Shepherds Siding benchwork

 Installing benchwork for Shepherds Siding

Shepherds Siding is the first section of scenery for the layout's mainline.  It will include the wheat silo for operational interest.  The benchwork has taken me longer to install, as other non-railway things got in the way. The actual benchwork was a bit trickier than I originally envisioned.  So rather than do a 2 part blog post,  I thought it best to wait until the benchwork was complete. 

The Bomen VISY Container shuttle train approaches Shepherds on August 7th, 2025.  The former siding has been placed out-of-use, and is quietly rusting away.  

The shuttle train was headed by QUBE QBX001, and Independant Rail MZ 1431

2 years ago, I wrote a blogpost on the prototype location 
https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2023/12/shepherds-siding.html

Plywood.

The Benchwork for Shepherds siding started with cutting out a sheet of plywood.  

Using a handsaw, and jigsaw, this shape was based on the brown paper template that I drew last year.  The  centerline of 70 cm radius curve was drawn now, rather than later

The shape wrangled into position.  Unfortunately, this was the 3rd attempt - additional clearances needed to be cut out

I used some wooden blocks to elevate the plywood above the staging yard tracks

Frame.

I was using up some leftover pine offcuts from the room build, and my earlier home layout which is probably not ideal.  There were some minor dimension differences. 

I made a rough sketch of the frame

Timber framing roughly placed on the plywood.  

Framing screwed together.  Once this was done, the frame was traced onto the plywood, to give the guilde for the later holes to hold the screws

The frame on the floor of the train room

The frame just resting on the blocks of wood that formally held the plywood aloft

Getting the height right

Shepherds Siding will be  level, so there will need to be a vertical curve beyond the 3% grade of the ramp.  The end of that curve will determine the height of Shepherds above the staging yard tracks

I extended the ramp with an offcut length of pine.  The pine didn't bend on its own - the 3% grade is easily seen above the frame

The spirit level damped down pine, with a really nice curve 

The frame was raised to meet the pine, using some plywood offcuts as spacers

Clamps, block extenders, and another spirt level to confirm the the shepherds Siding area was level

Joining the ramp to the plywood requires use of a special joiner made of a plywood, and pine board sandwich

The joiner on the top of the ramp.  The clamp is holding the pieces of timber whilst the white glue set.  Once the plywood is laid, screws will be used to fasten it properly. 

After the clamps had been removed, and the risers all screwed, the frame ready for the plywood top

Plywood top installed.  The previous lines drawn of the frame on the plywood, made for an easy drilling the screw holes.  The height difference was 17cm, just shy of the 20cm that I wanted, but still more than enough clearance for the staging yard tracks

A mat for the crawl under the shepherds siding benchwork to the void beyond makes it easier for your knees.  

Shepherds Silo

Many years ago, I acquired an Auscision S024 silo kit cheaply.  I knew it was not correct for Shepherds Siding's S016 silo, but it was cheap.  Later, there was an opportunity to swap it for an S016 from a model train enthusiast in Wagga, but unfortunately, the deal never materialised, as illness took over, and the layout was disposed off by his family.

So, how does the Auscision S024 silo fit the space?

The S024 silo in the rough location.  The Auscison model is cast in resin, and quite heavy.  It assumes a straight track alignment.  To accomodate the curve, the resin would need careful carving away

I always knew that the siding track would be tighter than the 70cm radius of the main line, but estimating the radius with the Peco flex track at 45cm may be too much of a compromise.  

The short answer is that the silo will not fit.  I had considered removal of one of the large bins, to make the silo foorprint physically smaller, then repairing the mess, but that might be just as hard as building an S016 silo from scratch. 

Conclusion

It was great to actually get the benchwork down, but I can no longer put off installing the electrics.

To finish, here are some more images from Shepherds.

More pictures from the August 7th VISY container train

Greg Wilson photographed a train passing by Shepherds in 1982.  Greg was obviously on the bulk wheat silo. The BWH on the siding are the type of wheat hoppers that I have for my operation session

Greg Wilson also captured an XPT from the same location - it is outside my nominal 1970 time period, but I also plan to run the XPT on my layout. 

Hosting an NMRA meeting

 Hosting an NMRA meeting - Div2 - July 2025

Shortly after I moved to Junee in 2015, I hosted a meeting for the ACT/Sthn NSW division of the AR region, of the NMRA.  There was no layout to show, but I dragged out my collection of slides, and gave a slide presentation of my pictures taken since 1980 of the future layout prototype locations.  9 members made the trip from Canberra.

QBX 005 arrived at Junee Roundhouse whilst a few NMRA members were visiting on the Sunday after my meeting 

Since that time, I was not prepared to host a followup meeting, until I had something to show.  The planets seem to align for July 19th, so I booked in the date early in the year on the Div 2 division calendar.   

Prior to the meeting

Stephen O'brien, the Div 2 Super had wanted a meeting in Junee, as he felt it important to conduct meetings outside Canberra, to encourage membership who can't get to Canberra meetings.  Div 2 is a widely spread geographic area, and travelling to meetings can be an expensive undertaking.  There is always a possibility of making the meeting part of a weekend short break. Junee is still a railway town, with an operating Roundhouse/museum, an original Railway Refreshment room cafe, and a Licorice and chocolate factory.  Nearby in Wagga, the miniature 7.25" trains run on a  2km track in the Botanical gardens, and they would be operating on the Sunday after my meeting.  There is also the Railway museum on the Wagga station platform.

I discussed the above options with Stephen, and the email asking for meeting acceptances was sent out 2 weeks prior to the meeting.

The presentation.

My earlier presentation was old school slides, but I wanted an upgrade.  Since then, I have documented my progress on this blog, and I had lots of computer images,  that would work with a projector.  So, in June, I purchased a HD projector from Amazon for just over $160.  I was very impressed with the service, fast delivery and the ease of setup.  Projectors have come a long way in the 17 years since I first used them at my workplace in the ACT public service

After the initial test of the projector, my next task was to totally clear the floor area of my train room.  Whilst this took an inordinate amount of time, it was great to finally consign the clutter to history.  

The test of the projector in the train room, using the previously painted light grey wall showed that I needed to fit curtains to each of the windows.  So, a trip to Spotlight, and $200 for curtains and mounting hardware.  The curtains worked to darken the room.

The VOPLLS projector, on the stand.  The laptop (not shown) is connected via the supplied HDMI cable, although it could work wirelessly with WiFi.  The lamp (Temu freebie) is so I can see the laptop keyboard when the room lights are off

Actual Image of the projection on the wall.  The long ramp (see last blogpost) of the layout can just be made out in the gloom.  Success.  Note, the image is my picture from a cruise to NZ in 2010 - Port Chalmers/Dunedin, where the tour train meets the ship.

Death by Powerpoint is the last thing I wanted.  Fill it with pictures, and limited text.  But what to describe?  I settled on 2 themes

 - Scratch building a real building - Bomen Station

- Modifying a kit to fit a prototype location - Kyeamba Creek Bridges

Powerpoint presentations created for both :- either one, or the other, or both could be shown depending on time

Acceptances. 

Div 2 membership is around 60 members, and I thought that numbers wanting to travel over 2 hrs to my meeting would be few in number.  I was wrong.  A week out there were 15 acceptances, and more were expected.   The total ended up at 20, but there were another 5 blow-ins who just arrived

Catering.

I am indepted to Tracy for her help with this aspect.  

Coffee, Tea, and biscuits stored in the train room kitchenette cupboard 

We started acquiring supplies in June, and as the acceptance, numbers started rising, she decided on the full afternoon tea aspect.  Hot fare would be  sausage rolls, little boys, spring rolls, plus soup and bread rolls.  In addition, dips, cheese, olives, cabanossi, loaded egg curry sandwiches, and pikelets, with cream and jam.  And we also acquired a second air-fryer, so as to minimize the time to cook the sausage and spring rolls.

Our weekly shop to Wagga bought much of the above, the bread/pikelets was purchased on the Friday in Junee before the meeting to be as fresh as possible.

I then started the cleaning of all the coffee and soup cups.  Many had railway themes.  It all takes time

Layout room preparation continues

I do not have enough chairs, and the email sent out by Stephen, requested that people bring a portable chair is possible.  I had just 6 dining room table chairs, and Pete offered me some more plastic chairs, on the proviso, that they needed cleaning.

Stackable chairs - rated at 100kg only

My next task was to display many of my models created over the last 8 years.  I have documented the construction of each one in my blog, but seeing them live is better.  The below 30 second video shows them

Lastly I set up a tables for show-n-tell, bring-and-buy, and for the afternoon tea.

The meeting

Stephen had suggested that attendees have a light lunch at the Railway Cafe at 12 noon, before heading to my place at 1pm.  I understand, that they were treated to a train down at the station.  Other members started arriving at my place from around 12:30.  The meeting began around 1:10pm with normal NMRA business.

Stephe Jitts MMR about to award an achievement plaque.

Congratulations Craig

The meeting continued with a show-n-tell session.  I tried to encourage the assembed crowd to grab a coffee, and a few nibbles from items on my kitchenette, during the interval before my presentation, but this aspect didn't work out as well as I hoped.

I had told Tracy that 3pm would be the time for the afternoon tea.  I probably rushed my presentation, the only glitch happened when mid presentation, the projector suggested a firmware upgrade.  After the Bomen station talk, I still had another 20 minutes, so the Kyeamba bridge powerpoint followed.  Finishing at 2:55pm, members seemed to not know about the afternoon tea - and had to be ushered out of my train room.  They were either talking between themselves, or admiring my models.

Pete's picture.  The large module in the background is not my work, it was built by Ron Cullen, one of the items acquired in December on my rushed Melbourne Trip

Pete's picture, showing Bomen station, and at the back, the Kyeamba Creek bridge

The ones who arrived earlier for afternoon tea, demolished the pikelets.  And most of the rest of the food was consumed too - which was good, as I hate waste.  

Pete's picture of the crowd under the carport.  Dale is showing off his Freemo module

Dale's Freemo module.  Wayside signal box, and siding.  My picture

Pete made good use of the winter sunlight with these 3 pictures.

Long distance members

My driveway was not big enough, so many cars were parked on the side of the road.

Attendees came from most corners from Div 2.  Albury, Batemans Bay, Bemboka, Bombala, Bywong, Canberra, Murrumbateman, Wagga, and Junee.  

Sunday

Those staying overnight had options for Sunday.  Pete opened up his hobby railway for inspection at 9:30am

https://www.peteshobbyrailway.club/

From left to right - George, Ben, Ian (rear), me, Stephe and Robin.  Pete's had positioned his Ruston on the turntable, and his steam loco Torpedo closest to the engine shed.

After the visit to Pete, another 1km to the Roundhouse Museum

Conclusion

 Hosting a meeting is a significant commitment.  It involves planning, and expense.  Whilst there is a token payment for catering, it fell well short of the actual cost.  Possibly comparable to the cost of fuel when I travel to Canberra for a meeting.  And there is a time factor.  Even as I write this 2 days afer the meeting, I still have not finished cleaning up all the cups, and repacking the models I had on display.  I only returned the chairs to Pete this morning.  Mind you, I delayed myself finishing the packup with writing the blog post.

Thanks to Pete for his opening up his hobby railway for us, and for use of some of his pictures

I wish to especially thank Tracy for her help, without her I would have struggled.  She did tell me on Saturday morning, that I was trying to micromanage her, and if I didn't stop, she would go on strike!!  One has to trust the better half.

From my own benefit, it was good to get my room cleared, and to return something back to the organisation I have been in for 35 years.  And the train room worked, and that was encouraging for the future entertainment of the operating crew.  Unfortunately, there will be no further meetings in the room - once the benchwork for the central peninsular is built, the available space shrinks.  

Until next time, build a model or two.

Installing the ramp

 The long ramp installation 

After my ramp testing, it was time to install.

Still wearing reminents of Genesee & Wyoming livery, SSR CLF2 awaits in Junee for its next assignment - probably a grain train

The ramp is to go behind the future Bomen station area

A string line was attached to the wall -  rising from the staging yard, and extending to Shepherds

The brackets were just touching the string line.

The white plank was then secured to the brackets with screws from below.  Easier said than done - very awkward to drive in the screws 

A wooden block installed at the bottom of the ramp. This block is also sloped with spacers. 

Track on the ramp is just placed prior to securing the track to the double crossover (out of sight).  

Preparing the track.

Electrical connections around track joiners is one of those tasks that is mind numbing, but to rely on just the track joiners for electrical connections is a recipe for frustrations later.  So, before the track on the ramp was installed, I soldered a wire jumper to the ends of the rail, around the joiner.  

This was on the staging track, but the process was repeated for the ramp track segments

The wire I used. Flexible, and rated at 3Amp

Wire stripper is essential.  I have owned this for over 30 years

Foam roadbed

At the bottom of the ramp, there was a need to raise the track from the double crossover to the wooden board.  I had some scrap blue foam, which I sliced into strips, and glued into position

I needed to pin the strips with nails whilst the white glue dried

Never have too many clamps

After shaping and sanding, track installed off the Atlas rerailers.

DCC Concepts Power base installed under the track starting at 2 metres up the ramp.  The 6 lengths of flex track prewired with jumper wires, placed onto the power base.  There are a few rail expansion gaps between the lengths of flex track.  The contractor engine pictured is a tribute to days of olde. 

My test train at the bottom of the ramp.  The curve ended up being over 1 metre radius, with some transititioning off the straights. The train successfully climbed the 3% grade

Close coupled looks great. Pity this scene will be later hidden by the benchwork.

 The upper end of the ramp is just shy of 17cm above the staging yard, but will continue upwards around the Shepherds loop.   Something that I hope to start before I host the NMRA Div2 meeting on July 19th

Some other activities

Whilst I had the bench saw out to reduce the width of one of the white planks, I cut a shelf from surplus timber, for one of the cupboards for the kitchenette bench. 

There were no holes in the cupboard for the shelf supports, so I made up a height jig, and drilled the 5mm holes at a consistant height

Some essential supplies stocked, ready for the meeting

Conclusion

This post should should have happened a few weeks ago, but a combination of non railway activities, and a bout of Covid has delayed things somewhat.  But progress, is progress.

Until next time, build a model or two