Taita Gorge Railway

8) Here's the switch I was talking about. Since I hand throw my points, I've located it near to the reverse loop on the main line. Simple rule, the toggle must lay in the same direction as the points... that way polarity is set for entry/exit, without causing a short.



Of course, a bit of weather protection is needed. This is the edge protector from a box of ceramic tiles. The near end simply slides down behind the switch bracket.



... and the day was finished off with a beer, of course.



;D ;D ;D
 
Very nice last pic, I have to admit! :)
 
Keep it up :o
 
Nice, that last one reminds me of some reptile sneaking off in to the undergrowth.
OK - I know :-\
 


Hard to believe, but today is the 15th birthday of the Taita Gorge Garden Railway.



..and to celebrate, the new storage road was brought into use. Here is the 'Official' train arriving. 8) 8)
 
;D Backshunt (new Passenger Car Yard, takes 3 cars... I've only got 2) installed off the end of the #3 storage road. Curves around 90° to run along the end wall. Wiring just completed, courtesy of some old stuff out of a '69 Chev Camaro (don't ask). All running sweet, and that, my friends, is the end of the Christmas break, back to work tomorrow.
 


Latest addition, the Harley Davidson man is in town, trying to make some sales. Also, a 'new' power pole... this was modified from one of the Bachmann 3 arm ones that my late dog had tried to eat for breakfast. The extraneous bits carved off easily with a craft knife. My trick for 'planting' poles, is to drive a bit of wood into the ground, to just below ground level, then drill a hole for the pole, insert said pole, then backfill around the base.
 
The Tinker said:
Cool truck our local Warehouse had a few as well, good price. Found a couple of variations.
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8) Funny that. Mine came from there, too. Yes, there were some variations, I picked out the oldest. Came with a 1958 bike (that's gone onto one of my Gn15 layouts).
 
Gavin Sowry said:


Latest addition, the Harley Davidson man is in town, trying to make some sales. Also, a 'new' power pole... this was modified from one of the Bachmann 3 arm ones that my late dog had tried to eat for breakfast. The extraneous bits carved off easily with a craft knife. My trick for 'planting' poles, is to drive a bit of wood into the ground, to just below ground level, then drill a hole for the pole, insert said pole, then backfill around the base.
Click to expand...


How do you like your Bachmann rail truck? I am contemplating one.
 
Madman said:
How do you like your Bachmann rail truck? I am contemplating one.
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;) Love it, now. There is a known fault with (some) of these... the screws that hold the gearbox cover go into a blind hole, and are too long, thus allowing the gears to get out of mesh, with potentially fatal results. Fortunately, there is a fix... just swap those screws with the ones that come with the spare pilot/snowplow, and the cover sits tight, and all works well. That said, I probably would never have bought it at list price (already knowing the fault), but the closeout special at Trainworld was too good to pass up. On a warm summer's evening, last night, I ran the truck in the twilight, ticking over nicely, lights ablazing. Another thing, the driveshaft is, believe it or not, actually a driveshft, and is pretty delicate, so never try to push the truck along the track if it stalls, you could snap the shaft.
 
Trainworld still have it on special for 80 or 90 $.
 
I simply ordered a Davenport at $100 to go with it. Postage is the same and it is still under the magic $400, so no taxes and fees. 8)

My Kamel by itself, however, was just over the line... :-X
 
Beddhist said:
I simply ordered a Davenport at $100 to go with it. Postage is the same and it is still under the magic $400, so no taxes and fees. 8)

My Kamel by itself, however, was just over the line... :-X
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:-\ An explaination to those non New Zealanders on this forum (there are a few, I'm led to believe). Here, we have GST (at a rate of 15%), something similar to your dreaded VAT. That gets charged on all purchases, including the cost of postage. We also have import duty on some items. Models pay, toys don't. Now, our boys in the Customs game have figured that it costs more to assess and collect duty and GST on 'small' purchases, so have decreed that anything of less than $NZ400.00 is not worth chasing up... hence the exemption. BUT, a $401.00 import will attract the fully duty, plus GST, plus a 'processing fee'. The exemption is also somewhat discretionary. Try getting a large purchase broken down into say 3 purchases, and having them all sent at once (and amazingly all arriving at Customs together) will attract the attention, and wrath, of officialdom, and your wallet will be instantly lighter (if you want your red box).
 
Interesting Gavin. Coming in to the UK VAT is payable at 20% but Duty is not charged on models but is on toys - the reverse of your system. We also have a discretionary allowance without fees.Not sure how much it is and I guess its deliberately arbitrary.
 
Actually, the official threshold is $60 payable. This is 15% of 400$, but if the item is a model and attracts duty (to protect another non-existent industry?), then it will be less than 400.

My Kamel was classed as 'hobby parts' and 0 duty.
 
Posted this in the Coffee Lounge, but, like real food etc. it only has a short shelf life. So duplicate post at the home of garden railroading (in Taita, at least).

 
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