Congratulations AMRM

The 300th issue of the Australian Model Railway Magazine (AMRM) is a significant achievement.  As the recent articles on the history of AMRM attest, many people have contributed to the production and commercial success of the magazine over the past fifty years. Bob Gallagher and Alan Brown were to my mind the cornerstone of that success.

The current issue (June 2013) of AMRM continues the tradition of featuring Australian model railway layouts. Glenburn is a truly wonderful layout depicting a time that is often not often portrayed on a model railway. Over the years there have been many fine layouts depicted in the pages of AMRM which have provided an inspiration to us all. I must add that I was very impressed with the photo taken by John Burford on page 55 of the current issue showing a nicely lit cameo scene from his new On30 layout. John's reminiscences are similar to mine as well.

I bought my first copy of AMRM (Issue 79) from Micro Models at Hornsby in 1976. In those days Micro Models was located in the Westfield Plaza shopping centre. Micro Models still exists, under different ownership, and is now located on the Pacific Highway at Hornsby. The success of this hobby store over an equivalent amount of time as AMRM is also worthy of note.

That first issue of AMRM for me was the trigger to take model railways seriously and to focus on Australian (NSW) railway modelling. Up until that time, I had the usual assortment of Triang/Hornby models from train sets acquired as presents over the years. I had no permanent space for a layout so the model railway was only put up occasionally, on a carpeted floor no less!

In that particular issue of AMRM were articles on The Mayfield Lines, the SAR 720 steam locomotive, making styrene windows, and three pages of reviews. I was later able to visit The Mayfield Lines in person, an O gauge wind-up model railway in the garden of Len Clark. Ironically, this type of model railway was already "old hat" but it emphasised to me how much the hobby had to do with imagination as much as it did with constructing a piece of railway reality.

I studiously acquired back issues of the magazine and bought each new copy as it appeared in the hobby shop. Around the same time, and not far from where I was living at the time, was Mansfield Hobbies at Waitara. I would have to say that it was a combination of AMRM and David Anderson from Mansfield Hobbies who established my direction into the model railways of NSW.

While many years have passed since those days, and I now model a US prototype railway, AMRM was a part of my model railway development. And while I may decry the cluttered page layout of the magazine and the front cover that needs a modern facelift, I don’t fail to appreciate the hard work that goes into the regular production of the magazine and the exceptional quality of the photographs - James McInerney is to be congratulated.

And speaking of model railway magazines, I should add that my involvement with the Australian Journal of Railway Modelling ceased in October 2011, four months after the magazine was successfully relaunched at the Epping Model Railway Exhibition with issue 11. Stephen took full control of the administration, sales, distribution, communication, and publishing of the magazine after that date. I hope that another issue will be forthcoming because AJRM has given us some excellent articles in the past.

Geoff Nott

I am sad to report that noted Australian railway modeller, Geoff Nott, died today in Sydney. Geoff will be remembered for his skilled creative work on a number of classic model railroads including the famous Muskrat Ramble. Geoff's most recent layout, Smuggler's Cove, was built over the past two years with fellow modeller, Michael Flack. The photo below, taken in September last year, shows Geoff on the left and Michael on the right.

Geoff and Michael presented at the NMRA Convention in Gosford last year. Smuggler's Cove was exhibited at the Convention. The layout (pictured below) was another superb scenic extravaganza; defined by brilliant scenery, composition, and craftsmanship.

Geoff had a wonderful and gifted artistic talent for model railways, and was always willing to share his knowledge and expertise with a full range of people, especially children. I remember his contribution at exhibitions where he and colleagues gave many scenery clinics and demonstrations. The photo below shows Geoff at a scenery clinic at the Epping Model Railway Exhibition in 2011.

Recently, at the NMRA Thousand Lakes Region Convention in Minneapolis which I attended in May, tribute was paid to Geoff as a wonderful inspiration for model railroading. At the time, I knew that Geoff had been battling cancer but I didn't know to what extent.

The news today was still a shock -  Geoff was a wonderful person and will long be remembered.

The making of our plastic trains and slot cars

I just stumbled across a couple of interesting YouTube clips about the manufacturing process for model trains and slot cars. Both clips look like they come from a YouTube set of similar clips about how things are made. There is all manner of manufactured products featured, including how prototype steel rails are made and how mass-produced hot dogs are made.

I am interested in some of the manufacturing processes to find out if they might be industries useful for the model railroad. I therefore want to understand the production process and what are the inputs into the manufacturing process. While the transport in or out of the factory would also be of interest, it's not critical. I can either do further research on particular manufacturing companies or just make it up for the model railroad if it all sounds plausible.

Anyway, here are the two clips. The first is on model train production. I am not sure the clip is complete because it sort of just ends but there is still enough of interest there. It would be interesting to get a comment from one of our local Australian manufacturers to see if what's shown in the clip is the same as what goes on in the Chinese factories they use.

The slot car clip says it's about Scalextric slot cars but they look like Carrera products to me!

Canberra Model Railway Expo 2013

Tomorrow is the opening day of the Canberra Model Railway Expo. This year the expo is celebrating it's 25th anniversary. The exhibition will feature about 25 layouts (including Waterfall if my information is correct) and just over 20 commercial traders as well.

Some of the commercial traders include Austrains, Casula Hobbies, Eureka, Gwydir Valley Models, Model Railroad Craftsman, MicroModels Hobbyland, On Track, Runway 17, Southern Models, and TrainWorld.

I hope the expo will have a successful weekend.

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year!

I am keeping my resolutions to myself this year as past failures have been rather embarrassing. But I am starting off the New Year with the desire to keep up-to-date with my model railway reading which lapsed last year (along with model railway construction and blog writing) due to other time pressures.

And speaking about time, the people at Kalmbach Publishing in the US must be in a time warp of some sort because yesterday (31st December 2012) I received my latest copy of Model Railroader - the February 2013 issue. Since it is now the 1st of January, the magazine is a month ahead of the cover date. No matter - it's a good read over the January holidays while I wait for the January/February issue of the Australian Model Railway Magazine due out later this month with a cover date and issue date more in keeping with reality.

The February 2013 Model Railroader does have some good reading.

In particular, I am following the progress of the quarry branch series. Part 2 is in the latest issue. I am also following progress on the quarry branch articles with the video blogs that I can see as a subscriber to Model Railroader. I like this feature as the video nicely supports the article content.  

Model Railroader, like other model railway magazines around the world (e.g. British Railway Modelling and Railroad Model Craftsman) is also available in digital format. I haven't committed to the digital formats as yet as I find the hard copy paper editions easier to read. However, storage of paper magazines is a problem. I am sticking with the paper magazine for Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman for now, but I do buy the occasional British model railway magazine as a digital copy. And I do love Model Railroad Hobbyist which is digital.

Kalmbach Publishing and Model Railroader will be moving further into digital content in a couple of months time with the launch of its MRVideoPlus website which will become an additional source of regular information with video, 3D track plans, and how-to articles. My only concern is whether the new MRVideoPlus will become the prime source of content at the expense of the magazine. We will have to wait and see.

For now, it's sitting back with the hard copy of the February 2013 issue of Model Railroader and enjoying the read.

NMRA Convention 2012 Part 2

Yes I know it's been almost four weeks since the NMRA Australasian Region Convention. And I know good blog practice is to be current and post regularly. Unfortunately, life gets in the way sometimes!

In this second and final instalment about the NMRA Convention 2012, I wanted to quickly go through some of the presentations. Then I will follow up with a few photos from a couple of the layout visits I managed to squeeze in on the Sunday afternoon before driving back to Canberra.

The convention opened with a short introduction and then a delay while some technical issues were overcome with the computer and projector. The first presentation was in the Main Hall and featured the planning and building of the fabulous Smuggler's Cove layout. I cannot avoid adding some more photos...

Geoff and Michael explained how they planned and designed the layout after a trip they both had to the New England area of the United States. They both saw potential for a new model railroad from the scenery and small fishing villages along the Maine coast. During the trip, which I understand was a holiday with wives and not a train research trip per se, Geoff and Michael took lots of photos, bought books, artist drawings, brochures, and post cards of structures and scenes. In other words, they collected as much info as they could! One rather expensive purchase (but well worth the expense) was the motif for the layout.

The photos and prints and post cards were used as inspiration for specific scenes and buildings on the layout. Construction took place from November 2011 to July 2012 when the layout was displayed at the Castle Hill Model Railway Exhibition. There is nothing like a tight time frame to concentrate the mind and the effort! The layout as presented was in two modules, but there is a third module to be finished and added to the layout. That should be worth the wait.

After this introductory session, the next session had three options - "From the beginning", Planning your layout", and "Scratchbuilding in styrene". I went to the session on planning your layout which was given by Sam M. from the Central Coast. I wanted to go to the scrathcbuilding session too but I was able to spend time with John B. at his modelling desk later in the day. Sam went over some basic but important considerations to work through when planning a layout: for example, determining standards for the layout (layout height, size, aisle width, track radius, train length, purpose, etc.).

After a break for morning tea, there were more concurrent sessions. I went to the sessions on spline roadbed and plastic structures beyond the box. Bob B. gave a great presentation and demonstration of building spline roadbed using 6mm MDF cut into 20mm wide strips and hot glued together, using short spacers between each length of MDF until a 30mm wide spline was created (for HO scale). The session on plastic structures from Kelly was also very interesting, especially painting to take the plastic sheen off the buildings.

The afternoon sessions comprised adding fine detail, route control for tortoise point motors (an excellent presentation from Erik B.), and another instalment from Geoff and Michael (on structures, boats, water and scenery). Let me quote from their notes about the way they construct their buildings:
Every building has a cardboard sub – structure. Thick card was cut to match the plan then tacked together to check dimensions and visual effect. Problems were corrected, the card recut if necessary, then window and door openings cut. In most cases timber bracing was added as re-enforcing to corners, sides and roofing. We used a combination of Outback Model Co. , Grant Line , Atlantic Scale Models and Tichy windows and doors. Different siding and roofing materials were then laminated onto the card sub- structure. These included Artists coloured card, commercial wall and roofing printed card sheeting as well as basswood and balsa. The card and printed sheeting, once applied , was given a sprayed coat of artists fixative or matt finish to help preserve the surface.

On the Sunday there was a general presentation in the Main Hall from Sowerby S. on layout lighting, followed by a David O'H. presentation on detailing Australian rolling stock kits (pay attention to the prototype using photos or direct observation!).

The clinics and formal presentations finished late morning, although one might have been forgiven for wondering if there really was a finish to the day since no formal closing session was provided. We just mulled around the hall until we realised that that was all folks! It was a disappointing conclusion for the convention which, despite some technical and noise issues at times, was interesting enough.

After grabbing some lunch at a local takeaway outlet, I went to check out four layouts - all of which I had seen before when I was living in Sydney and a regular attendee of the NMRA Division 7 (NSW) monthly meetings (that included the Central Coast).

The first layout I went to was Dennis C.'s HO scale NSW layout based on Barmedman. The layout was in a new home, this time inside the house instead of the garage. I like this option! Dennis is a very good kit builder and has built a number of white metal NSW steam locomotives for me in the past. More information about the layout can be found from this website link.

The second layout visit I made was just up the street at Sam's place. I really like this layout because of it's operational focus. To give you an idea of the layout plan, the control panel schematic will do nicely, but more information can be found from this website link.

The third layout was just around the corner at the home of Rowan M. (recently elected VP of the NMRA Australasian Regional Committee). Rowan's layout is ambitious to say the least - an HO scale model railway based on the Main South Line in NSW from Sydney to Junee! A sample view of just one "corridor" should give you an idea of how such a large endeavour might look. More info from this website link.

The final layout for me on the day was the Great Northern Great Falls Division by Gerry H. The layout is beautifully presented. The operation and scenery are exceptionally well done. You can read and see more from this website link. Thanks to Gerry and his wife for the lovely afternoon tea as well - got me through the drive back to Canberra!

And, let me conclude with a beaut little layout that was also on display at the Convention. The layout was  called Lizard Ridge (On30).

I enjoyed the weekend and the limited amount of layout tours I could manage in an afternoon. Next year the Convention is being hosted by NMRA Division 2 in Canberra.....hey, that's my mob!

NMRA Convention 2012 - Part 1

I spent an enjoyable weekend on the Central Coast of New South Wales at the Australasian NMRA Convention. The Convention had the usual array of presentations, modelling clinics, and layout tours. Models were on display for assessment for the NMRA achievement program awards. A handful of layouts were also on display; the feature being the latest modelling creation from Messrs Flack and Nott - Smuggler's Cove.

The Smuggler's Cove (On30) layout was presented in a similar style to previous layouts from this partnership. Smuggler's Cove is essentially a set of two joined dioramas with a couple of trains running through them. A third portion of the layout is still to be added. The layout was first exhibited at the recent Castle Hill Model Railway Exhibition in Sydney. The NMRA Convention was fortunate to not only have the layout on display, but to have Messrs Flack and Nott give two presentations on the design and construction of the layout.

Smuggler's Cove is a fictional location in Maine in the New England region of the United States. The model features some superb scratchbuilt structures and magnificent detailed scenery. The layout lighting and general presentation are superb.

The following photographs of Smuggler's Cove show just a taste of this superbly displayed layout.

I will have more to say on the Convention in my next blog post but I wanted to give you a taste of the weekend with some photo's of the Smuggler's Cove layout.