Townsville Route Under Construction

[Alikiwi]

A few people are interested in what I'm working on and Frank has been very helpful with photos and links to information, so I thought I'd start a thread like I did with the Bathurst Route (Still working on updating that to TRS19). So, be warned, this will take 2 years to complete, especially given I get distracted by making sessions, which actually gives a needed break from route building. This route is planned to extend from Townsville north to about Mutarnee, south to Giru and the huge cane fields there, and SW on the inland land to Mt Isa, as far as Woodstock or Reid River, to pick up the WW2 airfield there.

The setting is 1940's and eventually will allow me to create some WW2 sessions given Townsville was attacked all of 3 times, by 1 or 2 flying boats who managed to bomb the ocean, the mudflats of Ross River mouth, and a few gum trees on the coast north of Townsville! The P-39 Airacorbas station there weren't used in defense the first time, never found the lone flying boat (Emily) the second time, and according to the Japanese attacked the flying boat 10 times on the third mission. Seriously doubt that last claim, but read nothing on our side about even finding it, despite radar warning well in advance.

I am largely still working on Townsville itself, and have included part of Magnetic Island, so as to have a large ocean area for aircraft carriers and aircraft flight zones for said future sessions. Meanwhile a few screenshots, then nback to finishing a C&O Hinton session. Cheers.

Townsville North Yards, not quite complete yet.

Townsville looking roughly NW towards the station with Castle Hill in the background.

USS Lexington on a visit, near Magnetic Island.

 

[dundun92]

Oh, what I nice route you've got going there! Something that caught my eye though are those uprooted trees....

 

[RailPilgrim]

They're not uprooted. They're called mangroves. They grow in esturaries and provide a breeding ground for fish, crabs and other marine life. (Also Mosquitos and sand-flies :hehe Sometimes when you look into them, you may see a fish or two looking back at you.

Looking great Alikiwi. I've been watching this with interest having grown up in Cairns.

 

[dundun92]

Interesting! Thank you for telling me that.

 

[Forester1]

Looking great Alikiwi!

 

[Franglen]

Congrats Ali. I didn't know you were so far advanced. Even put the Coal Stage in I see. Looking pretty good mate. I'll see what else I can dig up. I came across a photo showing the original station the other day but the grey matter has let me down as to where it was. I'll post it as sooon as I find it.
Keep up the good work mate.
Frank

 

[Alikiwi]

Frank as for the cost of railway plans, these areas make no mention of page numbers, so I wonder if you had actually got a quote on plans, or documents? Any this is what I have now ordered at the highest resolution >> "Thank you for your enquiry regarding QSA PR3499969 Railway drawing; Haughton River Sugar Mill
PR3502134 Railway drawing; Rollingstone
PR3500672 Railway drawing; Queens Road
PR3501131 Railway drawing; Morris Siding

The total amount due is $29.40 for an emailed copy at 300dpi or $58.80 for 600dpi.Thank you for your enquiry regarding QSA PR3499969 Railway drawing; Haughton River Sugar Mill
PR3502134 Railway drawing; Rollingstone
PR3500672 Railway drawing; Queens Road
PR3501131 Railway drawing; Morris Siding

The total amount due is $29.40 for an emailed copy at 300dpi or $58.80 for 600dpi."

20 days to wait though before I see them. As usual having trouble finding suitable buildings, nothing like those arched rooves (or roofs if you prefer) to be seen on the DLS, at least as far as I can see. Just finished a session for the C&O Hinton route, so now back to mainly dealing with route building.

 

[Franglen]

I just quoted them the number that was on the header and that's what i got back Ali. 30 bucks is a damned site better than 175 or whatever it was. I'm planning on making a viewing booking and going for a drive down there in the New Year. Maybe after the school kids go back from holidays.
BTW, RE:
"The setting is 1940's and eventually will allow me to create some WW2 sessions given Townsville was attacked all of 3 times, by 1 or 2 flying boats who managed to bomb the ocean, the mudflats of Ross River mouth, and a few gum trees on the coast north of Townsville!"
The Japs did bomb Townsville 3 times. One of the bombs landed at what we used to call 'The Experimental Station' at Oonoomba. The crater was still there in the 50's. My dad was working there for a while and he took me and showed me.. It was a nice sized hole if I remember correctly.
Dad was on leave from the Army before going to New Guinea at the time and he lived in Seventh St, Sth Townsville. He said he was laying in bed when he heard the Air Raid Sirens go off but thought it was just another drill. But when he heard the first bomb go off he said he couldn't get out of the house fast enough. Like the old saying goes
"Lordie Lordie, You pick em up an I'll put em down!"
The Jap radio propaganda broadcasts said Townsville was destroyed and completely in flames but all they killed was one lonely palm tree and a few fish out in Cleveland Bay.
There is a photo online somewhere of the poor old palm tree somewhere. Also a Youtube copy of the Aussie Radio broadcast when one of the raids was taking place.
I'll see what I can dig up for you mate.
regards
Frank

 

[Franglen]

The bomb crater which may still be there apparently, and the poor old coconut tree and the full story about the 3rd raid Ali.
The third Japanese Air Raid on Townsville on 28/29 July 1942 (ozatwar.com)

Scroll to the bottom to see the propoganda reports link. This site has some good info.
Enjoy
Frank
EDIT: The radio report etc on Youtube, Japan Bombs Townsville - YouTube

 

[Alikiwi]

Thanks for that, I'll have to try an estimate the position of that crater and put it in!

 

[Franglen]

I don't know if this is any good to you Ali but this is the 'Jane Addams' A US Liberty ship which my dad left Cairns in on 19th December 1944 to go to New guinea to fight the Aitape - Wewak campaign after training on the Atherton Tablelands for nearly two years. The yanks could build these things in 24 days. They were used for freight as well as troop transports.

SS Jane Adams - Our Contribution (birtwistlewiki.com.au)

Liberty ship - Wikipedia Shows one being built.

I may be wrong but there may be a couple of these on the older downloads.
Also Leefer has a WW2 Hangar in the 2009 download section. Willem2 also has a couple of Igloo Hangars as does SashaRus. I'm pretty sure Willem2 has all of the Trainz versions. You may be able to PM Bill and see if he will upgrade them for you if these are what you are looking for mate.
Regards
Frank

 

[Franglen]

There are a couple of old pics here that may be of use to you Ali.
Category:Aerial photographs of Townsville, Queensland - Wikimedia Commons

Merry Christmas
Frank

 

[Alikiwi]

Hi Frank. Couldn't find a single item from 'Leefer', but already had some from Wilem2, and found one from SashaRus. I've started rebuilding the port area as there is nothing east (south of the eastern breakwater until after about 1980! And I see pre 1940, there is a river? or inlet right near that following the railway line so the area has had major land fills in various stages, probably knocking the small hill down, near the tanks, to use for fill at some stage. The area certainly had major changes, but then most places do. Grabbed a few more photos from that link, thanks.

 

[Franglen]

EDIT: This may help you Ali albiet the ealy 70's: 1970s Townsville Footage - YouTube Gives you a good aerial toppo in flight.
Hi again Ali,
My parents and I left Townsville in 1959 due to my brother contracting severe lead poisoning and no specialists there at the time. We had to move to Brisbane. I returned in the 1970's. But the point is that we lived on the South Side on what they called Ross Island. We were called Mud Pickers. The only way into Townsville main was by the old Victoria Bridge because the rest was swamp. Boundary St ended at the National hotel which is still on modern maps and there was nothing from just the other side of the trainline to just past the Civic Centre which we called The Opera House built circa 1980. The rest was mangroves and swamp. I'm not sure when they reclaimed the swamp and built a road etc through there which made it easier to get to Hermit Park. There were two main water ways as I remember. Ross Creek which is beside the North Yards and The Ross River near the other side of the Townsville Jetty. They built the main Meat Works on the Ross River up past the Ooonoonba Bridge. Bloody big sharks up there because the Blood Pipe ran straight into the River.
There were some huge sharks in Ross Creek as well as you could see from the link I sent you a while back. Dad used to take me crabbing off the Rail Bridge on the Western End going to the South Yard and he always drummed it into me. "DON'T SWIM IN THERE BOY! BIG NOAH'S ARKS IN THERE!"
I will send you a copy of a pic of the Sugar Bins that were in use from the 40's right up into the late 70's before the new bottom drop wagons came on the scene. There were 4 on an MTW wagon. I'm surprised no one had a go at making them in TRZ2004 as they were in the steam era. I don't know what sort of unloading facility they had at the jetty at the time because the new sugar Terminal was originally built early to mid 60's. This burnt down in 68??? No one in the world believed that sugar burnt until the Townsville Terminal went up in flames. The fumes melted the paint off the houses in Sth Townsville. A yank Destroyer was in port at the time and helped put the fire out with their on board hoses.
Gee mate, I don't know if this Townssville thing is a good thing or not. Too many memories. I could write a book. I'll tell you about Sugar Foot when I send the bin pic.
Kind Regards
Frank

 

[Franglen]

I don't know if you knew there were gun emplacements on what we called Magazine Island at the Townsville Jetty. These guys most probably fired on the Jap seaplanes that bombed Townsville. Link with pics below Ali:

Magazine Battery, Magazine Hill, Townsville, Queensland, during WW2 (ozatwar.com)

It was still there in the 70's and 80's when I was there but you couldn't get in. Everything was padlocked. It's since been flattened for progress I believe.
Frank

 

[Alikiwi]

Can't say I did and only recently discovered Magazine island although it was no longer and island probably before 1930? Last night whilst working on the route my pc completely locked up, not even the keyboard worked. In the end I had to turn off the power, which corrupted the route. Luckily I may several saves during the day and only lost about an hours work. Still trying to find out why, even had the Opera browser crash this morning, yet scans reveal no problems. Only built this pc last year only only the DVD and HD came from the old one, and the HD is only 3 years old. I wonder when that bit of water beside the fuel tanks and railway got filled in? Could have been after the 1940's, not sure at this stage, only that it was before the 1960s.

 

[Franglen]

If you are referring to the 2nd photo down, I think the water beside the black tanks is the mouth of the Ross River. But it doesn't seem to pan out for the later Shell, Mobil, Caltex installations does it? The Black tanks are or were Boral. We used to shunt Bitumen Tankers in and out of there.
Magazine Hill or Island as we called it was still there in 1985. After that I couldn't tell you mate :-( I left Townsville and didn't return until 1917 for a visit and you can't get near the jetty because of security everywhere. What I did see I did not recognise. So much has been reclaimed from the ocean now. I'll keep looking and see what I can come up with mate.
Regards
Frank
EDIT: Sorry. I meant 3rd down. But the 2nd down (1960's) shows Magazine Island and from right to left....... Boral, Shell,Mobil. They've definitely reclaimed some from the ocean and maybe reduced the size of the mouth of Ross River because in the 70's there was another line where the water is which led to the Phosphate Dump as we called it. The first wharf was berth one I believe because it ran directly down from the Jetty Station/Humpy which you can see below the black tanks on Magazine Island. Tankers like the TEXACO etc came in and pumped fuel to the individual installations who would then put their own additives in and either rail or truck it out. Where the ships used to berth was way down the sea end of the wharf and there were individual pipes and taps for each installation. In the 60's, 70's,80's I don't think it mattered who you bought your fuel from as it all came out of the same ships.

 

[Franglen]

Re 'Last night whilst working on the route my pc completely locked up, not even the keyboard worked. In the end I had to turn off the power'
When I have these problems, first I reboot........which you obviously had to do.
Then after the restart Right click 'This PC'..........Properties.............Tools...........Error Checking.....Check. It will say it can't now but when you Restart your computer it will do the check. Just restart and let it run it's course. Oh yeah.... It will most probably tell you there is nothing wrong and doesn't need a error check Do it anyway.
2: Do a 'Disk Cleanup' and get rid of all the crap.
3: Defrag.
Reboot and see how you go.
Hope it works mate
Frank

 

[Alikiwi]

Oh, I did all that. Defraged even though it always says doesn't need it. Got another program to check the HDD, again, no problems. Caulking up to 'one of those things'. In the end I'd only lost a few minutes worth of work, 2 buildings and 2 splines, lucky with that one.

 

[Franglen]

Yeah mate. See how she goes. Windows 10 can be a real B..... They like slipping updates in on you when you least expect it. That can create a bit of havok.
A present for you. Garbutt 1943 with the Railway line to Cairns in the background. Townsville to the left & Cairns the right ;-) And below a pic of a row of B25's getting their 75mm guns changed to 50Cal. Those 50's sure did a lot of damage.
Enjoy
Frank