I prepared the following article to explain why I had modelled Tunnel Road - and to position it several years into the future.
IT'S 2015.
Australia - like the rest of the developed world - is only just dusting itself off after the disastrous stock market crash of '08 that eventually followed the string of major terrorist attacks on the United States in '01.
The world is now a very different place following this massive stock market "correction" that drove tens of millions of globalised high-fliers into poverty, while snuffing the life out of merchant banks, mega-merged e-business conglomerates and many high-tech start-ups alike.
If anything, though, it's a better place. More sedate. Good new technology works alongside proven older technology, and the greed-is-good philosophy has been replaced by ethics-are-essential. Those technology-based companies actually delivering proven products or services are reaping the benefits of the emerging New Sustainable Economy.
Frugality coupled with equipment recycling and regular maintenance are the new millennium's hallmarks for business profitability in a world becoming - once again - accustomed to sensible regulation in the face of ever-looming climate change . . .
No business better reflects this ethos than railroads. And no roads demonstrate equipment recycling and maintenance better than The Black Water Lines, and its subsidiary, The Escarpment Coast Road (EC).
This is unsung muscle railroading without airs and graces. Heavy chain-gang mineral drags, mixed with steel and hot-shot, single-deck intermodal business, along a heavily modified Illawarra Line. (The smaller tunnel bores don't allow for double stacking.)
The lush, sub-tropical bush setting is somewhere along the Illawarra Line's original alignment, at the foot of Tunnel Road . . .
The crash of '08 hastened the privatisation of what was left of the former government-controlled railroad business in NSW. As part of this privatisation frenzy, the locally owned Black Water Lines (BWL) company picked up the former Illawarra Line in the bargain basement.
Much of the double-track deviation of the early 20th Century had fallen into poor condition. The BWL decided it would be cheaper to re-open the original right of way, widen and deepen tunnels to handle the larger locos and rolling stock, and lay down much heavier rails (also 2nd hand - from the iron ore roads of Western Australia) than perform cosmetic surgery on the living dead.
(Otford through to Port Kembla has been single-tracked, and all passenger stations along the entire line are being modified for the soon-to-open light-rail service.)
The old alignment that passes through Tunnel Road, the new helper-loco and servicing facility nears Helensburgh, is a solid 1-in-40 northbound slog from Otford to Waterfall. But it's no problem for the heavy-duty fourth-hand North American power running under the BWL and EC flags.
Towards the end of '08, North America was awash with moth-balled motive power and rolling stock. So long as compression is up, gaskets don't leak and rings aren't too worn, these old diesels have years of reliable grade pounding ahead of them. And so long as minerals can be loaded and discharged, and the bodywork is solid, new 70-tonne and 90-tonne bogies, and brake gear do the trick on older steel cars.
Even an old caboose or two, much like Grand dad's axe, but as smooth as a ride in a Roller, add to exchange crew comforts between shifts.
The BWL/ECR loco fleet is a mixed bag of hand-me-down Alco, GE and GM products, all kept in excellent running order by the loco shed crews at Corrimal. (The company took over the disused Corrimal coke works area in 2010, reopened the works spur track, refurbished the old Corrimal Colliery engine shed -- now under a heritage order.)
You'll see two old RS 11s, four SW1200s (used as yard goats and mainline switcher/shunting power) and five GP18s. The pride of the fleet are two Dash 8s . . . still in their NS black, but with local markings. The roads' masters are always on the lookout for 'good motive power buys'.
Most recently a number of SD40-2s have turned up on the property, two in UP paint, the third in Santa Fe livery. All have been pressed into immediate service, and will be resprayed BWL/EC black with white running boards in due course.
The freight cars are from an equally wide array of 'fallen flag' lines. Most are ex- North American (70 and 90 tonners), with a smattering of older, former, refurbished NSW coal cars (ex-BCH). All have been fitted with heavy-duty draw and brake gear, as well as high-efficiency roller-bearing trucks. They may be old, but they do the job!
The first two large numbers on the sides of each car indicates whether it has a 70- or 90-tonne capacity. The following numbers indicate its road number in each category . . . a simple identification method visible from at least 100m away.
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I modelled Tunnel Road in N scale, as I was trying to get as much action and scenery into as small a space as possible. I guess you could almost call it a micro layout.
The layout size is 2ft by 2.5ft, the plan calling for a simple oval of track, with a single spur off on the viewing side. There's a passing loop behind the scenic divider. The baseboard is a single sheet of plywood, with a lightweight sub-frame of pine. I glued a sheet of Canite to the ply, then cut out the creek bed.
Tunnel Road owes much, in fact, to a similar layout called Littleton Curve, built by British modeller, Brant Hickman, and which featured in the May 1997 edition of Railway Modeller.
Major differences include the scenic treatment and vegetation; I wanted Tunnel Road to have a uniquely Australian feel. The road and rail bridges, and the railway house behind the station add to this overall Down Under feel.
For exhibition purposes, I find Peco Code 80 N scale track ideal. It's a little over-scale to the naked eye, but it's robust. And once you have painted the sleepers (ties) and the rail sides, then weathered the lot, the trackwork seems to 'shrink'. I used local crushed rock materials (very fine) for the ballast, which was secured by the usual diluted white glue method. I always use lots of water . . . and lots of liquid detergent as a wetting agent.
The spur pointwork (switch) is operated by a simple hand wire passing through an old length of mower cable housing!
The curved backboard is a sheet of light-blue art card.
I have tried to make everything as light as possible in the name of portability (I can carry this small layout myself, with any help at exhibitions). All the hills are carved polystyrene, the roads are cardboard glued to styrene risers, and the road bridge on the far right side of the layout is scratch built from card and plastic. I deliberately stayed away from plaster casting to keep weight as low as possible.
The scenic material is a real mixture! The road and general 'bare earth' surfaces are a combination of sifted real Australian rock materials. The grasses are a mix of very fine green carpet fibres, mixed with various grades and shades of Woodland Scenics ground foam.
Trees are a mix of commercial and hand-made, and I am starting to add ferns (also hand-made).
Structures on Tunnel Road are a mix of commercial (Ratio and Peco) and scratch- built or kit bashed. The small good shed (preserved and maintained by the local historical society) is a copy of a small NSW Government Railways shed now seen at Thirlmere near Picton. The house behind the station is a scratched fantasy which seems to give the right Australian flavour . . . as does the road bridge and scratch-built rail bridge over Dry Creek.
The platform comprises several sheets of thick laminated card, painted cement to give it a grey-in-the-midday-sun look. I can't remember who made the fences and power poles, as they have been in the bottom of my scrap box for years!
Figures (human and animal) are Preiser.
