60012 Commonwealth of Australia

For quite some time my wagon/coach storage boxes have been full, with excess vehicles being left on the layout. Yesterday, along with another blue and gold Powerline S car (5BS), I bought another wagon storage box, which brought on the need to empty the other 4 and re-organise them, as I like to have them all sorted in a very specific way. This gave the rare opportunity to get some photos of my entire loco and wagon fleet. Overall, there are: 33 bogie vehicles 5 bogie guards vans (+1 on long-term loan) 3 4-wheel guards vans (+2 on long-term loan) 10 passenger cars (+4 on long-term loan) 52 4-wheel wagons 7 steam locos 6 diesels 1 railmotor Plus 1 part-built steam loco, 1 part-built diesel, 4 diesel locos on-order, 4 part-built 4-wheel wagons, 1 coach on-order, 5 4-wheel wagons unbuilt and 2 bogie wagons unbuilt. The vehicles on long-term loan are included in these photos as they're also being stored in my boxes. The one thing this really shows up is the disproportionate number of wagons to carriages, so once I've completed the final part-built and un-built wagons I'm going to focus on my passenger stock fleet, and on increasing my SAR fleet. I'll be obtaining a resin 3D printer soon, an EPAX x10, which is large enough to 3D print any VR carriage I could want, once I've made designs for them that is! The 3D printer will also allow me to make the largest building for Borderton, the station, as well as make platforms rather than spending $200 (at $20 per 30cm section for VR platforms). The station is something I've been putting off for a while, as to get a decent quality 3D print done by someone else (shapeways etc) would cost several hundred $ at best, given the size of it, and as it would have taken a significant amount of time to build it by hand with plasticard. This combined with the fact that I'm much more confident in my ability to get things nice and square and symmetrical with 3D designing means that it will now be possible to get the station completed in a much shorter timeframe than previously estimated. The station will be a loose copy, with some variation, of Serviceton station. The photo below is of Serviceton from the Wikipedia page. As can be imagined it will be a very time consuming task, but will hopefully be worth it for the end result. During study breaks I have also been preparing to continue with the track modifications, this time at the South Australian end of the yard, where a turnout will be pulled up and replaced with a double slip to extend #3 road, and the spare turnout used to put a dead-end extension on the platform road, enabling faster loco-changeover from Victorian Railways to South Australian Railways locos. The extension will be long enough to fit two Victorian Railways R or X classes, the longest locos double-headed on the VR. I plan to start buying point motors and other associated control equipment early next year, and will start work on the 5 remaining baseboards (fiddle yard) at the same time, with the goal of having the layout fully operational by June. Subject to how far along it is when the invite for the Caulfield 2020 exhibition arrives, I may or may not submit an application to exhibit it then, obviously if it's not going to be very complete then I'll be waiting until 2021 to exhibit it. When I know if that will happen or not I'll post here. Peter

Today's study breaks saw one side of the other two coaches, 37B and 58AC , having the window frames painted and decals fitted. When together these cars have an operational time period of September 1929, when 7BC was recoded from 7AC, and July 1931, when 58AC was recoded and renumbered to 19BC. Below are photos of the entire set, and each individual car. One thing I forgot to do before taking these photos was adding the underframe number to 58AC, but it's since been added. The entire set, left to right 7BC, 37B, 58AC 7BC, as shown the other day, suitable for the time period September 1929 when it was recoded from 7AC, to the late 1950s (if it got repainted into the bright red introduced in 1954 for VR carriage stock), or September 1966 (if it wasn't repainted prior to withdrawal, which is entirely possible.) 37B, suitable for the period from 1910 when it was recoded from 37BB to 37B, until 1951 when it was stripped for use as a Workmans Sleeper car, although the conversion was never completed. Of interest is the fact that this car was loaned to the SAR from October 1942 to November 1944. Prior to 1910, VR bogie stock was given dual letter codes, BB for second class, AA for first class, ADAD for first class with van compartment and so on, with single letters denoting four wheel stock. Post 1910, four wheel stock was recoded to X, Y and Z, for First, Second, and Guard respectively, hence the recoding from 37BB to 37B in 1910. And finally 58AC, suitable for the time period June 1911, when it was extended from 45' to 57'3", to July 1931, when it was recoded and renumbered to BC18. These cars should provide a nice addition to my somewhat sparse coach fleet, now that I have the full set operational. The cars are fitted with Sergent couplers on the van ends of the BC and AC, with Smiths screw-links on the B and passenger ends of the BC and AC. They still require windows, decals on the other side (in the case of 37B and 58AC), dullcoat, and at some point will be retrofitted with underframe detail once I've designed it. Peter

No work on the layout recently as having to study for my Year 12 exams (first one is October 31, last is November 8), I haven't had more than an hour or so of spare time at a time, meaning it's inconvenient to go out to the shed, get tools etc out, only to have a short amount of time before having to pack up and go inside again. What I have been working on, are model designs for my business. Most of these will be seen on Borderton, with the an obvious exception. One of my long-time interests has been Victorian Railways swing-door carriages, the name given to the type of bogie stock constructed between 1887 and 1910 approximately. As such, I've been working on designing the entire range of carriages (with the exception of some diagrams with small numbers of carriages built), for 3D printing. A couple of my 3D designs are below. This first one is a suburban electric D car (the M car of this diagram is identical, I just need to finish designing the mechanism and chassis for it). 11 D cars and 39 M cars were modified to this design, from loco-hauled cars, between 1919 and 1924. The second is the carriage that the M and D cars were converted from, an AC first class carriage with van. Most were converted to M or D cars, but some remained as loco-hauled cars and recoded to BC second class cars from the mid 1920s. I had actually completed this design, right up to the point where I realised I had made the two panels between the end and the guards doors too wide, missed a panel between the guards doors and the passenger compartments, and made it 2mm too short. I have already got two prototype models of this design 3D printed to me, to the current (as above) wrong design, and I'm part-way through fixing the errors. Below is a photo of one of the completed prototypes, having had bogies, buffers and couplers fitted, been painted, and decals fitted. It still needs a dullcoat to dull down the gloss paint. The cars are also missing some underframe detail, as good photographs of the cars are few and far between this makes that part difficult. Long-term, I have 34 different types planned, ranging from the original, as-built 45' and 50' long cars, the extended 58' cars (as per the one above), and the suburban electrics, which I've designed all from scratch, as none are available, and only 5? variants have ever been available, kit or R-T-R, and none have been available for the past several years at least. At some point I'll have to build a layout to run the electric units on, but for now I can inundate Borderton with loco-hauled cars, filling a gap in my carriage fleet. Another gap in the carriage fleet (consisting of currently 11 carriages) was filled the other day with the addition of two Victorian Railways S cars, in the blue and gold livery they carried between 1954 and the 1980s. These are from the latest run of Powerline S cars, purchased in a sale on Ebay, 20% off, a not insignificant saving when they cost $165 each normally. That's all for now, hopefully more progress after exams are over! Peter

No reference to a John Nash, J. Nash, or even J. N., sorry. This is the same in the bottom corner of all the plans I have, although dates adopted and plan numbers differ (F.269 for example is 'Substructure of Timber Bridges: Two Pile Piers - Narrow Gauge Lines'. The legibility of the signatures of J. H. Ashworth? and W. Bromby also varies! Peter

It certainly is incredible. Especially given they were still updating the designs that late - the diagrams I used for this one are dated as being adopted in 1935 and 1936, presumably to replace older designs. It would be fascinating to find more details about the company you mention, I'm sure there will be a reference to it somewhere, albeit probably very well hidden. Peter

Between last night and this afternoon and evening, the trestle bridge has been completed. Last night saw the completion of the deck Tonight saw the completion of the 10 piers, each coming in at 43mm tall, giving the bridge a total height of 50mm from base to deck. I also got a photo in slightly more natural light, positioned where it will go once painted. The foam will need gluing down once I've replaced the standard bolts with cuphead bolts (so I can cover them up without being unable to tighten them) Peter

Thanks! Some more progress on the layout this afternoon. The new medium-radius left-hand turnout was purchased, and partially cut up and added into the super scissors. The unit still needs some minor tweaking, mainly on the turnout that comes directly off the mainline, but no new items need to be purchased as that can be done by adding some small sections of straight rail. Some more progress also happened with the trestle bridge, with the entire deck being finished over the course of a few hours. All that remains now to complete it is to build the 10 piers, then paint/stain it before constructing the landscape that it will go in. Whilst a very time consuming process, I really enjoy constructing things out of matchsticks, so this was very enjoyable and somewhat theraputic, giving a much needed break from the rush and hassle of Year 12. The final photo shows the E wagon which I put the matchstick off-cuts into sitting on the deck, showing just how long it is. There may be some progress on either the super scissors or the bridge tomorrow night, however as I have my final Maths assessments (prior to the exams in 9 weeks time) on Wednesday and Thursday there may well not be any new progress until Thursday night. Peter

Last night saw the start of the construction of the trestle bridge for the South Australian end of the layout. At almost 80cm long, and constructed out of balsa wood, matchsticks and dowel, it will be a rather long build - the deck alone requiring over 400 individually cut and glued matchsticks. So far 4 of the 11 spans (each a scale 20', or 7cm long) have been assembled and decking added, the photo below having been taken after the first 3 were done. The base for which the deck is being glued are 5mm square balsa wood sections, being slightly smaller but wider than the prototype - the prototype being two 21"x9" beams each side, with a gap 6" wide between the two, giving a total size 21" x 24", whereas the balsa wood comes out at approximately 17" square. However, it is close enough for my purposes. The bridge is on a nice, shallow, continuous curve of 1066mm radius (3'6"). The plan for VR trestle bridge decks at 20' spans is here: (Having put in the URL, from victorianrailways.net, it automatically loaded the image) And the plan for the 4-pile piers which will be used is here: The height is yet to be determined, but will probably be about 5cm tall (a scale 14.25'). This afternoon will probably be spent on the super scissors crossing, as mentioned yesterday I will be going into the city after school to buy an SL-E196 medium radius left hand turnout to replace my bodged large radius one. Fingers crossed it turns out better this time! Peter

One thing I forgot to add to the previous post. Upon consultation regarding the updates to the track plan, a friend kindly drew up this signalling diagram for the layout. Lever numbers will be slightly different on the diagram for the lever frame, as the hand-operated points will also be included. The fully signalled yard should make operating somewhat more interesting, especially making sure the operators use all the correct levers! Depending on how I choose to wire crossovers and catch points, the frame will be between 40 and 48 levers, but likely closer to the 48 lever end. The distants are fixed as all trains are required to stop at the station due to through-running not being introduced until after my era. The only error in the plan is that the table is an 85' table, not a 70' table as noted. Peter

Not much progress on the layout unfortunately. The super scissors crossover was almost completed last weekend, just needs some minor tweaking and new sleepers around the crossing in the centre. Unfortunately an oversight by me meant that I may have to replace one of the turnouts with a medium radius turnout, unless I can get the bodge I've done to work well. On their large radius turnouts, Peco, in order to maintain a constant 12 degree diverging angle on all turnouts (excluding large radius Ys), maintained a constant curve throughout the turnout, continuing after the frog. Because of the way the super scissors was designed, in order to keep the right distance between tracks, I realistically needed the turnout to reach the 12 degree diverging angle by immediately after the frog - something which doesn't happen on the large radius points. Some careful bending of the turnout and part of the crossing have enabled them to be fitted together, but it's very messy, and I'm uncertain as to how well brass steam locos will go over it. The safest option will be for me to go out to a hobby shop tomorrow after school to buy a left-hand medium radius turnout, which I suspect will be what I do. But for now here are some photos of it as it stands. The main reason for there having been no other progress, along with me having been sick this weekend, is due to a school project. Part of my Year 12 Product Design project was a small (1200x360mm) N scale layout, which I had built the baseboard for, and laid the track on some months ago, however due to other distractions and a certain amount of procrastination had not gone any further, until last Monday, when I discovered that the due date was in fact the Friday that has just passed, whereas I had thought it was this coming friday, meaning I had 3 days to complete it and bring it in to school. An all-nighter on Tuesday, and a very late night on Wednesday meant that I was able to complete it and return it to school on Thursday when the teacher needed the physical projects to be finished. Due to the ability to get buildings for it I chose a British setting, in late winter, and some photos of it are below for those who are interested. Once I have the new turnout for the super scissors there should be some more progress. At some point soon I'll start buying point motors and levers for the layout, especially given the super scissors will require the motors to be fitted and wired up in order to be used, due to the frog wiring. Peter

Having had some input from an expert on Victorian Railways signalling and yard practices, there have been some revisions to the track plan. I will be going out after school to get the turnouts and underlay required to complete the changes. The changes are primarily to increase it's level of prototypical accuracy - the changes to the access to the roundhouse to demonstrate it's use as a loco-changeover station, as with the dead-end extension at the SA end of 1 road, and to improve it's operational ability, through the extension of 3 road at the SA end to allow shunting to be undertaken without always using the main line. I'm particularly looking forward to the building of the super scissors crossover, it's a project I've wanted to undertake for a while now but haven't had a valid excuse to spend the money on pointwork to do so. There will be photos of work on the changes, and no doubt of the construction of the super scissors, later tonight and over the weekend. Peter

True, looking at those the sheen on the paintwork doesn't look too bad. Once I get it weathered it should end up looking more like that than just all over shine. Yup. Got a 500B kit that I'm slowly building, will become 509 in black. And, I've heard a rumour that a manufacturer will be bringing out R-T-R Rx class locos at some point in the future, so will definitely be getting one or two if/when that happens. Would be nice to see more SAR steam R-T-R, especially now more companies seem to be doing R-T-R Australian steam (Phoenix Reproductions VR D3, Ixion Models VR J, Eureka Models VR K and NSW stuff, Orient Express Models SAR F). A Q or S would be nice (gotta love the old 4-4-0s) but I suspect we're more likely to see a 520 or 620 next after an Rx, courtesy of the preserved ones (or a 750 if someone decides to do a VR N class). Peter Peter

Alright. I looked at the Heljan 90' one, but decided the girders and pit of the Peco one was a closer representation of the SAR tables (being flat along the base, rather than angled like the Heljan one). Peter

I haven't motorised it yet, but definitely plan to. I want to do some more research on different motorising kits before I buy anything, just to be sure I make the right choice. I'm not sure whether I will control it via DCC, or whether I use a DPDT switch, or control box, being determined by the motorising kit I buy. For ease of operation I would go for a switch or control box over DCC control, simply as all other aspects of the yard will be controlled by a lever frame and I prefer the physical feeling of a switch or lever to pressing buttons, I find there's just something more satisfying about it than pressing buttons on a controller. Thanks. I look forward to seeing photos of it (and hopefully a thread) when you eventually do get around to it! Peter

The turntable is a Peco one, and will be modified to represent an SAR 85' table (it comes in at 86.75' long so close enough). Peter

Having made it out to Caulfield for a couple of hours, I got to buy some items I've been waiting for for quite a while. First, the Pheonix Reproductions Victorian Railways E and S wagons, and South Australian Railways O wagons. I got one 3-pack of E wagons and a pack of E and S wagons (2 E and one S) in Victorian Railways "dark red" (wagon brown, only not quite brown), and a 3-pack of O wagons in SAR medium grey. I also purchased 12 pairs of VR buffers to add to my freight stock, 3 SAR dark grey DWF vans, two SAR D vans for conversion to VR V vans (the VR having purchased two in 1926? then decided to build a further 51), a VR QN ballast wagon kit, an early wooden M van kit, a 6 ton VR yard crane kit, and a VR water column kit. The wagons were quickly placed onto the layout to see how they all looked, and I have to say the E, O and S wagons are incredible. They have fully detailed interiors, replicating the pressed panelling on the sides and ends, and have diecast chassis so are heavy enough to not require extra weighting. My only regret is I wasn't able to get more, as the two wagon red packs of E and S wagons (one with 3 E wagons, one with 2 E and one S) have sold out, hopefully some shops will have them though. Later in the evening, after my brothers birthday celebration, I painted the first of the D vans into VR early wagon brown. The other one will be sprayed into the later wagon red. Now for some more layout work, as a result of a late night on Saturday. One of my brass steam locos, N425, was derailing on the double slip. I suspected this was a result of the somewhat short, plastic, over-gauge guard rails, so these were shaved off and replaced with metal replacements, and voila problem solved. Before Metal guard rails cut and shaped. And done. I also added the second turntable approach road, and assembled and loosely fitted the water column kit. Finally, after an extended period of time out of service, K192 and D3 639, both Trainbuilder brass locos, were returned to service. The K had running problems as a result of one set of axleboxes not sitting square to the chassis, due to too much lateral slop, and the valve gear (being cast brass, not etched) not being straight. A bit of superglue around the edges while holding the wheels square fixed the axle problem, and disassembling the valve gear, straightening the bent components, and reassembling it fixed the valve gear problem. The issue with the D3, was that 5 of the 6 wires to the plug connecting the tender (with the DCC socket) to the loco had fallen out, due to poor solder. The wires were, after a lot of anger at the tiny wires and plug, re-soldered, and the loco put back into service. Below is a photo of both locos having run their inaugural trains on Borderton. They join C26, X36 and N425 on the operational steam fleet, and in combination with X36, S313, 700 and 835 bring the operational loco fleet for Borderton up to 9. My TrainORama 930s, 934 and 959, are due for delivery in September (having been pushed back from May to August to September), and my Auscision Bs B60 and B71 are due for delivery in December, bringing the total up to 13. In addition, CL17, F201 (Trainbuilder brass in VR red) and J549 (also Trainbuilder) are awaiting new DCC chips and DA1 is awaiting couplers and paint. Peter

Will do! Peter

Mostly superficial progress lately. The first of two turntable approach roads have been laid and wired up, to the point where at 1am on Wednesday night X36 became the first loco to be (manually) turned on the table. The mainline at the Victorian end has been extended around to the point where the fiddle yard will go. The signal box diagram has also received an update, to make it easier to read. This weekend will be busy as I will be at the Caulfield model railway exhibition from 11 to 1 on Saturday, after which I have my brothers birthday, and then Sunday will be spent working on a 30 page assignment for Product Design which is due in two weeks, along with the small N scale layout that forms part of the assignment (there being a practical and theoretical component, the practical component being a shelving unit with an N scale BLT on top, the theoretical component being a 30-50 page document discussing the project and going over theoretical aspects of design and production), so there may well be some more loco or rolling stock acquisitions on Saturday, but no more progress on the layout. If anyone else will be at the Caulfield exhibition on Saturday feel free to say hi if you see me! I'll be in my usual black hoodie and tracksuits, and probably carrying a Star Wars backpack. Peter

I used 2mm wire, and 3mm wire for the bus, probably a bit overkill, but given the layout will be running off a 5amp system and likely have several sound locos running/on at once it needs to be able to handle it - with Skipton I had to rewire it because I used too thin wire the first time and it wasn't getting enough power to the rails, and it was running one maybe two locos at once, and not sound. The heavier wire fixed the problem. Peter

Some minor photoshopping of the last photo to get rid of the drinks in the background and give it some scenery. The background is a generic photo from Dimboola (near Serviceton) and can be found here: https://hiveminer.com/Tags/dimboola%2Cpink (3rd image top row) And a B&W version, which I quite like as it gets rid of the sheen of the unweathered plastic locos, in particular 835. Yes, it certainly is! Needs a lot more track cleaning to properly get rid of all the PVA residue on the top of the rails to allow smoother running (well, as smoothly as is possible with no frog power), but was a great feeling to have the S class running into the platform, then connecting to the X and running around the train. I must admit I hadn't expected to have it running this quickly! A trip to Bunnings over the next couple of days is required, as I used up all the dropper wire I got (all 21m of it) and then I'll be able to do more than just push some wagons around the yard. Peter

Today, after a huge effort by myself and a couple of friends over the weekend, the first trains ran! At the moment only the yard track is live - we ran out of dropper wires to do the loco depot by which time it was too late to get more - and the frogs are dead, so some locos jolt, but it's a great feeling to have it at this point. I'll upload a video to Youtube at some point, but for now here are a couple of photos of the first trains, featuring my new loco, Victorian Railways X36 (diesel, not to be confused with my existing steam X36), purchased second-hand yesterday, having been sold out for months. Unfortunately it was missing the rear handrails and one fan grill, but these can be replaced. Also seen are existing locos, VR S313 and SAR 835, both sound fitted. S313 arriving on the first train into Borderton, with a consist of a VP louvre van, BE second class passenger car, AE first class passenger car, and CE guards van. X36 was then added. Celebratory drinks can be seen in the background (forgot to move them before the photos were taken) 835 and a short goods train were then brought in from the South Australian end And my personal favourite of all the photos, which I may photoshop tomorrow if I get time too. Peter

Thanks Connor. The C class is brass, and haven't been available for a few years now, but were $1400 or thereabouts when released. The r-t-r carriages were $150 each, the two kitbuild ones are $45 for the kit (paid $100 for the built one), and my 3D print of the swing door design was $50, but they aren't available yet - I'm slowly working on the design with the long-term intention of releasing them as kits, but I only have the basic bodyshell done, it lacks any underframe or end detail. For cheaper steam locos, there are still a few Eureka R classes around ($660), Phoenix Reproductions are releasing D3s next year ($660), and Eureka Models will be releasing K classes at some point in the next century, going by their progress (or, more specifically, lack thereof) on them over the past ten years since they were announced. Orient Express Models (mentioned below) have produced SAR F class tank locos, at $550 for a plain DC loco, $595 for DCC, and $700 for DCC Sound. Unfortunately R-T-R stuff is extremely expensive for Australian stock (A point I want to make in frustration every time I see people complaining about price increases from Hornby or Bachmann, both of which still have incredibly low prices compared to any Australian stock), with the average steam locos being in excess of $650 (360gbp), carriages being $150 (83gbp) or higher, and wagons between $50 and $70 each (28 to 45gbp), with most being sold in packs of 4 or 6 for $240-$280 (134-156gbp), or in some cases packs of 2 or 3 for $100-$180 (56-100gbp), depending on the manufacturer. Diesels are far more reasonable, at $295-$335 (165-187gbp) but just as hard to come by as they tend to sell-out quickly. As far as any R-T-R items of VR or SAR stock are concerned, particularly locos and coaches, my main piece of advice would be if you want something and can afford it, buy it, as if you wait then you may find they suddenly become sold out, as I found with the Auscision VR X classes - there was one in the condition for my era in a shop for several weeks, and by the time I made my mind up to get it, it had sold. These prices are the reasons I go for kits, being much more reasonable. From Steam Era, the main manufacturer of VR rolling stock kits, the prices are $20 or so for a 4 wheel wagon, $30 for bogie wagons, $35 for guards vans, and either $45 or $60 for carriages depending on the type. Plus Kadees at $5 per wagon, and paint (a can of TS-33 Dull Red suits VR Wagon Red, and will paint 6 or so wagons, at $12 a can), putting the price for a standard 4 wheel wagon at $27. Still not cheap, at least compared to UK stock, where $27 will buy a R-T-R wagon, but beggars can't be choosers. They have some loco kits out, which are good, but at $600 each are almost as much as the R-T-R ones. For South Australian stock, Orient Express Reproductions have a decent range of R-T-R wagons, including O, D and M bogie vehicles, and OBf and DWf 4-wheel vehicles, and End of the Line Hobbies have a very extensive range of kits, covering SAR, AN and CR, including a couple of resin loco body kits (520 and 720 classes). Links for the three are below, no connection but have dealt with all 3 on several occasions before. The End of the Line Hobbies site could be better set out - most items are rarely shown as "In Stock", but my understanding is they cast items as-required (being resin cast kits). Some require underframes or wheelsets, whilst the Steam Era kits as stated above have everything minus couplers and paint (and in some cases etched handbrake details, but the kits are slowly being upgraded to include these). http://steameramodels.com/ http://www.endofthelinehobbies.com.au/ http://www.orientexpressmodels.com.au/OER/index.html I hope that this somewhat long-winded response is of use, and I'm happy to help provide any more information if you would like. Peter

Thanks. And yes, all cans not currently holding the last bits of track down - they were taken off for the photos, I leave them on overnight so there's no chance of the track lifting before the glue is dry, which is a problem I've had in the past - have been returned to the pantry, at least for the next few weeks until I start the fiddle yard! Peter

The yard is done! Track laying for this evening saw the final 3 scenic turnouts glued down, the end of 1 and 2 roads, and the start of the turntable approach roads. The completion of this means that the yard is now complete, the only remaining track being the turntable and roundhouse roads, along with the mainline at each end. Photos below. Just beyond the end of the line at the South Australian end, looking back along the yard towards the Victorian end. The completed diesel depot, coaling stage road, and start of the turntable approach roads, looking toward the Victorian end. The short section of track between the turnout to the coaling stage and the turnout to the table approach roads looks kinked, but is a nice, very shallow, smooth S bend. The start of the mainline run can also be seen. A slightly further back view and different angle of the photo above, showing the complete Victorian end yard throat, and the turntable awaiting the 22 roads it will receive - 2 approach roads, 5 exterior roads, and 15 roads enclosed in a roundhouse. This area will be the subject of a lot of attention over the next few days. Looking towards the South Australian end from about half-way down the yard, showing the recently completed yard throat. And finally, a helicopter view from above the coaling stage incline, looking towards the South Australian end, giving the opposite view to the first photo. Having checked my photos earlier, it seems it has taken me exactly 7 days to reach this stage of track-laying, having laid the first piece Thursday evening last week. In those 7 days, I have laid approximately 33 meters of flex track, along with 14 turnouts, 3 catch-points, 1 double-compound, and the turntable (more or less, the height may need further adjusting). I am incredibly pleased with the progress and it's pace, especially given I have only been working on it in evenings after school (with the exception of Saturday). Once the turntable roads have been completed, I will move on to wiring, point motors, and levers. I want to get this part of the layout operational before I start on the fiddle yard, giving me something to play with while I wait for glue to dry etc. With 38 levers for the station, it will be an expensive exercise using Cobalt levers, but no doubt will be worth it. Additionally, at least for the time being, I can get away with 15 levers and 18 point motors - signals will come later as I am yet to decide what type of signalling to use - my options are VR two-position semaphore signals, SAR 3-position semaphore signals, or VR two or three position colour light signals. For simplicity I am tempted to go with VR two position signalling, however whether I choose colour light or semaphore signals remain to be seen. Colour light signals would be by far the cheaper option, however the visual appearance of all the semaphores and disc signals is also incredibly tempting. More to come on that after more research into the two states signalling systems I think - at the end of the day I will go with whatever is more prototypical. Serviceton (the real life equivalent of Borderton) used VR two position semaphores right up to the 1990s, so they seem the most likely choice for the time being. Peter

Some more work done today, this time not on the actual layout itself, but required for the layout. Firstly, I completed a proper signalling diagram, based off VR diagrams. The text is yet to be added, as it was made in Sketchup. The box will be a 38 lever one (plus spares). Shunt signals are provided for moves in and out of the yard, loco depot, and Siding A. Distant and home signals are provided for moves in and out of 1 and 2 roads. I also decided on the type of signal box, and found a plan. It will be based off the Eaglehawk signal box, which was a 35 lever box. The plan below is from victorianrailways.net The box will be scratchbuilt from plasticard. There are a couple of decent photos of the prototype at http://www.stationspast.net/victoria/bendigo-area/eaglehawk/ , unfortunately the box was demolished so it won't be possible for me to go and get any more. Peter