Tomlins Creek ..... A NSWGR Inglenook

Thanks Ron.
I have posted some pics of Coonabarabran earlier which I take my modelling queues from.

Thanks Ed.

Thanks Chris for the diagram.
I did have a Data sheet somewhere of a trestle bridge with all the details, but that was about 30 years ago !!

Thanks Richard.
Maybe I should ask Gormo to do back ground sounds for me.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Steve.

The matt medium didn't do what I thought it would... Basically it dried up and there are no traces of it on the layout !



Thanks Ian.

When you come on down under, I'll make sure you can acquaint yourself with some of our bitey, nippy, stingy critters...

Cheers, Gary.

 

That all depends if I name the layout..., 'After The Rain' !!

Cheers, Gary.

 

Well then, we know if the layout is a failure, I'll be screaming "No way, get %#@*ed, %#@* off...

Doc Neeson was a great front man. Loved the Angels back when I was in high school and still have an album or two stashed away...

Cheers, Gary.

 

It has been quite some time since I posted on this thread and you would be asking, "what has he been up to??" Well, not a lot really. One job that I did get done is to install the neodymium magnets between the sleepers for uncoupling the wagons. Please note that this method is for Kadee and Bachmann E-Z Mate couplings.

Ofcourse the first job is to purchase the 3mm diameter cylindrical neodymium magnets. I purchased mine from ebay : https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Wholesa...var=690008097008&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649



Once they arrived I had to determine where they should be positioned. I could have positioned one set at the tow of the first point and loose shunt the yard, but I prefer to have multiple uncoupling points on the layout. Two positions were located on the longer siding and one position on each of the shorter sidings. I used a 3mm (1/8") drill and drilled the baseboard. The holes are located right up against the rail in between the sleepers.

The magnets were glued in position using PVA. I glued in every second magnet on each side first. Once the PVA had partially dried, I glued in the remaining magnets. Previously I have used 6 magnets, but I decided to opt for 8 this time round as it greatly improves the magnetic field and gives the operator more of a chance to pull the train up over the top of them.



The magnets need to have their polarities switched over on each side of the rail. For example on the outer rail, the north pole may face up and on the inner rail, have the south pole facing up. To make identification easier, use a Sharpie and colour one end of the magnets black. I did about 50 magnets so I would get the polarities correct every time I installed them. Doing this, you can't go wrong !

*Please note that I have coloured the tops of the magnets black with a Sharpie so that I can ballast over them and there will be less chance to be seen.

So, a short 30 second video of the wagons uncoupling and loose shunting...



Cheers, Gary.

 

Yes, you are right ED. I was one who also used the 3mm square magnets between the sleepers and I have found that this method is far easier to install. They can even be installed on track that has already been ballasted as you only need to drill a few holes. Like Ron, I have also used this on Jay Dubyew North Yard since 2016 and it hasn't let me down yet.



Cheers, Gary.

 

Most rail sides are fenced off, either to keep livestock in, or keep livestock off the track. So, one item that was missing from the plank was a fence...

This is how I went about making my post/star picket & 4 strand wire fence.

Suitable shaped styrene shape was chosen to represent the good old star picket (well that's what we call them down under). This was selected from the Plastruct range of shapes. These were cut to 20mm lengths, which gave me a 4' high fence (14mm) and 2'8" in the ground (6mm). Each one of these were drilled out with a 0.5mm drill bit, at 2.8mm spacings, close enough to 10"...



Some multi strand electrical wire was stripped down and the individual strands were separated and fed through. Note the twist on the end to stop the posts coming off.



One thing I forgot to do was to install the timber corner posts and a midway post along the length of the wired posts. So, off a bunch of star pickets came. IFor the corner posts, I used wooden tooth picks, which looked to be the right diameter. These were cut in half with a point on each end for inserting into the scenery. Four holes were drilled through. On the corners of the fence, I wrapped the wire around the post, as they are in the 12":1' world. Each post was then inserted into the landscape at 12' apart (42mm in HO scale).



The fence line along the creek has wooden posts all the way due to heavy rains in the region...



After spacing and inserting, the wires were then painted a rust colour (Citadel Mournfang Brown). The star pickets had a splash of rust as well. The wooden corner posts were painted mid grey (Humbrol #140). The paint didn't take too long to dry today, which allowed me to build up some more scenics along the base of the fence, out of reach of the fenced in livestock.



The PVA is still damp in this pic...


As can be seen above, some extra details have been added to the scene. A few sleepers, a couple of rusty barrels, pile of sole plates and a few tools were painted and glued in with a small amount of Tarzan Grip.



Many more lighter green clumps of static grass were made up, approximately 150 of them and placed throughout the scenery. The eucalyptus trees I made earlier (http://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index...eucalyptus-trees-commonly-known-as-gums.2764/) were also added to the layout. Oops, camera shadow in pic...



The tree in the background on the left had extra long roots made for this particular position... The roots wrap around the exposed rock on the creek edge ! Extra dry leaf matter was chopped up in the blender and added under the trees to represent leaf litter.

 

Here are a few extra pics of the layout as it continues to green up...









There you go...

I'll be continuing with the fertilizer shed tonight and hopefully have it installed tomorrow evening..., fingers crossed...

Cheers, Gary.