Somerville & St. Francis River - An Update

[supagav]

Hey folks,

Just wanted to share photos of our recent open day and some other action on our line. There are a few new additions, but sadly not as much as we would like due to current family and work commitments! I hope you enjoy them and thanks for looking.

All the best,
Gavin

 

[supagav]

And some more:

The following show our newly completed feed mill complex, its still awaiting decals and signage to complete the scene:

 

[supagav]

This is a shot of our new rural fuel depot. The industry is designed to recieve inbound tank car shipments, unloaded at the small fuelling rack beside the tracks, and then distributed to the local community by truck. Again it will feature a lot more details, decals and signage, plus more fencing in between the tracks but unfortunately we just ran out of time!

 

[nicebutdim]

That is excellent! I love the mill complex, must be big. That GP9 is impressive too

 

[Mousey]

Great looking Railroad.

 

[Rhinochugger]

Superb shots - real atmosphere

Looked at your avatar and thought of this

 

[Gizzy]

Nice Gav....

 

[Tony]

Lovely detail Gav do you have a track plan or any videos

Tony

 

[railwayman198]

Looking good Gav. I particularly like that shot of the train passing the feedmill at dusk.

 

[Richie]

Hi Gavin
How nice to see some more pic's of your lovely line full of atmosphere

 

[stockers]

Some great buildings there. Nice photos too.

 

[steven large]

i do really loves all yr SUPERB work as it really good! i take my hat off to u.well done as we avent heard from u for long while as it hope it go well with u.cheers.spidey

 

[supagav]

Thanks for the lovely comments guys!

The sun was out shining again today so I thought I'd squeeze in a few more photos whilst I actually have some time on my hands! I just wanted to share some of the switching (shunting) that we are trying to simulate on our line. This particular scene centres around our interchange track which is intended to represent the point where our branchline crosses the mainline of of the L&N (NC&StL).

The first photo shows an overview of the scene with a small L&N station in the foreground and the signal tower in the back, with the track curving away to left representing the interchange where the two roads exchanged rolling stock:

The second shows from the other side where the curved interchange track meets the main branchline trackage:

 

[supagav]

The local run, powered by SP GP9 #5788 splits its train and leaves two wagons and the caboose on the interchange, whilst it reverses over the diamond and spots a boxcar at the freight depot.

 

[supagav]

Now it returns back over the diamond to pickup the rest of the rolling stock:

 

[supagav]

Finally it slips back onto the interchange, picks up the stock and caboose and rolls off to finish up for the day:

 

[JRinTawa]

That's a neat sequence of pictures Gavin

 

[trammayo]

Great set of pictures and a great line. The feed mill is outstanding - is it a kit or scratchbuild? Either way, it has presence. Brilliant!

 

[supagav]

Thanks guys,

Mick, the main building of the feed mill started out life as a piko kit but it just looked to European for our tastes as we wanted something that really represented something American, something back-woods style that had seen better days. It was heavily modified and adapted and and the other buildings added to suggest a much larger complex. Also, because of its larger height it really helps to soften the blend between the railroad and the rest of the garden.

 

[supagav]

Tony,

We do have a track plan somewhere, let me see what I can do! We were featured in the US magazine Garden Railways a few months back, so let me see if I can dig it out and scan it.