Wonglepong

[simon@mgr]

I moved from Canberra to the Gold Coast just over a year ago and left the MGR there for my son and grandsons to run.
As a result a replacement had to be built, and living in an apartment, an indoor railway was the only option.
Living by myself meant I had no restrictions as to where it went, so the dining area gave me a 4.6 x 2.4 m (15' x 8') area in which to play.
The layout also had to modular to allow to move without destroying it. Seeing as I have a dodgy back and live on the second floor, the size of each module was 1.2 x .8 m (4' x 2' 8") for the station area and 1.2 x .6 m (4' x 2') for the yard

This shows the initial configuation of modules

The track is laid on 5mm cork underlay and the control is analogue.
As yet the railway did not have a name. I decided to drive to Canungra to have a gander at where an old logging tramway was. I went through the town and a few clicks up the I see a locality signpost, do a double take and think "Sounds good". It is easier to spell and remember how to say than another place in the area, Biddaddaba (I kid you not)

 

[simon@mgr]

Work progressed, laying track, wiring, making control panels and speed controllers.
Finally I ran my first loco

Landscape was made from expanded polystyrene carved into shape (lots of snow for a week). This comprised of four section backed with 30 thou styrene at one end of the layout

Then came the task of applying the scenery. I used goop, this is a higly specialised mix of 1 part paint of the desired colour, 1 part vermiculite and initially, 1 part talc (out of a 5 kilo bucket).
This was troweled on, giving a nice texture to the surface.

 

[mike]

like it, will be keeping a eye on this

 

[yb281]

Mmmmmm, I'm officially jealous of any indoor layout at the mo. This looks great.

 

[simon@mgr]

Once the goop was spread, then came the ballast.
What to use?
First off, I tried aquarium gravel, looked good but heavy. At my local model railway club, there is an indoor G scale layout, so I asked Shannon what he had used, "Home brand cat litter" he says.
"Brilliant!" I said. It is light, a light grey in colour and seeing as I don't have cats, very suitable.
Firstly you pour it along the track and brush it into position. Then you wet it with water with a little fabric dye and a drop of detergent mixed in. To fix it in position you hit it with a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water

At this stage I had a U shaped shunting layout. I had to wait until October when I back to Canberra to visit before I could buy sufficient track to complete the loop.

Anyhow October came and went and I now had sufficient track. This section had to be easily removeable, otherwise there was no access to the bedroom. I hit upon the idea of a curved girder type bridge supported by two pylons
This was to be fixed in position with loose pin hinges and also hinged in the middle to allow for compact storage. As I use rail clamps for joining, alignment was not a problem

Pardon the mess, it is gradually improving as time goes by. Hopefully by the turn of the century I will have......... Hang on, it's gone hasn't it.

 

[trammayo]

Excellent alternative use of the dining room. Like your style

 

[C&S]

Good start, Simon. It's nice to see another exponent of indoor G-scale; we may still be a minority here but sometimes, as you say, there's no alternative. I shall look forward to further developments.

 

[CoggesRailway]

That's great well done. Great to see a room being used properly with no meddlers suggesting it should be used for eating in or anything like that

May also say I never cease to be amazed at Austrailian place names. I opened the thread thinking it Wobbleponga would be a scratch built whimsy loco!

 

[Gizzy]

Nice one Simon.

I wonder if I could persuade Mizzy for a change in use to the small spare bedroom....

 

[simon@mgr]

Back again folks, I lost my internet connection for a few days.
Where was I, scenery methinks. I glued sections of polystyrene to the height i required and cut the plan view out. I then made saw cuts to the embankment angle I wanted about 25mm (1") apart and proceeded to rip it off by hand. This gave a nice rough finish.
Then came making snow, a.k.a carving the contours, needless to say I was outside.
Finished items were covered in goop and then weathered

There are four hill sections, backed with styrene for durability, which are removable.
Once the sections were to my liking, then started sowing grass. This was something I had not done for thirty five odd years, lets face it, scenery in G scale may be back backing, but it's easier to plant ground cover and trees than it is to model it.
I used a variety of scatter materials and some coir potting mix. The latter comes in a pressed form the sized of a brick. You soak it in a gallon of water and it expands to two gallons in volume. Then you let it dry out for a week or more and, hey presto a nice dark brown scatter material.
All of this is fixed with a 50:50 mix of water and pva glue, spread the glue around, toss various colours of scatter around and all done
The hardest thing to model was the water, after try several things, I ended up using 24hr epoxy glue and for the surface, artists gloss gell medium. Seven attempts and getting deeper all the time.

 

[simon@mgr]

Station platform was next, this was made from 2mm styrene in two sections which interlock

One thing I will have to learn is how to make trees and shrubbery (opening for Monty Phyton fans), this will prove interesting.
At the moment I am building a timber bridge to display my Bedford OB.
First train to run the loop was New Years Eve morning, just before I went to my MRC.

Will post more shortly

 

[playmofire]

As a planned indoor layouter, this is a very useful and interesting thread; thank you for starting it.
The solution to completing the loop is outstanding - you have an eye for the dramatic!

Like the scenery, too.

 

[simon@mgr]

I have meaning to do an update on my layout, but a few things have got in the way.
My Family Pizza exhibition layout for one, and this little beastie.

I removed roughly 4'' out of it and it still looks alright. I still have to a numbers and weathering but it has seen good service at shows and the club.

This is the Bachmann Davenport with the Backwoods Miniatures kit added. Highly recommended and very easy to instal.

I got around to finishing the bridge and approaches. The road surface is black tile grout (dries dark gray).

This is the 4th version of the water feature, this one used casting resin.
Smelt awful but great result.

 

[simon@mgr]

I have finally done all the scatter material and cobbled up a couple of trees

Compare this to Post #11

The station yard in in need of a stock ramp, goods platform & crane, water tower and other ancillary items. Station building may be of use.8|

The staging (mine?) area needs some work.

Thats it for the moment, hopefully I'll be back sooner with an update.

 

[playmofire]

Thanks for a very interesting and useful blow-by-blow account of your new layout. It certainly looks good in all respects. (I like that shot of the OB on the bridge particularly.)

 

[CoggesRailway]

I like the way the polysteryne assumes convinvcing real life! cool...

 

[C&S]

Excellent stuff. Another Forum member not ashamed to go G indoors! Just shows that a decent layout can be achieved in a small area. Very nice creek, too. Is that long grass from an aquarium accessory?

 

[royale]

Very impressive - some lovely modelling. Well done, mate.

 

[mike]

outstanding sir, tip my hat to you.. great details, love the bridge, with the bus..:love:

 

[simon@mgr]

I spent Australia Day doing a temporary installation of Wonglepong at my railway club.
It will be the G scale section until we build a new layout. We have four layouts G, O/On30, HO/OO and N.


This was Saturdays effort. It represents how much I can fit into an i30.



The rest took two trips.
The total assembly time was about six hours, two hours on Saturday and four on Sunday.
It is the first time I have been able to walk around outside the layout since it has been built.