The Caulfield exhibition - next instalment

Following on from last evening's blog post, I want to showcase a couple of overseas prototype layouts on display at the Caulfield exhibition last weekend. You will notice that I have not covered all the foreign prototype layouts - for example, Oakham (UK), Birkenstadt (German), Schoenblick (German) and the On30 scale timber railway Ashbyrne. I must also add that there was another Victorian prototype layout, Benalta, on display but the lighting was not conducive for taking pictures.

Of the foreign prototype layouts, I really liked Yardwork based on the prototype Wisconsin Central of the USA. Yardwork portrays a locomotive depot and yard lead tracks. There are a couple of industrial spurs for shunting purposes. The layout diagram on the control panel in the first photo shows the track configuration. Layout operation is by Digitrax DCC.


Yardwork is three metres in length with two short end extensions capable of housing a loco "offstage". When at home, the layout sits in a bedroom and therefore demonstrates that it is indeed possible to have an operating model railway in the house. The next image shows the right-hand side of the layout and the extension piece that takes a loco "offstage".


The next photo shows the full length of the layout looking down the yard from the right hand end. You can see the loco depot in the foreground and the lead yards further back. Industrial spurs for shunting are on the right.



A good selection of Wisconsin Central motive power was on display, including this model of an EMD-built SD35 (No. 2500) by the sanding tower.


Another nice layout, but in N scale, was the Thompson River Canyon layout. This layout was based on the Canadian prototype. The layout displayed some excellent mountain scenery, including steep rocky terrain, snow sheds, and a number of bridges. The image below shows a Canadian Pacific train led by a Sd90/43mac loco (a Kato model I think) crossing one of these mountain bridges.



Phoenix Electric is a HO scale traction layout based on the Pacific Electric Railway of Los Angeles, California. The layout is the work of the Ballarat & District Model Railway Club. The layout featured an urban environment, something that is good to see given the number of rural-based settings most exhibition layouts portray. The street scenes, buildings, and industrial areas certainly portrayed the urban environment nicely. The layout put to good use plenty of the Walthers building kits to give the layout a strong urban feel. The photo below shows passengers about to board one of the red trolley buses for their morning commute to work. The layout control system used DCC from NCE.



The next layout I want to highlight from last weekend is the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (UK) prototype-based layout, Midsomer Norton. This layout is 4mm scale using 00 gauge track. The layout is set around 1950 and had a good period feel to it with a very well modelled station and yard area. The layout was built in the shape of a pentagon which is an unusual but effective method of layout display. A person could literally walk all around the layout looking at different scenes. The image below shows S&DJR 7F 2-8-0 No.53804 at the head of a coal train - note the lanterns and the three link couplings.



No doubt you can guess that I was most impressed by Yardwork. This layout exemplified to me what can be achieved within a relatively small amount of space and inside the home environment. Building and finishing a layout of this size is quite achievable and certainly allows for good detail and interesting operation using DCC and sound.

I must say that my plans for a US-prototype layout based on the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DME) had it's preliminary thinking along similar lines to the Yardwork layout, albeit I still favour a traverser at each end rather than just an extended length of track for "offstage". My thinking on my planned US prototype layout is chronicled in my other model railway blog, DME Down Under.

The third instalment on the Caulfield exhibition in Armchair Modeller Down Under will feature some general comments and some more photos from the exhibition. Keep watching...

Winmar - first photos

To illustrate some of the points mentioned in my previous blog post, I have included some photos from the archives of my Winmar layout (thanks, Bob!). The photo of the track diagram on the control panel was taken just before the whole layout was put into storage a couple of months ago. The front face needs the masking tape removed at the bottom and another coat of paint.

The layout diagram shows the station (the black horizontal bar at the front) with the main line and a platform road linking both the loco depot (on the right) and the Lake Hume branch and oil depot on the left. There are three loop sidings (including the grain loop - inner left) and a headshunt. The dead end factory sidings (there is only one now) are in purple. Towards the top tight quadrant of the panel diagram is where an industrial siding forks off from the main. Both the main line and the industrial siding curve around to meet the tracks on the traverser.


The control panel is a box made from plywood with a lid that opens at the front using a piano hinge. The four panel meters measure current and voltage for each of the two controllers (cabs). The top row of switches are numbered and have blue/orange lights to indicate power and cab (one or two) for the fiddle yard sidings. The bottom row of switches are numbered for the power blocks on the display side of the layout. Three switches to right of the masking tape are for the three turntable roads in loco. The back of the panel box is open for access to the wiring and to house a couple of transformers. The panel box sits on an upside-down baby change table (that was no longer required!) which has been slightly modified with castors and elbow rests. Bob Stack drew up the layout diagram for me using a computer software drawing program. I laminated the plan and stuck it to the control panel box. I still have to finish the edging.

The next two photos show the front of the layout from different ends. The first photo looks down the straight from the Lake Hume branch end of the layout. You can see in this early photo that the sharp S-bend is still in place on the left. The replacement S-bend now takes the siding about four inches into the operating well but maintains the same length. The second photo shows the turntable at the loco depot end of the layout. A bicentennial liveried 80 class is visiting to add some colour to the shot.



This last photo shows the unfinished twelve tracks on the traverser. All the tracks are down now and wired up. Note the handles (on both sides of the traverser) for moving the traverser in and out to match up the selected fiddle yard track to the main line of the layout. You can also see one length of the aluminium framing that holds the layout baseboard grid together.



When I get my other computer tower connected up to a screen, I'll find and then copy some more photos of Winmar to my "active" computer for uploading to the blog.