Ballarat Goods Shed


The Ballarat Goods Shed was constructed in 1862 and consisted of a large blue stone building containing two long platforms bracketing 3 dead end sidings. Posts within the goods shed were labelled with signs indicating which stations were loaded at which point and on which days of the week.


The shed employed a large workforce which included roles such as foremen, checkers, putter-on/stowers and barrow men. Doors along the side of the goods shed were used to transfer goods to waiting trucks.



Up until the late 1970's Ballarat was a major distribution centre for the north-west Victoria. A wide range of goods passed through the goods shed including groceries, beer hardware, household items, farm machinery and spare parts. When the Victorian Railways adopted a network of 35 regional freight centres from 1976, Ballarat was one of the last centres established. The goods shed continued to be utilised for the delivery for freight for the Ballarat area but with VicRail utilising road contractors for local pick-up and delivery.


Space didn't allow the shed to modelled to scale but I still wanted to include the key elements of the building, bluestone walls with circular portholes at the peak at each end, the three dead end roads with the large doors that could be closed across the rail tracks and the side doors and platform allowing goods to be transferred to trucks. I reduced the length and width of the shed and only included two of peaks at the shed end. I didn't include the traverser used to move small wagons between the three sidings.

 
 
The shell for the building is made out of thick cardboard, with additional layers added to produce the different levels in the brickwork.





I used Scalescene's random ashlar brickwork but altered the darkness to produce a colour closer to the bluestone used in the building, The roof uses Scalescene's asbestos roofing.



I made the doors by altering photo's of the actual doors on the building in Adobe Photoshop.


 
 

The platform is made from a painted piece of chipboard, with balsawood and aluminium foil used to produce the shelter.







There are still additional details to add, the downpipes, skylights, roof vents, canopies above the side loading doors, and bars on the window. At this stage I'm unsure if I will include the timber building at the western end of the building. I also wanted to add details such as the numbers beside the doors and the fire alarm on the side of the building.
















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