Update 12th February 2013 Let's carry on a bit. I stopped updating the 9th log so thought I'd go in another direction. And that is Google mapping. I have my memories and the photos you have seen on the web already. Not enugh info there is there to truly start planning. Those track layout were written/drawn at least 10 years ago - still from memory and some sketches I had. 
But as most know we have the internet now nd Google Maps. Avery useful tool to see from above, and use
scaling to get rough dimensions. Very useful for a railway over 5000+ km away from Home !
With al the detailed shots one can nerge them into a bigger graphic file.But it depends on the computer
you use, my case the old girl complains a lot - so I'll do onl secions. Then print/plot them out for paper study.
So I called up weipa found it, and to my delight the entire line was very good resolution - it hasn't been years ago. First thing was to take about 140 screenshots of the entire line. This included the wharf, with a cargo ship there, the entire line. Also decided to do the same thing to the airport. For I'm thinking of changing the worls and "moving the airport almost or onto thebaseoard - just compress the distance between the Railway and the airport. Back to it, with all these shots now taken I then decided to take more for other purposes. Some say medium one to stich together etc. And for other needs. Like that 1km bridge ! And what curve does the line go through at the end of Lorim Point. Also how long is the trains. For you can see the train. And the three active rakes. Counted them, 32 wagons each. Spied some spares, one at the workshop, and several sidelined in the dirt, wonder if they are stored, damaged ? So Google Maps has helped me determine a lot of information, the length of a set, curves, buildins basic dimensions. But for street view I lucked out, they only did the main township. Actually I found they did the road to Lorim point so have the dock spur now captured at the "crossing". This all will go into a spreadsheet to scale down. At the moment a Weipa train in "Z" is about 2M long ! 1km seems to be 4.5m in Z. The cargo boat is about 50M real and scale 22cm - not that the boat has to be exact. That has sent me into the world of ship models. Looking for a cargo ship, has a crane, not too big, these are usually domestic types sailing within Australian coastal waters. I also considered compressing the sea and have a ore ship passing by..... 
|
||
Page written & maintained by David Head.david@nmit.vic.edu.au