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| The view of the goods shed from Clintons Holden dealership, the SM's house can be seen on the left. |
Back on Track.
2020 what a start to the year, I trust fellow modellers are in good health and spirits. After a long break from building the layout things are starting to move again and reasonably quickly. The plan is to build as much of the remaining bench work as possible, get the track down, wiring sorted and trains running. Bunnings has been the source of all my layout timber and our nearest store is 150km away a bit of a problem in the current era of essential travel only.
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The Narellan module under construction and testing its position in relation to the rest of the layout
before installing the legs. The curve at the end will bring the line back parallel to the Narellan yard.
The shape of this module was to allow maximum track length in the yard, construction of the
complete coal loader and sufficient aisle space between this and the Camden terminus.
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As mentioned in previous blogs a number of changes have had to made on the fly to the layout design so its fits in the available space. Space utilisation is not overly efficient due to wanting to model some key features in full (milk factory, coal loader and the curve into Camden station). A major compromise is the up side of Narellan, on the prototype the track swings south or to the right towards Mt Annan, Kenny Hill etc, on my model the track now loops to the left. The curve is 30 inch radius and runs through about 200 degrees then goes into a gradual S past Kenny Hill and into the fiddle yard. It is also on a 1 in 60 gradient.
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| The intermediate module between the bridge and the milk factory. While coal was shipped from Camden prior to construction of the Narellan coal loader, these trains would not have been pulled by 41 class locos. |
An intermediate module has been installed between the bridge and the milk factory with a slight curve that has allowed the terminus module to sit parallel to an end wall and the run from the milk factory over the river to Elderslie parallel to the long wall. The original terminus module is having some minor re-profiling over the transition area mainly the roadway.
Construction of the the Elderslie module is underway with Kirkham to follow once the Narellan module is on its legs and in its final position. This will determine the overall size of the Kirkham module. Its all a bit of juggle to maintain some aisle space around the curve out of Narellan.
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| Partially constructed Elderslie module |
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| Excuse all the clutter general view of the train room showing the location of the curved module out of Narellan. |
The plan now is to keep going with all the bench and track work, then come back completing structures scenery, backdrops and detail.
Post the fires and drought my wife and I have built vegetable gardens and got the property back in good order so I now have a lot more time to hopefully put into the layout. A low profile model of the Station Masters house has been added to the backdrop.
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| The Sms house behind the goods shed. The building behind the SMs house was originally the Bank of NSW. It still stands today. |
Stay safe and well this is a great time to be modelling.
