Portable Goods Yard

[rod.h]

Ayep, I finally thought of something to do with the stock of unitrack I have and the out of spec modules I assembled. I can do a version of  A. R. Walkley's Portable Goods Yard, which is coming up to an anniversary I believe. I'm not certain if anyone's done it one recently down here, let alone change the setting from Britain to somewhere in Australia.
In SCARM I overlaid the drawing and came up with something pretty close even with the enforced wiggle that using Kato #4 switches produces.

But this is the plan that I'm actually using

and tested

I'm still in the process of working out the uncoupler magnet locations and what to run on it, but as seen here

I'm starting to get an idea on what rolling stock is going to be shuffled around and that I need to lay some surrounding material to bring the platform heights into gauge.

Scenery, on the other hand, is something of a blank sheet. I currently have a couple of fixed points from the grade crossings and their related roads, an engine shed & a method of disguising the exit for the optional fiddle yard/cassette. 

The original had a hill with a tunnel, which is something if I was to go with how my rolling stock source did things was rarely taken. Then again my rough hill/tunnel prototype has left me undecided. Probably due to cutting it an inch too high and needing to adjust the engine shed siding length.
 
A suggestion I've received is to replace the tunnel with a bridge, as I'm not using the module join covering central bridge.

[chutton01]

The images I have of UK railways (many, many from RMWeb.co.uk among other sources) - I can't image yard tracks having such deep ballasting. I guess that's Bachmann EZ-track (or some equivalent), can you bury the height somewhat?
BTW, what year is the module set in? I though all cattle wagons were withdrawn by the early 1970s.

Also, put me down as also recommending a bridge with huge abutments and stone retaining walls, I think that looks pretty cool, and gives you lots of detailing opportunities.

[Maurice]

Great idea. Looks like it is coming together quite well. May we assume you are building this in HO scale?

[rod.h]

Yep, it's in HO scale for it's the only one that I currently work in. The track used is Kato HO gauge unitrack.

[rod.h]

chutton01

The images I have of UK railways (many, many from RMWeb.co.uk among other sources) - I can't image yard tracks having such deep ballasting. I guess that's Bachmann EZ-track (or some equivalent), can you bury the height somewhat?
BTW, what year is the module set in? I though all cattle wagons were withdrawn by the early 1970s.

I'm not modeling the UK, I'm modeling Australia, specifically Victorian Railways who used those cattle wagons - with minor mods - from 1897 to ~1985. The period I'm modeling covers 1955-1985 due to the fact of only possessing diesel locomotives and the only relevant steam locos I've seen available aren't appropriate for this design (too long or wrong scale). It's Kato Unitrack and I'm all ready contemplating using cork infill to bring the ground level up to sleeper height at the appropriate locations.

Also, put me down as also recommending a bridge with huge abutments and stone retaining walls, I think that looks pretty cool, and gives you lots of detailing opportunities.

The current problem with using a bridge there is finding an appropriate kit or base parts to start from. 

[chutton01]

rod.h

I'm not modeling the UK, I'm modeling Australia, specifically Victorian Railways who used those cattle wagons - with minor mods - from 1897 to ~1985.

OK, after rereading your OP I see you did mention that.  Also, the M class cattle wagons (that's what wiki claims they are) look a lot like UK stock. However, the MC cattle containers look pretty cool - too bad they weren't used for intermodal transport of livestock, but the wiki entry says they weren't.

The current problem with using a bridge there is finding an appropriate kit or base parts to start from.

I was thinking of stone, brick or concrete retaining walls, with a bridge made of similar material, which seems to be a common enough arrangement in the UK (Perhaps somthing like this). I would guess there are plenty of equivalents in Australia, but nothing handily comes to mind.

[rod.h]

Down here, worked stone abutments & retaining walls are rare. Brick and concrete are more common with the spans being either concrete beams or steel through girder. Other bridge styles are uncommon (truss) to rare (wood viaduct) across the system.

How about a through girder bridge using a 50' and 70' span? 

And I just realised I've left off the measurements of the space I'm working in, which is: 1964 mm by 490 mm. As that foam sheet is 25 mm thick (that's what I remember it is, it might be 30 mm thick), I've got ~465 mm of open space to plonk a bridge -and it's other end- in.

 

[rod.h]

Well, I've a bridge now:

I've probably chose the wrong length combination of through-girder spans to build as I probably would've had less hassle with piers if I used a 90 foot span instead of the 50 & 70 foot spans that I actually used.

Don't know why I fixated on a 4-inch clearance of overhead structures from the railhead, as building the pier to the uncut dimensions of the abutments and using the kit-included small bridge feet, looks fine to me.

[rod.h]

That darn scenic bridge, amongst other scenery items, is creating a now what moment for me. Aside from the retaining wall, which appears that applying a skin of Noch brick paper is the way to go, once I decide on a height.
It's more the mixture of spans do I go 70' & 50' 

or 70' and 30'

(and yes I know the three-aspect spotlight signal isn't period or region correct. It's an operational placeholder for where the correct type will go)

At the other end of the layout, I've found that I can fit a Walthers background building with a little tweak. 

though the uncoupler magnet that's under the second wagon which I intended for a locomotive uncoupling point will have to go. Plus I've obviously still not started on construction of the correct buffers.

[MonkeyBucket]

Its been a while since I ran the Australian rail on a layout. I started in the hobby at 7years old with the LIMA XPT set and added to it with the available LIMA stock back in the 80s. After finding the American stock to be cheaper and more available I went on to modelling the great American rail system.

Keen to see how your yard turns out...I recon the Aussie stuff has a fair bit of character being influence ove rthe years due to all the imports from all over the world...:)

 

 

[chutton01]

rod.h

At the other end of the layout, I've found that I can fit a Walthers background building with a little tweak. 

Is that the Walthers background building in place? If so, now you have me wondering, is that a style which would have been found in Australia? It's a little hard to tell exactly what building kit that is with that angle in the photo, but it looks rather pre-WWII Midwest US style (like many Walthers building kits do). A style which would work well for the Northern US (and older cities in the South and SW), in Canada, but not so well for Europe...no idea about Australia, however, what architecture was most common in urban industry prior to the Modern and International styles of the 1940s and later (let alone featureless big-box buildings from the 1950s till today).

[rod.h]

It's their Commissary/Freight Transfer building, I did think of using the heritage furniture building for a starting point, but that style of concrete structure is extremely rare and would require a lot of modifications. I'm using it for its genericity as it's a pretty close style match with known local pre1940 brick industrial buildings. Though if I'd changed the windows and added some details it'd be closer. However, I think that the only changes I will be doing to it, is change the canopy roof and the loading dock.