Borenore the Model

Photo by P H Collins

This blog serves to document my journey of building a H.O. Model of the railway facilities at Borenore Circa 1965.

 

Borenore is a small village on the Central Western Slopes of NSW. It is situated mid-way between the main town of Orange and the smaller town of Molong. While the “village” is somewhat spread out, the main concentration is around the railway station which is situated on the now main Western line between Sydney and Broken Hill and more specifically the towns of Orange and Molong. The Station is located 210 miles/336Km west of Sydney Central.

The railway line from Molong to Orange is on an almost continuous rising grade of 1 in 50/40 before dropping back down to Orange. Accordingly, trains working over this section required assistant engines to negotiate the grades. This double heading produced some spectacular working. Borenore station provided a crossing loop on the single track at approximately the halfway point between Molong and Orange and accordingly was a mecca for rail enthusiasts.

The railway infrastructure at Borenore in 1965 consisted of a crossing loop and goods siding with a short extension to the goods siding serving a stock race and tank car unloading point of H C Sleigh (Golden Fleece). There was a small three-room station building with attached toilet facilities, a signal box, out of shed, lamp room and G3 Goods Shed with adjacent jib crane. There was also a small/low loading bank and an over bridge to give access to the goods facilities. Accommodation consisted of a house for the ASM which was in fact a Gate Keepers House. These items will be discussed at length in a later chapter.

Safe working consisted of lower quadrant semaphore signals and miniature electric staff. A later chapter will elaborate on these.

Why model Borenore.

I have a family connection to Borenore as my aunt spent several years stationed at the St Joseph’s Convent located on the aptly named Convent Lane. The family visited her on numerous occasions when I was a small child. My great grandfather settled at Forest Reefs, east of Orange, in the 1840’s after migrating from Ireland and my grandfather spent most of his life in the Orange and Cunnock Districts. Accordingly, when I became interested in railways and railway modelling in the early 70’s I was attracted back to the district and in particular to Borenore. I began to research the railway history of Borenore and more generally the line from Orange to Molong and accordingly decided that one day I would like to build a model of Borenore. That day has finally arrived.

During the early part of my renewed interest in trains/modelling there was a weekly serial publication on Australian Trains available through the newsagent. In one issue was this photograph.

3638+6011 No604 Goods Jan 1967 Photo. Michael Schrader

It was taken by the Late Michael Schrader and shows 3638 + 6011 on No 604 departing Borenore for the east. I was now truly hooked. So much so that I contacted Michael via ROA to see if I could acquire an enlargement of the original slide. To my surprise he replied saying he was very busy but enclosed the slide for me to arrange the print. This photo is a scan of a duplicate of that slide. The slide was promptly returned, and it appears that Michael’s slide collection ended up with Train Hobby Publications as the photo appeared in the 36 Class book. Soon after my late father along with my great friend Allan Garbutt and I returned to Borenore to photograph and measure the buildings.

Why them has it taken so long to get started? Well, that is a good question, but a recent house move that necessitated the demolition of the main station/yard of my model railway meant I had to start again and Borenore became the hopefully achievable result.

Borenore the model will be initially built as part of my home layout, but it is intended to transition to an exhibition layout in time. It will be built using light weight modules made from Capral Qubelok and 25mm aluminum tube and plywood. My experience with the Epping Club’s exhibition layouts and my own modular branch line terminus has convinced me to try and build a better mouse trap!

The blog will document this journey as I venture into the somewhat unknown world of aluminum modules, Fast Tracks trackwork and much more. The next chapter will discuss the building of the modules.

In the meantime, here are some of the references I have used.

Railway Photographers. Without who’s published photographs this model would never have been built including but not exclusively Laurie Anderson, Michael Schrader, Ray Love, Graham Cotterill, etc.

 

Finally, a great paper on Borenore by Stuart Sharp.

https://arhsnsw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/K-Borenore.pdf

Cheers Phil Collins