SSC- Updated Trackplan

I'm uploading a copy of the 'revised' trackplan to this Blog. I owe Gary Laker a huge 'thank you' for the assistance he's been in helping me 'signal' my layout. The background knowledge he has shared really helped the plan come together well. The plan has had a couple of changes due to space restrictions and wanting to have a more prototypical basis behind the design.

SSC is located in a ficticious location in country NSW, a through station on a short branchline. The facilities are few and the standard of tracklaying and infrastructure can best be described as 'Pioneer'.

The signalling is basic, with two home signals controlling the access to the yard area. These being controlled from the station platform, at the mercy of the elements. The two associated points are operated from ground frames be side the signals. The other two points are operated from two lever frames on the loop side of the layout.

The changes to the layout were the relocation of the cattle/sheep siding to the opposite end of the yard, thus allowing a longer siding to accomodate a longer string of wagons. The goods facilities are now the other end of the yard which works quite ok. The biggest change was the complete removal of loco facilities. Firstly this is a through station, so really there was no prototypical reason to have one here, and two I think I was just trying to squeeze too much into a yard that was not 'big' enough, whether in train workings or actual space on the layout.

As always I welcome your responses to this post, and I can now move forward in some preplanning of materials for the pointwork, groundframes and such.

Oh ! One last thing I had a few hours free the other day and was able to construct a revised baseboard for the layout. The others had just too much flexibility, this one is much stronger. The risers are attached as is the base for the trackwork, finally it seems to be moving forward, Good-o!

Another Branch on the Modellers Tree

Ok it's late and cold, too cold to venture out to the train room, so it's time to write a few lines on the blog. As the title suggests, we railway modellers have so many subjects to cover we can really spend alot of our free time spinning from one subject to another. Loco construction, kit building, scratchbuilding, research, baseboard construction, planning, you know how the list grows constantly.

Today I was able to spend some time at the Strathpine show. I had plenty of time and room to get around to the layouts and visit the model stores. As always I did pick up a couple of things. I spent a fair while at the Modratech stand, and after some informative info exchanges I emerged with one of Harolds' starter frames.

So here's the point of this post, now I have the frame which will be used in one of the yards of 'Splitters Swamp Creek'. I now have to formalise the signalling of this yard. I've spoken to some friends about how I could go about it, and have received some great input. Now my head is going down the road of 'what do I have to learn/research to achieve a realistic result on the layout?'

I will be constructing my own signals and associated point rodding, so the plan needs to be'right' so that I do things only once.

I'm going to reload the plan with this article, and I really would like some feedback. The yard with the station is the first part of the layout to be under signal control. What and how would you signal this plan, and how do I know when I have it right?

So here's the plan, thanks to all who drop in a reply, Geoff.

1895 BRC Wagon

On the workbench at the moment, apart from all the clutter, is the makings of a 1895 BRC wagon. I started this one the other day whilst waiting for a part to arrive for the Z13 I'm working on. So rather than wait patiently, or work on another previously started project, I began this new one.

The basis for this model is a very nice Greg Edwards drawing, just beaut! The bogies are Steam Era with rp25/88 wheelsets. I decided to go with styrene for this model because of the work involved with the underframe.

I built a basic jig for the underframe so that I could build more than one easily. The jig itself took longer to construct than did using it for the first underframe. The underframe does have timber queenposts and I've still got all the rodding and wire torson bars to add.

The sides of the wagon are planked, so off I went to find some scribbed siding close enough for the job. It's not far from being an exact match, and really I don't think many will check. So far it's been ok to construct, doors and roof to go, also the hatches as well.

Even though it's well from finished I thought it worth posting an update, any suggestions as always are welcomed!