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TK Grain terminal, NSW, N gauge.


Satan's Goldfish

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I was sat there thinking 'what would be a bit different cause i fancy giving this a go and could use things i already have spare'. My mind was going through all sorts of platform ends in 00 but nothing quite seemed to work as 'different' in the available space.

 

Then inspiration struck! I was watching a bit Fostoria action on the live cam and youtube, can of Pringles also in my eyeline, and as some large concrete grain silos came into view on one video the grain silo/Pringle can comparison struck!

 

So the plan is to use the full 20x11x11 space available but rather than a blue piece of board for the backscene it will be tall concrete silos instead. A smaller, wider can will be at one side of the front representing a more modern metal silo, associated gantry's at the top, and the other end will have a wagon loading facility with a covered conveyer spanning the tracks. Pictures explain it better so i've sketched up some half sized plans of the above and front views (below)

 

Location is to be fictional in New South Wales as I have a pair of N Ibertren NSW class 44(?) which i picked up back in 1996 on holiday and never had a model to use them in. Unfortunately they're both somewhere packed (hidden) away at my parents house, but i also have some American outline wagons which i do know the location of so by keeping some details vague i can display both sets of stock depending how the mood takes me.

 

Finally, i'm going to try and squeeze in a load of tedious '2011 Challenge' references. No idea what the 'TK' in TK grain stands for, but it's letters 20 and 11 in the alphabet!

 

Views from above and infront:

 

post-9147-0-20626500-1306076114_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-95355800-1306075782_thumb.jpg

 

The covered conveyer above the tracks to the right heading to the loading facility may get moved to the top level of the silos depending what prototype images i can find. The buildings along the top of the silos didn't quite get drawn right as i forgot to allow for baseboard thickness in the 11'' height. The track closest to the back silos may get removed when i start building depending on how cramped it looks.

 

First of the silos:

 

post-9147-0-21426700-1306077137_thumb.jpg

 

Whether i complete this in time is another matter but i'll give it a go. Right, i'm off to force mrs SG to eat more pringles B)

 

 

SG

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Hello SG,

This looks like a decent plan and I admire you for going something like NSW, a nice touch!

I see you like those Greek finger biscuit tins! Let me know if you need any more, as I am going to replenish my supplies soon - I will only be able to supply empty tins unfortunately!;)

Cheers,

John E.

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Hello SG,

This looks like a decent plan and I admire you for going something like NSW, a nice touch!

I see you like those Greek finger biscuit tins! Let me know if you need any more, as I am going to replenish my supplies soon - I will only be able to supply empty tins unfortunately!;)

Cheers,

John E.

 

 

Damn it, i've just finished off that tin for this project! My folks brought them back from Cyprus for me, I lived out there for a few years and couldn't get enough of them. Already getting ideas of maybe one day making this longer and operational so would probably need more tins then....

 

Drawn up a mirror image plan and added a couple of 'silos' to see how it'll work. I think the building positions will nicely hide where the lines run off the board and give nicely framed end on shots too. The 9mm wide rails drawn on look a bit dwarfed! I'm not sure what the dimensions of any real silos might be but i suspect that despite apperances mine are quite under scale...... Not that i'm bothered by that at all, i still think it will have the effect i'm after :D

 

post-9147-0-63600900-1306095732_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-49524800-1306095774_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-19510500-1306095869_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-99919500-1306095876_thumb.jpg

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Adding a mirror at the end of the lines will carry the illusion of track on beyond the confines of the 20"x11" that is allowed.

 

Liking the way this is shaping up especially like the fact you are using the height allowed for more than a backscene of sky.

 

Steven

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Adding a mirror at the end of the lines will carry the illusion of track on beyond the confines of the 20"x11" that is allowed.

 

Liking the way this is shaping up especially like the fact you are using the height allowed for more than a backscene of sky.

 

Steven

 

Did wonder what to do on the ends, that's a great idea with mirrors :yahoo: Will have to allow some of the £20.11p budget for that!

 

I'm by no stretch of the imagination a good modeller, but debating whether to leave the front of the loading facility un-walled and attempt some internal workings in that building. Will have to see how the rest of it goes.

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Location is to be fictional in New South Wales as I have a pair of N Ibertren NSW class 44(?) which i picked up back in 1996 on holiday and never had a model to use them in. Unfortunately they're both somewhere packed (hidden) away at my parents house, but i also have some American outline wagons which i do know the location of so by keeping some details vague i can display both sets of stock depending how the mood takes me.

Have you checked out http://www.aust-n-rail.com.au/ or Peter Boormans Workshop (Peter's a top bloke and really friendly) for NSW wagons? When I used to be involved with N scale, his kits are great. His RU wagons are fantastically detailed for N Scale.

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Have you checked out http://www.aust-n-rail.com.au/ or Peter Boormans Workshop (Peter's a top bloke and really friendly) for NSW wagons? When I used to be involved with N scale, his kits are great. His RU wagons are fantastically detailed for N Scale.

 

 

Nope, but thanks for that link, may prove useful. The Australian engines are still MIA, but i've found some of the American and none of them are grain hoppers! So it's double role of sometimes being American is out but for now the wagons are useful to scale things against.

 

And onto todays progress so far: I've had a really dum moment, but onto that latter and i'm sure you'll pick up on it in the pictures quicker than i did while i was doing it!

 

Track and the American wagons put on the plan to see how it'll look. Could only find a large radius turnout so far which is a bit to big really, i'm hoping the medium one i've got is hiding with engines:

 

post-9147-0-42536800-1306148844_thumb.jpg

 

Box of screws standing in for the loading facility:

 

post-9147-0-76931400-1306148866_thumb.jpg

 

Wagons leaving between the silos:

 

post-9147-0-46977200-1306148889_thumb.jpg

 

The viewing 'window':

 

post-9147-0-50449100-1306148899_thumb.jpg

 

Fixing screws for old pieces ply cut earlier in the day go in. It's been sat outside for a while hence the overly weathered condition:

 

post-9147-0-33130800-1306148909_thumb.jpg

 

Base and back fitted together. Length shown is 19 and 3/4 inches to maybe allow space for possible end mirrors:

 

post-9147-0-13701300-1306148921_thumb.jpg

 

Proof of board width and height shots. Can anyone spot what i may have done wrong when cutting the boards?:angry: :

 

post-9147-0-77697300-1306148932_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-85112000-1306148953_thumb.jpg

 

Plan laid onto the newly constructed boards and realisation hits that it's 1 inch to narrow and low! Height's not an issue as the top buildings on the silos can make up the difference but i'm going to have to cut a 1 inch strip for along the front as i don't have enough spare board for a new base. Mrs SG has only one more tube of pringles to eat ;) :

 

post-9147-0-80158400-1306148993_thumb.jpg

 

Overview:

 

post-9147-0-25403900-1306149003_thumb.jpg

 

SG

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Good call, if i have a chance to drop in before too long i'll see what they have. Whilest i'm not counting things like the pringle tins in the £20.11p budget (food shopping, honest!) a board would have to come out of that.

 

Anyone wondering what sort of look i'm after, there's a couple of shots of Aussie trains with grain silos in this thread:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8308-australia-modern-scene/page__st__75

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Found the NSW 44s :D Both have damged horns and for some reason bright red bogies :( Added an extra inch to the front of the board :D Still can't find medium radius turnout so probably going to have to use the large :( Pictures later probably :D Mrs SG is making me take the last 2 pringle tins out of the 20.11 budget :( Wouldn't mind some opinions on the turnout though, do you guys think it'll look ok with the large or should i use some of the budget to get another medium? (bearing in mind i have no scenery items or figures yet :mellow: )

 

 

£20.11p

-£2.07p for bogof pringles

=£18.04p

 

 

 

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Hi again,

I think you'd be far better off sticking with the large radius point anyway, maybe after the challenge if the diorama becomes part of a bigger layout(?), you could swap it for an electrofrog version?

Unless of course, you can pick up a medium radius point REALLY cheap, I think it would be a big hole in your buget that could hurt later on!

:drinks:

John E.

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Yeah i think you're right. i've looked at it a lot and it would save time and money just to work with that. from a birds eye view it doesn't look as overly 'long' as it seems to from track level:

 

post-9147-0-01031600-1306338819_thumb.jpg

 

Can anyone explain why a previous owner felt the urge to paint the bogies red? Worried i may have to use some budget for black paint now:

 

post-9147-0-93800600-1306338795_thumb.jpg

 

End on view. Found a mirror just lying around (honest) that may be a suitable end size. Not tried it out yet. I don't think i want to permanently block either end view off so it may just be blue tacked in place as required.

 

Last tube of Pringles has been eaten, i just haven't got around to cutting it up yet. Extra width fitted to the front is only 3/4 of an inch, and while the saw was out I knocked up a bit for the grain elevator at one end which takes it up to the full 11'' height, and a piece for the covered conveyer over the tracks connecting to it. Nearly all the big bits done, soon time to open the paints and try and make it look like what it's supposed to :D

 

post-9147-0-67481200-1306338901_thumb.jpg

 

SG

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Does this help? http://www.nscale.ne...hp/t-19009.html or here

http://www.nscalesup...om/BLM/BLM.html #221 - #226.

If you want sound http://www.trainsets.../PROD/160-46708

You could always make your own with a brass nail/veneer pin - chuck the pin in an electric drill and use a needle file to shape it

 

 

Cheers Shortliner. First link didn't work but the second one has some brilliant stuff in it, although i may try your idea for making my own during quite time at work first. Now where can i put 2 people mooning.......

 

Progress: boards painted a brighter than intended shade of orange. Hopefully it'll tone down as things progress. Some track cut and fitted to turnout properly, still not the neatest job as I had previously soldered all the track together when it was in use on a layout :angry: Next job is mark out where the buildings are going to be located then fix the track down and trim it to size. Followed by 'concrete' bases for where the buildings will go and over the track in the loading facility. Lots to do.

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The mirror trick woks well in both views - wonder if the idea will spread to other entries?? With ground cover that colour, changing it to a 'Tango' plant comes to mind ;) ! Good progress tho' in the last couple of weeks.

 

Regs

 

Ian

 

 

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The ground cover colour was supposed to be a close base colour to a typical Australian red earth. It may have over shot slightly...... Off to the model shop tomorrow for suitable ballast and bare soil colours (and batter the 2011 budget) so hopefully it'll be less apparent. My dodgy track work has been pinned down so now it's time to fix down the 'concrete' building pads at the front and the silos along the rear and paint them a suitable concrete colour........to hand we have Dulux 'Pale Terracotta' emulsion, lets see if that turns out better than the Dulux 'Raw Umber' ground!

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Cause everyone loves a picture update!

 

Everything shown below is now stuck down and waiting for a coat of 'concrete'.

 

Trip to the model shop today gave the budget a battering. 2 bags of scatter for the ground and ballast, and 2 old secondhand N gauge cars for a pound each. Needless to say, typical Australian N scale cars isn't top of the list that shop would even be remotely likely to stock! However the first is a blue Audi 100 which kinda passes for an old commodore from a distance. And the second is a black Ford Capri (excellent find IMHO) which does a fantastic impression of an old 2 door Ford Falcon, just needs a couple of spoilers, big front bumper, and a blower through the bonnet for the Mad Max look. If only my modelling skills were that good!

 

Had a quick look to see how much 20 N scale working figures would be (to stick with the tedious 20-11 theme) but they'd be hopelessly outside the budget so will have a re-think.

 

The plan of sticking with the large radius turnout was a good idea, a second hand medium there was £8! Annoyingly though, they also had a similar style minitrix turnout whos curve would have nicely matched the S into the loading facility for just £1 secondhand.....I resisted the urge as didn't want to lay the track again.

 

As always, comments welcome.

 

SG

 

Earth coloured scatter material: £3.50

Light coloured ballast material: £1.99

2x N scale model cars: £2.00

Todays total spent: £7.49

Budget: £18.04

- £7.49

Total: £10.55 remaining

 

Edit: Looking at real world pictures, a lot of silos out there seem to be a nice bright white colour rather than bare concrete so it's opinion time! Leave them white? or turn them concrete? Answers on a post card please.

 

post-9147-0-63343300-1306871746_thumb.jpg

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Because i'm bored, and thoughts of turning this into part of a proper layout one day are going through my head, I thought i'd better work out a location for 'TK Grain'. With reference to the following:

 

http://www.railmaps.com.au/nswwest.htm

 

I'm going to write a new line into being!

 

Lets pretend a secondary more southern route was built from Sydney to Adelaide in addition to the existing route of the Indian Pacific. The route would follow the existing line from Sydney to Griffith then a new line would continue accross NSW straight towards Adelaide cutting accross the northern tip of Victoria.

 

I have no idea of the geography of this area so it's probably inhospitable mountains or desert (i'm sure someone will let me know) but I'm imagining the TK Grain terminal is located just on the NSW side of the NSW/Victoria border of the route. The reasoning behind this location is simply N gauge RTR stock availability! See the link kindly provided earlier in the thread.

 

The terminal can then be served by both NSW and VLine grain hoppers and motive power. Through services can be anything diverted from the normal trans-Australia route due to engineering works, as well as other local traffic and country link XPT services.

 

So now i'll wait quietly for someone to shoot holes in my fictional location :lol:

 

And here's some nice prototype video clips of inspirational serices for the future layout:

 

http://wn.com/Genesee_and_Wyoming_7AP4_freight_Nantawarra

 

SG

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