Wagga Wagga Station Master Residence

 

Wagga
Wagga SM residence – Plans

 

Sometimes
one gets some information, that causes a change of focus.   Such
is the case with the Wagga Wagga Station Master Residence.

Photo taken from the footbridge.  Wagga’s SM residence is an impressive 2 storey structure, now used as a private residence

I had
always known that this building was a must for the Wagga layout, although it
wasn’t a priority.  This all changed
recently.  The June 2023 Australian Railway
History had a long article by Jim Longworth on the Main southern line
construction, and a further article on Gerogery station by Chris Banger has a
plan of the SM residence there.

Scanned image of Gerogery SM residence from the June ARH article by Chris Banger.  Unfortunately, the dimensions shown were not able to be read, due to the small size of the image in the ARH magazine

The
Gerogery SM residence was built around 
1880, and was very similar to Wagga Wagga SM residence. 

Aerial view of the Gerogery SM residence.

 The design was also used for Culcairn

Culcairn SM residence

Sixmap view of Wagga’s SM residence.  The design matches the Gerogery plans, and comparing the aerial images shows that unique additions were done to all 3 residences.  Sixmaps also provides a scale which is a useful tool for estimating dimensions on the structure

Making the
Plan

Before I
commit to cutting styrene, I needed to make plans of the SM residence

The
Gerogery SM plan in the June ARH was little more than a thumbnail, and when
enlarged, the dimensions were impossible to read.  This was a problem to scale the plan to
HO. 

Sixmaps
aerial view of Wagga Wagga (better resolution than Google)  gave a scale to see the dimensions of the
roof, although the roof edges of the image are a bit fuzzy.  However, from that measurement, it was
possible to compute the height of the walls.

With that
knowledge, I could have then enlarged the Gerogery plan to HO, and maybe that
would have worked, but there were some “funnies” in the plan that didn’t make
sense.  One of them was an inconsistency
in the roof – the ridgeline wasn’t in the middle of the roof, and the rear wall
and the right hand side wall were different widths.  .The aerial view of the roof seemed to
confirm the plan. 

The plans
also didn’t match my pictures taken of the residence, taken over the
years.  The add-ons, and the chimney
heights also were different.

So, I
thought I would draw up the plans in HO, something that I did for the
gatekeeper cottage

After
starting the drawing (and making a lot of drafting errors), I remembered that
Wagga City council had an online website, containing high resolution aerial
images.  Just a quick look at the roof of
the SM residence showed much more detail. 
And the 2016 image gave a hint of the previously hidden western (rear)
wall.  It also had a better scale than
six-maps, and a remeasure of the roof dimensions showed up a small error in my
original scale. 

Wagga City Council 2016 image. There is a hint of the Western aspect walls, but not enough to not have to guess

Wagga City Council 2020 image.  The trees had been removed on the Western side, but the shade sails still obscured part of the building.

So the
plans were redrawn.

My third attempt of the plans were scaled HO, but included some guesses as to the backyard

And I still
had a problem.

The rear
side of the SM residence was an educated guess. 
So, my idea would be to make the cottage in subassemblies – with the
extra constructions added over the years, made as a subassembly that could be
reworked if better information comes to hand

Site
Visit – 12th July.

Just as I
was prepared to publish this blogpost, I got word that a new booklet of the
Tumbarumba Branch was just produced, and copies were available at the Rail
Heritage museum at Wagga station.  As I
had to travel to Wagga for a medical, it made sense to go via the Museum to
collect the book.  And whilst I was
there, I would have another attempt to get pictures of the rear of the SM
residence.

Well, my
luck was in.  The occupants of the
Residence were in the backyard, and a quick discussion gave me permission to
actually view the rear.  I did take a
couple of pictures for my reference, but for privacy reasons, I will not include
them on my blog.  However, I now have the
information I needed to correct my plans.

And rather
than redraw the plans (again) in full, I would just cover the wrong bits with
paper, redraw that area, and rescan.  Each sheet was on A4

About the only guess I got right was the door, and window on the end of the extension

There is also a lot of pipework, and other details that I have not drawn – but I plan to add these during the construction of my model

 

I suspect
all of this would have been a lot easier if I had drafted my plans on computer,
using say, Corel draw.  I bought Version
12 of Corel a long time ago, but never learnt the package.  A skill in Corel is something that could be
used to replicate the lacy ironwork on the front, similar to Ross Balderson’s
efforts with the Wagga Wagga station model. 

My version
of the plans does not have the roof inconsistency, as to try and replicate that
exactly would just complicate my model build. 
It is a compromise I can live with.

 

Addendum

After
sending out my preliminary sketches, I got an email from Bob (with thanks), with a number of
TIF files showing the SM residence at Wellington, NSW.  Very similar to Gerogery’s SM residence plans,
although some differences with the chimneys. 
But the Wellington plan has clear dimensions, and could have saved a lot
of guesswork.  The Wellington plan also
has the roof inconsistency….anyone want to comment?

Wellington NSW SM Residence.  A lot of similarity with the Gerogery plan, although the chimney locations differ.  Wellington SM residence appears to have been demolished

And, I
would like to know the thinking in 1880 as to why Gerogery station gets a grand
SM residence,  Gerogery was only ever a
small village, and as far as I am aware, not going to be a junction station
with branchlines, unlike Culcairn just to the north.

Conclusion

The SM
residence is going to be a lot larger than I had initially envisaged, but I still
hope I can fit it onto the Wagga station baseboard area.

Now to
start cutting styrene.

Until next
time