Just when I am starting to think the layout may have had it's day, operations have commenced again over the weekend, almost by accident. An account of some of the running is on the Updates page:
http://shelley-railway-historical.blogspot.com.au/
Here's the next section. To build the curving 1 in 30 downgrade I drew it out on paper, cut it out and used this cut-out as a template for jigging it out of 9mm marine play. As 9mm ply is so strong (relative to the weight of the trains that will run over it), I have only placed supports every 30cm, as such each support is 1cm lower than the other which makes the 1 in 30 grade. The missing one in the photo above will be placed under the trestle once built. The track bed is only approx. 50mm wide - enough for the trackbed, allowing scenery to be built to any dimension either side of the per way. I have drawn out the approximate dimensions of the trestle and placed it in it's approximate position to test whether it fits the location. This trestle will be a close, but not exact copy, of the lower of the two Darbyshire trestles between Bullioh and Darbyshire. A photo I took some time ago of this trestle is below.
The first was a C15 as produced by GMH with the Australian only "Pie Cart" radio modification. This one was purchased by Jim Edwards who ran the postal contract out of Corryong up to Khancoban. Back in the pre-Snowy Scheme days, the rough and off-road capability of the Blitz would have been handy in this part of North East Victoria.
The third blitz was a C 60 conversion operating in the Snowy Mountains section of Cudgewa yard in the late 1950's/early 1960's in the role shown above - transferring the cement containers from the flat KCC wagons to trucks for onforwarding to the Snowy Scheme sites.
I have prepared an article for Australian Model Railway Magazine on these conversions.