Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Gunnedah and Beyond - An Introduction

This Blog will track the building of a HO Scale model railway layout and other related modelling projects.

The layout will centre around the railway station and surrounding yard of Gunnedah, which is located on the Mungindi Line, 475.8km North of Sydney. The era represented will be the mid 1960's through to the early 1970's, which is commonly referred to as the "Transition Period" of the N.S.W.G.R. where Steam was finally phased out and replaced by Diesel power.

The Mungindi line branches from the Main North Line at Werris Creek 410.7km from Sydney, runs N.N.W. through Gunnedah, and continues to the North finishing at Moree, 665.6km N.N.W. of Sydney.

The main types of rail traffic through Gunnedah in that era were Wheat, Coal and Livestock. Gunnedah has a large wheat silo located within the yard with its own siding. There are also various mills, livestock and oil sidings on the outskirts of Gunnedah which will make for an interesting track plan and eventually opperation.

The layout will opperate on DCC, use Peco Code 75 Rail, and all points (turnouts) are being hand laid. Whist it will be a home layout, I will use a style of modular construction to allow for easy transportation if need be.

The long term goal with the layout is to not only model Gunnedah itself, but also some of the more interesting locations along the Mungingi line, hence the title Gunnedah "and Beyond".

I'll do my best to get some photos up over the next few weeks of progress so far, so check back from time to time.

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