Narellan Layout at the Point of Completion

Just over one year of starting Narellan, I am please to announce that this layout is completed to the point that it can now be exhibited in Public. Certainly, I can now cross off my bucket list in building a NSWGR themed HO scale layout that is functional. However, I believe from point on that changes on Narellan will be made where appropriate. I do believe that many Model Rail Layouts are ongoing projects well after their point of completion. In fact, I already have a couple of things in mind to do.

The final stretch in completing Narellan involved in getting a lot of small items constructed and added onto the layout.

Ground Throws
After completing all of the ground throws, painting was needed to have them completed. After a couple of inquiries, I learnt that the colour of the leavers determined the purpose of the leaver.
Blue - For Locking of the frame
Black - For points
Red - For Signals

Ground Throws and other items primed up ready to be painted

There are a few photographs that are in colour of Narellan Yard, but not that many show good detail of the Ground Throw setup and appropriate colour for the Ground Throw Leavers. Therefore, educated guessing and doing further consulting with others was needed to decide on how the Ground Throw Leavers were to be painted.

Paint job completed on the Ground Throws

Signal Lever Block
For the Signal Lever Block for Narellan, it was a 6 Leaver Block. You will find that looking at other locations that out door signal Blocks will have a variation of the amount of leavers that they have on them. Therefore, I would have to prototype one to looks similar to the one that was once at Narellan that I would need to kit bash one up.

I will mainly focus on how I did the construction of the Signal Lever Block as painting is already covered with the Ground Throws.

I decided to construct the Signal Lever Block by Kitbashing 2 x Andlan Models 3 Lever Ground Frames (AIM 104), which will involve one of the Levers Plates to be cut as shown in the following photos.

 With the Plate for the levers from the First Kit, carefully cut the tab off as shown above.

With the Plate for the levers from the Second Kit, carefully cut the edge off as shown above.

I did rush through this task a bit and got myself into a spot of bother when trying to join the plates together. I wanted to join the plates up first in order to make both plates to be consistent with one another when I bent them into shape. I was able to easily achieve this, but found later on when needing to bend the rest of the frame together, that the linkage (which was bit of sprew that I cut to length from the kits etched frames) I accidentally placed in area that had fold line which ended up becoming a major task to resolve my error. If it was not for that error, then it would have been a straight forward process like the Ground Throws to build.

The completed lever plate

Again, the Lever Plate would have also had a better finish if I did not make earlier error, but fortunately, I was able to place a layer of solder to smooth out the area the not so perfect side will be out of view once it is placed onto the Layout.

Main body of the Signal Lever Block has been completed. I had to also remove the respective sides framework structure from but kept the baseplate on both kits which I soldered together in order to get a firm foundation.

Levers Installed

Painted and ready to be placed on the layout 

Where the final placement for this signal block will be

Platform Lighting and Telegraph Poles
This task was one that I have been nervous about for while, as there is not much product out there that has the type of platform lighting, therefore I have been looking around for months for the solution. Fortunately, back during my Christmas break I did a visit to Casula Hobbies and whilst I was looking for other items, I stumbled across Ratio Swan Neck Kits (Ratio Kit 453) where at that moment I had a light bulb moment (pardon the Pun). This kit had the Lampshades that were a very similar match to the NSWGR Lampshades. From there, I decided to venture into scratch building the Platform Lights.

For the interest of not making this Blog post long and the fact that I did not take many photos of steps that I took to build the platform lights. I will not go into the full detail on how I constructed these lights for now. I have decided not to install LEDs for lighting as I do want to keep the electronics on this layout simple for now. However, as I did use brass tubing for the main bracket of the Lamp mounting which should allow for fine wiring to be fed through to power up a LED. I do want to experiment in building one up and wire it up to be lit up. Topic worthy for its own future Blog with the aim to have step by steps details provided.

Above Pictures summarises the steps of construction

For the Telegraph Poles, I used that Uneek models Telegraph pole kits for the stand alone light poles that are based on each side of the platform. For the larger telegraph pole located next to the Station Building, I used Kerroby Models Telegraph pole with a modified Telegraph pole Cross Arm that was also from Kerroby Models. Lamps and Telegraph Pole Cross Arms were super glued into their respective position.

Bottom Power Pole Cross Arm as supplied by Kerroby Models, the top Power Pole Cross Arm modified for getting the look to what was back in the day

Modified Cross Arms just after they are super glued on the Telegraph Pole

Telegraph Poles Primed with Model Masters Grey Primer and then a bit of Tamiya Hull Red Paint to for the effect. Station Lamps Painted and placed ready to be finally installed.

Base of each Telegraph Pole Painted back on the Base and Station Lamps Super Glued onto the Lamp Posts. Telegraph Poles completed.

Items for the Platform
Before I go into summarising the activities for the platform items. Some of you may have observed something wrong with the scales in my previous pictures where it has appeared in. Basically, I assembled it incorrectly, and yes it was a bit of rush job and was only meant to be a temporary setup until I worked out to model one that is closest to the version that was once based at Narellan. This set of scales was planned to go over to my eventual Tumbarumba home layout. Learning here is, never assume and model when you are almost falling asleep. It was a good wake up call, but thankfully something I can pull apart and start over again.

Scales that I constructed incorrectly

Scale and Station Seating are the only items that will needed for the platform, as well as some people which I will add in over time. 

Modified Version of Scale and the Platform seat

Again, I will not go into the fine detail on how I built up both the Seating and the scales, but will touch a little bit on the Scales.

The Scales are another Uneek Models kit, where there are 2 sets of scales supplied. At my second attempt, I cut off the base section of the plate of the scales to get the look of the original scales. 

Completed scales with a little bit of rust dusting on the plate of the scales

Station Seating painted and dull coated

Line Side Items

Line side items consisted of the Rodding for the Ground Throws. Typical debris such as dumped old sleepers.

Outhouse has been put into its final position and has been surrounded into the undergrowth. 

Signal Leavers and Signal Diagram board fixed into positioned

Removed Sleepers and track put into place with static grass applied after their placement

Rodding for Ground Throws Completed

Office Hut for the Coal Stage and Coal Stage fixed into place

Down Pipes constructed and fixed to the station building

Narellan Completed

Finally, it is good to say that Narellan is at the point of completion. I will be adding people in the scene but will be doing that closer to the first public showing. I will be working on getting Narrellan out to a few exhibitions this year.

Front Facias for the layout installed. Layout completed.

Next action on me now is to get the fleet of Locomotives and rolling stock sorted out.

Reflecting Back on 2019 and What to expect in 2020

I would like to firstly wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2020. Unfortunately, it has not been a good end to 2019 and a good start at 2020 for many of those who reside in the areas throughout Australia where Bushfires have impacted many homes and communities over the last few weeks. It has just so happened that one of the impacted towns was Wingello, which myself and a few other fellow railway modellers from my club where involved with in the construction of Wingello Exhibition Layout made several visits over the past couple of years to Wingello to collect the data that we needed to build this layout. My thoughts are with those that have been impacted and I hope those that are impacted can rebuild their homes soon. I have been informed that the Railway Station and the Village store in Wingello has survived this recent Bushfire.

2019 Achievements
Reflecting back in 2019, along with my other model club members we were able to get my model Rail Clubs HO Exhibition Layout of Wingello completed for the Epping Model Rail Club Exhibition which was held out at Rosehill Race Course. Wingello has certainly received some great feedback and has generated some expressions of interests for it to be exhibited out to other model rail exhibitions in 2020.

Wingello at the Rosehill Show

Narellan was another success for me in 2019, currently it is at its very near completion mark, I have been impressed with myself and with my efforts as this will become my first ever working layout that I have completed on my own. Certainly there were some challenges met in the construction of Narellan, overall I was able to overcome them all and hopeful of the end result of not only producing a Exhibition Layout that attracts the attention of the general public at exhibition events, but inspire those who want to go into the Hobby of Railway Modelling that you do not need to have a massive layout for the enjoyment of running trains.

Im glad to have taken up Narellan as a project, as it has taught me a lot of good practices on how a layout should be constructed which I will apply on upcoming future projects.

To close out Narellan, I would like to Thank the Organisers of the Modelling the Railways of NSW Convention to have Narellan on show at the convention and I would also like to thank those who have assisted me at the NSW ARHS Resource Center in finding the research materials that I needed for reference so I could model Narellan as close to what it was in the time that it was in existence. I  also would thank those who have mentored me in constructing this Layout.

Narellan in mid 2019

For my Tumbarumba home layout project, that has taken a bit of a back seat mainly due to the Wingello and Narellan projects. But I was able to get Glenroy Pc1 station Building completed. Throughout the year.

Completed Glenroy Pc1 Kitbash

What Expect in 2020
I have had a good read on my New Year blog of 2019 and I see that I have completed all most goals that I have set for myself. I did not get any N scale Layout projects started. Even though I did manage to complete some N scale Carriage Kits. This was mainly due to the second part of 2019 for me were hit with multiple challenges with work commitments, other personal commitments and other unexpected life challenges. This has set what my expectation should be for 2020 which is as follows.

Narellan
To complete Narellan layout in January, with weathering of Locomotives and rolling stock and DCC installations to be carried out into February.

I plan to also get some rolling stock kits built up, painted and weathered. Once these items have been completed, I will have most of the Locomotives and Rolling Stock with the exemption of the 20 Class Locomotive that ran on the Campbeltown to Camden Branch line.

The main focus for Narellan will be to get it to a few exhibitions this year, which I will announce closer to the time of each event.

Next blog will show more in the scenery Narellan that what you see now. 

Tumbarumba
I have now justified to myself that my Home layout of Tumbarumba will be best based within the Garage. Due to the fact that I intend to construct a couple of other Layout Projects, I do not see this layout been completed within the next few years as where I intend to place the layout will take up the area space that I use as a work bench. Therefore a bit of altering of the current Garage outlay will be needed. However, I do intend to get a few more line side structures built up so when the time comes to build Tumbarumba, the line side buildings are ready to be placed onto the layout. Once I replan the new outlay of Tumbarumba, then I will start setting some goals in building Tumbarumba in stages. Basically the plan in the Garage may allow for Rosewood to be also included. Start of construction work on Tumbarumba Layout may not be likely for 2020 but possible for 2021.

N Scale Layout Projects
If I had of finished Narellan a few months ago, I would have started on one of my planned scale layouts as originally planned in my 2019 New Year Blog. The first one I intend to construct is a simple Victorian Layout on the location of Boolarra. This layout is expected to be no larger than 1.8 Meters long and will be built to be both easily stored and be able to be easily transported. The intention for Boolarra is to travel with two other similar sized Victorian N scale layouts that my other Model Rail Club Friends have constructed for exhibition events.
Boolarra will be DCC layout.

There is also plans for another N Scale NSWGR layout which will be DC only still on the list. But when this layout project will start is yet to be worked out.

Other Projects
There may be a few other projects announced throughout this year. With Tumbarumba going to be planned to be placed in the Garage, there is space in the Train Room to have a different Layout/s installed in it. I have an idea what I would like to do, but I will build something that will better suit the available space. But will need to see if it is feasible to do or not.
I also want to get the rolling stock kits that I have acquired over the last few years built up and completed this year.

Blog Post Frequency Expectations
I will try to get at least one blog post in at least once a month.

Well, time for me to get working on whats left on Narellan so I can get it completed for my next upcoming blog. Here are a couple of pictures on what to look forward too.

Platform lighting in a work in progress state.

The Ground Throws and Signal Block that are currently work in progress (with one Ground Throw in need of correction) to be eventually added to Narellan. More details on these and other items on my next post.

Narellan Exhibition Layout Update December

With no more Exhibitions for 2019, this means now that I will be fully committed in completing Narellan for it to be ready to hopefully appear at some Model Rail Exhibition for 2020.

It has been just around a year ago since I started construction of this layout and if it was not for all of the distraction that I had to deal with throughout the second part of this year, Im sure I would have had Narellan completed a few months ago. However, whilst I expect a bit of quiet time over the Christmas Break, Im hopeful to get Narellan completed. After that, the only items remaining is to get more Locomotives and Rolling stock prepared to ensure that there is a good reflection of the various trains that ran on the Camden Branch line. This will mean completing DCC Sound installations into Austrains 30 Class and IDR Models 70 Class locomotives. Weathering of the Locomotives and rolling stock. I also have some rolling stock kits to build, paint and weather.

Good thing is at this point of time I have a bear minimum fleet of Locomotives and Rolling Stock that are ready to run in the worst case.

Second and Final Attempt In Weathering the Office Hut
To close out one of my final line Side Structure Build, I stumble across a good colour Photo that was recently posted on one of the Facebook Groups that I follow of Narellan with the sun light beaming on the Office Hut that was next to the coal stage. Basically, whatever colour it was painted with, it was well disclosed under the dust.

This time round, I ended up using Tamiya Weathering Master powder which I found very effective in getting the desired result that I was after.

Office after been weathered by Tamiya Weathering powder

Landscaping Almost Completed
After being discharged from Hospital last month, the Doctor ordered that I was not to lift anything heavy up until Christmas, which meant I could not setup Narellan and finish off a few items on the layout to make it a bit more stable and add on a facia on the Pigeon box to make it a more presentable.

 The bare area that is in need of Landscaping

When I had got my energy back, I decided to start woking on the area where the coal stage will be based. I looking a several photos, I decided to make piles of coal along the line side. I was recently given some good Blue Foam which was easy to cut into shape to form a shape of a pile of coal. I ended up doing about 4 piles.

Foam that has been carved out to make the piles of coal

I then placed plaster cloth over the foam. And when the plaster cloth was set, I painted it and the surrounding area with black paint so that if there is any gaps in the once the coal was scattered it would not be that obvious.

Plaster cloth soaked and left to set 

Area where the coal is be placed painted black

Once the paint was dried, I brushed on some PVA glue (not watered down) and sprinkled coal on the area and just patted down the coal just to ensure if adhered to the glue. It is worth noting that from earlier experience with landscaping with coal, it is better to use non water down PVA Glue (or PVA glue straight from the bottle).

PVA Glue painted on the area of the black plaint where the coal is going be placed 

Coal sprinkled on the PVA glue and left to set

After around 24 hours after applying the coal, I went over the area with a vacuum cleaner and was pleasantly surprised that the bulk of the coal remained stuck on the layout.

The final area that needed landscaping I planned to have more as a dirt patch. For this I simply did a mix of 50% water and 50% PVA glue with a drop of detergent, which I applied onto the area final bare area of the layout. Once that was applied, I got a cup of dirt with an old stocking to sprinkle the dirt onto the PVA glue. This is a different method to what was done with the coal. But what I do find with dirt, it absorbs the watered down PVA in which allows it to better set the dirt onto the base board.

After the dirt was applied to the layout

Ground Lever Throws

Before going into my experience in constructing the Andlan Models Ground Leaver Throws. This was a new method of railway modelling for me as this is the first time building up an etched kit. I tried constructing my first one by sticking it together with super glue. However, it ended in a disastrous result and by no means blaming the kit here, I knew that the first one of these type of kits was not going to be completed looking perfect. Basically I was applying a little bit too much pressure when I was super gluing the top of the ground frame and it collapsed in a heap.

Result of my first attempt. My advise solder this kit together rather than super gluing it. 

However it ended up becoming a great learning experience where the second attempt I took the soldering method which I found to be not only easier to do than the super glue method, but I found that the model became way more robust via this method. In all, the bending into shape of the etched parts was mostly easy to do, just the the shaping of the top plate of the leaver frame was the slightly challenging part of this model. Rest is just taking your time to construct this model. The following Ground Throw was my second attempt which I think has so worked out well.

 Above photos show the above shows the steps that where taken to build up the Ground Lever Throw.

Next steps from here it add on the styrene for the concrete slab platform and painting.

My Final Note For This Year

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe Holiday Session.
I would like to thanks those who have provided me with the feedback wether it was via this blog page or in person over this last year.

I would also like to spare a thought to those who follow my post, as I know there are a few out Thirlmere Buxton way and other areas of NSW that may have been impacted by the Bushfire activity over the last few weeks as well as those that are out there on a daily basis fighting the fires. Ensure you all stay safe out there.