Sceniced Murrurundi

With a large portion of the Main North now having some scenery but ballast is still to be added to the track, I'd like to make the locations/stations more accurate to the 1965 era I model. Painting my heritage coloured “photo station” of Murrurundi my mate Brian made for me (shown below), was out of the question. With regret I needed to replace Brian’s Station that has worked for years – thanks Brian. 

Scenicing Murrurundi was the ideal time to making a new Station. I spoke to Matt Sawtell at Models N More about making a Murrurundi Station. I sent him the photos I had taken in 2006 and the 1962 Black and White photo below. 

Matt made up a Laser cut Kit with a footprint 560 x 140 mm, shown below partially assembled and undercoated.

Now to paint the Station with 1965 colours, pretty hard using a black and white photo courtesy of the NSW Heritage site (below), so I needed some help here.

I have done a few Presentations for the Epping Seminars, MRNSW etc and enjoy researching a project/model using all of the AMRM, Roundhouse and Books I have collected, done much easier using Mag Index.

Oct 81 Roundhouse has a Byways of Steam article - Murrurundi, detailing the Main North from Murrurundi to Werris Creek but no photos of the Murrurundi Station.
Byways of Steam 3, has an article about Murrurundi Loco but no Station photos.

I contacted the Des Duggan at the Murrurundi District Historical Society. Des sent me a 1980s photo of the Station but I was still not sure what the colours were in 1965.
I asked numerous modellers including James McInerney for some help about the colours of the Station in 1965. James contacted numerous modellers with Ray Love and Chris Sim sending some colour photos.
Lucky for me, Ray sent some “end on” 1965 photos that provided the overall colour of the Station but no “front on” photos to help me with the door door/window trim Awning Bracket colours. Chris sent me two 1985 photos.

The "Northern Exposures" book has a Murrurundi photo with the train blocking out the Station with just one Chimney in view but showing the Elevated Water Tank and Shed, helpful for modelling the Yard.

From the 2006 photo I sent Matt, he included a wire grille with Station sign across the front Signal Box at the Newcastle end of the Station. I needed to have a "1965" Signal Box.

Des from the Murrurundi Historical Society explained that he was told the Shed at the Newcastle end of the Station was open because it was the Signal and Points Shed but he needed to check.
Lucky for me the Oct 1981 Roundhouse Article had a photo showing the Lever Frame of the Signal Box and the photo caption said “The Interlocking Machine at Murrurundi was housed in an “open-fronted Enclosure” – Thank You both Des and P. C. Booth.

With the above description and Graeme Skeet’s 1983 photo on Rolfe Bozier’s NSWrail.net web site, (copied at the left), I made my “open fronted enclosure” Signal Box, complete with a 12 Lever Machine made from Styrene Strips and added a Murrurundi Track Diagram to the back wall, shown in the my photo below.






I also slightly lengthened the building to fit my Signal Box and modified the Roofs. My completed Signal Box as viewed from across the tracks.

James suggested some Tamiya Paint colours including the XF Numbers for the two Roofs/Awnings, Doors, and Trims Door/Window Trims. This made my life a lot easier - thanks James. 

Using the photos and discussing the paint colour with Ray, I found a slightly pink (flesh) colour, LifeColor Diorama Series UA 707 at Microhobbies in Hornsby. Thinned it with water and sprayed the Station with 4 coats. 

The completed Murrurundi Station, shown below, with my mate Brian next to his Council Station Wagon, picking up a parcel, that he did many times when hew worked at Murrurundi in the early 70s.
I need to add some Down-pipes and a few other detail parts. 

My Murrurundi is located on one side of a 4.5 metre Peninsular with the Station and Loco on a 410 mm wide shelf, 1440 mm from the floor. 
When I added Hawkesbury River Bridge to my layout, I decided that the deck above it needed to "thinned out" and Muswellbrook along with the Oak Dairy had to go but what to do with the the OAK Dairy, that I'd spent hours making. I wasn't going to store it under the layout so I placed it on the Peninsula Blob (Sydney end of Murrurundi) .

I needed to “isolate” the OAK from Murrurundi Station a little. I made a small hill and planted some trees (below).

Along the length of the Station/Yard, I added a higher than track level Fascia, with lots of shrubs and trees. Halls Creek (added previously), is between the Yard and Loco. In the Yard I added a 5,000 gallon covered Elevated Water Tank and a Shed. A Goods Shed is located between the Yard and Halls Creek with a track going back to the Dock at the Station. 

For Loco, Brian had previously made me a dilapidated Loco Shed, that existed in 1965. I added the Workshops etc on the backside of the Loco Shed., one covered Elevated Water Tank (will be two one day), and a few other buildings as shown in the Byways of Steam 3 article about Murrurundi Loco Depot.
A Structurama Kit substituting as a Barracks until I build a more suitable one. 

On the track to the Turntable, I added a loco de-ashing Pit and a Depressed Road with an S wagon.

Thanks to my mate Brian for his models: the previous Station, the dilapidated Engine Shed and the steam powered Coal Grab for Murrurundi Loco, Matt at Models N More, Ray Love, Chris Sim, James McInerney, Ray Pilgrim and Des Duggan (Murrurundi Historical Society), Byways of Steam and Roundhouse Authors/publishers, I was able to make a 1965 Murrurundi.

I've added the newly sceniced Murrurundi to the Main North Video, at the 5 min 50 sec mark, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biFOG0e6IHo&t=427s