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 Muttama - 140 years after opening of Railway

Muttama recently held a small celebration of the opening of the railway through their village.

Muttama is located on the former branch line between Cootamundra and Gundagai - opened in 1886.  Muttama hosted a small station building, goods shed, stock siding.   The line from Gundagai was later extended across the Murrumbidgee River, to Tumut, and Batlow.  Trains on the branch were quite frequent, but alas, the last train ran in 1984.

As Muttama was just over an hour from Junee, the celebration seemed a good excuse to explore a section of railway line that was off my normal travel routes.  

Getting there.

As the "Back Brawlin" gravel road from Cootamundra to Brawlin followed the railway alignment, it seemed a good choice.  A lot of the line had been pulled up, which is a "no-no", as the line has not officially been closed despite the absence of trains for over 40 years.  At Brawlin the gatekeeper cottage was still standing, and occupied

In the distance, looking along the line back towards Cootamundra, the loading bank platform at Brawlin  could be made out.  

From Brawlin, the road rejoins the main Cootamundra-Coolac road, which we took to Muttama.

Muttama

The Muttama Hall contained the part of the display.  The other displays extended to the other side of the road.  Pizza, coffee, and steak/sausage sandwich vans in the nearby yard

Across the road, a small country fete/market stalls to tempt the tastebuds further

Cootamundra & District Machinery Restoration Society members had a lovely display.

Various designs and colours of lineside insulators was most interesting.  

Brian Flanagan's display of brass taps and fittings 

And on the back of the ute, was a working steam engine

Further on, the Wagga Wagga Model Engineering Society had a display of large scale railway models

CPH #8, 7.25" gauge

Moving these engines requires special equipment.  The uneven ground was providing more of a challenge
 

5701 - 5" gauge was in steam .  The rolling road allowed one to see the motion close up

Gresley conjugating gear

Below is a short video of the gear in motion

The model train layouts

Five small layouts, and a large amount of photographs, data, and newspaper clippings were on display in the Muttama Hall.  For a modest $2 entry fee, it represents good value.

Muttama - By Peter Beyer

Peter's layout was effectively a diorama in motion of the former Muttama station environment.  It was great to see this layout again, but special to be exhibited in the actual Muttama village.

Coolac - by Peter Lawson

Coolac is the next station on the line from Muttama, heading towards Gundagai.  I knew Coolac quite well over the years, as I passed through Coolac frequently  before the Hume Hwy was diverted.   

(Any excuse to put some of my pictures)

CPH #6 approaches Coolac in the early 1980s drought.  My picture converted from slide

CPH #6 about to depart Coolac heading towards Cootamundra.  Hume Hwy is visible on the LHS, and the level crossing is well off in the distance.  My picture.

Coolac was a new layout for me.  Andrew has captured the main elements- station, signalbox, goods shed, and stockyards.

A visitor from Sodor makes an appearance

A scene that mimicks the photo I took in the early 1980s.  The CPH is pointing the right way

Wattamondra - by Robbie Crouch

Wattamondra is a small station north of Demondrille, on the cross country line to Cowra, and Blayney.  The backscene is particularly effective.  

The layout as I first saw it at the recent RPM meet in Sydney

I photographed this layout recently

https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2026/04/sydney-rpm-2026.html

Here are some extra pictures

The access to the oval and fiddleyard is through a hole in the backscene.  The hole is generally hidden from view of the public by the silos.

View of the silo as seen through the access hole.  

Other layouts

Ladysmith displayed by Mark Pottie.  Mark is part of the small group of volunteers "Ladysmith Tourist Railway" who has restored the station at Ladysmith, near Wagga.  They run monthly Trike trips for the public on a small section of the original Tumbarumba railway line.  Mark also had a large photo display, and some small railway perway vehicles outside.

Jindalee displayed by the Beyer family.  Jindalee is a locality north of Cootamundra on the main line.  The N scale layout was built quickly, and cheaply a few years ago, to fill a gap in an exhibition. 

Summary.

The Muttama celebration was a great day out.  Not only was I able to see some great large scale modelling  (the 57 class was a standout), it was good to catch up with Peter, Robbie, Mark, and Gary on the layouts.  And besides the date loaf, onion jam, and plum sauce bought at the fete, I also came back with appreciation of the line between Coolac, and Cootamundra, AND a special piece of artwork for the wall.. 

"Gundagai" - 'Goldenfields Laser Cutting and Engraving' of Muttama had this, and other images for sale $45.  These images has been laser cut onto wooden boards from original photographs.  Very tactile

Until next time, build a model or two.

Sydney RPM - Home layouts

 Visiting Home layouts after the Sydney RPM event

Model railways are a social hobby, to be enjoyed with others.  Well, that is my experience.  As part of the recent Sydney RPM event, I was able to talk with my fellow modellers, and I was honoured to receive invitations to visit their home layouts.  Two of these layouts were in the southern highlands, south of Sydney, where I could visit enroute to my home in Junee on Sunday. 

Tim Preddey's "Cooma Monaro"

Tim has constructed a large double deck layout in a purpose built building.  The area he has chosen to model is a section of the NSW Monaro railway from Cooma, heading south.  Time period late 1950s-60s.  The real railway line to Bombala, was built using NSW railway pioneer standards - cheap and cheerful;  very light construction, minimal earthworks, fencing, and rudimentary facilities 

Tim's model of Cooma station was constructed from card, and painted in a 1950s colours.   The real station was built in 1889, and served as the terminus of the Monaro Railway until the line was extended to Nimmitabel in 1912, and to Bombala in 1921.  The barracks in the background was scaled using NSW railway drawings of an extension to the barracks. 

Cooma railway yards extend north of the station.  

Tim is using code 55, microengineering flex track.  The fineness of the rail enhances the simple open culvert

MacLaughlin Meat Works was built in the late 1930s, and abandoned 3 years later after their freezers failed; they lost all the meat and couldn't pay their creditors.  The former siding has been pulled up by the 1950s.  Tim's model is exquiste

The trestle bridge over the MacLaughlin River is enhanced greatly with the backdrop.  Tim has trekked to the real bridge, and taken a location specific picture.  This picture, like all the others on the layout, were printed by Office Works, and affixed to the backscene, with scenery blended with texture, and colours. 

But I know you will like to see a train on the trestle.

A 3 car DEB set emerges from a roadbridge - possibly modelled after the one on the Old Bombala Road

Tim's staging yard on the upper deck 

Tim told me that the helix to get between the two decks, was from a former layout.   

Tim at the end of one aisle shows the scale of the layout's two decks, seperated in height by about 50cm, with a lot of space for the operators to pass each other.

The other main aisle - lower deck not yet sceniced.  Tim's method for scenery is old school - chicken wire, and plaster bandage, rather than carved foam.   Note the lights on the valence on the upper deck.  Tim has used LED tube lighting that gives an excellent covereage.  On the Left hand side upper deck is Nimmitabel station

Nimmitabel Station.  Note the lighting, and the lack of a backdrop.

Stockyards at Nimmitabel are particularly nice. 

rear of Nimmitabel station.  Lack of a backdrop gives the scene a lot of depth

Cooma goods shed, and yard "in daylight"

Cooma "at night". Tim's lighting was quite effective, although the picture from my phone's camera didn't quite capture the full effect 

Tim's staging yard is positioned above his workbench.

Steve Pettit - Denver and Rio Grande Western

Steve, like Tim, has a constructed a purpose built room.  He is planning to model specific scenes from the D&RGW through Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and Helper in Utah.  The scenery is no where near as advanced as Tim's.  

The trackplan - drawn on graph paper.  Every grid is 125mm square

2 layers of blue foam board glued together are quite stiff enough to not sag under the weight of locomotives.  Steve also makes use of the space under the layout for plastic trays (bought at Bunnings), to keep all his various projects seperated from each other

Inspiration from photographs is taken to the next level, as these pictures will form the template for the actual scenes to be modelled.  

The pictures for "Helper-Utah"

Steve ran a train around the layout for me.  Steve generally only heavily details the first locomotive in the lash-up, the other engines get weathering and not much else.  This is one "trick" that saves Steve modelling time. 

The staging tracks are accessable from the "garage" area of the shed.  The track is protected from the elements by insulated,  drop down covers.  

Steve's interests are varied.  His PE depot scene at the RPM meet would be more at home with these structures.  I have covered another of Steve's layouts - the "Chamatiago & South Western" HOn3  at the 2026 Narrow Gauge convention report earlier.   

Where the magic happens.  Steve's workbench is a masterclass in ergonomics.  Everything needed is close at hand.  And once finished for the day, the 2 doors of the closet are closed, and the room is left neat and tidy.

Mittagong Railway station.

I had a few minutes to spare before my visit to Tim, so I thought I would do a quick photographic survey of the station.  As all the citylink trains had been replaced by buses, I had the station surrounds almost all to myself.

Some renovation was being done to the main building

Elevators were installed on the footbridge in 2020 as part of modernisation

The signal box is well out-of-use, but it rather sad to see broken windows

With all the "rationalization" that the railways are doing, I was surprised to sight a crossover at the down end of the station

The former goods shed.

I was a bit slow to capture the AK inspection train as it approached the station, but did manage a pair of pictures of it leaving.

Powering away, GM10, and GM22 head towards Sydney

Summary

The pair of layout visits was a great way to finish the RPM meet weekend.  Not only did I meet some wonderful modellers, I have gained some excellent ideas that will help me with my own modelling.

I understand that Justin Michell is planning another RPM meet next year on April 10, and trying to coinicide the event with layout visits, and possible operation days before, and after the April 10.   I would suggest that you mark the date in your calendar.

Thank you to Tim and Steve for hosting my visit.  I found both layouts inspirational.

Until next time, build a model or two.