Friday Film Club ~ TRAINS GONE TROPPO - Beneath the Overpass

This week, Friday Film Club once more presents the musical genius of Quincas Moreira in the hit film...

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Friday Film Club ~ TRAINS GONE TROPPO - Hot Summer Nights

Summer might be officially over, but here's some Trains Gone Troppo on a Hot Summer's night for your Friday Film Club.

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The sweet new addition

My layout is once more feeling 'sweet-as' following the arrival of my new Auscision Models C44ACI locomotive in the attractive Aurizon 'pineapple' livery, (pineapple field added for effect). Although you would be forgiven for describing the yellow locomotive as a banana given that my layout is set in a town where the Big Banana reigns supreme!

While revamping Philden Beach over these past 12 months has seen my layout's setting become more modern, finding any suitable small locomotives to act as the yard shunter has proven to be a prickly-sweet affair. However, the sweet new addition of loco no. 6025 will only enhance operations on Philden Beach, and it seems I have made a great choice in selecting the Aurizon livered 6020 Class locomotive to join my roster. As was the case with last year's release of the C and BL Class locomotives, the model again comes in the simplified black foam inside liner, making it a lot easier to remove the model from the box given that the model is dripping with details that you would once only dream about on a brass locomotive.

The bright yellow livery already looks right at home on my Philden Beach shelf layout.

I've liked this locomotive livery ever since photographing a similar 5020 Class coal variant at Chilcotts Creek on a trip back from the Hunter Valley back in May 2016. Of course, my wife now refers to my model of 6025 as the 'lollipop man train', as she shot the image shown here of 5042 from the passenger window of our car as we slowed for roadworks after chasing the banker units off a coal train from Ardglen along the New England Highway.

The lollipop man gave the obligatory smile once he realised he was going to end up in someone's photo, and eight years on we have a funny story to go with one of the model locomotives on my shelf layout.

This was the same case with the Auscision Models C Class locomotive that I added to Philden Beach last year. I'd stopped to photograph an SSR grain train at the Moree Bulk Grain Silos back in 2018 whilst driving south to Victoria along the Newell Highway, and amongst the 6 loco lash-up were 3 x C Class diesels idling away, (C504 + C505 + C509).

After walking the cotton prickle infested grass corridor alongside the railway line to photograph them all, I knew I was going to want a model of one for my own layout. Even if I was complaining while removing cotton spikes from the soles of my sneakers for the next couple of hours from the comfort of the passenger seat. I ended up ordering the model of C509 in the Cootes Industrial livery as it was the only number produced of any of the locomotives I photographed that day. Although I still get tempted by the thought of adding the SSR pair of C510 in the SSR green & yellow, and C507 in the 40 Year Anniversary SSR blue and yellow livery!

Memories. They're prickly-sweet even at the best of times!

My models of a C44ACI locomotive 6025 alongside ex-Victorian C Class unit C509.

I like the flared radiator fins on the no. 2 end of the Aurizon 6025 as much as I do the North American comfort cab on the nose of the C Class.

Which brings me to the prickly end of the pineapple. After farewelling my Noughties-era locomotives and rolling the time period forward on my layout, it's a case of big or nothing at all on the new release front for the foreseeable future.

For a 2013+ era layout that is set on the NSW North Coast line, right now we have the NR Class locos available from both Auscision Models and SDS Models, along with Auscision's C43/44ACI, C, G and BL Class locomotives. Of these, I already have the Pacific National NR22 + BL28, the Cootes Industrial C509 and now Aurizon's 6025 plying the rails on Philden Beach.

Coming soon, or currently available to pre-order are the SDS Models 81 Class and Auscision's GT46-ACe, CLP, CLF and 90 Class locomotives. Of these, perhaps the QR National LDP Class GT46-ACe is the logical choice to pair up with my new Aurizon 6025, given that Aurizon never repainted the LDP's from their QR National colours, and kept them running right up until their lease expired and they ceased intermodal operations at the end of 2017.

A small shelf layout that really only operates single loco transfer runs and switching operations doesn't require a big fleet. But even on a fictional layout, I'm mindful to keep everything era appropriate.

However, given that 4 locos are providing enough ample power to operate my shelf layout, perhaps doing nothing for the time being and holding out for some smaller locomotive models to serve as yard shunters might be the more sensible approach. Auscision Models recently updated their website to show that they are planning to produce the 42 Class, S Class, GM Class and A Class Bulldogs, the NSW Mk II & III 44 Class and the NSW 49 Class locomotives. Of these, a 49 Class diesel in either the Greentrains/Cootes Industrial or SSR liveries would be ideal to complement my C Class.

As they have now also archived all of their sold-out models, I'm not expecting an announcement regarding a NSW 48 Class re-run anytime soon either. So it remains a case of go big or go home...

Given that I made the switch to DCC sound equipped models in the early days of building Philden Street Yard and have since revamped the layout as part of my series of books, I can't complain about keeping a frugal layout roster when the models I have are all of the highest quality available. With DCC sound models here locally in Australia pushing the $500 mark, right now would be a daunting prospect for any modeller thinking of changing from DC to DCC operation. However, the quality of models available on the market right now is also the best it has ever been. I guess that is the reason why the thought of adding an extra C Class or another C43/44ACI model in a different livery is so appealing.

Until next time...

Friday Film Club ~ TRAINS GONE TROPPO - Dirty Diesel Daze

This week's Friday Film Club presents the musical genius of Quincas Moreira in the premiere of TRAINS GONE TROPPO - Dirty Diesel Daze.

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Farewelling my Noughties locos

Time doesn't stand still, and sometimes by taking that approach into our modelling we can instill a sense of modelled history on our layouts. After moving-on some model locomotives last month so that I could afford some new camera gear, I have seemingly farewelled the Noughties era of my HO scale shelf layout.

Just like that, the days of seeing twin National Rail Indigenous NR Class locomotives working my layout are over. So too the sight of twin CFCLA leased locomotives resting in the yard. Retiring certain models from your model railway collection can have an instant impact on the era that you are modelling. In my case, the opportunity to clear out my Noughties era locos and replace them with something from a more recent time period to run alongside my existing Pacific National pairing, now moves the period that my layout is set in forward a decade to the 2013+ era.

Farewell my old Faithfuls. This CFCLA pairing were survivors from my Philden Street Yard layout.

This was the second model I had owned of JL406. I originally had a DC version back on my original Philden layout that you can see photos of in the Philden Museum.

With my new camera paid for so that I could continue my photographic studies uninterrupted, I thought it appropriate to capture some final images of my Noughties fleet in action at Philden Beach.

NR30 was the first locomotive to depart, and after realising that I hadn't taken a single image of that model on my layout's new North Coast setting, I quickly put my new camera to work to record the other 3 locomotives before they departed for the final time. NR52 was the second Indigenous locomotive to depart Philden Beach, and along with the blue and silver CFCLA pairing of FL220, (the ex-NSW 422 Class) and JL406, (the ex-NSW 442 Class), all are now relegated to history on my HO scale shelf layout.

While NR52 may have been a stunning model and extremely rare, the prototype example had been repainted Pacific National blue and yellow by 2008.

In a further example of time not standing still, the first replacement locomotive is on its way as I type this. Adding a single C44ACi model to my small roster moves the layout's modelled era forward to 2013, where it will fit in alongside my Pacific National pairing of NR22 and BL28, and my Cootes Industrial leased C Class locomotive. From there I can gradually return my layout's roster to full strength over the coming year as I save for the next modern locomotive on my hit-list, the GT46ACe. For a small shelf layout, having 5 or 6 locomotives is really enough. After facing a challenging start to the year, it's nice to have a little something to look forward to again.

Until next time...

The Summer of regrowth...

It has been a summer of regrowth on Philden Beach. Both literally and metaphorically. Exactly one year after starting down the path of converting my HO scale Australian shelf layout from its former inner-city Melbourne setting to a slice of railfan paradise on the New South Wales North Coast, the layout's transformation is now complete.

Behind the scenes, it has been an exhausting year of navigating a layout revamp as the focus of a new book, trying to keep a full-time writing career financed, and working through some personal health issues that I previously hinted at in my Philden Street's curtain call post.

I'm glad to say that Revamp An Existing Layout went live on my publishing platform Blurb, in the early hours of December 31, 2023, keeping to my goal of completing book 23 in the year '23 by the barest of margins! Having grown up a huge Michael Jordan fan, there was a feeling of personal satisfaction in being able to call time on a writing career with the same number of books as his famous number 23 jersey. To me, it's as close to perfection as I'm likely to ever get.

My layout now has a clear green signal with it's new North Coast setting.

The layout revamp has turned out to be just as good as I had imagined, and my new book takes the reader through each of the steps in identifying existing problems, costing-up a layout revamp and finally a series of budget-savvy projects that will help you re-imagine your own layout. Philden Beach's revamp cost a total of zero dollars, and didn't involve lifting up a single section of track!

Amongst the many improvements to my layout, the above CTC signal I installed at the exit of the secondary track from staging has really enhanced my switching layout's operations. Trains would need to come to a halt here anyway, beside the former marker post that once stood where the signal mast now does, to wait for a clear track to run around in the yard. Now they have to wait for me to change the signal from red to green before proceeding.

There has been a lot of new growth around the layout, including these Norfolk Island pines.

Around the layout, there has also been a lot of regrowth that has occured since my Welcome to The Coast post back in March last year. With my much-loved NSW Goods Shed now surviving onto its third layout, the former sign to the left of the structure has long gone, and in its place a towering Norfolk Island pine has seemingly sprung up out of nowhere.

These banana trees were rescued from my previous Philden Road layout.

Of course, these latest summer improvements were in addition to my original Trees by The Harbour update from May last year, and needed to be completed for inclusion in the book. Given the dramatic coastal backdrop, it was important for me to tie all the colours in with those of the backdrop. And despite not having room for a banana plantation on the layout, I can't think of Coffs Harbour without picturing banana trees growing on the surrounding hillside. So I added a few wild plants growing alongside the rail corridor just to channel that vibe, including the above examples which were returned to me after being carefully pried off my previous Philden Road module.

It's taken a while for me to finally get to my happy place of simply enjoying some model railroading by the sea. Producing 4 model railway books over the course of 2023 strangely hasn't helped. Not when I've needed to cost every hour spent working on the layout, photographing, writing and then editing the final results. Add to that the time I have poured into this blog over the past few years, and it leaves you with little to no time to actually enjoy running some trains.

Either side of taking a vacation for the first time in three years, there were a lot of days where I somehow survived on four hours sleep while working on my latest book. Knowing that I needed to complete the final instalment before TAFE started in the new year was a big motivator! Yet despite the success of the previous five Philden Model Railway books, self-financing and producing all six have left me mentally, emotionally and financially drained.

Anyone thinking that being able to claim a new model locomotive as a tax deduction sounds like a good thing, would not be aware that my royalty return for self-funding all of this averages out to $4 AUD per book sold. If I simply factor in the costs associated with producing each book, bulk purchasing wholesale stock and covering the distribution costs, then my books have all proven to be succesful. However, once I factor in the income I have lost since winding-up my previous small business to concentrate solely on writing full-time, then I still need to sell another 25,000 copies to be able to fully recover. That is a big ask.

From a summer of regrowth on the layout I now head into a year of regrowth for myself. As I have already mentioned when signing-off on my Author blog, the time of writing as Phillip Overton is now over.

The final revamped view looking back over Philden Beach.

While I hope to keep my occasional model railway ramblings continuing here for the foreseeable future, I'm unsure what that may look like on the other side of all this. Already, in the background I have removed well in excess of 100 outdated blog posts, and completely overhauled the design and layout of the Philden Model Railway Blog to ensure it remains a strong and relevant source of information for years to come.

What I am sure of however, is that in time, I will look back on my series of six Philden Model Railway Books with immense pride. To be able to have combined my two passions of writing and model railways into the one project, and self-fund, self-publish and self-distribute a series of books that proved to be profitable, is a great legacy to leave behind.

The most important project for me to work on at the moment however, is myself. That starts with a return to full-time study of visual arts and photography in the coming weeks. For me, it's a chance to recharge, reinvent and rebrand myself away from writing, and is equal parts exciting, and a little scary, to see where my creative side will next lead me outside of the world of model trains.

News of the new book's official launch date will follow soon, with early pre-order copies available for purchase now through Blurb. Expect copies to make their way into your favourite hobby stores from February onwards.

Now, do I dare say it? Maybe I'll power up the layout just for fun...

G... 2023 went fast!

It only seems like a few weeks ago that I turned my inner-Melbourne HO scale shelf layout into a slice of the NSW North Coast. Now here we are at the beginning of another hot Australian summer, and while looking through some of the photos I had snapped at Philden Beach during the course of this year, I had to stop and calculate exactly how long ago it was that a G Class locomotive paid a visit to the shores of Philden Beach?

Two of 2023's new release models from Auscision, an SCT livered G Class and my Cootes Industrial C.

It was way back in early January that I transformed my Philden Street Yard layout into my NSW North Coast Philden Beach affair. That's now close to 12 months ago. During that time, there has been a steady stream of newly released and re-released models over the course of 2023, many of which have made their way onto my layout's roster.

It started with the re-release of Auscision Models NR Class locos, (late 2022), of which I added NR22 in the 4 star Pacific National livery around this time last year. Then continued with March's release of Auscision's long anticipated BL Class locomotive, my choice being BL28 in the intermodal Pacific National livery. Moving onto some rollingstock, I added Auscision's re-released NGGF sugar hoppers, and their NQJX container wagons and NDMX spoil wagons. And then in July, an Auscision Models C Class locomotive turned up by the seashore in the form of C509 in the Cootes Industrial leased green and gold livery. Things were beginning to look settled until... the above Auscision Models SCT G Class locomotive suddenly popped its head up in one of the back sidings of Philden Beach. Like, what was that all about?

The only SCT PBGY multi-freighter wagon to ever appear at Brandon Industries.

Well, sometimes you just try out different things on your layout, just because you can, like the Trainworld/Rail Motor Models SCT PBGY van above. As you can see, a single van was long enough to completely fill the back dock of my Brandon Industries warehouse. At 27 cm long over the couplers, the PBGY van remains the longest thing to ever run over my layout's rails. Coupled to the G Class, umm, perhaps a little too long! It didn't stop me however from jumping right in and weathering the pair to turn that pristine red and white livery into a dirty slice of diesel delight!

By the time it was collected from the back sidings of Philden Beach, it was looking pretty grubby!

The G Class loco copped even more of the same treatment. Perhaps if I hadn't already released my book Model Railway Weathered Wonders, the G might have made its way onto the cover! It turned up a filthy treat! I think I took these photos around August. The loco sold quickly afterwards and the PBGY van is available now on my eBay page.

G513 was in a filthy state by the time it left Philden Beach!

Amongst all of my incompleted projects for 2023, I discovered some video footage I'd shot of a heavily weathered G513 working the yard around Philden Beach.

G513 no. 1 end showing...

...and a nice side-on shot as the loco idles away.

I think I vaguely recall my plans for 2023 were to purchase a new model, weather it and then film it operating on the layout for a short YouTube video. Then when the fun was over, list it for sale on my eBay page and repeat. Time never permitted me being able to do this more than once, and while the above loco has since found a new home, I haven't even found the time to produce a single YouTube video during the course of 2023.

After a very brief spell in the Harbour Yard, G513 has now long departed. That's 2023 in a nutshell.

Before I can say, "gee the year has gone quick," it is now almost over. I suppose that's been the case for many folks. For myself, I've forged ahead with writing and releasing 3 books over the course of 2023, yet still find myself disappointed that I won't get the 4th book finished before the year is out. The plan was to finish on 23 books in the year 2023 before seeing where next year would take me. As of the 18th December that target is looking rather unattainable.

So, with this little reminiscing post now posted, perhaps I am better off talking about what I'd like to achieve layout-wise in 2024. There are some small ideas such as;

• Re-lettering the layout front with some stick-on vinyl names that reflect it's North Coast New South Wales location.
• Completing the street market scene atop the Philden Street overpass, (yes, the name seems to have stuck from the layout's previous incarnation).
• Adding a quality bluetooth speaker beneath the Jetty Hotel to stream music from my iPhone.
• Starting work on building/modelling some drop-in scenes on either side of the track as it transitions to staging.
• Scenicking the staging yard tracks without the need to add a backdrop or structures that would be protrude above the staging shelf's raised outer lip.
• Anticipate the arrival of my pre-ordered Auscision Models NPHH cement wagons?
• Expect a further announcement regarding the Auscision NSW 49 Class announcement?
• Expect the unexpected?

Perhaps that last point is all I can be certain of.

Let's wait and see what new arrivals 2024 will deliver on Philden Beach.

With the G now a distant memory in 2023, I need to wait until the heat of summer is over before I can get busy weathering my Pacific National pairing of BL28 and NR22. I plan on making the pair my workhorses of the layout, along with the mighty C Class. The NGGF sugar hoppers will follow, with an extensive spell in my airbrushing booth planned to get them looking authentic, and my spoil wagons and container flat wagons will also get treated to a light dusting before I jump into restocking my eBay store with a few more weathered models as time permits in 2024.

Meanwhile, so long as this hot weather continues Down Under, the AC shall stay on and I will remain perched behind my laptop writing, in the off-chance that I may get the final Philden book completed before New Years Eve...

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Removing the tram tracks

One of the trickier tasks I faced with transforming the setting of my inner-Melbourne HO Scale shelf layout to the NSW North Coast, was removing the tram tracks that once ran down the middle of the Philden Street overpass. They were anchored down to the bare MDF board good and well using Super Glue, meaning they were always going to call for the road to be completely resurfaced. So long as I didn't damage the MDF board base of my road bridge in the process.

I removed one track at a time to first assess what the damage was going to be.

Using a pair of small long nosed pliers, I was able to wiggle the strips of rail using a little bit of force until they came free from the base of the road structure. Lifting them directly upwards as they pulled free limited the damage, but they did leave a deep indent in the surface of the road that needed to be filled with some wood putty and then sanded.

With the footpaths and bridge structure built in place, I needed to be super careful not to damage the bridge sides. Fortunately the Jetty Hotel and Haunted Bookstore structures were not yet anchored into place, so I could remove the buildings and see to all the messy work while the layout was still resting downstairs on the garage floor following its last exhibition outing at the Sunshine Coast in early September.

Once the patched-up tram track cavities were dry, I could sand them smooth using a small square of sandpaper and wipe the surface clean with a damp disposable cloth before trying to match the paint colour of the road surface.

I next painted some darker grey highlights over the patched-up strips of now removed rails using acrylics. As the road surface was originally brush painted using a stippling effect rather than long continual brush strokes, it was a whole lot easier to match the paint to the original colours I used on the overpass. A hodge-podge array of grey colours was achieved simply by mixing some black and white acrylics onto an artists palette, and then stippled over the top of the darker highlights I'd just used to paint over the now removed tram tracks.

I highlighted the old tram tracks using some darker paint before repainting the road surface.

The finished effect was made by stippling, (using a dab-dab dot painting method), rather than applying brush strokes.

Stippling a road surface is an easy way to blend worn tyre track highlights and achieve a patchy road surface, as opposed to painting an all-over single colour of grey. As you can see in the photo above, I was able to curve the worn tyre lines towards the bottom right of the scene. This is where the Haunted Bookstore will stand and will help the road appear to curve down and behind the structure when viewed from the front of the layout rather than just ending hard against a blue ocean backdrop.

This is just another example of what has been involved behind the scenes of revamping this layout over the course of 2023. Consider it a preview of what you can expect to find in my final Australian Philden Model Railway book, which will be available sometime next year.

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The Jetty Hotel refit

It's time to catch-up on some of the improvements that have occurred since Philden Beach made it's exhibition debut back in September of this year. To complete my NSW North Coast setting, the square shell of a structure that sat atop the overpass looking out over the rail yard for the past two years, has finally been refitted as the historic Jetty Hotel.

With the Coffs Harbour Jetty such a noticeable feature of my layout's backdrop, there really wasn't a better choice of name to adorn the top of the Century-old sandstone and clapboard hotel.

The kit is a Walker Models laser cut timber kit of the Royal Hotel, a building that is seen on quite a number of Australian model railway layouts. However, I have a penchant for doing things differently, and along with asking Stuart to custom change the signage to say Jetty Hotel when I first started planning to build a NSW North Coast layout, I also set about altering the appearance somewhat, starting with opening up the window frames on the top balcony level to provide a better glimpse inside the structure.

Some years back, a chap wrote into a magazine that one of my previous layouts had been featured in, lamenting the drop in quality of modelling given that my structures had omitted the roof capping. Fair point I guess. However I just don't like the look of a folded strip of paper glued along the ridge peaks, nor using strip styrene which tends to look a bit out of scale.

So, given that I was working with the styrene roof sections supplied with the kit, I turned to a sneaky cheat trick that I have been using with great success, in that I simply filed the ridge caps smooth with a small hobby file prior to painting the roof.

Once painted, the lines on the corrugated styrene sheet look as though they disappear into the smoothly filed strip along the ridge peaks, and as far as I'm concerned looks more to scale as simulated ridge capping than using a thin strip of folded paper. I use a silver paint pen to highlight the ridge peaks prior to spray painting the roof with Rust-o-leum silver, as this adds a slight elevated layer of paint to the ridge that remains visible once painted. As you can see, the building is a background structure, and as such will remain away from view from the armchair judges.

The next step was to paint the .mdf board shell of the kit to resemble a rendered sandstone wall.

The roof was then painted, weathered in 50 shades of grey and grime, sealed with clear matte acrylic and set aside to dry while I painted and weathered the sandstone shell of the building. This is where I once again veered away from building the kit as supplied, given that it had parts to finish all four sides in weatherboard cladding. Instead, I masked and sprayed the building shell with Rust-o-leum Ivory Silk as the basis for the sandstone colour, then achieved the weathering effect as I outlined in my book Model Railway Weathered Wonders.

You may recognise the above picture from pages 66-67, as it was one of the final weathering methods to make it into the book.

The finished look resembles weathered and peeling, rendered sandstone walls.

I left the roof removable on this structure, as I wanted to have a little fun for my own benefit by modelling a stage complete with a band playing inside on the top level. The HO scale figures are by Noch, and the packet I used was the 15563 Street Performers.

I could only fit 5 of the 6 figures on my small stage, and the guy from this packet standing infront of a red music box cart I'd already installed as a spooky looking prop inside my Haunted Bookstore. The stage was built from card, with the images sourced from the internet, resized, printed and glued to the card. I double imposed the stage by printing a second identical image and cutting it to the outline of the curtains to give the stage some 3D depth. The rest of the interior was painted satin gold, so that the interior lighting would throw out a warm glow.

The band has just started playing for the night, and my wife and I are first onto the dancefloor.

Knowing that I wanted the band to be visible through the open French-windows, I built a raised stage and kept the area in front clear of any figurines that would only block the view. Except of course for my wife Denise and I, who just happened to be the first couple to hit the dance floor. (Everyone else is still outside on the top balcony drinking... and probably watching the trains!).

I added the French-windows and figures to the upper balcony before gluing the balcony in place.

Modelling the French-windows was again a cheeky shortcut... I simply filed the as-provided window frame sashes flush, glued a benchtop bar in place on the lower portion of the opened-up window frame, and glued the windows on an angle to look as though they had been concertinaed open. I did the same with the doors so that it looks like the crowd is coming -and-going from the balcony and the stage area.

The figures were this time a mix of Woodlands Scenics WOOA1836 HO scale Tourists and WOOA1833 Lovers. The unused ones will pop-up somewhere else on the layout in good time. I didn't want to over-populate the upper level with too many figurines, as once the roof is in place, I still wanted the band to be easily seen inside. Plus they're expensive little critters once you start ordering a packet of this and a packet of that!

A false bar was added against the left side wall, and an interchangable band poster to the outside.

As the kit had extra doors and stairwells on the upper level that I did not include, I back filled the stairwell doors with some Chooch Industries latex stone wall sheeting I had leftover in my scrap box, and topped the scrap box back up with my leftover doors and stairwell frames. You never know when stuff like this will come in handy.

Some white styrene roof guttering and rusty downpipes were added, and the building sat in place.

I finished the building off with some decorative stone capping around the street-side entrance doors, and added some H channel strip styrene to the roof edging to represent freshly-installed roof guttering. That's right, I cheated again by not even painting it. It looks all-white to me!

The balcony facades were glued into place, and the balcony roof secured to the verandah posts with some super glue. Only then did I notice that one of the verandah posts was sitting a mm lower than the other three, giving the balcony roof the impression of having sagged a little in the middle, (see very top photo). But, being a Century-old building, I decided to leave it as is, and tell myself that it adds a little character and charm.

Finally I painted and fixed some H channel styrene to the side of the building and made myself a set of 6 different band posters to slide in-and-out on the side of the building. I feel that over time, they will add some background variety for future photos of my trains trundling in-and-out of the railway yard below. So more on that later. As for the remnant trams tracks from the days of Philden Street Yard, (see the Philden Museum if you'd like to read all about that), they too are now gone, and I've almost finished modelling the Philden Beach Markets scene that will replace them atop the overpass.

From here on, it's all a bit of fun for me. As I continue working on the next and final Philden Model Railway book, there is a lot happening model-wise behind the scenes. I'll try to keep you updated as soon as I can. Until next time...