- Orphan Valley Model Railway -

There was much activity and excitement on the Orphan Valley Railway this week with the arrival of the re-acquisitioned Estrella & Sonora Grande RR #23 Davenport and 6 ore wagons shipped over from the US.  Shay number 4 spent the week hauling the loco and wagons up to Orphan Valley heights to be then unloaded by the work crew. The crew quickly came to terms with the link and pin couplers. Here are shots of the unloading process. Click on the photos for a larger image. All the Edwards family are out to help with and view the unloading. Steady progress as the last ore wagon is prepared to be unloaded. W.R Edwards gives the OK to the davenport engineer Atkin, who has moved from the states to work with his favorite loco in the quarry. W.R. is slowly coming to terms with the deep, broad Arizona accent, and can't quite get over how broad his cowboy hat is. The other boys reckon it will be a great asset in the bright Aussie sun. The last wagon is off and the boy...

  Christmas does bring some surprises. Has been a while since last posting, but Christmas always brings some new surprises. Here are a few fun shots of a speedway outfit  that my brother prepared for me. These are 1:87 models displayed on my On30 module (hence some of the details are not to scale.) Tim also made the wheat truck. The speedway setup is reminiscent of speedwaying in the 60's and 70's, when stock cars were open and pretty basic. The character of those times and styles have been perfectly captured..thanks Tim!   Here we find the crew winding up out of the Orphan Valley on their way to a speedway meet, followed by the grader, also headed to the speedway track.  The farmer should just have enough time to get home, shower and return for the meet later on in the evening with his family.   A wrong turn over the railway line has meant a slight delay as they wait for a 44 class led freight to make its way across the valley heights.