As this blog and my Australian HO scale modelling journey heads into its 10th year, I’ve found myself writing blog posts less often. Yet if I’m honest, firing up the layout’s throttle more frequently for some time-out from the stress of study, life, and the modern world, than perhaps at any other point of my model railway life. Finally, it seems that I have a layout that works wonderfully well while meeting all of the important elements that made me want to model trains in the first place.
Which as any modeller will tell you, is only a recipe to tinker with the layout some more…
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| This has all come about as a result of wanting to disguise the transition from staging shelf to layout proper when photographing on my layout. |
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| In a sign of what’s to come for my layout, some early 80’s era models have appeared alongside my staging yard transition. |
Perhaps it was last year’s self-analytic psychological layout revamp. Perhaps it was this year’s need to sell-off what was no longer necessary to afford some new camera equipment in a return to full-time study. Or perhaps it was just the newfound confidence to only model the things that meant something to me following the release of my final Philden Model Railway book. This year I have noticed there has been less pressure to ‘get it right’ or model it ‘prototypically’ for the sake of anyone other than myself.
Once you reach that point where there is nothing wrong with the layout, you either embark on adding as much rollingstock to your collection as you possibly can, a kinda ‘he who dies with the most trains wins’ mantra, or you inevitably start over on a new layout. Thanks to how stuffed the world’s economy is lately, neither of those options have been on my table. Instead, returning to full-time study had forced me to sell-off a lot of my collection simply to get by. So, with my roster now rolled-back to the bare minimum of what is required to enjoy it, I started thinking about how much more enjoyment could be squeezed out of the layout as it currently stands.
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| The fuel tracks are a fun place to change over locos during an operating session. So, what would they look like if I changed over eras? |
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| The start to rebuilding a layout roster by adding a second era to model has begun with an Auscision Models NSW 44 Mk I Class in the austerity Indian Red livery. |
Part of my Visual Arts certificate has involved studying mixed media artworks and different ways of presenting photographs. So along with concentrating on my studies, I also started pulling apart my former Philden beach extension (below), to repurpose as a drop-in interpretive piece of art that could be displayed at the entrance to my staging yard. This will help open-up the video angle for filming trains as they pass beneath the Philden Street overpass from the staging yard to the layout proper, without seeing the stark white staging shelf that ruins the illusion of watching trains disappear from the scene. The scene, (complete with the backdrop section you can see from my old layout in the top photos), drops into a recessed area beside the tracks on my staging shelf and essentially becomes a continuation of the scene from my book shop beside the Philden Street overpass.
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| My former Beach Extension from my previous Philden layout is finally being dismantled and repurposed after sitting in my wardrobe for the past 5 years. |
By modelling this as a drop-in section, the layout will still fit into our 4WD should I ever take Philden Beach to another exhibition. There is also room for me to model a station platform on the facing side of the layout just behind the throttle mount, (hence the sudden appearance of some passenger rollingstock in the top photos), with the idea of repurposing my original Philden Railway Station building that has been stored in a shoebox since the layout met its demise back in 2019. By modelling the station building as a drop-in structure, I can model 1985 with the station in place. Or, by lifting it back out I can once more return the layout to its 2013+ setting.
By definition of what is considered railway modelling, these two drop-in scenes are not going to be to everybody’s cup of tea. Which leaves me reluctant to want to share its construction here. I’m sure that once my layout’s arts-makeover and heritage re-fit is complete, I will have some interesting photos to share. The concept will resurrect my former cement plant and NSW A4 station building from my original Philden layout and combine it with some artsy-style mixed media using old books, backdrops and buildings to create something that is just that ‘little bit different’ from what you’d expect to see on a model train layout.
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| The staging shelf remains untouched at the far end… |
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| …while my modern 2013+ roster is now down to just 3 locomotives. |
Nothing in life is cheap, and I haven’t been able to just run out and buy what I’d like. So, I’ve had to part with my C Class locomotive and my fleet of weathered and graffitied sugar hoppers just to make a start. It still leaves me with a wonderful trio of modern sound equipped locos to operate, (seen sitting proudly on display in my glass cabinet above), while I save to add another 80’s locomotive to my roster in the future. I see this as a 5-year plan, so am simply not bothered by not having what I can’t afford at the moment or isn’t available right now anyway.
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| Newly acquired 4434 at the Sydney-end head shunt on my layout. Perhaps with a shortened North Coast Daylight Express? |
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| The Sydney-end head shunt is just long enough to accommodate a 3-car locomotive hauled train. Ideally, I would like to afford to add a power van to my 2-car RUB set. The head shunt is also long enough to handle a 4-car DEB set should I win Lotto between now and the end of the year! |
Also looking forward, after dealing with a bit of anxiety as a result of disappointing sales from my last book, and some nasty social media backlash on account of trying to promote it amongst the many Facebook groups I once belonged to, I’ve sadly wiped my Facebook account. It was pretty disappointing to have put so much of my time and life savings into producing the 6 model railway books that I have, only to read snide remarks or have posts about my books removed with rude explanations as to why. I never got this treatment as a novelist, so perhaps it is just that we have that horrible Australian ‘tall poppy syndrome’, within the hobby. But there is nothing more disappointing than overhearing other modellers openly talking negatively about you at a swap meet, in the confines of a hobby shop or to a show organizer. It’s uncomfortable and certainly doesn’t leave me feeling appreciated.
Once more I am going to return to the days of simply enjoying the hobby in my own company.
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| A look at what model railroading might look like for me in the future, a return to simply modelling for my own pleasure. |
Once I wrap up my full-time studies, I’m looking forward to completing my drop-in staging transition scenes and hopefully posting some more images of how this will all turn out. There’s also my Welsh Highlands 009 narrow gauge layout to complete in time for Christmas this year. Meanwhile, I’m in the process of filming my final Trains Gone Troppo videos of my layout to upload to YouTube. Judging by the minimal number of views they have been getting compared to the time I have put into producing them, it is another project I won’t be continuing with. But I do have enough Friday Film Club posts already auto queued on the blog to see you all through to the end of September!
Until next time, enjoy your modelling and please… continue to treat your fellow modellers kindly.
Cheers!
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