Somerville Plans

These are the plans for my model railroad. They have been crudely drawn but will give you a feel of what I am trying to achieve. The main focus of my layout will be of my hometown, Somerville and the industries at BHP. At the moment I have completed the Somerville Railway Station, the road behind it and some shops. The benchwork that BHP is drawn on has not yet been completed. There is also an aeriel photo of BHP below.
In the future (and I mean future!) one of the reversing loops will become a helix which will lead to South Dynon, the upper level of my layout. As you can see I have alot of work ahead of me!




(View of BHP from above)

Reversing Loop

Lately I have been working on a reversing loop (that may also serve as a future helix) for my railway. It has been made from mdf and pine. This project took me a good 4 hours on Sunday but I like to think that the finished product is worth it!

Firstly I measured out the radius that I would like the loop to be (making sure all of my trains would be able to navigate it) onto the sheet of mdf that I brought from Bunnings. I needed only two supports as the mdf was so thick. A piece of pine has been dynobolted to the wall at the back for extra support also.

(The basic structure so far)

The y shape as you can see in the photo will be removable to allow for access.

The track work was installed by drilling a whole and putting screws in between the sleepers, I find this method a lot more reliable and less time consuming than gluing down the track. The turnout that you can see will be to a future extension/helix. I am using old track from my previous layout for the helix as not to let it go to waste.

(The connection to my layout)

The track work has been completed and I am cutting gaps in the rails and soldering the feeders. Now I just need to work out how to wire the bloody thing and make it operational!

Somerville RR begins

It has been a long time in the making but now officially the Somerville RailRoad has commenced construction. A small portion has already been completed at the time of writing which includes the Somerville station building,

a small row of shops and the toilet block. My aim for this layout is to recreate the town of Somerville and Tyabb as close to the original as I possibly can.

I will be modeling the area from Somerville Station to Tyabb and will be including the full industries at BHP. I will be uploading the plans for this layout and more photos in due time.

With this blog I plan on keeping track of all my current projects on the railway and any new progress that I have made. Cheers Jack