A year ago to this month, I turned an offcut from an old Layout that was destined for the rubbish dump, into a 1400 mm x 350 mm micro layout. The Road to Philden Creek was a strange tale of salvaging something from a section of a layout that had been cut in half, cut back and was now waiting to be cut up. Nevertheless, instead of walking away from the idea of modelling a Queensland scene in HOn3.5mm narrow guage, I refurbished the section into Philden Creek, and set out to model a big vista in a small space.

You might recognise some of the photos of this layout within the pages of my latest book Model Railway Scenery Secrets, as I used the little layout to illustrate modelling rocks and boulders along with a creek scene. Well, after work on Philden Creek fell by the wayside while I completed two books, a house move and a larger layout, I can now say that my Queensland Granite Belt micro layout finally has a backdrop. It was a finicky little one to install too, given that it had to be fitted after I completed the rockwork adjacent to the creek, and needed to be trimmed to match the curved outline of the backdrop top. However, the photo I long had in mind complemented the wavy rise and fall of the neighbouring mountain ridges and my own interpretation of some of Girraween National Park's unique granite rock features. The image was taken from the halfway point of a hike to the top of the Pyramid rock feature whilst on a camping trip to Bald Rock Creek campgrounds, back when my knee would let me do such activities.

Once again it seems that this rustic little survivor is destined to fill some more pages in an upcoming book, as a complete revamp of my larger layout recently saw me make multiple trips to Officeworks to print some large poster sized backdrops onto their EZ-tac self adhesive paper. It is the same method I used when re-doing the backdrop on my original Philden layout, and one that lends itself very well to a compact scene such as this. By having a combination of printed backdrop and 3D scenic rockwork, the end result adds a greater sense of depth to a layout that is just 350 mm deep. I'm going to be one of those writers that doesn't give too much away here, as there is enough subject material on this topic to fill a portion of a book. But suffice to say, after a hiatus of almost 12 months, work on Philden Creek may now progress a little faster!

The backdrop on my backdrop... (if that is in fact the correct termonology), is that this idea has been germinating since pausing too long at the Wuiske Models trade stand at the Redlands Model Railway Show back in 2018, when I was exhibiting my layout Philden. I bought a 1550 Class Queensland Rail locomotive in the 'Broncos' livery, and the rest is history. Maybe now I can finally get the wooden trestle bridge completed to enjoy watching a train trundle down south of Stanthorpe through Granite Belt Country.

As my blog undergoes a huge revamp for 2023, you can rest assured that this little micro layout is here to stay. It now has its own dedicated page (click on the Philden Creek tab at the top of the page), where you can read all about the layout and follow it's progress. Its predecessor Philden Road, (which was originally a combined Queensland Granite Belt and NSW North Coast layout), is now just a memory in the Philden Museum. Instead of turning those two ideas into the one combined layout, I probably should have built Philden Creek as a separate little layout right from the start to stand alongside my original Philden layout. By now, the original Philden may have morphed into the new North Coast layout I am soon ready to unviel.

A model railway is only supposed to bring a little joy to building and operating it, and provide a sense of warm and fuzzy nostalgia when sitting back to admire the end result. While I've built this micro layout with the track positioned to the edge in a manner which would allow for it to be expanded one day, for now I've thrown all of those grandiose ideas in the trash, and sold-off anything that I deemed excessive for a layout of this size. At the end of the day it only has three tracks and enough room to operate four wagons at a time. I have 3 x Wuiske locomotives, (1557D, 1721D & 1741D), and an assortment of 10 x goods wagons. That's more than ample for a layout of this size. A clip-on staging shelf on the left-hand side is perhaps all that is needed to enhance short operation sessions. It keeps with my less-is-more approach to modelling in times such as these.

Now that Philden Creek's future is assured, next up I have my revamped larger layout to break cover. That's right, my inner-Melbourne inspired Philden Street Yard layout has also been retired to the Philden Museum, proving that the hobby of model railways can be as fluid as prototypical railway practices themselves! Until next time...