Mallee River - South Australian N Scale layout

Below are a few pictures of my N scale layout 'Mallee River'. This is built in module form, each module being 1.1 metres long by 600mm deep. Currently it consists of 4 modules but will most likely be extended with extra modules in time. The purpose of these modules are to join in with other members of the local model rail group, but as yet I am the only one to have completed the scenery stage of construction as of 14/8/2003, but several members are close to finishing other modules. At the moment all locos and rolling stock are of US outline but I plan to Australianise these by repainting. Also some Urethane castings may be attempted from scratch built masters of South Australian rolling stock. Any questions or comments please contact me.

Below are a few pics of the Kadina Show exhibition held over the weekend of 16/17 Aug 2003. The 2 days saw an estimated 500+ people browse past our displays and others in the pavilion. Some spent a long time looking and asked plenty of questions. A platform in front gave the kids and also some of the adults a better chance to see. The layout performed well. The only problem I had was one loco was a little too fast on the first day (Sat) which meant I was frequently switching between the branchline track at the rear to slow up one loco and let the speeder go around. This was overcome by installing 4 diodes at home that night (2 in each direction) which balanced the speed with the other loco perfectly for the Sunday running.

May 2005 ~ Over the long weekend in MAY 2005 during the Kernewek Lowender festival in the Copper Triangle, our local model railway group held a very successful exhibition with a strong contribution from local members with their layouts together with several layouts from Adelaide modellers also. This was held in the Moonta school gymnasium and was extremely well supported by the visiting public. Mallee River appeared at the exhibition with my 4 modules as well as 3 other modules owned by 2 other local members that match my scenery. Mallee River was set-up in a L shaped configuration and performed well all weekend.

Click links below for video or Mallee River in operation from that exhibition. Unfortunately I still have only US style rolling stock, so please ignore that. Although Kevin Grant did bring along his pair of orange WESTRAIL locos and rake of coal hoppers which looked very nice running around the layout.

June 2005 ~ After the exhibition I could seriously see the need to add a working signal system to the layout, both for visual appeal but also for more automation of the entire layout. I've made some of the signals and installed these onto the layout and the signal circuit had been successfully designed and prototyped and are waiting mass production of the PCB's. Several new modules are also in planning stages too. Check back soon.

19-6-2006 ~ Well it been a while since an update but there has been some activity during the past 2 months in readiness for the AMRE (Adelaide Model Railway Exhibition) 2006 held at the Angle Park dog track pavilion. There was a slight change in ideas from the above modules and I decided to use 2 of the new modules for the AMRE. This gave 'Mallee River' a total length of 7metres in one long length and really gives a unique perspective if viewed from either end along the length of the layout. The 2 new modules include the 'Tank' module and 'Dam' module. The tank is modelled on the large above ground E&WS or SA-Water as its now known, concrete water tank, which is only 300 metres from my house in an adjoining paddock. The dam module represents a typical farm dam at the bottom of a hill and also some adjoining paddocks as they would look just after harvest with short stubble. A simple semi automatic signal system was added also and gives some sections of block control. Several US (Atlas & Bachmann) 42' Gondolas were sourced and these had some simple modifications done to represent SAR OB bogie wagons and corresponding paint scheme was applied and tarpaulins added to hide the incorrect US floor details. Aust-N-Rails supplied M vans, FBX flat wagons, 8300 Brake vans and an OB wagon. The OB wagon was left un-tarped to obviously represent an empty wagon and show the 'correct' floor detail of a true OB. Peco 4 wheel vans were used to represent DWf vans and most of the brake rigging was cut off to give a convincing overall effect. US Atlas GP7's were used to represent 830 diesels and given the distinctive 'Mustard Pot' livery of the SAR. Here are a few quick pics of Mallee River at the recent AMRE 2006. I will post up some more pics of the rolling stock and scenery soon.

Credit goes to Graham Cocks for the following picture from AMRE2006 showing 834 hauling a rake of OB bogie wagons with an 8300 brake van in tow.

9-9-2006 ~ I was privileged to be asked by Les Fordham, at the AMRE06, to attend the convention with Mallee River. I always attend this event every year but just as a spectator. It was quite a challenge to transport, assemble, run and then dissemble the complete layout it only a few hours! But with the help of Tony Brown (Coonalpyn Downs layout fame), who travelled down with me, and a few other willing bystanders that helped with assembly and packing up it was a great success and showcased that SAR can indeed be modelled in N Scale! Tony lent me his pair of Bluebird railcars (heavily modified ConCor RDC's) and these took pride of place sitting at the little Mallee River station and created much interest and really looked the part circulating the track! Below are a few pics of Mallee River assembled for the convention.

January 2007 ~ Through necessity I started building my own N scale SAR rolling stock and established a small online business SAR N SCALE DETAILERS and now provide cast Polyurethane wagon kits and other detailing items to modellers.

Easter 2007 ~ Mallee River was displayed at the Hobson's Bay exhibition in Melbourne. The Layout performed flawlessly all weekend. Was good to meet up with many 'online' friends in person as well as talking with many other modellers and the public attending the exhibition. The Hobson's Bay event is an exhibition featuring only dedicated Australian layouts in all scales. I also had a small trade stand alongside the layout for SAR N SCALE DETAILERS

SAR PROTOTYPE	MODEL MANUFACTURER	ACCURACY of MODEL	SAR, ANR or AN MODEL
M Original Door	Aust-N-Rail	Accurate
M Rebuilt Door	Aust-N-Rail	Accurate	PICTURE SOON
FBX	Aust-N-Rail	Accurate
8300 Brake Van	Aust-N-Rail or Peter Boorman's Workshop	Accurate
OX Pressed door	Aust-N-Rail	Accurate
OB Pressed & Reinforced door	Atlas & Bachmann	42' Gondola Modified for Representation
DWf	SAR N Scale Detailers	Original roof Accurate Corrugated roof

OF OGF OBF	SAR N Scale Detailers	Pressed Doors
OBF	SAR N Scale Detailers	Fabricated doors
DW	SAR N Scale Detailers	Accurate
Fuel Tanker	Life Like	3 Dome Representation
830 Diesel Locomotive	Peter Boorman's Workshop	Accurate
930 Diesel Locomotive	Ibertren NSW 44 Class	No longer Available Repainted and modified to ANR livery