Barcoola YouTube playlist created for your enjoyment

Hi All

I have created some YouTube playlists for your entertainment.

Murray Bridge prototype videos

Murray River Bridge model railway layout videos.

Murray River Bridge model railway layout constuction videos.

Old Narrow Gauge Ghan prototype videos

Tea and Sugar, Cook and the Trans Australian Railway prototype videos.

Here is a link to all my playlists on the Barcoola YouTube.

I find it relaxing to watch some of these videos while working on models etc.

I hope you enjoy....

Thanks Scott

Murray River Bridge wharf sidings and extension boards

Hi All

While trying to replicate the Wharf siding under the bridge, I figured it might be worth seeing if I could extend them, thus increase the width of the boards.  If I did increase the width by 550mm it gives me a much more workable wharf area, and the bridge can be seen fully, without the backdrop getting in the way.  I didn't like this feature in the original design but stuck with it so that it was easy to work with and transport.  Okay I figured out its posible to add the width without effecting the transportation of the layout.  So here is a mock up of a thicker MRB.

The extension realy makes the bridge much more impressive.

Scott

Barcoola MKII mock up, Layout design considerations and the advantages of one to one mock ups

Hi All


Doug came around on Sunday, we made up a couple of mock ups for layouts.
These are both based around the current fiddle yard for Murray River Bridge and the foot print for the scenery boards is the same.  Thus about 2ft 6inches wide and 24ft long.
The first one was Barcoola MKIII.
While I am all for designing plans in 2D, there is really no substitute for setting up a layout mock up, in one to one.
The advantages are:

• you can see if what you have designed will really fit.
• you can check head shunts and loops for clearance and are fit for purpose, IE enough doom to effectively shunt.
• you can check for locations where access might be limited, amend as required.
• you can check your radi is correct and suitable for the rolling stock.

As a result of this exercise a couple of changes were made to the initial design.

Flipped it 180 degrees,.

I find that the yard trackage needs to be in the front of the layout, firstly for access, and it is visually more pleasing.  Having the mainline at the back of the layout means that the mainline trains can be the backdrop to the yard, the viewer gets to see more action.  Finally reaching over double stacks is never a good look.

Moved the locomotive depot.

Having sidings approach the mainline at different angles just looks bad and makes the layout look smaller, so the Depot was moved to the other side of the mainline.

Deleted the crossovers.
The TAR and CAR have two sets of crossovers at the western end of the yard, these were deleted as they were not needed, (the fiddle yard has a crossover) and this meant that the TAR Crossing loop could be extended to 18ft standing room.

Here is a video of the mock up.

.

Enjoy...
Scott

Mini layout South Mine - Broken Hill NSW Silverton Tramway

Hi All

With the help of Doug, we laid out The proposed Layout Kanandah NSW, laying it out one of one.  We found out that the South Mine section was not going to fit.  We came up with a straight version, that would make a stand alone layout in its self.

Using some older boards we spaced out the mine trackage and realised it would fit in just under 12ft straight.

Hers is some shots of the mock up. This reflects the track diagram at South Mine as is.

In further conversation with Doug, I have made this mock up, based on the small layout foot print, in the train room.  17ft by 8ft.

See the video below.

Enjoy

Scott