Stuff Other People Do Better Than Me - Part 1

http://shelley-railway.blogspot.com/

A couple of layouts, plus some other goodies, by Andrew Collier on this website built across nearly a dozen different Blogger sites.

The first layout is Cudgewa, based on the idea that the branchline from Wodonga to Cudgewa was built to 2'6" narrow gauge (like the Puffing Billy line) rather than the 5'3" used in the real world. The rolling stock consists of caricatured versions of broad gauge VR rolling stock rather than being based on actual VR narrow gauge equipment. It's almost like the cute super-deformed stuff the Japanese do, but there's a delightful air of credibility to it all. Love it.

Next layout is Glendale, apparently being built as a shelf layout immediately above Cudgewa. It's another VR layout, to the traditional HO scale, but unusual in a couple of respects.
Firstly, it's set in the 1920s-30s when nearly everyone models the VR post WW2.
Secondly, it shows part of Melbourne's electrified suburban network. This isn't unknown, I was entranced by the big Woodville layout at the Hobson's Bay show over Easter, but it's far from common and there are virtually no electric models or kits available. The "Dogbox" EMUs here are built from homemade resin castings using Hollywood Foundry mechanisms. And, in this era when the VR was only beginning to shift to the use of American-style autocouplers, there are no Kadee couplers, just those old-fashioned buffers and hooks and chains you quietly pity British modellers for having to put up with.
Since I've long had thoughts of doing something VR suburban, I'll be watching this website closely.