New Direction - Stage 1

In the many months since the last post and public showing I have had a lot of tine to consider the layout design. The arrival of the Garrett from Model O has caused a slight change for the layouts final design concept.


Stage 1 - A new start

After a recent visit to Goombla to show my wife the source of all the crazy stuff the decision was made to construct this as the next scene for the railroad after completing the last module for Spicer's Creek. 

This was partly a result of discussions with the Geoff and Ben Small about AD60 Garrett's and the emotional stimulation it would create in O scale. That discussion lead to talk about the W44 Concentrate Train that was moved over the western mountains by the AD60 Garrett's. This route required many changes of locomotives and double heading and this lead to the talk of  "What if  the Mary Vale to Golgong line had been completed ?"  as one of the reasons for building the Mary Vale extension was its direct access to the ports in Newcastle while offering superior grades, so it is logical any dispatcher would route its traffic using this route.

With Model O release of the ore cars my fate was sealed we had to run the ore train so it was back to the drawing board [CAD System]. The recent attendance at the AUS 7 march convention lead to thinking about a new design.

The actual design popped into my head in my sleep that night and was still there the next day.

Stage 1 is no real change other that deciding to build Goombla module over Drill Creek but the real change is in the Stage 2 that may or may not be built.

Stage 1 shown below