Our History
1989-1992
In 1989 a group of model railway enthusiasts from the Warrandyte area gathered in a beaten up old public building in the freezing cold middle of winter with a common goal, to start a model railway club. The Warrandyte Model Railway Club was born.
It should also be noted that nearly all those in attendance were also supporters of the Melbourne Demons football club (relevant? Maybe).
The club's first layout was built in N scale, and was modelled on the Trentham area of Victoria and featured a replica of the Trentham Falls. This layout was of very sturdy contruction for an 8x4ft layout and as it was a public building that the club was meeting in, the layout had to be hauled up to the roof and bolted in place until the next meeting. This process required at least 4 people to heave on the ropes and 1 person to climb a ladder and slide the bolts in to anchor the layout in place in it's heavenly home.
Fortunately the council knocked the building down (without us or our trains in it) and the club spent some time moving from garage to garage, swampy shed to swampy shed until the council completed construction of a new shiny community centre of which the WMRC had been allocated (for a reasonable annual fee) a large area in which a new layout could be built.
There had been some discussion during the swampy shed days as to what should be built once our space became available, and Bacchus Marsh on the Victorian Railways western line to Ballarat during the 1950's was chosen.
Skipping ahead to 2000...
The club relocated from Warrandyte to Lilydale (both on the north eastern outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria) and settled into the Railway Goods Shed, courtesy of the railways, in 2001. As part of the move the club had to dissassemble it's large Bacchus Marsh to Ballarat HO layout and reassemble it in the new premises. This meant that some long quiet geographic fault lines were suddenly very obvious (where the layout was cut into pieces and re-assembled). Over time these have been tidied up and the scenery once again resembles the real thing, with a number of bridges, rocky outcrops, bare hills, green valleys, livestock, houses etc.
The layout depicts the Victorian Railways (VR) in the mid 1960's. Rolling stock is mostly owned by the members of the club and while it typically reflects that period of the VR, it is possible to see the Westcoaster running in it's blue livery, or perhaps an NR in Ghan colours pulling a container train, or even some English locomotive pulling a passenger train that would never have run on this line. VR, V/Line, standard gauge, broad gauge, modern trains, old ones, steam or diesel, they all run along these railway tracks at some stage.
The atmosphere of our club is a relaxed and casual one. We have an extensive collection of Australian Model Railway Magazine (AMRM) with issues dating back to the sixties. We also have collections of a number of other publications. We do have more than one copy of some issues and these are available for sale.
The layout itself consists of approximately 75 metres of main line (not counting passing loops, sidings, double track etc.) with various sidings, stations and loops as per the real thing. The
layout is based on Victoria's old main western line from Parwan to Ballarat.
The period is around 1960. Of course nowadays this line carries
mostly passenger services and is no longer part of the interstate route. (bit
dull now really, bring back the 60's!)
Most
of the main line is code 83 rail, with some code 100. Many of the (electrofrog)
points are still operated by hand but automation is gradually creeping closer
and some areas (such as the Bacchus Marsh yard) are mostly automated now with
slow motion Tortoise point motors. Trackwork is Atlas, Peco and Shinohara.
Control
is analogue, The wiring is currently being upgraded for DCC.
Power
is supplied by a number of transformers (some transformers are used for points,
some for locomotion), predominantly H&M Clipper units. Despite being 35 or
so years old, they work fine.
Wiring
is using a common rail (return) with the other rail being isolated into
sections, Train controllers operate the points and track sections.
The
driver of the train can control the train anywhere on the layout. Thus multiple
trains can be operated at any one time and in different directions or at
different speeds. Additionally, the controllers can "switch out"
a section of track and isolate any train they desire. It is quite common
to see double, triple, quadruple or even more(!) locos on a train, and with
multiple trains running at once.
There
are typically four transformers controlling trains at any one time:
1.
For the main line and Bacchus Marsh yard (controller located at Bacchus Marsh).
2.
Alternative control for the main line and Bacchus Marsh yard (also located at
Bacchus Marsh - this controller is usually set to operate in the reverse
direction to No. 1 controller).
3.
For the main line from just west of Ballarat, Ballarat yard, through Ballarat
east and just beyond Gordon (controller located at Ballarat).
4.
Maddingly yard and coal depot (also has it's own switch panel for track power;
controller located at Maddingly).
The
landscape is constructed of paper mache' over chicken wire. The frame is
pine with some substantial supports, including steel beams in places. While the
baseboard is plywood base uner Canite sheets.
The
track forms a loop (i.e. it is not
at all circular, but one end is joined to the other) with
multiple passing loops so that trains can pass at various locations, depending
upon their length. Total track length, not including yards or double
line, is approximately 150metres.
