Layout photos

Hi all,

Here are some photos of the layout so far.

This is the entrance to the yard, looking south towards Demondrille

Here is a view towards the station building; a "Workshop 5" ACS is at the "platform". 

Looking in the other direction.  A Stephen Johnson signal box (not quite right for the prototype, but hey) and an Ian Lindsay A4 station building.  Again, not prototypical for Kingsvale (which was a modification of the A4) but it will convey the right impression.  There are three roads in the station precinct; the main on the left, loop and loading bank loop on the right.

As you can see from the previous photo, this is my first attempt at a backscene.  It's painted on a flat piece of primed 3mm ply; there are a few imperfections in the surface I should have repaired after priming.  I'm quite pleased with this first effort, though there are some aspects which are clearly not right and I will try and correct these before starting a new one from scratch.  Too many mountains for this part of the world.   I couldn't get a recent photo of this scene because a number of trees have grown along the Kingsvale Rd boundary obscuring the horizon.



Here is my #6 scratchbuilt point so far.  This is code 55 rail, though I built the main line (at the top of the photo) in code 70.

I hope that gives you some idea of my progress.  The next two tasks (about which I'm procrastinating again) are finishing the detailing of the rails, painting and laying onto sleepers; and fixing the platform in place and completing the platform face.

That's all for now. 

James.







10 followers!

Hi all,
Thanks to the ten of you who felt it worth the while to "follow" my blog.  The pressure is mounting to make it worth your while.

I am holidays this week, and while this has meant no work on the layout, I have had some time to explore the closed north coast branch between Lismore and Mullumbimby, as well as an excursion to Kyogle and Border Loop.

It has been great to explore this picturesque line, but depressing that, despite what must have been a huge effort to build it over 100 years ago, it now lies in ruins.  I can understand the economic arguments, but I still can't see the sense in that.  Maybe there is no sense; perhaps it's just the march of humanity and our bondage to decay, but it does seem a pity.

It's worth exploring the back roads to Booyong and Nashua, as well as St Helena.  It's only seven years since the last train and most of the track and bridges look in reasonable nick, but already there are trees popping up in some areas and being an area of high rainfall, it won't be long before the whole right-of-way looks pretty much like it did before the line was surveyed.

Certainly plenty of modelling prospects for this line, and an opportunity to go wild with the scenery to capture the look of that lush north coast vegetation.

A bit about Kingsvale

Kingsvale had a small yard comprising a main line, adjacent to the platform, a crossing loop and a goods siding.  The railway infrastructure, in the period of interest (circa 1953), consisted of a timber station building (a variation of the A3 1909 design) and a signal box.  A gents lavatory was at the northern end of the platform, and further north, a fettlers shed.  A pitched-roof out-of room was added on the southern end of the platform later, as was a grain shed on the eastern side of the line.

Kingsvale, the layout, is currently only a single module 2.4m long x 0.6m wide.  This depicts approximately half of the station precinct, from the northern points to half-way along the platform.  An adjoining module will complete the station area.  However, my style is usually to be overly ambitious in the planning and overly procrastinatory in the execution.  So I wanted to limit the plan and see it through.
I'm using code 70 rail for the main line and code 55 for the sidings.  It will be DCC operated (NCE) and portable, though I'm not planning to move it far.  If I surprise myself and finish this, I will complete a loop and a fiddle yard to operate the station prototypically.
The current state is this:
The rail has been laid with PCB ties used to maintain the gauge and the 6-foot.  Points have been built, with the exception of the switch-blades.  Platform is under construction, and the station building (from a kit - can't remember whose) and the signal box (SJM) have been painted in the stone scheme.  I've laid cork road bed and the next step is to detail the rail, paint and glue down to the sleepers.  These have been stained with dilute grey raven oil.  A very effective weathered silvery/grey finish results.

More to report soon.

James.

Market forces...

Not much to do with Kingsvale/Demondrille, but I had to share this recent experience...

I'm putting together a set of R cars I had sitting in my incomplete/unstarted kit box (when I get beyong the easy bit of filing, gluing, filling and sanding, I'll post some photos).  It got me thinking about the Stephen Johnson L car models, one of which was beautifully assembed and painted by Andrew Hayne in Branchline Modeller #1.  When they were available, I could never afford one, being a poor student. 

Even though Ian Lindsay still flogs the R cars, which are SJM patterns, Ian Storrie does not sell L cars, nor does he have access to the patterns.

Well, I found some L cars up for sale on EBay.  What luck.  I know how to play EBay and thought I was in with a good chance of at least one of the models up for sale.  I set a limit of about $90, which is exorbitant for 6 bits of plastic and a few bits of wire, but I was prepared to stretch to this for the opportunity to own one of these ugly, but strangely appealing carriages.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I won none of them, and an SJM ACM sold for $153!  Does Stephen Ottaway know what he could be charging if he made a few more?!? 

On reflection, maybe he was the one selling them!

So no L cars for me, for now.

I'll save my cash and get back to those R cars...

Brick-faced Platform

With my rails pretty much soldered into an assembly (without detailing or completing the point-work to an operational stage) I wanted to start work on the platform.

 

The platform is only about 100 yards long and brick faced.  The brickwork is distinctive and I want to make sure that I create a realistic effect.  Despite the fact that a platforms is such a basic structure in the railway landscape, there doesn't seem to be much source material for brick platforms in the model railway press.  Branchline Modeller did some good work on timber and concrete-faced platforms, but nothing on brick as I recall.  So I have studied the Wild Swan book on modelling buildings and looked about for decent english bond brick sheets.  There are a few choices here:

• printed paper sheets - seem too red and cannot be painted over
• embossed styrene or plastruct sheets
• etched brass sheets

I favour the brass sheets, and Keiran Ryan's product looks very nice.  The only problem is that the platform is capped, which will be difficult to do using the brass alone.  So I might need a combination of brass and styrene.

More on this later...

A new frontier

This is my first ever blog post.  I realise now that this is where it's at as far as recording modelling progress and sharing techniques and know-how, so I've joined the fraternity.
This is a short post, just to get started, but I hope to have some photos of what I'm working on in the near future.

I have always wanted to model Demondrille, 391.6 km from Sydney on the Main South.  This location is unique on the NSW railway system firstly because it was a locomotive servicing point on the main line and secondly, because it was not a terminus or locomotive depot.  Walking around the remains of the coal bunker almost twenty years ago, I was captivated by the extent of these facilities, despite the fact that it was not far from the large rail centres of Harden and Cootamundra, and yet in the middle of nowhere.

I have made some moves towards fulfilling this ambition; the train room now exists (though it also fulfils a few other functions; storage for example) and I have a half built coal bunker.  But Demondrille is a large and complex facility and my procrastination and pursuit of perfection combined with the usual lack of time means I might never have an operating layout.

So, to break this conundrum and just build something, I decided to create a smaller layout (consisting initially of one or two modules) based on Kingsvale, which is the first station along the line from Demondrille on the cross-country branch to Cowra and Blayney.  I was very fortunate to discover that in Ken Ames book "From Grease to Gold Braid" there is an entire chapter on his time at Kingsvale in the early 60s, including a number of decent photos.  Great!

Kingsvale was a busy fruit-farming area (still is) and the railway facilities comprised a single line with a loop and goods siding, a modified A4 station building and a loading bank.  An easy place to start.

I was keen to try a Proto87 layout, but this is another aspect which actually retards my modelling; with so much stuff that is not to Proto87 standards and a desire to have an operating layout of some sort as quickly as possible, I decided Kingsvale should not be Proto87.  I will aim to make it to as high a standard as I am capable of without going as far as Proto87 just yet.

If you have any photos of Kingsvale (or Demondrille) pre 1992 (the first time I visited the area) and are willing to share them, I would love to hear from you!