A few photos from Sandown

I have selected a few photos I took from the Sandown Exhibition to show here. I didn't have a great selection of quality images to select from, but the following images at least illustrate some of the layouts I particularly admired from the exhibition.

The first image is of steam locomotive N489 on the Florey Springs layout exhibited by the South Australian Railway Modellers Association from Adelaide. The N class of steam locomotives were built from 1925 (at the Newport Works) onwards for the Victorian Railways. N489 was part of a batch of locomotives built in 1949-50 by the North British Locomotive Company in the UK. Out of this order, ten of the locos were purchased from the Victorian Railways by the South Australian Railways and became the 750 class.



The next image is of the stone-loader on the Florey Springs layout. I liked the whole stone-loader complex and associated buildings as a good-looking lineside industry. The model looks like an adaptation of the Walthers HO scale New River Coal Mine.



The angled shot of the station and yard on the Totternhoe Mineral Railway gives some indication of the way the railway has been displayed. The actual model railway sits on a curved "ribbon" on a black-painted baseboard, within a black frame, and with rear black curtains to maintain an integrated and theatrical layout presentation. I first saw this layout a couple of years ago at the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition but the layout has not been widely seen on the exhibition circuit despite the layout being built over fifteen years ago!



The Dolly Varden Mines Railway is a wonderful narrow gauge layout (in On30) that was up for sale at the exhibition! Here we see an example of the detailed scenery as a diminuative steam loco hauls a couple of wagons on this exceptionally detailed model railway layout.



The UP/Rio Grande layout was huge with four(?) continuous loops allowing for plenty of train movement. The layout was built and operated by the La Trobe Valley Model Railway Club in Victoria. If I heard correctly, this giant layout took only 12-18 months to build! This image shows a steam locomotive hauling a mixed freight over one of the many steel girder bridges on the layout.



The ANP Switching District layout was a great example of a shelf style switching (shunting) layout that could fit into most standard-sized bedrooms. In fact, that's where this layout lives when not at exhibitions. The layout was unfinished but had all the trackwork and wiring completed, and several lineside industries had been constructed in styrene but also unfinished. Operation was with DCC. I actually think there should be at least one operational but unfinished layout at every exhibition to show the average show-goer that exhibition layouts just don't magically appear out of nothing!



The final photo shows the Murranbilla layout. I first saw this layout last August at the Caulfield Exhibition. For Sandown, the layout was a little unusual since it had both a barrier fence around the layout and a good set of layout lighting (in what looks like grey aluminium guttering).



I will finish my "review" of the Sandown Exhibition by saying that I enjoyed the exhibition but feel the quality of presentation of some layouts was sometimes let down by poor layout lighting. Perhaps it was the overcast day and the rain; perhaps it was my eyesight! But I can assure people that excellent layout lighting really showcases quality modelling and must be considered as a major component of any exhibition layout.

Further thoughts on the Sandown MRE

My blog post last evening expressed the positive aspects of the Sandown Model Railway Exhibition that I attended last Saturday in Melbourne. However, there are a couple of improvements to the Sandown Exhibition that I would recommend organisers look at for next year.

Firstly, layout lighting needs to be improved. Not all layouts had their own lighting and it was very noticeable that these displays were "in the dark" compared to the others. However, even most of the layouts that had their own lights really needed more lighting to really showcase their displays. Poor layout lighting was one of the disappointing elements of the exhibition.

The second issue related to barriers around layouts - for the most part non-existent. This has pluses and minuses. On the plus side, people can get close to the layout to see what is going on. On the downside, it is also very easy for some people to touch and knock over things on a layout, much to the consternation of exhibitors. One poor old chap was leapt upon by a frustrated layout operator after bumping the baseboard and causing a train to derail. It was totally accidental (and probably not unusual given the crowd and no layout barrier), but the poor chap was really quite astonished at the terse response!

Along one narrow aisle, between a row of commercial stands and a couple of layouts, there was no room for a barrier. In fact, the aisle was so narrow that there was little standing room unless one wanted to block a steady stream of patrons walking through the corridor or wanting to browse the commercial stands. Aisle width and barriers need to be addressed.

Lastly, there really needs to be some improvement to catering at model railway exhibitions. I say this because standing for thirty minutes or longer in a queue for lunch, served by a couple of overworked catering staff, is not good enough. Moreover, the wait was worse for people only wanting a can of drink or a cup of tea! Perhaps there could be a separate drinks line in future.

These comments are meant to identify some improvements for the next show. They reflect my "customer experience" and, from some comments I overheard at the show, were not unique.

As to the quality of the layouts on show at a public model railway exhibition, they were generally very good. Kids were well catered for with rides outside the exhibition hall, a U-drive layout, and a very imaginative "layout" featuring SylvanianCity figures and buildings. The train component involved an oval of track with a rather generic steam engine and a couple of carriages going around in circles. However, the "ambience" of the scenery and the figures was really quite engaging for young girls dragged along to a model railway exhibition with optimistic fathers!

An excellent idea was an area for young children to do colouring-in of line drawings of trains. Whenever I passed by this area of the exhibition, there were plenty of kids scribbling away attentively with coloured pencils. The more options young kids have at model railway exhibitions to do something interesting, and not just get dragged along (literally in some cases) by parents, the better!

Of what I considered high quality layouts, Totternhoe Mineral Railway, Dolly Varden Mines Railway, and Florey Springs were standouts. The Union Pacific/Rio Grande layout was spectacular because of its size and constant flow of train action, while the under-construction ANP Switching District demonstrated what can be achieved in an average-sized bedroom. Victorian-prototype layouts like Murranbilla, Benalta, Broadford, Cardinia Rail Link, and Coliban Valley catered for local prototype interests. Naturally, opinion is subjective and I am sure all visitors to the exhibition found something of special interest - and this is a good thing.

Overall, the Sandown Exhibition was a very good exhibition; showcasing a nice variety of model railway layouts of various scales and featuring a range of qualities. In addition, there was good commercial support, as well as a couple of excellent practical clinics and modelling demonstrations.

A small selection of photos will appear in my next blog post.

Sandown Exhibition

I just returned home today after a very enjoyable weekend in Melbourne attending the Sandown Model Railway Exhibition on Saturday and visiting a couple of hobby shops in the Melbourne CBD yesterday. The Sandown Exhibition was held under the grandstand at the Sandown Racetrack and was my first visit to this exhibition.

The exhibition opened at 10am but I arrived about an hour or so later. There was not much of a queue to get in, which was a nice surprise, but there certainly were lots of people inside! The exhibition "program" was contained within an eight page centrefold section of issue 7 of Model Railways in Australia (available for free at the exhibition entrance). There was a floor plan and legend showing the location of the exhibitors, as well as basic information about the layouts and traders in very tiny print.

I must say that information about layouts within an exhibition program is really very important and should be given greater emphasis from organisers to enhance the whole exhibition experience. I was pleased to find, however, that some exhibitors provided their own information leaflets, including track diagrams, that gave additional and valuable information. Thank you indeed!

Inside the exhibition, I did my usual reconnoitre of the exhibition space, paying particular attention to the commercial displays of interest to me. There were some familiar faces at Auscision Models (Sydney), Casula Hobbies (Sydney), and Orient Express (Adelaide). And of course, there were many Victorian-based commercial outlets including Airport West Hobbies, Train Hobby, Victorian Hobby Centre, Brunel Hobbies, the Railfan Shop, Puffing Billy Railway, and ARHS Victoria Division.

Of the layouts, the South Australian Railways Modellers' Association (SARMA) had a wonderful HO scale layout on display, called Florey Springs. Models of the South Australian Railways predominated. The layout featured a double track main line, a station scene with lineside industries, and a wonderful model of a stone-loading facility. I will have some photos available when I get around to downloading the images from my compact camera [note to self: must get a proper macro lens for my SLR since the quality of the compact camera images leave a lot to be desired!]. I hadn't seen Florey Springs before, but I had met a few of the operators at previous Modelling the Railways of South Australia Conventions.

Other layouts that caught my eye included Totternhoe Mineral Railway (7mm scale running on 9mm track); Midsomer Norton (4mm scale British); Dolly Varden Mines Railway (On30 logging railway); Latrobe Valley Model Railway Club's extra-large UP/Denver & Rio Grande HO scale layout; Coliban Valley (HO scale Victorian Railways); Murranbilla (HO scale Victorian Railways); and the Kangaroo & Cockatoo Railway (1:22.5 scale on G gauge track). I also liked the L-shaped shelf layout (that was still under construction), based on a US shunting locale around San Diego, California, called ANP Switching District, and modelled in HO scale. I had a good chat to the father and son team responsible for this layout. I was impressed with the planning and construction of the layout, including the white styrene industrial buildings.

Despite the devastating storms on Saturday in which Melbourne was deluged with rain and hail, the Sandown Exhibition managed to stay relatively unscathed (unlike Flemington Racecourse where the races were called off mid-afternoon). Nevertheless, I had to ask a chap for a lift from the exhibition to the highway since it's quite a walk back from the grandstand to the Princes Highway in the rain!

I hope to have a full report on the exhibition with some photos in my next blog post.

NZ Model Railway Convention

While there remains some uncertainty and inertia over the future of my Australian model railway layout (Winmar), I am pleased to report that I will be attending the New Zealand Model Railway Convention in Christchurch in April.

I love New Zealand and over the years have visited many places on the North Island, and one great trip to the Marlborough region at the top of the South Island. Christchurch has been one city I have been keen to visit and I will spend a week there over Easter at the Convention and generally just looking around. I will even get to visit Ironhorse Hobbies in Christchurch, an advertiser in the Australian Model Railway Magazine.

I have also been a member of the New Zealand Model Railway Guild for some years now. I hope to meet some Guild members at the Convention in Christchurch.

Many New Zealand prototype modellers model to 3/16" to the foot scale (S scale) and I am keen to see some layouts in this scale during the layout tours. The New Zealand prototype railway has a track guage of 3'6'', a pretty common narrow gauge track for Australasia.

I have often thought that S scale is a good compromise between HO and O scales. In Australia, S scale is popular among prototype modellers of the Western Australian Government Railways (WGR) and Queensland Railways (QR). The Western Australia and Queensland prototype railways have historically been narrow gauge (3'6") railways and S scale modelling (Sn3 1/2) allows for the use of the common HO scale (16.5mm) track. Interestingly, the narrow gauge (3'6") prototype modellers in South Australia and Tasmania have generally favoured HO scale and a model railway gauge of HOn3 1/2 (12mm). I have no idea why these geographic differences have occurred in Australia but I'd be keen for someone to put forward an intelligent explanation!

At the same time, there have been some excellent smaller scale (N120, for example) New Zealand prototype models featured in the Guild's New Zealand Model Railway Journal. While I readily admit that the smaller scale is a tad too small for me these days, I can certainly appreciate good quality modelling in any scale and in any prototype.

Registration is still open for the New Zealand Model Railway Convention. The Convention takes place in the first week of April. The early bird rate (NZ $80) is available until 28th February and after that the rate increases to NZ $100. Unfortunately for us overseas people, credit card payments can't be made. However, payment can still be made by direct credit (details on registration form) or by going to your local Australian bank branch and getting a cheque drawn in NZ dollars.

If any other Aussies are interested in a different modelling experience, please visit the Convention website for all details and a registration form. Maybe I will see you there...

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.

A New Year

2010 is upon us. It's that time of the year for some planning for the year ahead. I certainly look forward to the new year after the instability of last year; moving three times and living in four different houses!

One usually reflects on the past and then commits to a new future by way of a number of resolutions that are rarely kept. I hope to change that pattern with some resolutions that I do hope to keep (I am not silly enough to think I will achieve 100% success). They are:

1. insulate the garage and install a proper ceiling
2. put up additional lighting and more power points
3. have an operating (running) model railway by year end
4. have some scenery/buildings completed
5. log the progress on my blog
6. digitise my prototype railway photos and catalogue them
7. attend at least one major overseas model railway/railroad event

We will see how well I do come this time next year.

Merry Christmas railway modellers

I want to wish readers of this blog (and sister blog DME Down Under) a very happy Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year.

In 2010 I will begin the construction of a new model railway layout. As such, my blogs will give regular progress reports, and make some general observations about layouts, the prototype, and model railways. Naturally, I will also be seeking the individual and collective wisdom from interested modellers through the blogs, at exhibitions and conventions, and in person.

Also in 2010, I will be working on a couple of model railway projects with some model railway "identities" in Australia that should also offer plenty of food for thought.

I hope 2010 is a good year for you all.