Addition of more Scenery

 When my second package of scenery arrived from, "Modeller's Warehouse", I then had to find some time to place it on the layout. When I looked at it, on it's arrival, I thought it was more than I actually needed, but now that I have placed it all, I think I could do with more. It really fills the layout and removes the so called bare spots, which were just grass.

There are 3 types of trees shown above I have selected.

Grass Tuffs, I have about 200 to use up. 

I started placing the Grass Tuffs, and found it easier than I first thought. It was a matter of peeling off the Tuffs from the backing sheet, with the fingers, as many as you like, add some glue and place them on the layout. To cover a larger area, I just peeled off some more and add them to what's there. I think I will use up my 2 packs in no time. 

Cheers for now.

Maybe they were "Wrong Roaded".

In my last blog I mentioned about some new rolling stock. Well my wife not only has the flu, but has another virus with it. So the only solution was to have them mailed to me. The parcel arrived yesterday and I spent some time today setting them up.

C38 Class, 3827 on the Up Southern Highlands Express was running 

short on water and is in Campbelltown for a top up.

So why is the Southern Highlands topping up at Campbelltown, maybe it's because Moss Vale and Picton don't exist on this layout.

Secondly there is a C60 Class 6028 Garratt in the pictures below on an Up Coal Train and has stopped at Campbelltown to pick up some coal wagons being brought from Narellan, to go to Sydney.

Garratt waits arrival from Narellan.

Both these locos are from Eureka, with sound, and the Garratt is factory weathered. They were so well packed and on inspection they have never been out of their boxes. This was a one in a million opportunity, so I took it. The layout looks pretty full now and won't take any more as there no storage space left. 

Also today a parcel arrived from "Modeller's Warehouse" with scenery, and that's all I can do now. Still looking for my shunters.

So cheers until then.

Finally got there.

 This last couple of weeks I have finally finished the Diesel Storage Tower. Not having a steady hand didn't help, as there were a few small pieces involved, but I managed it ok in the end. Having small pieces meant that I had to glue one item and let it dry over night with some support before gluing the next piece. This went on for a week or more.

Diesel Tank Tower and filler pipe.

I have purchased some additional rolling stock for Camden, but it might be a few weeks before I can make the trek to Sydney to pick them up. Both the wife and I have been tested free of Covid, but my wife has a very bad dose of the flu, so will stay isolated until she over comes it.

Hopefully in my next blog I can show the additional rolling stock, but it won't blow you away.

Cheers for now.

It pays to advertise

 A few days after I posted my previous blog, I received two emails, one with a plan, and the other with a photo supporting the plan. (This plan and photo was, received with thanks), It shows the actual layout and piping for the fuel tank and the two refueling roads which was for the 620 Class Diesel Cars. The tank and stand apparently was from Cootamundra. The piping was of 2" diameter and had non return valves in the pipes and apparently no valve cocks. That's if I read the plan correctly, which means I don't have to go searching for valve cocks to put in the pipes.

So what was my next move, remove it and start again, naturally. This meant moving the Loco office and meal room out of the way. because that's where the piping goes. It looks pretty rough there at the moment, but I am waiting for glues to set (Epoxy) and then I can straighten it up and paint it. Thought I had better post this before I get more emails.

Cheers for now

Locked in for the day

What a better time to complete a project, seeing that I have been sleeping on it for some time now. Today we have an "Ironman Event" on here from Port Macquarie to the Camden Haven, so our only road out of here is closed to traffic.

I only have one picture showing this fuel tank, so I have done what I thought it would have been like, and my space between the tracks was another thing which restricted me in it's size. In the picture there appears to have been a "Fuel Bowser" at the bottom of the tower for refueling the Diesel Locos, and seeing I had one in my leftover box, I decided to use it. Detail in the photo is not clear at all, and some is out of view. Just adds a bit of detail to a bare module.

What I have left is, if I need to add some detail to the fuel pipes, and then paint  it before sealing it into position. 

That's the advantage of doing abandoned Branch Lines, not too many can say whether it's right or wrong, especially when they didn't know the line, and if it's not on a blog, that's better still. 

You will notice there are no trains on the layout. I have packed them away so that they don't collect dust, because I haven't run them for some time.

Early in the week I was asked if I would replace the couplings on two locos for a friend. My wife was waiting to go shopping and I said this would only take ten minutes, and we could drop them off on the way. Ten minutes turned into an hour, my hands just got the shakes, and I couldn't hold the Kdee's together when I tried refitting them to the locos, but I did it. "So much for getting old".

Cheers for now.

Another Project can RIP

Over the few wet weeks I decided to try and build the diesel fuel storage tank for Campbelltown Loco. Things didn't work out as I had anticipated. The stand which was going to be styrene ended up in brass wire. The tank is a water tank laid on it's side. Then I tried to do the hand rail around the platform, and this is where the frustration started. So I walked away from it all and what you see is where I'm up to.

Proposed Diesel storage tank

Another thought I had was to come off the Camden Branch Line just out of Campbelltown, rise up against the wall and run along the wall above the Camden Modules with Manangle above Narellan and on to Picton which would be above Camden. This would have allowed for the CPH and another small Branch Line train (possibly a 19 Class and a HCX or freight) to break the monotony. But again calculations squashed that idea, as the grade up to the Main Southern Line would be too steep. So at the moment I will just sleep on it.

Campbelltown Coal Stage.

Not something you would sing and dance on. Again, nothing available to say whether it was or it wasn't like it is. Just sayings, that it was there at some time.

I have in mind, that this layout appears best done with no particular time frame in mind, but to what information is available. For Instance, Campbelltown Yard, I have several track plans spaced over quite a few years, so I decided to use one that suited my operation the best. Even now as I get older, this layout is becoming complicated, but I seem to manage it ok. (Yet to try the X200 with the CCA car).

My Impression showing a bit of age

I have built the stage to represent the nearing of the end of steam. With the turntable gone and the line cut short. The steam loco can have a coal topup using the coal loading bank at the other end of the yard.

I'm still looking for figurines for shunters, any suggestions please !!

Another time waister, my Yass Layout

This is a slide presentation of my Yass Layout which was the first layout I built after moving from Sydney to the Mid North Coast. I had to forego finishing Yass as back problems prevented me from getting access to the rear of the layout. The turn around off Dutton Street to come back into Yass Town Yard, (which was in the centre of the room), was on open frame, so to fill the scenery I made it Twin (2 off) Ponds. The layout was operated by 4 controllers, Down Main, Up Main, Branch Line and Yard. They were all interchangable, so there was no stopping a train to go from one line to another. They were panel operated, or plug in for individual walk around, which was handy for the Branch Line.

This is a 19 minute presentation showing how far I got with the build.

I hope you enjoy this slide show/video of Yass.

 

Something to pass the time.

Recently, I came across an old video I made in my younger years regarding doing  scenery with foam. It has been on youtube for a long time but I could never find it. Now I have found it, it maybe of some help for modellers who want mountainous or deep cuttings in their scenery.

This video was made some 15 years ago, when I was building my Kamilaroi layout.

Hope you find it useful.

Cheers.

Items hard to get.

 No need to elaborate, because we are all probably in the same situation. I had an item on back order, with a store, since October 2021, and now have cancelled it  and got a refund because they cannot get the items from their supplier. This is not with just one store, but it puts a dampener on the modelling, because I just can't finish off, and things are at a stand still. My nearest paint supplier is 35+ kilometers away, so I had to wait until I had reason to go there, then get my paint. That was two days ago. Now it is raining, so not good weather for spray painting. 

I have read in the February 2022 issue of AMRM, an Item by John Casey about modelling the Camden Line. A very interesting article and some more information I didn't know about.

A yard full of trains going nowhere.

Probably One thing I may have failed to mention in the beginning of these blogs is why I built Camden on the straight and not at a 80° angle to the bridge section like it was at Camden. The reason is because if it was at an angle it would be across the room at the doorway, and it would be a duck under or climb over to get into the room. Camden module could not be a lift out section. It is 2.4 meters long and 700mm wide. So a little compromise was needed. 

Camden Modules

So there is not much more I can add until things start to get back to normal.

Stay safe, cheers for now.

A chilly place to work

This week I finally finished Dairy Farmers and Loco Office. Now the freezer plant may not be exact, but it will stop the milk from "going off". It is similar to the one for the freezing plant at Boggabri, and it was a simliar size building. So, if it worked there, it should work for Dairy Farmers. I can only assume what was in place there, and a paling fence would be an obvious choice around the back. I may find some scenery somewhere to add around this area, but it will take time.

Dairy Farmers Milk Depot

Loco Office

One other thing I discovered I need at Campbelltown, is a coal stage. My thoughts on this, is to make it from timber, in a bad state of repair. This could be as a half there and half rotted away. It would be aged towards the end of the steam era. It would also be a manual loading type. An interesting structure to try and build !! 

This will be my last blog for 2021, as I'm off for a time away, so please have a happy Christmas and hope 2022 is a much kinder year to you all.

Cheers.

Back to Campbelltown

 It has been a few weeks now since I completed a brief description of my Camden Layout. In these few weeks I can say I have not been sitting on my backside, "although I have", because I have constructed both the Dairy Farmer's building and the Loco Foreman's Office / Employee's meal room, for Campbelltown.

Loco Forman's Office and Employee's meal room.

Dairy Farmers Factory.

I have done numerious searches for photos of either of these buildings, and all I have found is one of Dairy Farmers. I have made the cooling tower for this factory and again all I have is the picture of a cooling unit for a Freezer works I built for "Kamilaroy". Well so be it. If you have something more, please let me know, so  that I can make the change. I'm sure Dairy Farmers will operate with what has.  All I have to do now, is scenic around the buildings and employ some shunters. 

Camden Arrival

 This is episode nine and we finally arrive at Camden. "The end of the Line". It has been a slow haul, but I hope it has been well explained. Camden Rail Line had many different motive power units during it's life time. 

When the train left the Nepean River, it travelled along the side of Aygle Street, with a slight incline past Dairy Farmers, crossed Edward Street, then curved right into Camden Station. In Camden Yard there was a loading bank for the loading of coal into 'S' & 'K' trucks, before the construction of the Narellan Coal Loader which was able to load Bogie wagons. This loading bank was opposite the station. The Goods Shed was for my memory, a one of it's kind, because it had an awning over the rail line so that wagons could be unloaded when the weather was wet. I suppose it was an "Open Air" instead of a enclosed drive through.

Dairy Farmers Milk

Camden Module

Goods Shed

Loading Bank and Camden Station

Yard Crane

The tracks in front of the loading bank are for the heavy freight and coal.

Camden was a fair size town, coming up Aygle Street from the bridge there was a street stall, two service stations, one being demolished, the other became a tyre retailer, also Clintons Holden Dealership. 

Roadside stall and Caltex Service Station

Servo which became a tyre retailer

Clintons Holden Dealership

Although at the time of writing this blog I am in the process of building some more structures for Campbelltown. I have just come across a sample of what they may have looked like, so I will go back in the future and cover what I have skipped.

Cheers and thanks for your support and interest in my blog.

Nepean River Crossing

 Leaving Elderslie the train negotiates a large sweeping right hand curve to cross the Nepean River. This river starts in the Southern Highlands passes through Menangle, Camden, Penrith and ends up at Yarramundi, where it becomes the Hawkesbury River all the way to the Ocean at Palm Beach. I have seen a movie taken using a drone. The drone was flown from the bridge, up stream for about a Kilometer then back to the Bridge, then down stream to a weir and back to the Bridge. This gave me a birds eye view of what the area may have been like along both sides of the river banks.

Nepean Bridge after a flood in the 1960's

Photo obtained from the Internet.

Photographer unknown.

There is not much I can say about this section, other than the pylons supporting the railway line, have now been used to widen the roadway across the bridge. If I think of something I can always add it in later.

One thing I must add before I start getting questions about it's progress, is that the "N" gauge layout has been sold.

Elderslie

After making a stop at Narellan, the train travels along fairly level ground to Elderslie and only stops if required, other wise it continues on to cross the Nepean River before reaching Camden.

Elderslie Station

Elderslie Station

A mixed heading for Campbelltown

As seen in the third photo, the road still follows Narellan Road to camden. I have experimented with different type grasses around the layout, as I wanted the scenery to appear more like the real thing, rather than artificial.

A sample of some of the grasses I have been trying.

Once I reach Camden, I will go back and fill in some non important items I have not mentioned.