Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Australian Model Railway Magazine

This layout concept centres on the Port Pirie locomotive depot and the standard gauge carriage shed, including the standard gauge repair sidings that lead into Mary Elie Street station and yards, and finally to the grain silos and lead ore dumper. The layout design has wide display boards, however if additional access is required, an operator access walkway can be created between the locomotive depot and the standard gauge repair sidings. Operationally, there is a lot of through traffic, from passenger services to shunt movements from yard to yard, passenger coaches in and out of the carriage sidings-shed, and of course shunting locomotives to and from the locomotive depot. Throw in a weighbridge and a coach wash road and there is a load of operational potential for this concept in…

Auscision Models – HO scale Announced the production of the following r-t-r models: Re-run of the VicRail N set coaches, in ‘Tea Cup’, V/Line MkI, II and III, and PTV ‘Violet’ liveries Sydney suburban Mercedes-Benz O305 bus MkII. Suburban Leyland Leopard bus MkI and MkII. NHBF ballast hopper wagon, in Public Transport Commission (PTC) of New South Wales, Rail Service Australia, RailCorp, Transport RailCorp and Transport for NSW liveries. New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) BCH coal hopper wagon and BWH grain hopper wagon. PTC K set suburban Electric Multiple Units (EMU). CityRail H set interurban EMU. Transport NSW A and B set ‘Waratah’ EMU. SQSY / SQSF / PQSF container wagon, and as applicable, matching coil steel 20ft and 40ft containers and coil steel loads (see AMRM issue No.…

2025 Brisbane Model Railway Exhibition Any fear of the hobby being dead was shot out the door at this exhibition. One young modeller (14 years old) came back to my layout several times. During our chats shunting trains he explained that he produced 3D printed four wheeled open wagons in r-t-r and kit form and sold the lot during the exhibition. He then fronted up to a local kit manufacture and purchased 27 kits. He went home after the exhibition closed on Saturday and completed the first kit (fully painted) and sent photos to the manufacture before going to bed. Additionally, seeing the location to model: The Summit article (AMRM issue 374, August 2025) just blew him out of the water. Many thanks for what you and the team are…

My journey to build a layout of Molong came about due to the decision to downsize from our home of many years and relocate to a smaller home in a gated community. My previous layout was a double deck HO scale 1950's era ‘Santa Fe’ layout based in New Mexico, United States of America (USA), and my large Santa Fe ‘Texas’ steam locomotives with 26 to 30-wagon freight trains would not fit into the space that I had available in the downsized location. The maximum space that I was allowed to build on our property was a 7m x 4m building. Therefore, I switched to modelling New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) where most of the equipment is smaller than North American prototype equivalents, and thus enabled me to use…

Between 1970 and 1982, Port Pirie was a very busy location, with almost all of the Trans Australian Railway and Central Australia Railway traffic originating from or destined for Adelaide, or points on the broad gauge to the east, trans-shipped through this location. All of the goods traffic needed to be transferred from one gauge to the other. Port Pirie boasted a two-track bogie exchange trans-shipment shed, transhipping platforms, goods sheds and three gantry cranes. Additionally, it featured three bunded fuel locations, livestock transfer and spelling locations, as well as substantial grain silos serviced by both gauges and a lead ore yard and dumpers servicing the BHP smelters. In 1970, the narrow gauge line from Port Pirie to Cockburn was superseded by a new standard gauge railway from Port Pirie…

Pool room size concept This plan is the ‘whole shebang,’ designed to fit in an average size ‘Pool room.’ Big as it is, the plan still needed to be ‘twisted’ to fit into a Pool room. The locomotive depot and the standard gauge carriage shed have been repositioned into the centre of the plan. The plan incorporates some very wide sections of railyard, and therefore has been designed to be accessed from both sides. Additionally, operational ‘balloons’ have been incorporated into the design to enable operators to pass each other or congregate. From the Three Chain Road overpass, most of the goods movements were shunt movements from the east yard, and thus were not complete goods train movements. Exceptions would be the lead ore movements and grain train movements to…

Introduction This article is a result of further modelling sessions at the Oatley Modellers Group. Post the tree making sessions described in my previous article (refer AMRM issue no. 373 August 2025), conversation within the Group turned to layout topography and the usual debate around various ways to form the landscape. Eventually the more challenging prospect of making rocks was discussed, and what methods people used to successfully model rock outcrops and surfaces. Although I have used many different methodologies for rock making over the years, I now prefer to ‘sculpt’ rock outcrops using a pre-mixed Spakfiller. This is the same material that I use for tree making, and indeed other scenic work, and it is readily available from any hardware store, and even the local supermarket. Apart from the…

Newcastle trams The trams and trailers were drawn from scaled plans and photographs, and then photo etched. The rooves were hand made from styrene then cast in urethane resin. After assembling and painting the model trams, they required a motorised mechanism. Steve Curry came to the rescue by dismantling an N scale ‘Badger Bits’ 48 class locomotive and heavily modifying the bogies. He removed one set of wheels, shortened the bogie frame, moved the crown gear in the gear tower and finally mounted the electric motor to a handmade support (this was just a few of his drastic alterations). The motor's bronze bushes also had to be ground back so the whole assembly could fit inside the tram body without shorting. It ran well, but with everything that I make…

Concept three is a ‘lite’ version of Mary Elie Street station. This plan includes all the trackage around Mary Elie Street station, the standard gauge yard, bogie exchange and one of the broad gauge good sheds. The fiddle yard has nine standard gauge roads, and two tracks on each gauge are provided for with crossovers to handle and shuffle shunt movements to and from the bogie exchange etc. The broad gauge passenger line is isolated and two tracks have been allocated for shuffling around coaches and return movements and locomotive storage. Operations include: All standard gauge and broad gauge passenger services. Broad gauge shunt services for the bogie exchange, goods shed and grain. Standard gauge shunt services for the bogie exchange, lead ore dumper and grain silos.…

Over the weekend of the 30th and 31st of August, the Georges River Model Railway Club staged their annual exhibition at Goulburn. Occupying both the Veolia Arena and the Ross Whittaker Stadium (located on Braidwood Road). There were a total of 70 exhibits across both halls, comprising of 34 trade stands – clinics. Hobby shops attended from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney as well as other locations. 36 layouts attended, ranging from O scale (7mm) to Z scale and T scale. The exhibition was very well patronised (the author noting a large line up for entry 90 minutes after opening time on Saturday!). The organisers should be congratulated for holding such a large exhibition in a rural area enabling a diverse demographic to be in attendance (i.e. being an easy…

Auscision Models – HO scale Have released the State Rail Authority of New South Wales (SRA of NSW) 81 class locomotive r-t-r DCC ready with 21 pin socket or DCC and sound. DCC sound equipped models will include a ESU LokSound V5 decoder, with power capacitors ‘Keep alive’ functions to prevent loss of current while operating on dirty track etc. Six different body versions and eight different liveries are available, optional detail parts are included, covering 11 different radio antenna configurations (the modeller will need to apply these to the model). Refer: https://www.auscisionmodels.com.au/81%20Class%20 Locomotive.htm Bergs Hobbies – HO scale Under their Minimodels brand have released the Goninan series two S set Electric Multiple Units (EMU) in two and four car packs as applicable. Refer: https://bergshobbies.com.au/products/17 DCM Models – N and…