Building an Engine Shed

 

Building A Turntable Kit

I have always liked the idea of having a layout with a turntable so I wanted one on this layout as they were quite common in Queensland and seeing these kits in action on Youtube convinced me to get one. The plastic Peco ones were the same price but to me just looked a bit out of sorts.

First impression when opening the box was, Wow this is a well thought out kit and easy to assemble and looks great. The instructions are well planned out and give several versions to make your turntable individual. I enjoyed building this kit unlike many others which were just a chore and I hope this post inspires others to give it a go. This is not intended to be a step by step guide but more a shared experience to give people an idea how good this kit is.

Awesome it's here only a week from the U.K our post is that bad now it can take that long just to get 500km from Brisbane.

The sleepers for the support rails first the p.c board ones are first then the wood ones shown below.

A jig is provided to allow you to solder the rail at the correct diameter.

Next up the base plates are glued into position.

The sides of the pit have been fitted and the top ring and is seen here being test fitted into the layout module.

Now the easy part fitting the electrical contacts and the center pivot and its drive motor.

Time to assemble the turntable bridge

Give it a coat of matt black

Fitting and weathering the walkways.

Now is the time to be patient when adding the handrails.

Electrical test run and motor and clearance check.

Making a Coal Load

I wanted to make some better looking coal loads for my hoppers but my first attempt to make some light weight ones were a flop. I used the same insulation foam from the module construction but found they flexed and could no stand up to anything but gentle handling. The ones you see here are the second attempt. I used strong but light Tasmanian Oak and there was none available at the width required I used a thinner cut and glued them together to get a perfect fit.

Glued and sanded to fit then painted ready for the coal to be applied, I placed a 70mm nail in the middle before I applied the coal over the top, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this step.
I sprayed the base with a 1 to 2 mix of PVA glue then sprinkled the coal over it and when I was happy with the look I sprayed it with more glue. You may need to sand the sides to make a good fit but most of the overhang just drops off when it get too close to the edge.

The load on the left compared to the plastic load on the right, the coal I used had a lot of rock in it so I decided to give it a coat of flat black paint to give it an even color.

Finished loads.

Callide Coal Mine

This mine kit although based on a U.S example is very similar to many of the Queensland coalmine photos I have been able to find online and is easy to construct due to its well thought out design and detailed instructions. This will not be a "how to" post just an overview on how I put it together and put it on the layout. If you want a comprehensive build post follow this link.

                                                                 How To Mine Build

Some magnetic clamps make it easy to keep the walls square.

Once I had the walls up I used them to plan the mine yard and tracks as well as the scenery.

Gave them a coat of paint and started adding the windows and doors as well as adding the tin roof in the photo below.

Planning out the tailings run and checking the wagon clearance.

Now the spacing has been sorted out I had to grind off some scenery, while the buildings are not fixed to the module the tailing run is and I have also glued the foundations to the layout.

Tailings run finished.

Adding the tailings and restoring the ground cover around the supports.

While not part of the original plan I decided after seeing some online that the mine dock

needs a gantry crane so I freestyled one, these photos show we working out placement and clearances.

The crane being glued into place.

I also added strip wool the the tailings run to represent a walk way for the miners to push out the carts.