Building Wagga: February 2018

Friday, 9 February 2018

Finding a train room

QBX 004 iat Junee Roundhouse. These locos are a common visitor on the mainline south, and whilst I am not modelling modern image,, I get to see and hear them daily from my house

Building a layout often requires doing things that are outside your comfort zone. . Most people will probably shudder at the electrics, whilst others will stall at the benchwork, or the scenery. In my case, to get my layout progresses requires an excursion into into 1:1 scale, and I am well out of my comfort zone. Let me explain.

Over the last month, my progress on building HO models has slowed. Finding time on the workbench during the hottest months of the year has been a struggle. But I have not been idle

Regular readers of my posts may have gathered that I presently do not have a train layout. When I bought the house in Junee in 2014, the 9 x 12 metre brick garage presented me with an opportunity, and a problem. The opportunity was that the garage had within the approved council plans, provision for a small bathroom, and the floor drains were already installed within the garage floor slab. This bathroom, could become a kitchenette for a granny flat, teenage retreat, man cave, or a train room. The problems were that these floor drains did not connect anywhere, As I needed the garage for storage, particularly whilst the extensive internal house renovations proceeded, the kitchenette, and granny flat build was academic .

In the meantime, my 2003 design concept for the Wagga and Tumbarumba branchline layout was modified to fit the new space. My original plan fitted inside an 6 x 8 metre shed. The “granny flat”’s kitchenette eats into the branchline benchwork, and as a result, I now need a helix to gain elevation to the second deck.

3D cardboard concept of the layout, showing the granny flat 'void" in the bottom RHS

Now that the house is basically finished, I have turned my attention to the garage, backyard, storage, and Granny flat.

Carport framework being installed in front of the garage in 2016. What is not obvious from this picture, is that the driveway drain under the carport was blocked, and this area flooded after rain. At least the carport, and the new roller doors helped keep the garage door area dry.

Well, progress on the backyard has now started. I won’t get into the nit and gritty, but some fences were “relocated”, some ground was levelled, a woodshed moved, water lines, stormwater, and septic trenches were dug, and pipes installed. Replacement of the garage’s leaking downpipes, and drain problems fixed. Paths and retaining walls are in the process of installation, and soon will follow a couple of concrete slabs for a garden shed, and the fore-mentioned woodshed. For storage, I have identified a suitable location for a container, and this should provide a home for stuff that might one day be needed? I am hoping these changes will free up the back half of the garage so that building the “granny flat” can commence in as few months So, whilst the HO modelling is on hold, the goal towards a layout is progressing.

Some in progress pictures to finish. Stay focused, and you will get there in the end.

The things one finds. The previously mentioned carport drain was exposed, and we discovered a section of pipe removed by the previous owners. Unsure why. Anyway, the plumbers fitted a new drainpipe off the garage, and a pipe junction to fix this issue. The concrete will get replaced as part of the new paths in this area.

Digging the new septic line. The future train room has its own doorway.

The septic, and intersected stormwater pipes from the garage share the one trench for a distance,. The new septic tank will be installed on the other side of the new fence separating the paddock, from the house backyard.

Digging the posts for a retaining wall behind the "machinery" shed.

Pathway formwork from the house to the "machinery shed". is still be fitted.. This shed currently has temporary dog run pens installed. Most frustrating, is that this shed has the best view of the main south railway line. At least being farthest away, the dog noise is reduced slightly

My Interests

I don't know when I was first interested in Trains. But, I do recall asking my mother what happened to the trams in Sydney, as we were riding on a smelly bus along Anzac Parade. I also recall watching a cyclops eye black loco pulling the 2 toned carriages into Wagga station (38 class with Tuscan and Russet RUB cars). My parents bought me a hornby clockwork train around 1961, and I upgraded to Triang in 1963, at age 4. The Triang lasted until 1978, when I headed to UNSW. The 6x4 layout was dismantled, and the track sold. I bought my first NSW HO in 1978, after discovering AMRM in Hobbyco.

After moving to Canberra in 1982, I joined the ACT Model Railway society, and began a long process of learning, and experimenting, running Malkara exhibition, but nothing remarkable layoutwise until after 1997. Noteable layouts were constructed after this date, "Twelfth Street Yard" in 2000, "Little Austria" in 2003, and "Yendys" in 2010.

Besides layout building, I like to travel (Train bias), collect, photograph, and read. My personal library of train books takes up one of my bedrooms, and is well stocked I also like to build models from kits, repair, and paint brass trains.

Since I have retired from the Public Service, I bought a place in Junee, which has a view of the main south railway line, and has the space for a train layout.