Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i Australian Model Railway Magazine

Australian Layouts; mega to micro Australians are very lucky, as a big country with a low population, space is not that much of a concern (overall). However, when it comes to layout construction, this space competes with other ‘family’ priorities. A large proportion of the Australian population lives in major cities or larger regional centres. In the urban environment, there has been a move to more compact living including, multi floor living, units and apartments. One thing is for sure, for urban modellers usable space is shrinking. Traditionally Australian modellers based on their usable space, can be divided into a few categories. The home layout with multiple stations – locations, a crew is required to fully operate it and is usually housed in a purpose-built location. Medium to large exhibition…

Diagram One offers some insight as to how I built the sector plate for my as yet unnamed NSW layout. Two layers of 1/8th inch cork were used to raise the rail level for the movable deck, which is 6 mm high. As it happens, an 1/8th inch is close to 3.2 mm, so the flex track sits 6.4 mm above the baseboard. This allows room on the 6 mm MDF deck for a 0.5 mm washer and brass ‘slide’ to reduce friction while the sector plate is in motion. See photo 14.…

One of the most rewarding aspects of our hobby is the friendships you make and share this hobby with. A few of us had the chance to share our hobby with a talented modeller and enjoyed operating his layout. Every year Kevin reminded the group that there was a public holiday we had to celebrate his birthday (Australia Day). Kevin was the builder and owner of the Huntingdale and Grange Railway. The layout depicted the South Australian Railways (SAR) in the period 1960 to 1970. This layout featured in the December 1997 issue of the Australian Model Railway Magazine and in the June and July 2015 issues of Continental Modeller. Kevin also prepared a book ‘Recollections’ which was a history of the layouts of the Adelaide Branch Line Operators group…

This is the story of the late Rob Burford’s model railway ambitions. Rob started with a Hornby–Dublo train set, later taking an interest in the North American Norfolk and Western system; back in those days, this was still a big-time steam railroad. Nevertheless, Rob’s railway interests soon rationalised and he developed a view of a model railway world that both stopped at the South Australian state borders and only briefly acknowledged the modern diesel locomotive era. However, in Rob’s native state of South Australia, it wasn’t all that simple as the railways reached across into other jurisdictions, and not all of the local railways were of the same gauge. To the east, the old South Australian Railways (SAR) system met the 5 foot 3inch broad gauge Victorian Railways where rolling…

General purpose 48–53 foot containers are extremely common on domestic rail freight services and are ideally suited to low-density high-cubic sized freight that commonly consists of consumer goods found in supermarkets and retail shops. Early 9 foot 6-inch high containers often carry the code MEG1, while more recent containers are 9 foot 10-inch MFG1 and MFGB types. 53 foot PFG1 containers are mainly operated by Linfox , some being new builds and others repainted Boxcar containers. Some of the early large-size containers from the 1990s were marked for Boxcar, Toll and FCL, with many of these still in service today, albeit painted in other liveries such as Linfox. The major freight-forwarding and logistic companies have large quantities of 48 foot general purpose containers, with some notable fleets being Toll, Linfox/FCL,…

In 2015 Bradken Rail delivered 60 two-pack 48ft well wagons to Aurizon for their standard gauge intermodal operations. Built in China, Bradken delivered these wagons via Western Australia’s Fremantle port in July 2015. These wagons were part of a 175-wagon order to support Aurizon’s intermodal operations. This included: • QQBY (19.3m three-TEU container flat wagons) • QQDY (44.34m five-pack with 48ft platforms) • QQWY (42.5m two-pack with 48ft wells). Description The QQWY is a two-pack permanently coupled 48ft well wagon. The well section is designed with outside bracing, similar to Specialised Containerised Transport (SCT) PWWYs which Bradken Rail also designed and built. Each platform is built with a main reservoir end and a plain non-reservoir end. Each well side has raceways for two airlines which go through the uprights. However,…

In Melbourne, Victoria, there are a few locations that are particularly interesting to me. Certainly, the inspiration for ‘Parke’ came from looking at photos of Fitzroy goods yard before it was closed. ‘Parke’ was never meant to be a representation of Fitzroy goods, but the fact that a little urban, goods-only terminus existed was enough for me. For lighting, I use clip-on lamps from Bunnings and aluminium temporary frames made from aluminium box tubing. They detach from the layout and aren’t heavy or cumbersome. The aluminium can be cut to length and is strong enough to take the weight of the lamps. I use a combination of ‘cool white’ and ‘warm white’ LED globes that don’t generate much heat and are efficient. I have found that to light a micro…

To create a realistic painted backdrop, you can use a technique called misting to replicate the colour gradient of a cloudless sky. Basically this technique uses light misting of differing hues of aerosol paint cans, to create the sky colour gradient. Backdrop preparation The backdrop is made from 3mm Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF). With a paint roller, the backdrop was painted with two coats of Haynes acrylic ‘Swan Sea’ blue paint. The terrain was painted an applicable earth colour, the shape of which was copied from an image of the actual location. The hue of this ground cover was picked from the local paint shop’s miss-tint bargain box. The backdrop was appropriately detailed with grasses and trees (see photo 1). Tube acrylic paints from Jo Sonja’s and Chromacryl were used…

A short history of RDH coaches The RDH coach was introduced as an uncoded class buffet coach designed to complement the ABS dining coach on the Gold Coast Motorail. With the progressive conversion of airconditioned sitting cars into day / night style coaches, there was an increased need to offer takeaway style food and beverage facilities on locomotive hauled services. The first seven RDH conversions came from existing RBH and RFH buffet coaches. Later, with the reintroduction of locomotive hauled services to Broken Hill and Griffith, BHA 2220 was also converted to an RDH. This made a total of eight RDH coaches. Kit bashing With the recent release of Auscision Models (AM) Countrylink coaches, so came the need to provide a suitable RDH buffet coach to complete the set. To…

Who would have thought that a mid-1980s weekend drive, armed with a camera and three rolls of film, would produce a captivating exhibition layout? This is a layout that captures the essence of a location, depicting something uniquely Australian. John Smith located the ideal scene. His goal was to feature a double main line and a small yard with buildings that everyone could associate with QR and rolling stock that told a story of an era. Walloon, on the Toowoomba line west of Ipswich, is such a location. Walloon is based on the station of that name. The layout design is straightforward, simple to assemble and fun to operate. The culmination of foresight, hard work and experience has produced the layout Walloon, of which the Logan District Model Railway Club…

On my Layout ‘Northern Banks’, I wanted to depict a rural freight terminal in NSW, but served by the Victorian system north of Echuca. I like that part of the country because its landlocked and arid. It is my only attempt in VR N scale so far. I’ve enjoyed constructing it. The layout presented some interesting challenges, such as a cassette-style fiddle yard and manual point control.…