When we first moved into the city from out in the suburbs, our apartment overlooked the Ports Of Auckland’s operations on Fergusson and Bledisloe Wharfs.
It was fascinating to watch the ships come in. The containers would be unloaded by the giant Wharf Cranes at incredible speed, then moved into the stacks by the lanky yellow Straddle Carriers and, later, carefully placed onto waiting trains by the Reach Stacker. Operations would continue all hours of the night so that the ships could get on their way as soon as possible.
Being near to the port also meant being near to the railway line, specifically Auckland’s Eastern Line that runs between Britomart and Orakei. There were many trains going past every day. Mostly commuter trains (that changed from being diesel to electric while we were there), but also heavy freight and specialist trains like the Northern Explorer.
When I was planning Arohana, I knew that my layout was going to have containers. They’re a major component for rail (and in Auckland’s case, road as well)…
And after a bit of researching on the internet, I came across a website based in Holland that was selling 1:120 scale containers for a very reasonable price. They even had some familiar brands which would really make the layout look realistic. https://www.eurotrainhobby.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=container
The package took a while to arrive, as I believe they were waiting for all the stock to be available. But I was in no rush, so it was ok.
Firstly, the containers are very detailed. They’re made from molded plastic, have all the ribbing and doors, markings, etc. and even stack nicely into each other. They did need some weathering to get that authentic look, which I was able to do pretty quickly with some brown paint and a fine paintbrush.
Eventually I’d like to get some PK wagons to haul these around, but in the meantime they can just sit on the layout.
20′ version sitting at the house on the hill. Finally they can unpack their furniture!