Sunday 29 October 2023

Some more progress

 Latest updates  on the SM Residence and train room - and a distraction.

In the last 2 weeks since my last Blog post, quite a lot has occured


CLP12 "Casper" is a regular visitor to Junee.  Here it is on the Turntable entrance road.  More of the turntable later

Wagga SM residence

The next area of construction was the 2 story annex, and original toilet block

The 0.010x0.080 styrene strip arrived to enable finishing the roof.   The remaining building additions were also added.  

Before the roof capping added, the SM residence had a large annex that was missing




Annex added

Closeup of the annex.  The door is a scratchbuilt overlay, on a 0.040 thick wall for strength.  Note the roof line variation, and I have not yet added guttering. Photos are useful - the wall join shadow points to a finishing issue


Some detail pictures, taken from the backyard with permission of the owner.  All the pipework will be great to add

Guttering added.  Note the location of the guttering is over the lower window, although nowhere as much as the prototype picture.  With a lot of guesswork for measurements, some errors will undoubtably occur.

Front balcony awning.

Underside of the awning.  The support "triangles" are shaped to support the convex balcony roof

Gluing the balcony awning to the front has made a great difference to the look.  Note the subtle curves of the corrugated iron.  This was made by heating the corrugated styrene in boiling water (*to soften) and then bending the styrene lengthwise to form a curve.  A process I repeated 3 times.  I am not convinced that this method is the best,   

Aerial view from 2020

A comparision picture

Next stages are to work on the balcony, windows, and external pipework.

Train room build (in pictures) 

Great progress occured over the weekend.  The ceiling is in. 


Delivery of ther gyprock sheets etc occured on Friday.  The main sheets are 6 metres long, and bought to minimise the joins

8 bales of insulation.  These are for the ceiling

metal battens installed 

More metal battens for the ensuite area.  The ensuite is to be sheeted seperately from the main room.  Gap is wide enough for the future Tastic (Light, heater, extractor fan)

First sheet screwed to the roof battens.  Insulation added earlier - Note the temporary timber "support", used to stabilize the sheet from bowing during the installation.  The yellow tongue wall made for a secure mount.  

Further sheets had to be stabilised with wood supports screwed to the metal battens

Whilst Matt (the plasterer) was undertaking the patching, Brett knocked up the internal door jamb

Picture taken from the area of the internal door - with the ceiling up, the size of the room becomes apparent 

The ensuite is also now sheeted.  The cornice finishes the ceiling.  This is the shower end

Ensuite - toilet end.  Keeping the brickwork will add some character, although the lack of insulation cannot be fixed with the location of the pre-existing slab pipework too close to the brickwork

Another Bunnings delivery is expected this week - the kitchenette cabinetry, and more yellow tongue sheeting


The distraction - Alistair Gilmour's layout donation to Junee

About a month ago, I was made aware that Junee Roundhouse Museum had been approached by Alistair Gilmour. Alistar was proposing to donate his home layout of the main south mainline from Wallenbeen to Junee, to Junee.  Alistair's home in Sydney had been sold, and the layout had to be removed.

The layout was included in the NMRA Rosehill layout tour earlier this month, and I am indebted to Pat Britten for providing me the following pictures taken during the openhouse.



Wallenbeen


Marinna? silo


Junee used to have a large coaling stage. The roundhouse in the background is approximately in the right location based on the protoype



Half of the Junee roundhouse is modelled fairly accurately.  If you visit the roundhouse (Wed-Sunday), the bays visible are for the workshop.  The side of the roundhouse not modelled is the current museum display


Bethungra

Illabo

Illabo silos




Cootamundra




Alistair has a fairly extensive computer controlled system, and this was included in the donation.  This picture supplied by the Junee group

Relocation to Junee.

On the 22nd of October, I was informed that Simon was looking for volunteers to help unload the layout out of a truck, and into storage.  The time was 8am Monday October 23.  Below are my pictures

The temporary storage facility

Rear of the truck showing the layout nicely stacked at the end of the roadtrip from Sydney

The roundhouse was a large section 

Room half filled.  The layout has been sectioned, and rudimentary supports added for transportation.  I understand that this work was done on site by Alistair's operations group, with assistance from the Epping Model Railway, whist the removal truck waited.   Well done.

Room filled.  

Last Thursday, there was a meeting of interested public, and 18 people turned up, including the Mayor of Junee.  (I have said earlier that Junee was a railway town).  The Roundhouse Museum explained their situation, that they were not presently in a position to rejuvenate, or display the layout.  However, they recognised the uniqueness of the donation. and didn't want it heading to landfill.  The Junee Model Railway club is proposing to take on the custody of the layout, with the first point being to locate a suitable venue - the prefered is the now empty barracks building within the roundhouse complex.  Discussions are occuring.   Cost of fixing the barracks will be very high, as that building will need a lot of work to bring it up to code (public access).  Timeframe for the project - 4-5 years 

The bottom line is that whilst I am prepared to help as needed, my own focus has to be my own layout.  But, I will add snippets of progress to my blog if people want to be kept informed.


Until next time, build a model or two




2 comments:

  1. Great progress on the Station Master's Residence Rob, even down to the curve of the awning roof, (and the chimneys!). And your train room looks amazing. Very envious!

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  2. There is something addictive about scratchbuilding, and I have chosen a project layout that will keep me addicted for years. I like the challenge of constructing something different from everyone else. Agree too, that the room is now looking good, and it represents my committment for the future layout. However, in some ways, your approach to construct a group of smaller layouts, for explore ideas and techniques, is a more practical way to modelling railways (saving both time and money).

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