Update

It has been a while since my last blog post. In that time, I have been sorting through all the stuff that has congregated in the garage since our house move late last year. Unfortunately, the garage has become the place to put things when they either don't fit in the house, or where we don't know where to actually put things in the house!


To add to the mess, we had some rain last week and the garage sprung a couple of leaks that caused a few problems, but fortunately not damaging anything of importance.

I am experimenting with shelf support systems at the moment. I am trialling some slotted metal shelving brackets along a short length of wall on one side of the garage. On another wall, I am experimenting with a heavy length of timber dyna-bolted to the brickwork from which an arc shaped piece of plywood is nailed to support the layout benchwork. It was the method used for David Low's previous layout, Parkes, and looks a sturdy and relatively cheap method of layout support.


I'd like to get my layout, Winmar, out of the way too. As mentioned in previous posts, the layout is a single baseboard 8' x 16' and weighs a ton! It currently sits sideways and lengthways up against one of the outer walls of the garage. I need to get some mates around to move the layout outside to the driveway and then look at where to make the saw cuts to try and save the station area for a possible exhibition layout. The layout as it currently exists will not really fit and it no longer suits my model railway preference for operations. It has to go, but perhaps some salvage work can be done.


In the meantime, I also have some solid reading to do with recent issues of AMRM, Model Railway Journal, Model Railroader, and Model Railroad Planning 2010 to get through.

Sydney MR exhibition 2009 report

I spent much of today at the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition. Tomorrow I will go to the NMRA Convention. I had initially thought I could spend the first half of the day at the exhibition and then I could drive from Liverpool to Castle Hill for the afternoon session of the Convention. It was not to be; there were simply too many layouts, trade stands, and people to catch up with at the exhibition. Moreover, the exhibition was absolutely packed out!

The exhibition featured a couple of really great layouts. The best was the 7mm (O scale) layout, Stringybark Creek. The layout represents an area of the NSW north coast in the period 1950-65. On display were a standard goods and a nineteen class steam locomotive, plus a delightful 400 class railmotor. The layout had some excellent scenery, especially the buildings. I really loved the Norco dairy factory, the pub, and the trestle bridge.

The other super quality layout was A Tracktiv Effort by Peter Lewis. The layout is 5.6 metres in length, enclosed in the plexiglass showcase style like his former layout. Peter was responsible for the superb Time and Patience layout. This new layout is in the same mould - a Newcastle (NSW) suburban scene with excellent structures and the inevitable corner petrol station, with trains running in the background, albeit on a double track this time around. I can't say I like the name of this layout but I can say I do like the layout itself.

The third top quality layout on display was Eskbank. This wasn't the first time I'd seen this layout at the Sydney exhibition, but it is always interesting to watch. The layout is circa 1899 and is based on Eskbank near Lithgow in NSW. The "olden days" locos and rollingstock are certainly of unique interest compared to the modern image of today and the steam-diesel transition era preferred by most modellers. The station building and loco depot are really superb and are a great credit to the builder, David Low.

A new layout, Wallerawang, was being exhibited for the first time from the Guildford Model Railway Group in Sydney (not the layout by Jack Parker featured recently in an issue of AMRM). The exhibition layout is 6.5 metres in length and based on the station and yard at Wallerawang on the Main Western line in NSW (actually, not far from Lithgow).

The large generic prototype layout (but really US-based) from the Coffs Harbour Modellers' Group was also on display and presented exceptionally well, especially with the self-enclosed lighting that really showcased the layout to maximum effect. Similarly well lit and presented was the much smaller but superbly modelled Plainview (On30), a diorama style North American freelance bush logging layout from Viv Farrow.

Old favourites making another exhibition appearance included Brunswick Park, Dirt, Dungog, Galong, Jembaicumbene, Smaldon Curve, and Tarana.

The floorplan included in my blog post yesterday gives details of all the layouts and trade stands (so I won't mention everything I saw today). However, it was good to see that the four main Australian r-t-r locomotive and rollingstock manufacturers were there - Auscision, Austrains, Eureka, and Trainorama. Other notable Australian model railway suppliers were Antons Trains, Balmain Drawingboard, Bergs Hobbies, Casula Hobbies, Chuck's Ballast Supplies, Frate-N, Gwyder Valley Models, IDR kits, InFront Models, Kerroby Models, Kieran Ryan Models, O-Aust kits, On Track Models, Powerline, and VR models from the Victorian Hobby Centre.
My only gripe with the exhibition was the generally poor lighting. Because the sports arena had such a high ceiling, and the flourescent lights attached directly to the ceiling rather than hanging down, the overall lighting within the building was not great. Where layouts did not provide their own lighting, or sufficient lighting, the full impact of the layout was compromised, IMHO.
Tomorrow, the NMRA Convention...

UK model railway mag's

Continuing my notes about model railway magazines I have been reading lately, I want to look at three British magazines aimed at the average railway modeller. Perhaps another time for the finescale Model Railway Journal. My main interests in these magazines are the layout articles and track plans, and any new ideas and thinking pieces. I am not a British prototype modeller so I am sure other aspects of the magazines have much broader interest.

Of the generalist British railway magazines, British Railway Modelling (BRM) is by far the best. In the April issue there were three very good layout articles (the OO gauge Alloa and Stamford East, and Gifford Street in O scale) with some nice photography and informative, yet pretty standard, layout descriptions. I also particularly liked the article on building a control panel (I have a fascination with control panels, I'm afraid, even though I might struggle to wire one up). A good serve of news and reviews makes this an easy magazine to read. April must be the month for annual awards because BRM features a set of awards for contributors based on several categories - annual awards like this are something I am personally not interested in and will explain why-so in another post.

Awards also featured in the April issue of Model Rail, this time "model of the year 2008". Winners included Bachmann as manufacturer of the year and Hattons for retailer of the year, among several other award categories. The featured layout, Dewsbury Midland, was superb and had some excellent accompanying photos (including an A3-sized print as an insert). The relatively brief article text was a bit disappointing for such an appealing and well detailed layout. However, more is to be revealed in the May issue. Myself, I'd prefer a detailed description of the layout account in the one issue, with perhaps features on specific critical elements (such as buildings, for example) in subsequent issues. I suppose the editor feels that such a wonderful layout is a useful selling point for the magazine in more than one issue. The rest of the magazine was standard fare and included some beginner-type articles and a prototype report on the class 37 diesel. The layout design plan for Otley was pretty interesting, but again, short on text.

The May issue of Hornby Magazine featured Saffron Street in 4mm scale, a layout I saw last year in the UK at the Warley Exhibition in Birmingham. Some nice photos to showcase this layout but the text was a little brief for my liking. Here's my photo of a scene in Saffron Street - note the black side of the building facing out. Not sure what that's about but the Hornby Magazine photographer sure put this layout in a very positive light.



A couple of other layout articles, a beginner's guide to terminus stations, and the usual product information made up much of the rest of the magazine. However, the feature for me was the "building the garage" article that included a paper-based pre-cut building for assembly around a card superstructure.

Card structure modelling fascinates me and I wonder why it is that the Brits seem to use this material much more than here in Australia. I do remember though a wonderful presentation on card modelling (a dairy or abattoir was the subject, from memory) by the late Fred Gill at an SCMRA modelling seminar a few years back. I think Fred used shellac on the card to give it some strength and to prevent warping. Most Australian modellers I know tend to favour styrene instead of card, although noted Australian modeller David Low uses AMRI card sheet for corrugated iron rooves on his buildings. Gavin Thrum also uses card for buildings, often featured at the Modelling the Railways of South Australia Convention in Adelaide, and always superb.

Now, back to a couple more model railway magazines still sitting by my desk...