Sydney Model Railway Exhibition 2016

For me, the Labor Day October long weekend is synonymous with the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition at Liverpool. And so it was that I made the 2.5 hour journey from Canberra to Liverpool for this annual exhibition.

I had purchased my ticket online in the preceding week. However, when I arrived around late morning on Saturday the general admission queue was very small. Nevertheless, I gained entry straight away and made my way around the perimeter of the main hall. The majority of the trade stands occupied this space and so my circumnavigation took a wee while as I looked for new products, examples of pre-production models, and any bargains. Austrains and Trainorama seemed to have some decent specials, and I think Southern Rail Models may have had some discounted L class locos, but that was pretty much it as far as I could see. The SDS Models upcoming Speed-E-Gas tanker was on display and looked terrific, as did the selection of models in the showcases from Auscision and Bergs. Other notable commercial stands included Orient Express from Adelaide, Runway 13 from Canberra, ARHS books, Anton's Trains, Casula Hobbies, Chucks Ballast, Railroad Model Craftsman, Train World, Kerroby Models, Eureka Models, Pallas Hobbies, and IDR Models.

As for the layouts, there were about 25 or so. Most of the layouts I had seen before, but that shouldn't surprise as I have visited quite a few exhibitions over the years.

Here are a few representative layouts from the exhibition.

Upon entering the exhibition, there was the familiar live steam Railways in the Garden layout. The railway uses two gauges of running tracks - 45mm and 32mm - and the locos are fired by either gas, methylated spirits, or coal.

Bethungra Spiral (HO, NSW) from the Epping Model Railway Club was on display and the scenery looked superb. This layout offers a different design to the usual exhibition layout which are mostly based on station and yard scenes.

Yendys (HO, Australian) made the journey up to Liverpool from Canberra. This layout has been around the exhibition circuit quite a while now. I love the composition of the layout, and the bridge scene is always a stand-out. Colour light signalling had been added this time around.

Oddwalls (HO, NSW), another exhibition regular, features a typical country town and distinctly Australian scenery. Here a 32 class engine hauls a rake of four-wheeled goods wagons.

Mungo Scotts (HO, NSW) has also been on the exhibition circuit for a while now. The layout was built and is exhibited by the Sydney Model Railway Society. The photo below shows a Beyer-Garratt locomotive on the Metropolitan Goods line with a run-through train.

Goulburn (HO, NSW/Australian) from the Guildford Model Railway Group, was making its second exhibition appearance. This layout has proved inspirational to a couple of my model railway friends; something that makes attending exhibitions worthwhile. The photo below captures the Sydney-bound XPT about to depart Goulburn railway station.

Waterfall (HO, NSW) from the Illawarra Model Railway Association, was tucked away in an annex off the main hall (across from SDS Models). This layout is a quality exhibit and features some great scenery, especially around the station precinct.

Broxburn Sidings (OO) was also off the main hall. This layout is a lovely compact layout featuring industrial sidings with plenty of opportunity for shunting action.

Kyogle (N scale, NSW) from Peter Boorman was a nicely crafted rural NSW layout featuring a station, yard and bridge scene. This layout will be featured in the December 2016 issue of the Australian Model Railway Magazine.

Dunblurtin (N scale, NSW) was first exhibited by its previous owner way back in 1990! This layout has stood the test of time with some nice scenery, buildings, and plenty of train action.

Industry Lane (00, British) was my favourite layout from the Epping Model Railway Exhibition in June. It remains one of my favourite layouts. This layout demonstrates that you can still have a great model railway even in a relatively small amount of space. The buildings and scenic composition are superb. More information about the layout and the community group can be found at the following web address: www.platform1mrc.com

Another small layout, this time in G scale, was Whiskey Springs. This layout was a highly detailed logging-style model railway that featured exquisite scenery.

Valley Heights (O scale, NSW) is another layout I have seen before. This time I paid particular attention to the roundhouse (instead of the elevated coal stage which probably gets more than its fair share of attention). The roundhouse has great atmospheric charm generated from the larger modelling scale.

While many of the layouts I had seen before, I still enjoyed the exhibition and catching up with fellow modellers from Sydney, Canberra, and rural NSW. As Canberra does not have a dedicated model railway shop, the Liverpool exhibition was a great opportunity to check out a wide range of retailers all in the one spot. Sometimes modellers don't always appreciate the convenience of having a large range of commercial retailers all in the one place at the one time. That said, I do wonder whether there are sufficient new layouts being constructed to keep exhibitions fresh and engaging for both the public and for existing railway modellers. Perhaps this is a topic to keep for another time...

Epping Model Railway Club Exhibition 2016

The 2016 Epping Model Railway Club's exhibition last weekend was a good one.  There were 22 layouts on display and 23 commercial exhibits. As usual, the second hand stall was very popular for sellers and buyers alike. The modelling clinics were a little different this year with a focus on building home layouts. The clinics were managed by David L. from the Epping Club in concert with the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) who manned the stand and answered questions from the public relating to all the facets of building a home layout. Great idea, David!

I caught up with a good many fellow modellers at the exhibition and still managed to actually see the layouts on display. Here is a sample of the layouts that caught the eye of my camera.

Goulburn (Australian/NSW, HO scale) was a new exhibit from the Guildford Model Railway Group. The layout is 6.5 metres (22') long and 2.8 metres (9') deep. The main feature of the layout is a wonderful model of the prototype Goulburn station. Other building features include the long run-through goods shed, steel footbridges, and the workshop area with overhead crane. Trains from the period of the 1960s to the present day made their appearance, reflecting the individual membership's era preferences. The layout is operated by conventional DC control.

Gordon (VR/SAR HO scale) was a layout I had not seen before. It represents the prototype in near the Dandenong Ranges top of the Great Dividing Range between Melbourne and Adelaide. A good variety of Australian locos and rollingstock from the 1960-1980 period was on display. Interestingly, the May and June 2016 issues of Newsrail feature two articles on the prototype Gordon station.

Bullo Pit (British, O scale) is a 7mm/foot scale layout based on a real location in Gloucestershire in the 1920s. The layout represents the tidal inlet from the River Severn and associated rail infrastructure. There was plenty of shunting going on with a range of four-wheeled wagons.

Erbschaft (German, HO scale) is a fictitious town set in the 1960s.  The layout is Marklin with centre-stud track and a good range of locos and rollingstock. Buildings are mainly kit-built structures from Faller and Kibri. Erbschaft was a very nice medium-sized layout.

Over the Fence (Australian/NSW, HO scale) was a new layout to the Epping exhibition, although it had debuted at Sandown in Melbourne earlier in the year. Once again the houses and buildings on the layout represented superb renditions of real structures modelled to scale in styrene. A double-track main line kept trains moving throughout the day; a highlight being the running of an Auscision Countrylink XPT that looked superb snaking its way to the rear of the houses. The durable H&M Clipper transformer powers the trains and never seems to miss a beat.

Oddwalls (NSW, HO scale) made another exhibition appearance from the craftsmanship of Geoff Small. Oddwalls represents a fictitious rural NSW town set in the 1960s. The station area with the main street and country-style buildings are the central scenic highlight of the layout with plenty of detail to be spotted throughout. This layout is compact-sized and an entertaining NSW-themed layout that runs well and looks great.

Wumbat (NSW, HO scale) represents another fictitious NSW rural-based layout. The layout dimensions are 3 metres by 1.2 metres and consists of six modules. Note the impressive way the layout is displayed in a theatre-box style of presentation.

Industry Lane (British, OO scale) is based on a fictitious industrial branch serving a number of industries: fuel/oil, cement, and a large manufacturing complex. The focus of the layout is shunting and this is accomplished using short wheel-based freight wagons and a single locomotive operated with digital command control (DCC). The entire layout, including fiddle yard, is only 1.5 metres (5') in length. The fiddle yard uses a sliding traverser to move trains on and off the layout. I really enjoyed this layout and admired what could be achieved in a relatively small space. Industry Lane was my favourite layout from the exhibition.
 

Moonan Flats (NSW, O scale) represents a what-might-have-been scenario had the real railway reached this town in the Barrington Tops of NSW. The station layout is simple but highly detailed, enabling a good showcasing of NSW outline O scale locomotives and rollingstock.

 

Wallerawang Junction (Australian/NSW, HO scale) is based on the prototype station on the Main Western line beyond Lithgow. The era modelled is the 1960 to mid-70s period when Wallerawang was a busy rail station and yard. There was plenty of steam and diesel train action on this layout.

Bullenbung Creek (NSW, HO scale), the featured layout at the Modelling the Railways of NSW Convention earlier this year, made its first Epping exhibition appearance. The layout took its inspiration from Belfrayden on the Uranquinty-Kywong branch line. This lightly-trafficed rural branchline has been well modelled using hand-laid code 55 rail soldered to PCB sleepers. The layout is operated using DCC and locos all have sound. My favourite was the 24 class (2417 pictured below) which performed its duties with no-fuss aplomb.

The Yard (NSW, HO scale) was another NSW-themed layout making its first appearance on the exhibition scene. The focal point is indeed the yard and the Pioneer cement silos. Other rail-served industries included stock pens, loading ramp and goods shed. Track is Peco code 83 with insulfrog points operated by Tortoise switch motors. The layout uses an NCE Pro Cab for DCC operation.

Stikodelom (NSW, O scale) showcased some quality O scale locomotives, rollingstock and scenery. The location is fictitious but certainly has that generic rural NSW feel about the place. The Beyer-garrat (pictured below) is a very impressive sight in this scale.

Bethungra was the new layout from the Epping Model Railway Club making its debut exhibition appearance. The trees on the layout are superb (well done, Phil). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos but can direct you to this Youtube clip from John Thoroughgood who captured the layout in a nice two minute video.

And of course, there was the ever-popular Lego layout.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and the opportunity to chat with friends from the hobby.  I'd like to thank the Epping Model Railway Club for another successful event.