Waverley Model Railway Club's Exhibition 2022

OK folks - time now for the overview of the Waverley Model Railway Club's 2022 Exhibition in Melbourne held over the weekend of 11-13 June. There were some nice layouts at this exhibition so let's get into those straight away.

Victoria Bridge (HO scale) was a terrific layout with great scenery and plenty of train action. This layout is from the Waverley Model Railway Club and featured Victorian Railways passenger and freight trains. The layout is a double track mainline, with station and yard facilities. The highlight is the bridge on one side of the layout, loosely based on the Taradale viaduct on the Melbourne to Bendigo line. Layout operation is via digital command control (DCC).

 

 

Another large and fabulous layout was the The Beechie, an On30 layout from the Sunbury Model Railway Club. This layout is a fictional narrow gauge layout as seen on the Beech Forest line in the Otway Ranges in Victoria. This layout is associated with the On30 layout exhibited at Ballarat mentioned in the previous blog post.

Collinsille Riverland Railway Company (HO scale with broad gauge and narrow gauge track) was another beautifully constructed layout with a plethora of fantastic buildings across the full space of the layout. The layout is based on a fictional coastal river port and includes a multitude of buildings scratchbuilt from plans and information about the tramways, trains and surroundings from all over Australia. That said, there is a strong sense of place in this layout with the beautifully modelled and painted timber structures. There are a multitude of small scenes scattered throughout the layout which heightens the visual interest and appreciation of the skills involved in this layout's construction.

At the other of the scale, in terms of size, was the small Inglenook layout, Port Flora (HO scale). I really enjoyed this little layout with its simplicity but entertaining shunting movements. The layout uses the familiar card system from which specific freight wagons are assembled into a small train. These type of layouts demonstrate that a small, high quality layout is very achievable if one takes the time and thought over its construction and scene setting.

Genesis (OO scale) from the Waverley Model Railway Club was a British layout making its exhibition debut. The scenery is nicely done with that characteristic English flavour.

Hollow Glen was another OO scale layout based on a fictitious English castle in the northern border region of England and Scotland. The layout is deliberately set a low height to better engage some of the younger exhibition visitors.

Another British layout, but this time N scale, was Brocklebank.

 
Another N scale layout was the Swiss-themed Langweiss.

Grainger's Bridge, Hillsborough and Outback Return was a US N scale modular layout from the Waverley Model Railway Club. These modules are made by individual club members. The photo below shows one of the modules.

Railways of Japan (N scale) was a modular layout featuring some iconic Japanese scenes in both rural and urban areas. The modules were full of lights, colour and action! The modules are made by members of the Australian Japanese Model Railway Group.

 

The Waverley Model Railway Club should be congratulated for putting on a very nice exhibition.

Ballarat Model Railway Exhibition 2022

Last weekend I visited two model railway exhibitions in Victoria. The first was the Ballarat Model Railway Exhibition which I attended last Saturday and is the focus of this blog post. I also lucked in when I went into central Ballarat for lunch and caught a Steamrail tour arriving at the historic Ballarat railway station. On the following day I visited the Waverley Model Railway Club's exhibition at Brandon Park Community Centre in Melbourne which I will cover in the next blog post.

The Ballarat Model Railway Exhibition featured about a dozen layouts in a sports hall in a school in East Ballarat. There were three layouts that I particularly liked, and we'll start with those ones first. As always, click on the photo to enlarge.

Black Stump (On30) was a terrific layout (and related to another On30 layout featured at the Waverley Exhibition). Black Stump is based on Victorian narrow gauge situated in the Otway Ranges. The station was renamed Black Stump after a recent fire. The scenery on this layout was very nicely done.

Northminster (OO scale) was another nicely scenicked layout showing plenty of fine modelling. Northminster is a terminus station on a fictitious LMS branch line that also incorporates a heritage railway. The layout is operated by digital command control (DCC).

 

 

Harpindone (OO scale) was an English-themed layout that saw plenty of train action. There were two station scenes and detailed building scenes at each end of the layout. If I am not mistaken, Metcalfe card kits were well used throughout this layout to great effect.

John Hunter and Laurie Green showcased some wonderful dioramas and offered very useful tips on diorama and layout building construction.

N scale was represented by the US-themed Northwest Passage layout. This layout is based on the north-west United States and showcases long trains, both passenger and freight.

Another N scale layout was Black Border Crossing, a layout based on a northeastern US town with plenty of interchange action.

 

 

Ukanddoit (N scale) was popular with the kids and showed that a layout could be constructed without taking up too much space, being built on a house door. 

The City Tram (HO scale) was a nice little layout featuring trams. The layout also had a couple of Magnuson buildings which were pretty good since those kits were produced over a decade ago.

Other layouts included the following: Kookaburra Park (HO), Geordi's Layout (N scale), Somewhere (HO), and Three Doors USA (N scale).

 

And, as I said, I was lucky enough to fluke being down at Ballarat railway station at lunchtime whereupon Steamrail's R761 was just arriving on a rail tour. The loco was uncoupled at the station and ran around its train for the later return journey. Now that was a lovely surprise!

Summing up my first visit to this exhibition (and Ballarat itself), it was a great day, albeit overcast, drizzly and freezing cold. That's Ballarat in winter I was told!

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