Goods Shed Part One

Having already constructed the goods platform to stand alongside the siding in my small railway yard in a previous post, I needed to find the right prototype goods shed to sit on top. After a trip to visit Stuart at Model Train Buildings, I returned home with a laser-cut NSWGR G-2 standard goods shed, that with just a little bit of modification, will easily fit the space I have available.

Assembling the steps that lead down from the goods platform.

MTB's timber laser-cut building kits all begin with the same inner-core sub-assembly, in the case of my HO scale kit, made from 4 mm MDF board that virtually guarantees the end result being immune to warping or sagging. The G-2 Goods Shed kit comes complete with a timber platform. Having already scratchbuilt the goods platform on my layout to fit a specific area, I cut the tabs away that would normally slot into the base of the platform and assembled the 2 sets of steps as shown above. The pieces slot into place easily and I used just a pinhead of craft glue to hold them in place.

The finished steps glued into place are just awaiting a final wash of weathering.

Skinning the building with the finer laser-cut birch pieces that give the goods shed its detail, requires that the pieces be painted before being glued onto the inner-core of the kit. While exploring online and even making a special trip to a hobby shop to find the right paint to replicate galvanised iron, I returned home empty-handed and picked up the same silver marker pen that I used on the handrails of my railway station platform. The timber pieces absorb a lot of the silver-shine, and despite the first two coats appearing a bit patchy as I left them to dry overnight, a third and final coat with the marker pen the next morning had them looking more like miniature pieces of cut metal rather than a painted piece of etched timber.

A silver paint pen was enough to make the timber pieces resemble corrugated iron sheeting for the goods shed's walls.

Next up I painted the goods shed's doors and window frames with thinned down Burnt Sienna acrylic artists paint. The colour of the door and window trims on the G-2 Goods Shed varied between locations, but photos from my research often showed them in a shade of tan-brown. The goods shed on Peter Hearsum's Burrowa layout is perhaps the finest example I've come across.

The window and door frames required about 8 coats of thinned down Burnt Sienna acrylic paint.

The door and window frames proved time consuming to paint, given the thinned down Burnt Sienna paint was a much lighter colour than the blackish-brown burn-marks where the laser cutter had burnt its way through the timber. Had I have chosen a darker colour to conceal this, it wouldn't have been a problem. All up it took around 8 coats applied over 2 days to achieve the desired effect. While waiting for the paint to dry however, I was able to finish gluing the inner-core of the structure and position it on the goods shed platform to determine where I would place the two steps leading down to ground level.

The siding end of the goods platform with the steps glued into place on the rail side.

The width of my goods platform has dictated that the roof line on the non-rail side of the building needs to be trimmed back to allow only an overhang for the guttering, and not a second covered awning on the yard side loading platform. Thankfully there is a prototype for everything, and I found it courtesy of James McInerney's detailed archival notes on Stockinbingal Goods Shed in southwestern New South Wales. Stockinbingal's Goods Shed was unusual in that there was no covered platform awning on either side of the building. The door and window trims were also painted an iced-green colour.

The office end of the goods platform with the steps glued into position on the non-rail side.

On the office end of the goods shed platform, I decided to place the steps leading down to the yard area on the non-rail side of the platform. To me it seemed a more logical position than blocking trucks from accessing this corner of the platform. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I would find a prototype for that too! So with the configuration of the goods shed sorted, all I can do is sit back and wait for the paint to dry before I can start gluing the corrugated iron panels, doors and window frames into place. But as usual, that's a story for another day.

See also: Goods Shed Part Two or Building a Goods Platform