the 2015 Epping Seminar hosted by the NSW division of SCMRA. This year's theme was "The Goods Train - The Guards Van Era". Another great day of modelling tips, prototype information, a hot lunch and catching up with mates, acquaintances, meeting strangers etc, for a yak. The Day's program included:

The Day of The Goods Train - John Parker.

Railway Timetables and Lines - Trevor Moore.

Shunting Signals - Dale Richards.

Pickup Goods and Trip Trains - Josh Beveridge.

Tarps - Have You Load Covered - Doug Blunden.

Weathering Wagons - Aaron Denning.

Goods Wagons and Loads - Trevor Moore.

Modelling Steel Wagon Loads - Garth Wiseman.

Know Your Load - Marcus Ammann and Geoff Small.

End of the Train - The Guards Van - Trevor Moore.

Included in the fare, is a DVD of all of the day's presentations, where some will find out what they missed.

I need Aaron to weather or give me private weathering session for my locos, especially the 46s like 4623 he had on show - it looked really "life like". Great job Aaron. Aaron will be demoing his weathering methods at the Brickpit Exhibition on the 2015 June Long Weekend. Photo courtesy of Aaron.

Unfortunately I will miss the Exhibition as I'll be in the Simpson Desert with my Son and 7 other 4 wheel drivers.

Recently (the last few years), I needed to get my "loads", prototypically  correct, initially due to my "banking" operations but I realized that ALL trains are controlled by the Ruling Grade for the section of track they are running on. In most cases, the steepest grade is the Ruling Grade, see your particular Gradient Diagram.

How much of a load that can be hauled is determined by the GRADE the train is to travel over and the type of loco or locos, hauling the train. To determine the LOAD of the train, we have to know:

• The applicable wagon's weight.
• Whether they are empty or full.
• The Grade of the track the train is running on.
• The type of loco.

For this "calculation" you'll need Gradient Diagrams, Working Time Table's Load Tables (example below) and some reference for the Wagon Weights.

For my "Wagon Weights", I use Ray Pilgrim's Train Load Calculator, that can be downloaded with Ray's permission from:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-yhMq1W_9eeUJNSXhLYmYxelE/edit

Ray's Bylong Blog has lots of "Train Load" information posted in January 2014, at:

http://bylong.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/further-information-on-train-loads-and.html

Shown below is a Load Table from the Northern Working Time Table (WTT) for Broadmeadow to Werris Creek section showing the maximum tonnage for each section for C32s, C36s and Standard Goods locos.

Using one of my "Main North" trains as an example, the 3613 hauled "through"Goods Train on the Broadmeadow to Werris Creek 156 mile section, the Ruling Grade in the 60s as explained by R. J. Booth's Murrurundi Article in Oct 81 Roundhouse is the 1 in 50 Murulla Bank restricting the Maximum Load to 385 Tons but 3613 will need assistance from Murrurundi up the 1 in 40 climb to Ardglen, as the limit is 255 tons.

Why the steeper 1 in 40 from Murrurundi to Ardglen is NOT the Ruling Grade, was due to that it was cheaper to operate 385 ton trains (C36) and assist the loco from Murrurundi up the climb to Ardglen, than to operate 255 ton trains over the whole section.

I made a video of the above 3613 hauled goods train being "banked" up to Ardglen.