Jesus.

 .......Because again this year, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2024.

Jesus.

 

.......Because again this year, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2023.

Jesus

 

.......Because again this year, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2022.

Jesus.

.......Because again this year, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2021.

It still runs, no really it does....quite a bit!

I have taken much footage of "Glenburn" over its lifetime, sharing some here in older posts and in more recent years through the Facebook Group, but realised I hadn't shared some of those links here for Blog followers. Here's a few clips (just click on the link) if interested:

An overall view of operations from 2016

https://youtu.be/MY4ZEP3cT78

A brief running of the F Class from 2019:

https://youtu.be/9Cp92ErRllw

In arrears on the Blog.....

So much for keeping this more up to date, I meant well.... The markets area has progressed since last with addition of some detailing, vehicles (by Hauler, Matchbox-modified & Wespe - modified) and a couple of chaps chewing the cud. Backscene also complete, a Rembrandt I am not but hopefully conveys the look. I have also formed and attached the portals and will either ballast/trackbed detail next or wait until the next scene is also done. As always, more recent updates are posted here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AndrewCollierModellingHOVictorian/

Nb. No, the "Kerang & Koondrook" style Sentinel will not work here, the VR held the contract for these sidings, and in any case the spark arrestor wouldn't clear the bridge! I just posed it for the "2 Sentinels" proximity shot.

Cut-Edit-Paste

The next section to build out is the road/overbridge which is based on that area where Flinders St extended under and beyond the Spencer St viaduct, just past the base of Spencer St. Details differ so take it as trying to capture the "vibe" of the area, as our modelling often does. The section is tricky to work in with restricted hand space, so I built the roadway and retaining walls as an insert on a thin sheet of styrene away from the layout and having completed it sufficiently have attached it into the section. This method has its drawbacks - the scenery is not as solid as build straight to board, but worked well in the instance. Nb. The surfaces are per prototype as far as I can tell from the evidence (alternate views welcome), the VR bluestone pitcher paved the "Fishmarkets branch" as it was with screenings as infill, the roadway way also paver based but in most pictures has a layer of fine dirt, perhaps pressed surface to make it smoother, hence the brown colouring. Sometime toward the end my era it appears to have been tarmac'd taking away this appearance, perhaps in line with the extension of Spencer St across the bridging of the Yarra near here.

Plan: PROV.

Immigration nearly complete.....

Here's the assemblage of Kibri bits nearly complete and installed, the styrene sheeting over some of the detail and "blood and bandages" helping distract from the heavy Euro origins of the kit - A picture of how it was meant to be by Kibri included at base as is a picture of the building it is roughly based on. Quite a few more buildings and such to go before this area is complete but it's good to get the first one under the belt and might tackle the road overbridge next. Just waiting on some small detail items (coal sacks mostly, unlike my model the prototype wasn't rail served) to help bed it in. Just enough to do so and have deliberately not over-detailed this as it would draw too much emphasis to something that's meant to be just one building among many.

 

    

Picture: SLV Excerpt

Same, same but different.... & Wharf progress

Just a note on location of the layout, something some spend a long time wording up, but that's not really my thing. In brief, the suburban section of "Glenburn" has representative elements and traffics of Glenferrie, Auburn, Hawthorn and Deepdene, the city section has representative elements of the area around the now-removed Queens Wharf area and so is located somewhere around there. A great gift of recent years is the digitising of earlier era directories so I can show this approximation appropriately....

 

Both courtesy of the State Library of Victoria, and for fun, here's the cover of the edition I used - 1926:

In the meantime, work continues on the Yarra Wharf area, the paving, track and wharf frontage having been completed, attention turns to trying to convert one of those overtly European kits into something much more Melbourne-ish. A few more layers to go beyond the base shaping and styrene here, but the bones seem right so far.

 

As always, more detail on these developments via the Australian Finer Scale Page where I keep a more regular presence if you're interested:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/AndrewCollierModellingHOVictorian/

............. and back again from the Mountains back to the River

The boomerang it seems and feeling lucky I can engage both interests as suits in the present location. A few pictures of recent work - the two bridges for crossing the Murray anabranch into Tintaldra, one road and one rail, both are modified from Laser Rail Kits beautiful and beautiful to assemble NSWGR open deck trestle, the Truss Bridge the more modified of course. The continuing work on the final part of Glenburn's city section now has suburban stabling sidings and the wooden framework in place for the Yarra River wharves. This is a simpler and less cumbersome outline for this area than the earlier incarnation but I think I can include most of the key scenic bits I would like.

Jesus.

.......Because again this year, make no mistake, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2020.

From the River to the Mountains

One regular thought over most of "Glenburn's" life has been connecting a country branch (with some credit and respect to Bruce McLean’s connexion of Mildura and Bright) in the same 1925-35 era. The possible VR/NSWGR connection at Tintaldra was one of the hundreds of wished-for extensions, though it got a bit further with the NSWGR surveying the line down from Tumbarumba to the border crossing it seems (the Germanton/Holbrook approach doesn’t seem to have been surveyed). Having driven over the plateau down to the Murray it would have been quite something. The small mine at Pine Mountain nearby supplied flux to BHP which may have helped though the volumes were small before BHP found other sources. The VR at that time was still railheaded at Tallangatta with Cudgewa authorised but nothing further and of course that’s all that happened.

So the potential branch station is a dual-gauge VR Tintaldra as it may have been with the yard layout type a much-simplified version of that used at Oaklands. Above are a couple of artefacts including my rough initial diagram of this little extension (though will now be three roads, not four) and a map from a 1912 Sydney Morning Herald Article.

The Fluospar traffic out of "Tintaldra" (SG via NSWGR) requires a rake of opens as likely the most regular traffic. Given my era I have chosen to build these up with a mix of D and steel S wagons which will be sheeted. Having near-finished (final detail to apply post painting) the Ian Lindsay NSWGR D Wagon I'm now working to get the Redfern Models D's to better resemble the type. The base model seems Ok for my needs with most of the change in the peripherals. Above is a WIP picture of the two so far.

This shows the fit of the new section into the room, the two large baseboards at right having been assembled to provide for most of the station, and also a section for my modelling desk.

The next step is off the wharf....

Commenced work over the Christmas/New Year break on the next section of Glenburn which will resemble parts of Melbourne city rather than the suburbs. Key elements are a (reduced) Spencer St viaduct, a small section of the late Fish and general Markets and a wharf on the Yarra such as those at the previous Queens Wharf and Australia Wharf. First job are the baseboards which are done again with Marine Ply atop cedar ladder framing, back scene boards and something a bit different - a diagonal extension across the layout of the back scene to help separate the suburban from the city section - works from many but not all angles, but is the best I can do in this limited space. Some pictures of these works follow and as always, more detail of the build and Glenburn updates can be found at this Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AndrewCollierModellingHOVictorian/

Suburban "side" of the scenic break.

Scenic break before repainting and bridging.

The double track on the right will be the reduced-viaduct, the lower section the wharf and ahead in the distance the extension toward the Mid Circle Line 

Jesus.

.......Because again this year, make no mistake, if I have any skill in modelling it is only because it's a gift from Him.

Best wishes for the Christmas Season and the New Year in 2019.

3 Years between ermmm "Drinks"

As mentioned in my post a few posts ago but now a few years ago, I had decided to cease this and my other sites/blogs as Facebook was more discussional (not a real word, but it's easier to converse there...). Still true, but I have also realised that a site is perhaps a useful record, and can be more easily navigated for content by anyone interested. As such I am back to updating it now and again. For the time between then and now, here's a few things that went on.....


The move of room removed two previous areas of the layout - the cutting to the Charity Street bridge, and Deepdene Yard - neither would fit properly in the new space so had to be scrapped. Below then are some scenes that can no longer be replicated.

The layout however has been fully rebuilt and is running again in its new abode, a fairly recent shot below showing some of the re-arrangements and additions the new room made possible.

I was able to recycle much of the previous Charity Street area and use it to negotiate this corner on the Dn side of Glenburn Station (it used to be on the Up side of Glenburn), and also include an exit to a branch therein allowing for extension of the layout beyond the large Glenburn loop to many branch locations. The below shots show this relocated area:

And there were a couple of Christmases which I graced with my usual very average artwork as below.

Apart from 3-4 months where the layout was being rebuilt into its new location, t5rains have continued to run on Glenburn as they have since 2008, some of those during this time are below.

Above is Mark Tregoning's beautiful D2 with original tender on a visit during 2018.

And finally, a new section has been added, this approximating the Riversdale Rd and like crossings in the area, various pictures during the build and after completion are following.