Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Australian Model Railway Magazine

Auscision released their r-t-r NSW and Victorian joint stock ‘Southern Aurora’ sets in late September 2016. Despite the severe ‘sticker shock’ provided by the ten-car sets, these HO scale models of what was once, arguably, Australia’s finest passenger train have proven very popular with the buying public, to the extent that some of the sets had sold out by the AMRA (NSW) exhibition on the October long weekend. At the time these notes were prepared, only set NPS-16 ‘Melbourne/Sydney Express’ (1986-1993 era) and set NPS-17 ‘Southern Aurora’ four-car add-on set (1962-1986 era) remained available, with all other sets: NPS-14 ‘Southern Aurora’ (1962-1973 era), NPS-15 ‘Southern Aurora’ (1973-1986 era), NPS-18 ‘Brisbane Limited’ four-car add-on set (1961-1990 era), NPS-19 ‘Spirit of Progress’ two-car add-on set (1962-1986 era), NPS-20 XPT demonstration…

This N scale layout, built by Peter Boorman, represents Kyogle, a location in northern NSW on the north coast line to Brisbane, and is the culmination of a lengthy involvement in N scale modelling. Like many of us, Peter started his modelling career as a child putting together Airfix kits, but it wasn’t too long before his interests had moved more specifically to HO model railways. Around 1990, he saw an N scale layout at a local club in Lismore that changed his views on what was possible in a smaller space and promptly sold all his HO collection to fund his new interest in the smaller scale. Soon he had a small generic Australian layout up and running, with a collection of Ian Alce’s kits and soldered-up Weico locomotive…

Further to my Prototype File on the HBW hoppers, published in AMRM Issue 316 (February 2016) I have since uncovered some further information on the locations where HBW, HW (BW) and D type ballast wagons were located and regulations appertaining to their use which will be of interest to those wishing to operate ballast hopper models in a prototypical manner. This information is extracted from copies of the NSW General Appendix, dated 1 December 1935 and 1 March 1945. General Appendix: Westinghouse Air-Brake Regulations, 12 c (iv): Four-wheeled ballast wagons or ballast hoppers not equipped with the Westinghouse Air Brake complete are to be conveyed only by Ballast trains, and these vehicles must not be attached to Mixed, Goods or Pick-up trains without the special authority of the Chief Traffic…

Part 1 of this series, ‘Victorian Railways Timber Bridges Part 1: Bridges with Longitudinal Deck’, appeared in AMRM Issue 320 (October 2016). The next two styles of timber bridges featured longitudinal beams supporting a transverse deck and openings of 15' or 20'. Construction of the superstructure of the 15' and 20' opening bridges is shown on VR drawings F282 and F263 respectively (available online via Mark Bau’s website: at www.victorianrailways.net/infastuct/infastructhome.html). It can be seen that bridges with 15' openings could feature piers with two piles, the same as the 7' and 11' bridges and shown on VR drawing F268, whilst those with 20' openings had piers with four piles, shown on VR drawing F270. In practice, many bridges varied from these standard plans and often bridges with 15' openings feature…

Frank Kelly, who sadly passed away on 28 June 2016 at the age of 83, was one of life’s characters. His passing is a great loss to the Australian model railway hobby. When I became interested in modelling Australian railways in the late 1960s, Frank Kelly was, even then, a prominent person in the hobby, especially in Victoria. He had published an article, Working Vestibule Connections in the July/August 1969 issue (39) of the Australasian Model Railroad Magazine (as AMRM was then known), complete with one of his hand-drawn sketches. Shortly after taking over the management of AMRM, I ventured to Melbourne, with a few associates, for their Moomba weekend exhibition, then held at Box Hill. The prominent layout was the Victorian Model Railway Society’s Malmsbury, a prototype representation of…

Uses for discarded railway rolling stock have always been varied, being fully dependent upon the end-user’s needs. As we have seen throughout the years this occasional series has appeared, most of the items of redundant rolling stock already profiled in these pages have found new uses, often many kilometres from a rail line. They provide living accommodation, livestock shelter, feed storage, while some even serve as tack rooms. But at Jimcumbilly, a miniscule station which opened for business on 21 November 1921 and located 510.030 km from Sydney on the now-closed Cooma to Bombala line in southern NSW, the remains of two NLJX bogie vans that were deliberately left in the goods siding when trains stopped running from 26 March 1986, remain (more or less). As with several branch line…

National Rail Corporation RKKF/Y Steel Feedstock Wagon (three-pack), r-t-r in HO scale by Hawkmount Models, PO Box 34, Berowra, NSW 2081. Phone: (02) 9456 3059. Website: hawkmountmodels.com hawkmountmodels.com. Price: $249.95 (plus P&P). Prototype The National Rail Corporation was formed in 1992 and began operations in 1993. At the time the locomotives and rolling stock came from Australian National, Freight Corp (NSW) and V/Line. An injection of funds from the Federal Government resulted in a capital works program providing new NR class locomotives and a number of new wagons, mainly for container traffic. The only major exception to this was a contract let to Australian National Industries (later Bradken) for 73 three-pack wagon sets to carry steel feedstock (slabs and bar) between various steel rolling plants across the country. These RKKF…

Merry Christmas! It always seems strange to be writing Christmas good wishes in late October, but thanks to the lead times necessary in magazine production, that is how it is! May all our readers have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, hopefully with the help of some of the ‘goodies’ you can read about in these pages! DCCconcepts Goes Global! DCCconcepts is expanding internationally, having opened a new retail outlet in Settle, North Yorkshire (UK) in late October 2016 to service more easily the European and American markets. The current Perth WA retail shop will continue to support the Australasian market. Micro Models Hobbyland Hornsby Sold Micro Models Hobbyland in Hornsby NSW has been sold, with the new owner, Mark Griffin, taking over after the October long weekend.…