What was and what will be

Well the last post was out of the blue. One minute Candelo was all OK then the bulldozers moved in.
Candelo was one of the last stations to be finished? on South Coast Rail. It was certainly end of the line stuff. It consisted of 3rd hand code 100 points of all makes and nationalities. It was partially ballasted and bare track. Some of the points were electrified and worked from a small local panel. Located at the end of the line was also a coal mine.

Candelo although never completely finished in regard to scenery, ballasting and all points wired was a great place to shunt. When a twenty wagon coal train arrived and needed to head to the mine for loading, it required a bit of thinking to get it all loaded. The run around at the mine would only take 8 wagons and a van which was mandatory in all mine shunts. So this needed three separate runs to accomplish the full loading of the train. Getting the train back together in the yard wasn't straight forward, nor was it meant to be. I purposely designed the bugger factor into the layout to make shunting interesting.
So as can be seen from the previous blog entry the bulldozers have been and gone and the yard is completely flattened ready to take the new track layout.

 Looking towards the station, coal storage siding on the left and the track to the back dock and goods yard. I was tossing up whether to put these embarrassing shots up but decided it will make a good contrast with what will end up there.

A long shot of the yard. The track on the far right is actually laid on the window sill and served the Candelo Canning Factory. Unfortunately this will disappear in the new design, but Kameruka around the other side of the room has a fruit siding that will have to take the extra loading.
One of the deciding factors to redesign Candelo was the can't wait for introduction of the Auscision 46 class. So now this station is going to take on the roll of a transfer station from steam/diesel to electric loco a sort of mini Gosford. The area is not very wide so the redesign will be fairly straightforward. Candelo mine will be as is now and is already laid in code 75 and thankfully won't need relaying. I am still incorporating a double slip in the design as a space saver.
What will be in the new Candelo? It will consist of a through main line, a loop line and a loco siding. Industries will be an oil, milk and meat siding to give a bit of shunting operation here. A turntable will be put in to enable single ended diesels or steam to turn for their respective jobs. An extra coal siding from the present one will enable the total of 20 BCH hoppers to be stored here in between shunts to the mines. An extra mine will be built nearby. This addition will then require the Candelo panel to have its own controller as mine shunting and loco change overs will make this a busy spot.
I might lose a few fans here but I am still stuck in the DC era but as a compromise when laying the new yard the points will be wired as to be able to be converted to DCC should that lottery win come my way.

So the above photo is the result of staring at a blank canvas for an hour or two wondering about the new track design. Old pieces of track and Peco track paper templates are laid out to get an idea how it will all go together. I needed a passenger platform at Candelo and only had two options of where to fit it. One was on the curve at the far end which would have eliminated the two oil and meat sidings. So where the previous Candelo Canning factory was I realised maybe that I could squeeze in a platform onto the window sill as it was almost platform height. It will take a bit of work to make it look OK. I might have to put up a small backdrop, otherwise the jungle outside the window becomes the view.

A selection of buildings has been put into place for the loco area. I have dirtied up a Trainorama house? building to use as an enginemens sign on room, along with a few other miscellaneous bits and pieces. The typical palm tree and yard yard light also make an appearance. I will need an ashpit to be built into the loco siding along with a water column for steam.
I am going to attempt to modify an old N scale turntable and get it operating. If it doesn't work it might mean a bit of light engine running to the nearest table for a turn.

This shot shows where the oil and meat siding will be tucked into the corner. The meat factory building is one I obtained at a second hand stall, cut it in half and ended up with two for the price of one buildings. What a relief!. The turntable is not in its final position as it needs to be sunken into the baseboard. The circle of board will be used to plug the existing hole.

A helicopter view of the new yard with a VR B class sitting in the loop and a 44 and 422 class in the loco road. The station building (along with the crap) is sitting where the new station will be.

This shot shows the entrance to the yard from the Kameruka end. All I am waiting for now is a box of track and the laying can commence.
One thing is for certain before any attempt to put up overhead wiring the track and scenery will need to be 100% complete.
So for the immediate future Candelo will be the flavour of the blog. So from the back of the queue to the front.

Above is the proposed new diagram for the Candelo panel. Local/Main wording indicates where the DPDT switches will be to enable this area to be completely under local control.