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ROSS CREEK - South Australian Railways in the early 80's


Ross34
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The layout has been inspired by younger days spent in South Australia during the 70s and 80s - mostly in the southern suburbs of Adelaide.

 

An additional challenge is that the fact that is been built in the UK.

 

It currently measures 3.30m x 400mm with 900mm radius curve sections at each end.

 

Most of the stock is imported from Australia and produced by the main HO scale manufacturers (Austrains, Auscision, Trainorama, Powerline and Orient Express Models).

 

Some stock has been obtained/swapped from Iain Hunter / Andrew Burnham - some will recall their excellent "Broadford"  - a Victorian Railways broad gauge and standard gauge layout currently, as far as I'm aware, the only HO Australain model on the UK exhibition scene.. unless somebody knows different. 

 

The layout made its first appearance at the Leigh Model Railway exhbition on the 2nd / 3rd September - a few teething problems were evident (almost all due to my bodging!) but generally it didn't perform too badly.

 

There is still much to do but hopefully the pics give a flavour of what I'm trying to achieve.

 

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Nice looking layout. I have had a number of enjoyable days operating Broadford for Iain, I really need to crack on with building my own Aussie layout. Have you gone down the EM route or just standard HO track, I can't decide from your pictures!

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Nice looking layout. I have had a number of enjoyable days operating Broadford for Iain, I really need to crack on with building my own Aussie layout. Have you gone down the EM route or just standard HO track, I can't decide from your pictures!

 

Should be EM I guess (or a scale 5' 3" in HO) - I'm not as brave as Iain or have the time (or the skill) to convert so I've used code 75.

 

Iain kindly let me run some of my SAR locos at Wigan a while ago - a great layout - is it still on the circuit.

 

G'Day Gents

 

Think you need to change the mini in front of the Kadina Hotel for a battered old FJ Holden ute. Like the layout though.

 

manna

Thanks mana - yeah, your right.

When we first moved to SA dad bought a beautiful two tone EK - then I learnt to drive in an EH wagon - great looking cars.

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  • 2 months later...

I've been doing some experiments with my new airbrush recently and weathered some of my rolling stock.

 

I like quite subtle effects - I often think weathering can be over done at times.

 

I've used washes followed by light dusting with the airbrush and rust effects using sponges and weathering powders.

 

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  • 1 year later...

A bit of an update.. and change.

 

The original layout "Ross Creek"  was, rather reluctantly it must be said, scrapped after just one exhibition. 

I built it on the premise that to model Australian railways it needed room for long trains.

A nice idea but quite frankly it was too big - certainly for the amount of people I had to hand ( at the time) to assist in setting it up , running it etc. Plus it would have never have been put at home as I didn't have room.

And, if I'm being honest, some of the layout construction was rushed and a didn't run as well I'd like in places...and the wiring wasn't really up to scratch.

 

I saved quite a bit and the boards were re-used on another project so not a total loss.

 

The new layout is much smaller and compact - 11 x 2. A switching puzzle from an Australian railways perspective (I hope). 

Its built on Grange & Hodder boards, HO scale, Code 75 track & DCC control.

 

The location is inspired by the railways in the south east of South Australia close to the Victoria border (Mount Gambier in particular) in the 1980s ...well loosely. 

Like the original it really should be 5' 3" broad gauge (EM gauge)...another time maybe?!

 

Its due to appear at Leigh Model Railway show (Lancs) in September this year.. with a new title of Port Ross..progress is steady but a bit to do yet. 

I've attached a couple of photos for those interested. I'll post more when it nears completion.

 

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Edited by Ross34
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

My latest purchase from Brunel Hobbies

 

http://www.brunelhobbies.com.au/

 

I needed to find a way to reproduce corrugated iron in HO scale. I used to be able to buy Campbell Scale Models products in the UK but its getting harder ( if not impossible) to find.

 

On the suggestion of Luke Towan - https://www.bouldercreekrailroad.com/

I purchased this neat little gadget...

 

IMAG2982.jpg.5828782d32a29d9534fe854d9680aeb7.jpg

 

 

Its basically a male & female forming tool...but works pretty well. Takes a bit of practice and at the moment I'm experimenting with thick foil.

The resultant pieces are bit fragile but with care are fine. I stick them to either plasticard or foamboard with double sided tape.

 

IMAG2983.jpg.efb78d2be7f4caa7757ef19c6dc411fe.jpg

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  • 5 months later...

The layout made its debut at the Leigh (Lancs) annual exhibition at the end of September and once a small electrical issue was sorted out during set up it ran OK.

 

Some things made themselves apparent during the weekend though..

 

  • The layout needs a carrying frame of some sort next time it goes out.
  • I need to practice alot more with the NCE powercab!
  • It needs a backscene painting (I could get a Haskell backscene from Australia - expensive but very good - we'll see)
  • The loco fleet would probably benefit from more "high end" decoders. Nothing wrong with budget at all - especially when new to DCC - but replacing an entry level decoder with a Zimo made a huge difference.
  • I really need to set up the Kadee uncouplers properly - out the 6 on the layout only  2 worked as they should.
  • One or two buildings need replacing.
  • The lighting rig needs a re-design.

So, not too much then!!

 

A few pics....

IMAG3834.jpg

IMAG3872 copy.jpg

IMAG3840 copy.jpg

IMAG3870 copy.jpg

IMAG3871 copy.jpg

IMAG3835.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

Well as we're all housebound & I have an exhbition deadline (Sept 2021) I though I'd have a go at some weathering.

 

Working from photos, I wanted these GMs (Trainorama) to look like they have been worked hard in the hot, dry, dusty environment of central Australia.

 

I used Vallejo Model Air paint in a Iwata Neo to impart a dusty abraded kind of appearance. But first I experimented with the "dot technique" using grey, white & yellow oil paint to give a slightly faded look. Its subtle but its a technique I quite like.

 

 

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Edited by Ross34
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On 19/10/2019 at 04:43, Ross34 said:

 

 

 

IMAG3840 copy.jpg

 

 

 


Hi Ross,

The track-in-dirt effect you've created here looks spot-on for so many railway yards in Australia. How did you create it?

Cheers,
Ben

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On 25/04/2020 at 06:59, BenG said:


Hi Ross,

The track-in-dirt effect you've created here looks spot-on for so many railway yards in Australia. How did you create it?

Cheers,
Ben

Thanks Ben.

 

The track is laid on thin cork so I built up the yard (the grey foreground) with layers of thin cork sheet and tile grout. I sanded the tile grout smooth and painted with emulsion paint to represent compact earth or faded, very worn sun bleached tarmac. I finished off with a "very light" dudting of weathering powder.

The ballast is fine sand. Placed and packed in fairly tight then sprayed with surgical spirit and maybe 10% water mix.

Then place dilute pva with a dropper. The surgical spirit mix stops the sand floating away when you add the glue.

I then airbrush a dark rust on the railsides and then light dust colours over the track - finish with a very light weathering powder application. The powders need to be applied very sparingly.

Hope that helps.

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