Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i Australian Model Railway Magazine

Inspiration Inspiration is an often written about subject. Being inspired to take further steps in the hobby, in life as well, more often than not improves one’s approach and application to the task at hand. Inspiration can come in the most basic form as a single image that creates the desire to become involved, right through to the volumes of publications and videos that take you step by step through the hobby. There are times when inspiration is desperately sought, maybe unknowingly, for the zest for the hobby has waned and although the spark that will re-energise the interest is probably there to see, we often do not always look for it. Many of us use exhibitions, magazines, books and the web for that inspiration, and while all these sources…

While I make no claim to having been an ideal son, there were few instances where my mother had to put her foot down. I rarely got into trouble at school and, aside from being knocked out in a footy match or the occasional fight, it was rare for her or my father to be called into school. However when, as a seventeen year old, I announced I was considering purchasing a motorbike she said words to the effect that this would only happen ‘over her dead body’ and that was the end of the discussion. I’ve never really felt any great affinity with the Baby Boomer generation, in spite of the fact that I’m supposed to be a member of said generational club. My parents were both WWII veterans,…

Byways of Steam 31 , published By Eveleigh Press/SCR Publications, PO Box 345, Matraville 2036. Website: www. australianmodelrailways.com . Price: $50.00 (plus postage). Byways of Steam 31 continues the rich history of this fine series of books and arguably sets a new high-water mark. It is divided into two parts, the first being The Railways and Industries of the Lithgow Valley by Mark Langdon, noted author of such tomes as Conquering the Blue Mountains and Shale and Shays. The second part is the latest in Ray Love’s locomotive depot series: The Steam Locomotive Depots in NSW, No 23: Lithgow. In the great days of steam, and well into the modern era, Lithgow stood as one of the great railway towns of rural NSW, along…

Tony was not widely known in model railway circles, but, nevertheless, made a significant contribution to modelling the Victorian Railways in HO scale. I first met Tony in 1991, not long after I’d started Steam Era Models, and was looking for a pantograph operator to engrave the cavities for a VHGF grain hopper wagon I was developing. We quickly established an excellent working relationship and I found Tony to be a real craftsman who always did his utmost to capture every piece of detail that I included in the patterns or ‘pantographing aids’ that I produced for the various kit components, as well as ensuring that they were precisely registered. Over the years Tony also engraved cavities for the E car bogie, details for the E car, new side sills…

Modelling The 3'6" Gauge Railways Of Western Australia 1894-1987 in Sn3½ Scale – Volume 2 by Stuart Mackay. Published by the author and available direct from him by mail order. Email address: mackays@iinet. net.au . Price: $20.00 (plus P&P). I reviewed Volume 1 of this two-part work in AMRM 296 (October 2012), concluding with the words “I look forward very much to more of Stuart’s modelling some time in the future through Volume 2.” That time has now arrived and it was well worth the wait for Volume 2. I won’t repeat the extensive summary of the author’s methodology and thinking from the earlier review, but simply outline here how this useful little book is put together. Stuart Mackay is a top quality…

Whenever someone talks about this hobby of ours, the term ‘model trains’ invariably features quite frequently in the discussion. Over the years your scribe has used this term many times without ever giving it much thought. However, a couple of recent events have caused a re-think of how well ‘modelling trains’ accurately describes the activity which is the principal focus of our hobby. Thinking back over four decades of involvement in the hobby, the focus of much of the activity in that time has not actually been on the modelling of ‘trains’ at all; rather it has been on the modelling of the individual items of rolling stock or motive power, be they for the movement of passengers or freight, that go to make up ‘trains’. It has only been…

Four-plank D Wagon kit in HO by Peter Boorman’s Workshop, 187 Old Ipswich Rd, Riverview 4303. Ph: (07) 3282 3663. Website: www.peterboormansworkshop. com.au . Price: $95.00 for a two-pack. Prototype For the first seventy-five years of their existence, the NSWGR had a wagon fleet of which by far the largest component were the four-wheel open wagons designated ‘D’. At their peak numbers there were over 6200 of them and they were built, continuously, from 1858 to 1911. That lengthy construction period ensured that there were many, many varieties of D wagon –the only common factors were that they were all four-wheel open wagons and that the vast majority were constructed with timber bodies. The wheelbase varied from the very early 8'6" with a 15'0" body…

SCMRA ACTIVITIES For all activities contact Eastern Division representative Graham Windmill on 9626 0351. 25 November EMRCI Model Railway Market Day at Dence Park Epping, 10.00am–1.00 pm 10 December Family Christmas BBQ and visit to railway attraction. Western Districts Live Steam, Fairfield Showground. To be confirmed. Contact Graham Windmill 9626 0351 with numbers by 5 December. 13 January Open Day by SCMRA and EMRCI at Epping Creative Centre, 26 Stanley Rd, Epping. 10.00am to 4.00pm. Layout operation. Getting Started clinic at 11.00am. Free sausage sizzle lunch. Details from Trevor Moore 9876 3522. 10 February Running session at home of Tim Stewart, Berowra Heights. HO NSW layout based on Mudgee in operation. EXHIBITIONS MILANG – SA. November 25-26, 2017. Model Railway Show at Milang Institute, Coxe Street, Milang. Adults $10. 10.00-4.00pm…