Load wise they are models of a 2 TEU NQJX Container wagon, and a 3 TEU NQKY container wagon, with the TEU standing for Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit. A quick check of the NSW Rollingstock website confirms that the real life NQJX is 15.0 metres long or 49.21' foot, (converted in 1999 from an NOBX open wagon), while the longer NQKY is 20.1 metres long or 65.94' foot, (converted in 1997 from redundant NOCY open wagons).

Both wagon packs come with a small bag of air hoses to be added. I use tweezers to do this, and dip the ends in a dab of super glue to make sure they stay put for years to come. On my short layout, 3 x NQKY wagons will roughly take up the same amount of siding length as 4 x NQJX Container Wagons. I'll run the NQKY's with either 3 x 20' foot containers, 1 x 46'6" refrigerated reefer container or a 20' foot and a 40' footer combination. While the NQJX wagons will run with either 2 x 20' foot containers, a single 40' footer or a pair of the 20' foot infrastructure spoil bins. I could have saved myself a little money by simply buying a pack of the NQJX wagons that came with the spoil bins, but as I didn't know whether or not they were removable, I bought some spoil bin packets individually to allow me to run a shortened infrastructure train out of the aggregate siding once I convert my staging shelf to the next section of Philden Coast.

These things can quickly start to add up. So to offset the changeover to the NQKY wagons, I listed my former 40' foot fleet of individual NQYY, NQIX and NQIW wagons, (which were now all out-of-era on my Philden Coast Railway), on eBay. Despite all being nicely weathered, I wanted something that was more easily identifiable as mid-2000's era appropriate.

Both container wagons are very nice models, and both fit within the theme of my 2005+ era layout. The frustrating thing I noticed about the Auscision 46'6" refregerated containers however, is that the lug holes on the underside of the container don't line up with any of the twist lock mounts on the deck of the NQKY. I might have to do some internet sluething to find an example of where they were positioned on this type of wagon, and carefully drill out some new lug holes on the underside. As I'd like to add another variety of the 46'6" refrigerated containers to my storage box full of containers, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

After years of playing mix and match with various container wagon models, this time I plan to just stick with these two types of flat wagons for my small shelf layout. Having a pack of each gives me some form of uniformity on my modern-ish layout. The NQKY wagons were all painted blue in 1997, but quickly weathered to a grimy grey around the time they passed into Pacific National ownership in 2002. They will handle all my interstate intermodal traffic with the occasional wagon being cut-off the train in Philden Beach Yard (currently my staging shelf), and needing to be shunted back across the bridge into Philden Harbour Yard. The NQJX wagons were all painted orange in 2005 for RailCorp, and the fleet of 20 were leased out to private operators, mostly for trip workings around Sydney, but were also seen further afield between 2005-2010, before they were later allocated for maintenance trains. As my fictitious North Coast setting needs some fictitious traffic, I plan to use them with my lease fleet of CFCLA ex-NSW locos, and my soon to arrive Cootes Industrial C Class. I haven't decided yet if they will run as part of my Pacific National intrastate traffic, a completely fictitious Philden Coast Railway using my fleet of lease locos, or a mix of both.

Along with supplying container traffic for Brandon Industries seafood suppliers warehouse, the No. 1 siding where the goods shed stands can also double as a commodities siding, where fresh seafood can be directly loaded for the Sydney Markets, or the occasional container side-unloaded onto a semi-trailer for customers further afield. I now have my intermodal fleet finalised, with only my recently acquired wagons to be weathered before they can haul any of my Auscision storage box full of weathered container loads, (more on them next post). However, for now anyway, I may just keep the refrigerated containers looking nice and new to provide a bit of contrast. Who am I kidding? I'm sure they'll end up looking dirty at some point in the future.

The final photo gives a glimpse into what I have in mind for my current staging shelf once I complete two model train exhibitions in early September. As you can see, I don't need anymore container wagons with the limited amount of storage sidings that my layout provides. My former station buildings from Philden are going to be resurrected alongside the mainline, with the 3 tracks beside it to become the No. 2 road and tracks 6 and 7 which will be the aggregate sidings for what will become known as Philden Beach Yard. My current finished layout area is now known as Philden Harbour Yard. The former cement plant from Philden may be glimpsed in the top of the picture as I toy with where I'd like to position it. Cement, steel and intermodal. Some pure North Coast Line traffic.

Until next time...