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Saltwater Creek Railroad

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My Blog

I'm not sure about others, but I get great inspiration and motivation from seeing and reading what other model train enthusiasts are doing. On my Blog, I am very eager to share some of my achievements with respect of modelling trains, specifically layout building, changing locomotive liveries, DCC and any other interesting and relevant trends in model railroading. I trust you will enjoy my blog and would welcome any feedback that you may have.

Featured Posts

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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Making Use of a Small Area

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We often face a situation where there is a very small area on the layout that really isn't big enough for a normal situation, an example being a house, shed or something with a purpose. Sometimes the area just doesn't fit with the rest of the adjacent layout. A children's ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Rent-a-Bike

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Animated cyclists riding the bike path at Saltwater Creek Railroad layout. This animated scene has taken sometime to complete but given the amount of detail required it was worth every minute of it. The animated cycles are moving around on there own with the cyclists legs going up and down, ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

The Building of the Bush Hut Scene

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This scene has been a long time coming and even though relatively small in size (20 x 15 cm), it still churned up about 34 hours work over 5 days. A large part of the work centered on the painting and weathering of the components like the hut's timber walls, ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Mt Newman Mining 5464

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Mt Newman Mining Locomotive #5464 was an Alco C636 diesel used in the Pilbara mining region during the 1970's. The early C636 locomotives were supplied by Alco in the United States, but the company went out of business in 1970. Subsequent units were built by Commonwealth Engineering (Comeng) in Sydney ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Hamersley Iron 2000 - Breathing New Life.

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Hamersley Iron ALCO C-628 #2000. A six axle diesel electric locomotive built in the USA for Hamersley Iron in mid 1965 and retired circa 1982. The 2750 hp locomotive 2000 was the first of five of this type, which made up Hamersley's first fleet of locos. Two were built in ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Coming Back from the Dead

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Like many of the past locomotives on Pilbara railways, most when their time is up, simply die and their last honours performed in a yard, by cutting them to bare bones and selling them off as scrap. This story tells of the tale of F7-A road number 5450, coming back ...


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Steve

Why do grown men play with model trains? Well why not?

Robe 9401 - A Must for Any Collection

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Having seen locomotive 9401 on the entry to Wickham in the Pilbara in May 2023, I was absolutely convinced I had to have a couple of these locomotives (9401 and 9405) in HO scale to enhance my collection of Pilbara work horses. As usual there was no HO scale models ...


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MAGNORAIL ADDING A LITTLE "MAGIC" TO YOUR LAYOUT

Magnorail brings the magic of movement to your model train layout and dioramas. It has the solution for more activity on your layouts streets, in the paddocks or hills and on water. MagnorailOz ships this great product across the world with free consultations available in the concept stage. If you have any ideas or just want to discuss a potential layout, click on the Visit MagnorailOz button below and bring your layout to life.

Visit MagnorailOz

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Mt Newman Mining 5450

Like many of the past locomotives on Pilbara railways, most when their time is up, simply die and their last honours performed in a yard, by cutting them to bare bones and selling them off as scrap. This story tells of the tale of F7-A road number 5450, coming back from the dead.

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Hamersley Iron 2000

Hamersley Iron Alco C628 (#2000) HO scale model locomotive. This HO scale (1:87) locomotive was remodeled based on the preserved #2000 at the 7 Mile loco shed Dampier. The loco at Dampier is the only Alco C628 Preserved in the world. Hamersley Iron operated 5 of these locos for ore services. They were withdrawn by 1982. This loco was originally delivered as no. 2000 but was renumbered to 2003 early in its life and then restored back to no. 2000.

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To Weather or Not to Weather

You do what you like and never mind what somebody else likes. Shiny to Pilbara dust. If you choose to weather, do it to the style and degree that satisfies you. They are your model trains, so enjoy!

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Mt Newman Mining 5464

Mt Newman Mining Locomotive #5464 was an Alco C636 16 cylinder diesel used in the Pilbara mining region during the 1970's. There are no HO scale model train locomotives produced in the Mt Newman Mining livery, so I bought a used C636 locomotive from Canada, stripped all the paint and attachments, installed a computer chip with authentic sound and voila.

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Hamersley Iron 7072

This was an American Union Pacific locomotive that I've converted to the Hamersley Iron livery. No company makes a loco in this livery to my knowledge so I've had to make my own plus fitting sound to it. Make sure sound is on and up when watching the video for best effect.

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Made By The Modeller, For The Modeller

All models that I re-paint, are air brushed with premium acrylic lacquers from Scale Modellers Supply. Their range of paints have been specifically formulated for air brush use.

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CONTACT

COMMENTS

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Meet The Man Steve

Contact Steve

Hi, If you would like to contact me with comments or questions, just click on the email link below. I'm more than happy to answer questions regarding Saltwater Creek Railroad or any other model train related questions. I'm always more than happy to try to help you out."I find that seeking perfection is never as smart as making progress..."

I now realise that I should have retired after I left schoool, that way I could have played trains while others were working. However, I think there's a flaw in that somewhere!