Brief Progress Report

A solitary CW has been left in the stock siding

Have taken a break from the railway for quite a few weeks to finish off a major landscaping project in the yard. One of my other interests is bird photography and I have spent some time around our local wetlands photographing lots of nesting birds and their new offspring.

There are many unfinished projects around the Camden yard and am slowly finishing these off. The stockyards presented another challenge, Camden had a very small stockyard, opposite the cattle sale yards in Edward Street. There appears to be little in way of photographic references with the exception of a couple of shots from the Weston Langford collection that shows some very dilapidated cattle races on a small platform. It is difficult to tell if there were elevated races for sheep or pigs. 

The Macarthur district was famous for its sheep and I would be surprised if there wasn't an elevated race at some point. I also recollect a photo of 20 class mixed with a GSV in the consist which might support this. Appreciate any feedback from fellow modellers who may have some insight into the stockyards.

For now I have built a cattle race based on the Greg Edwards Data sheet. This will be blended into the layout and additional fencing installed. The length of loading platform was scaled from a State Rail archives (not sure what they are called now) drawing dated 1936 and again the platform length suggests there may have been additional loading races. The fencing around the yard will allow the addition of an elevated stock race if further information comes to hand.

Cheers for now