WILLS STREET
USA LAYOUT
WILLS STREET
A MODEL OF AN AMERICAN COMMUTER STATION
Wills street models, in HO scale, a commuter station on the outskirts of a large city in the USA.
It is not modelled on any particular location but is a typical area near the railroad tracks.
The layout is different in concept from that many model railway layouts in that it depicts an industrial area instead of more usual rural scene. The railroad consists of a busy double-track main line along which passes through freight and express passenger trains heading for large cities to the east and west.
The inhabitants of Wills Street earn their living by working in the large number of industries in vicinity of the station or commuting to the nearby larger city.
Hence, rail motors and local passenger train as well as local freight trains share the track with the express train passing through.
Wills Street was built by the Members of the Australian Model Railway Association, Victorian Branch, at their Glen Iris Clubrooms. It is a large layout- 8.70m x 4.8m and wherever possible, commercially available materials and parts were used in building of the layout; costing about $10,000. Also many hundred of free, voluntary hours of work by members, were put into the building of the layout.
The main purpose of the layout was for display at the Victorian Branch annual Exhibition and the club open days at the clubroom.
Construction details; the layout composed of 10 modules, each base on it own timber and plywood, which bolt together. The original, heavy timber support framing were replaced with ligher, plug-in steel legs to facilitate transport and assembly.
Scenery and Buildings; polystyrene form was laminated to the required thickness and shped to provide realistic contours before adding paint and texturing materials to provide a realistic surface. Buildings were mainly commercially-available kits, many of which have been modified to fit particular situations, while some were “scatch-built” from basic material.
Track and Electrics; The track is commercially made using “code 83” nickel-silver rail. Each group of points-work was hand-built as a solid unit and fixed in position then electrical insulating gaps were cut as required when wiring the layout. All track and accessories were wired using a common return system and every piece of rail is connected by a wire to wiring system. Rail joiners are only used to join and align the rails, not for electrical continuity. The modules are connected to each other and the control panels with plug-in cables.
Rolling stock; The train running on the layout are owned by members of the Association, during the exhibition, train from many different parts of the USA were displayed. Because Wills Street is such a large layout it shows to advantage the variety of American prototype models that was available at the time we had the layout.
A MODEL OF AN AMERICAN COMMUTER STATION
Wills street models, in HO scale, a commuter station on the outskirts of a large city in the USA.
It is not modelled on any particular location but is a typical area near the railroad tracks.
The layout is different in concept from that many model railway layouts in that it depicts an industrial area instead of more usual rural scene. The railroad consists of a busy double-track main line along which passes through freight and express passenger trains heading for large cities to the east and west.
The inhabitants of Wills Street earn their living by working in the large number of industries in vicinity of the station or commuting to the nearby larger city.
Hence, rail motors and local passenger train as well as local freight trains share the track with the express train passing through.
Wills Street was built by the Members of the Australian Model Railway Association, Victorian Branch, at their Glen Iris Clubrooms. It is a large layout- 8.70m x 4.8m and wherever possible, commercially available materials and parts were used in building of the layout; costing about $10,000. Also many hundred of free, voluntary hours of work by members, were put into the building of the layout.
The main purpose of the layout was for display at the Victorian Branch annual Exhibition and the club open days at the clubroom.
Construction details; the layout composed of 10 modules, each base on it own timber and plywood, which bolt together. The original, heavy timber support framing were replaced with ligher, plug-in steel legs to facilitate transport and assembly.
Scenery and Buildings; polystyrene form was laminated to the required thickness and shped to provide realistic contours before adding paint and texturing materials to provide a realistic surface. Buildings were mainly commercially-available kits, many of which have been modified to fit particular situations, while some were “scatch-built” from basic material.
Track and Electrics; The track is commercially made using “code 83” nickel-silver rail. Each group of points-work was hand-built as a solid unit and fixed in position then electrical insulating gaps were cut as required when wiring the layout. All track and accessories were wired using a common return system and every piece of rail is connected by a wire to wiring system. Rail joiners are only used to join and align the rails, not for electrical continuity. The modules are connected to each other and the control panels with plug-in cables.
Rolling stock; The train running on the layout are owned by members of the Association, during the exhibition, train from many different parts of the USA were displayed. Because Wills Street is such a large layout it shows to advantage the variety of American prototype models that was available at the time we had the layout.
