Trees by The Harbour

Some new trees ready to be planted by Philden Harbour.

This is my haul from Modellers Warehouse at the recent Brisbane Model Train Show. This year's show felt like a bit of a kickback to the model train exhibitions of the 1990's, with a queue almost 800 metres long before the doors opened on the Saturday, and thanks to the today's pressing economy, about the same amount of money in my pocket as I once rocked up to the door with in 1999. Thankfully I had a list of what I needed. And unless it was on the list it, it couldn't come home with me. No matter how much I was tempted.

These towering pine trees came from a bargain bin and could be cut down to size.

What did prevail was some serious 1990's thrifty shopping. I was on the lookout for something that could resemble some Norfolk Island Pines, and I found a pack of North American tall pines that I hoped could be trimmed to size. Not only were the trunks easy to cut, but the base of the trunks with the lower branches could be turned upside down and planted to resemble a not-so-healthy tree. There were 5 trees in the pack marked down to half price on account of the packaging looking a little shabby, but I'll get 10 trees from this packet.

The patchy-looking pine was a perfect fit for between the two tracks beneath the overpass.

The Norfolk Island Pine will help screen the transition to what is presently my staging shelf, while I'll keep the other 4 to plant on the otherside of the module's corner post when I rebuild the staging shelf as an extension to my harbour scene. The thick clump of trees will help buffer the two scenes and disguise the join, and getting them now means that I don't have to worry about matching colours in the future.

Palm-ies by The Pub!

Next up, I wanted to continue to transform my layout into something a little more Troppo, without relying purely on the backdrop to make a statement. A week before the show I FaceTime called a friend who happened to be shopping at Modellers Warehouse down in Slacks Creek in Brisbane, and after getting a video call walk through of the store, including a friendly wave from its owner Tyson, my friend grabbed whatever palm trees that were in stock and dropped them around on his way home. So after that VIP service, I planted two Coconut Palms and a Washington Palm in the space between the bus depot and where the verandah deck of the Jetty Hotel will overhang the gardens. This adds some coastal vibes for the future customers to enjoy a Parmy under the palm trees when my pub is open for business.

Going a little bananas here, but these will simply represent some wild banana trees growing alongside the rail corridor. Not a working banana farm.

When you think of Coffs Harbour, you think of the Big Banana. So Philden Harbour needed something to place it in close proximity. I've used these MP Scenery Products banana trees before with great success. As with a lot of scenery products that are produced in Eastern Europe, there is still a shortage of products as the Ukraine war continues to impact markets in neighbouring countries. I grabbed the only packet that was available, so for now will have to be content with just the 4 banana trees growing wild alongside the rail corridor. Another 2 Coconut Palms and a second Washington Palm complete the vegetation on the otherside of the tracks from the Jetty Hotel gardens. They add a foreground feature that doesn't obscure my view of trains passing beneath the Philden Street overpass. (Yes, the name of the overpass has stuck from my previous layout, and seems fitting given that it will divide the Philden Harbour yard from the soon to be constructed Philden Beach Station).

My ex-NSW 422 headed up the first train to run beneath the palm trees.

The rail corridor needed some thin vegetation along the front of the layout. These suit perfectly.

The Norfolk Island Pines help soften the exit to staging for now...

...while the green belt either side of the overpass will help disguise the future layout extension.

So, a little bit of model greenthumbing followed this year's Brisbane Model Train Show. The show marked 4 years since I last exhibited a layout, and that was the final showing of my former layout Philden. As you can see in the above photo, only the tram tracks remain to be pulled up off Philden Street and the Jetty Hotel completed to say that this half of my layout is finished. The layout will then be a complete coastal version of the switching yard I set out to build with Philden Street Yard. Which gets me to thinking... should I exhibit this layout in its current configuration at some point this year before I get to rebuilding the staging shelf into the Philden Coast extension?

Given that my Philden Coast extension might take the best part of 18 months for me to complete, debuting this layout at a small show here in Brisbane might be my only opportunity to display this between now and 2025. It's something to think about.

In the meanwhile, stay tuned for an exciting announcement in the coming weeks.

Untill next time...