Australian Model Railway Magazine

Disappearing infrastructure and ‘One offs’ In 2022, Viterra in South Australia has been demolishing silo complexes that have been standing for decades. The consolidation of grain receival points has meant that smaller silo complexes have been closed in favour of high capacity super-efficient facilities, (see AMRM December 2020 issue 345, ‘A Location to Model - Bowmans’). Long Plains and Mallala have had their silos demolished in 2022. It's a good time to remind modellers not to become complacent, get out there and take photos of railway infrastructure before it disappears! One offs An emerging trend in the United Kingdom (UK) is model manufacturers producing models of experimental or ‘one off’ prototypes or prototypes that only had a small number of examples. In the UK market these types of models have proven to be…

The Annual Membership Fee for SCMRA is $66.00 from March to February and the Joining Fee is $20.00, which includes the membership data pack. Applications must be received by the first of the odd month to meet our mailing list deadlines. For applications received between the 2nd September and the 2nd January the Half Annual Fee is $33.00 plus the ($20.00) Joining Fee (does not include October issue of AMRM). All fees are GST Inclusive. Membership entitles you to participate in the activities of the Association, to receive AMRM and our regular newssheet Booster. Standards, Recommended Practices and Information Sheets covering model railway practice are included in the joining kit together with a vinyl ring binder and are also issued at regular intervals. For further details write to the Secretary or…

Sometime in the late 1970s, after I had moved from Sydney to Melbourne in January 1973, I visited Maryborough. Apart from the fascinating station building, I thought that the station would make a good exhibition layout. This was mainly because it was reasonably compact with the main sidings being adjacent to the station building, unlike, for example Castlemaine, where the yard was at one end of the passenger area. I had a pencil and paper on hand but regretfully not my camera. I drew the track plan but, not being very familiar with Victorian Railways, I did not know where one of the inbound tracks came from! Later I found out it was from Ararat and Avoca. In the 1980s I visited the Association of Rail Enthusiasts (ARE) shop when it…

Prototype: Victorian Railways Period: 1955 to 1962 Scale: HO Layout type: Exhibition layout, diorama style, loop to loop Layout size: two loop modules 2m × 2m, six modules 1.7m × 825mm, one module 1.7m × 980mm, overall 2m × 15.9m Rail height above floor: 1150mm Minimum radius: 650mm inner loops Baseboards: 25.4mm square aluminium tubing with Qubelok joiners. Base is 12mm ply then 30mm Styrofoam, Trackbed is 3mm ply. Track: Mostly code 83 Peco. All turnouts scratch built using Fast Tracks jigs Control: Digitrax DCC Buildings and structures: All scratch built except for a couple of Way and Works sheds Scenery: Styrofoam carved and sanded, covered with layers of brown paper soaked in PVA glue Locos and rolling stock: Varies as supplied by our club members Builder: Roger Lloyd and members of AMRA Victorian Branch plus a couple of non members as referred…

Roger moved from Sydney to Melbourne in late 1972. Before leaving Sydney, he had his childhood interest in trains rekindled by his brother-in-law who worked for the NSW Railways in their testing laboratory. Shortly after moving into his new house in Melbourne in late 1973, he had a small shed built in the back yard for a small layout and general work shed. After problems with insects and ants, he lost interest in this layout. It had been built far too low and the design was not satisfactory. A few years later in 1976, after visiting the model railway exhibition at Camberwell, he joined the Australian Model Railway Association's Victorian Branch (AMRA). Roger immediately started helping with the Club's permanent layout in the basement of their clubrooms in Glen Iris. He also…

I love my Lima 422. It looks close to the prototype and is a very durable model. The locomotive has a K&M mechanism. These mechanisms are, in my opinion, legendary in the Australian modelling scene. My mechanism had broken a few of the nylon gears and was impossible to repair as they are out of production and no spares are available. I decided to upgrade the chassis and running gear to a North Yard mechanism from AR Kits and this turned out to be a great idea as it now runs beautifully. The only problem is, and here is the crux of this article, the new chassis has no way of attaching to the shell of the model. The body shell just sits on the chassis. There are no locking tabs to…