Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i Australian Model Railway Magazine

A scene at busy New Yard on our editor’s HO scale layout ‘Lambing Flat’. Two trains wait to depart while the yard shunter, 5134, goes about its business and 4910 idles in a siding awaiting its next assignment. On the main line, 4535 hauls a stock special, heading west. Even though this scene is not complete (detailing has barely started), the consistent colours employed in the scenery and the weathering of every locomotive and item of rolling stock creates a ‘visual continuum’ that hides the lack of detail. It is also a lot of fun to operate if your interests run to shunting!…

Editorial Assistants The response to the ad for editorial assistants in the last issue of AMRM was most gratifying (one would almost say overwhelming) with nearly twenty people putting their hands up to assist. After a long and involved selection process, two positions were offered and accepted. AMRM’s two new editorial assistants are Victorian, Alan McKenna, and Western Australian resident, Phil Knife. We welcome them both to the AMRM ‘crew’ and would also like to thank all the others who applied for taking the time to express their interest in helping AMRM. Bob’s Hobbies Moving West Ryde (NSW) institution, Bob’s Models and Hobbies, advised that they would be relocating to new premises at 3 Chatham Road, West Ryde, most likely during the first week of August, 2017, so they should…

Situated on the double tracked Short North just south of Newcastle, Cockle Creek was once a busy location. Privately-owned colliery railways exchanged loads and passengers with the state system. Workers walked to the nearby Sulphide Corporation works and, in earlier years, the station served as a convenient point to access recreational activities on the creek or Lake Macquarie. During the 1950s, a major bridge replacement and track realignment were undertaken. A new double track steel truss bridge was built across the creek and new platforms and station buildings erected adjacent to the old. Once the new alignment was commissioned, the old line and bridge were used by coal trains to and from the Northern (Rhondda) and Stockton Borehole Collieries. In 1965 BHP, the then owners of Stockton Borehole Colliery, installed…

The Victorian Railways rivetted IY wagons, of which some 350 were built between 1926 and 1930, were basically an I wagon with heavier springs. They were also originally fitted with angle stays between the under-frame and W irons, which were removed in later years as the W irons were replaced. One of the photos in this article (IY15392 at Drouin) was taken in September 1949, so there is a good chance that a few of these IY wagons with the original angle stays survived into the 1950s. The year 1957 marked the completion of the removal of buffers and handrail grab handles from the sides and the addition of shunter’s steps on all rolling stock, except for some older wagons converted as Departmental stock. As I am modelling the 1950s…

Light Genie radio controlled lighting system by MRC. Sample supplied by AJ Leeman Hobbies Pty Ltd, Unit 7/171 Bellevue Parade, Carlton 2218. Ph: 02 9547 2644. Mob: 0418 277 077. Prices in text. Lighting of structures and streets, like adding figures, is one of those layout enhancers that can transform scenes. Unfortunately, adding lighting can be like rewiring the layout all over again. Much (back) pain for little gain. Still, an operating level crossing does look awesome and operating traffic lights or a radio mast with flashing lights is so cool, but those light effects modules are expensive, limited in function, locally rare and may need an IT degree to set up. The solution could well be this new Model Rectifier Corporation Light Genie system. The Light Genie comes with:…

If one visits Cockle Creek railway station today, what remains is a bit of a mystery. Why is it there at all? Certainly not for local residents, there are not many houses nearby, not for the golfers at the nearby course, nor for the patrons of Club Macquarie who all seem to come by car. Why is there such a large club there and so much vacant land nearby? Why are there remnants of other platforms and brick foundations and why are there cast iron piers in Cockle Creek upstream of the railway bridge? Read on… Cockle Creek, south west of Newcastle, empties into Lake Macquarie and was doubtless named for the shellfish found there. The area, once occupied by the Awabakal Aboriginal people, saw white settlement in the 1830s…

Sometimes we get an idea for a model railway and it can be a few years before the opportunity comes along to build it. I reckon that this happens a lot and amongst the modellers of the world there are thousands of layout ideas just waiting to be built. The story of Billabong Marina is one such story. The June 1988 Railway Modeller published Andrew Knight’s plan for Yarmouth Quay. The 2' x 4' (610mm x 1.22m) layout was a U-shaped, end-to-end, OO scale British outline layout with 7½" (190.5mm) radius curves. I found the plan eighteen years later when I was culling the number of old magazines that I had. Something made me hold onto the issue instead of throwing it out. His idea was to run British Railways…

The annual Modelling the Railways of South Australia Convention always mounts a very impressive modelling display. These photos and accompanying text, submitted by Gavin Thrum, show some of the excellent models that were seen at the 2016 convention. The next Modelling the Railways of South Australia Convention is due to take place at the Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park SA, on Saturday, 2 September 2017 and will, no doubt, provide many more magnificent models for the viewing pleasure of the attendees.…

Black Diamond Models has added to their extensive range of r-t-r, made to order, HO scale models. Now available is a range of QR 1720 class diesel locomotives, the complete eight-car QR diesel tilt train and the three-car VR ‘Hitachi’ EMU. All items are available in all the colour schemes (and configurations to match) carried by the prototypes and the QR models can be ordered gauged for 12mm (3'6") or 16.5mm track. Black Diamond Models can also supply r-t-r, to order, the QR 2800 class locomotive, utilising the Far North Models body mounted on a Hollywood Foundries mechanism, gauged for either 12mm or 16.5mm track. It can be supplied finished in ‘Bronco’, ‘Eagle’, or the current Aurizon colour scheme. Gopher Models has released their…