Late on a hot August night, the small bus depot that had stood alongside the tracks at Philden Beach saw the drivers sign-off for one last time and the two luxury motor coaches quietly disappear in the dead of night.
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| With the busses gone, the witches’ hats were pried free to be reused on the new scene. |
Early next morning, concerned locals reported seeing a giant hand jump over the fence and remove the few remaining signs and witches’ hats from the scene, bringing to an end a microcosm of alternate modelled reality that had graced this blog since 2021. And just like that, the Murrays Coachlines bus depot was no more.
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| The original bus depot in 2021. It was set against the backdrop of industrial inner-Melbourne as part of the Philden Street Yard layout. |
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| By the end of 2022 a chain wire fence had been erected around the depot and trees had sprung up. |
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| And by August 2024 the vacant bus depot was replaced by a cement plant that was teleported to Philden Beach from the original Philden layout of 2015. |
Replacing this scene came about after the release of my book Revamp an Existing Layout. Although I was happy to have enjoyed the sight of the parked Murrays Coaches hiding in the background of so many of my photos from my books, I’ll now have a more interactive structure to occupy the background of my future photos. The cement plant looks like it has been there the entire time, when in-fact it was left over from my original Philden Build a Bookshelf Layout. It becomes a nice touch to tie elements of all 6 books into the one layout, and you can follow the Cement Plant rebuild project on the links below.
Next up, the cement plant gets weathered to make it look like a salt air survivor. Make sure you keep reading to see what the giant hand does next!
