Argyle Flour Mill

All,

Food and modelling are two words that are not normally associated with one another in this modern "thin" world...but when the weekend weather did everything but snow, these were certainly my main activities for the last two days,  interspersed with copious cups of tea...I was in nirvana.

With the tunnels and portals now approaching completion, it was time to focus activities in the other direction towards the Fish River station area.  The first industry that is visible on the approach to this location is the flour mill and so the logical choice for the next project within a project.  The exact location of the flour mill is directly beyond the bridge and on the "down" side of the main line, the mill being reached by a siding leaving the main line through trailing points ( facing down trains ) located just before the station platform.  This siding is long enough to also act as a down refuge for a short freight or also a stabling point for rail motors etc. that have terminated at Fish River.  The mill building and associated siding are also on a slightly elevated location with the siding climbing from the main to the mill which adds to the appearance.

The actual mill building started life as a Walthers kit, around 3 years ago, and has been in a stop start building and conversion process throughout that time.  I have over 100 photos of small to medium flour mills located all throughout NSW and had originally purchased two of these kits to bash into one large mill. In the end the decision was made to restrict the size of the mill and I ended up only using one of the original kits.  There is certainly much more to do before it will be finally finished.  I may fabricate and fit a louvered "ventilation chamber" to the roof as some mills displayed this design. Gutters and downpipes need to be fabricated and fitted as well there is also the need to populate the dock (which incidently wraps around three sides of the building) with pallets of bagged flour, a medium size workforce and the general day to day activities that go hand in hand with this type of industry.  Once fitted in situ I will then make the decision regarding other buildings such as the grain elevator building, boiler house and stack.

For now, I am just happy that the initial structure is progressing and think I am achieving the "flavour" I was after.