Picking the right site location

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Modelling isn't a game for Summer

At this point I had left the original intent of scratch building and declared myself a model rail hobbyist and wrapped up my Getting Started section. The amount of rain and humidity over the summer 2024 and 2025 period was crazy for Brisbane, but Cyclone Alfred made everything clear. I like the humidity, but there were days even I was tapping the air-conditioning button first in the house. The period was a mix of rain and humidity on repeat, waiting for a southerly change to come in and take off the edge never seemed to happen. Interestingly looking back at the data from the Bureau of Meteorology the rainfall was almost like someone had moved Brisbane towards the equator, so I turned my focused to Layout Planning.

How big is Pinkenba

Pinkenba consisted of two aspects a single passenger line station and the main freight facilities, using the magic of google maps, the whole precinct estimation is 
  • Total area: 604,522.68 m² (6,507,027.92 ft²) 
  • Total distance: 3.97 km (2.47 mi)
Below is a picture snipped from Pinkenba - Google Maps which still shows some of the lines and the key features including the balloon loop.
 

My initial thoughts were to model the whole precinct, but as I started to do my math, I realised I did not have a shed, let alone land to attempt this, or the budget. I started to examine the various areas of the precinct which included:
  • Farrer Street Entrance
  • Pinkenba Wharf
  • Pinkenba Railway Station (Eagle Farm Road)
  • Shell, Boral, BP Australia (Tingira Street)
To find further inspiration and help with decision making, I found aerial and satellite images on Queensland Globe. Looking at the precinct, not a lot has changed, but the broader Pinkenba and surrounding suburbs there has been massive industrial growth in my lifetime.

Pinkenba 1987
Pinkenba 2002


Pinkenba 2005


Pinkenba 2000's 3D

I need a drawing tool

This presented a new hurdle, I needed to get the full-sized image converted to 1:87 scale to work out what sort of expense track was going to cost me. I don't have my drawing board or terry clips any more but still have my T Square from my tech drawing school days, converting to paper was not desirable. I wasn't sure what to do, therefore went hunting for some software and found a great article Track planning software roundup - Trains.com.

There are a range of options in the article and being an IT professional, we are taught not to download software and randomly install so this has crept into my personal practice. My daily computer is of course a Windows device and for years when I have had the chance I have tinkered with Linux when exploring desktop applications and the world of open-source software.

After many days looking at the offering of software I landed on SCARM - The leading design software for model railroad layouts, there are few reasons:
  • Range of reviews
  • Published support, videos, blogs
  • It was free, at the time I think it had 100-piece limit with version 1.95
  • Peco HOm 75 was supported in the track library
  • Developed by a single person, not a company.
  • A new challenge was presented SCARM - Are there versions of SCARM for Mac or Linux? 
In my next blog, I will share how I tackled the challenge I put myself into. Yes, I know I could have easily downloaded and installed it on Windows, but with all the rain, I had plenty of time have a crack.

Until next time.

Little Shunter

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