Building Billabong Marina: 4 Constructing the ‘Signature’ Building

Ask anyone who has built a model railway and they will all say that compromises need to be made. It could be the length of a train or the sharpness of the curves. Perhaps the station could not be as big as was hoped. Whether your model railway is 1.4m x 600mm or 14m x 6m, you will make compromises. Billabong Marina has the first dimensions; so many compromises had to be made.

The trains are short, the curves are sharp, I use unrealistic set-track points, the clearances are very tight and most of the buildings are nothing more than facades. In fact, apart from the station, there is really only one building which actually needed to be built in ‘3D’; the fishermen’s Co-op.

This industry, and the fishing boats that supply it, are the main purpose for the layout. Perhaps it’s childhood memories of hearing the story of The Flying Kipper (Thomas the Tank Engine), but I have always loved the idea of a fish train racing its contents towards Sydney.

The train is just four ice-chilled vans and a guard’s van, so it may not be spectacular as it leaves its fictitious Sapphire