What a center piece!!!

Great job on modeling the station that just appears to have been added onto and added onto and onto..... It just grew that way?  How long is the station building itself and how long is the overall station facility with all the platforms and support structures?

Den

Have a look around...

Dear Den,

Have a look around...

https://goo.gl/maps/FQY1n

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Really nice station and

Really nice station and excellent modeling. I did some internet research and Twain also commented that the whole town would fit in there with room to spare. Nice antidote for the modeled scene. With the paint job on the double ended units in the beginning they looked tremendously like the units of the Erie railroad in the eastern united states. I was initially trying to figure out why the mixed prototypes were there and then it hit me, they weren't mixed. I could then stop trying to figure out where the double ended f units came from.

A wonderful layout

I saw Maryborough at the Caulfield exhibition on Sunday. The station building is truly a magnificent piece of modelling. The other highlight for me was the photographic backdrop. Many photos of the actual street which runs parallel to the tracks opposite the station were taken, stitched together, and modern features, such as cars, signs, wires, TV antennae, satellite dishes, etc, were painstakingly removed. It was then printed out and pasted to the backboards. And unlike many other photographed backscenes, it has been blended very carefully with the 3D scenery in front, resulting in a whole-of-layout scene that is totally believable.

The layout is a faithful representation of one of Australia's most iconic stations as it was in the 1960s, and also strongly evokes the dry and dusty Central Victorian countryside. It is a credit to all those who helped to plan and build it.

Cheers

Tony in Gisborne, Victoria

How Long?

Den,

Do you mean the model or the prototype?

I just did a quick measurement on google and the station canopy is about 400' long which works out to be about 4'6" in the model.

I don't think the building was added onto I believe it was built as a single structure. I have heard that a lot of the rooms inside the station were never finished but I can't confirm this. The entrance hall/booking office is magnificent with stained wood paneling.

I know when we were doing some calculations back when this layout was proposed the whole modeled section would have been about 70' long but the layout as built is about 35'.

Rob,

Those double ended F's as you called them are actually the B class of VR. These were the first mainline diesels built for the VR's broad gauge (5'3") network and were very succesful. They are Model ML2 and are 1500hp with a 16-567BC diesel on A1A trucks. Some of these units were rebuilt as A class with a 12-645E3B diesel of 2500hp for passenger service. The A class was withdrawn from service earlier last year but some B class are still soldiering on!! Some are still in service with 2 owned by Chicago Freight Car Leasing.

Probably the reason the colorscheme is similar to Erie's is that it was more than likely designed by EMD. The Erie was black and Gold and the VR is blue and gold. VR already used a blue and gold scheme on its premier passenger train the "Spirit of Progress" hauled by beautiful streamlined pacific S Class locos. VR later had single ended units built which became the New S Class after the steam S was withdrawn.

Really nice

5'3"?

Paul,

The gauge should be 5'3" for this time period but of course very few people actually model H0b63 (HO Scale Broad gauge 63") so this makes the layout technically incorrect but it is a club layout so anybody can run their trains that are appropriate.

The prototype station is now dual gauge to allow SG Grain trains to run to Portland.

Graeme Nitz

Well thanks for the info. With the description you gave and the engines involved in the locomotives it would explain the car body locomotive and the similarities between F units in America. It seems like a great many of the components would be used in domestic vs export markets, as far as the guys from emd were concerned.

The double end units are very

The double end units are very similar to the once use Chicago South Shore "Little Joe's" that are no longer used by them. They had two axle pilot trucks on each end and four sets of four drivers. Interesting to see. The CSS is now NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District). Liked the other name better.

Great Looking Layout!

Wow - that's a great looking show layout and a wonderful example of Victorian railway modelling.  You can see Roger and the crew spent a long time putting this one together - that station building alone would have been a work of love.

Wonder though if Roger also hand made the turnouts as well as he was doing back in the 1980's when I was a member of the club over in Melbourne.

Tim

Hey Tim how are things in Perth

I think roger had a hand in just about the whole project including the turnouts

Some Pictures

Roger sent me some Pix to share.