Model Railroading > Some photos from the Sydney, Australia Train Show

This is a bit late but I finally got around to clearing my card and since I am in the mood to share, I thought I would. This event occurred first weekend of October 2009.

These photos were taken at the show in Sydney - aka; the Liverpool exhibition. I have attached an overall scene and afew little things that caught my eye. I do not recall the name of the layout or the club that produced the layout with the Garratts so I apologise. Maybe there is an Aussie on here who can jump in and give them credit.

The other scenes are from the Illawarra Model Railway Association layout. They have based their layout on the Walthers Bascule Bridge but modified it with a gauntlet track. I liked the little people scenes and some may recognise the Woodland Scenics sets while others are Prieser.

I flew across the country from the Northwest Pilbara region to see both the Train show and the Rugby League Grand Final. For me this is the perfect weekend and i have visited for the last 6 years and my team has been it in 4 times - winning it twice. Go Storm!!!

My humble apologies that I did not take photos of alot of other layout because there was some fantastic ones.

Rick



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/10 06:34 by rschonfelder.

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I liked the people scenes from the IMRA layout ....

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... and there was a funeral going on at the local church. Someone was hanging around.

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... and in case anyone was wondering ...

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The Garratts are pretty cool

It looks like there were some spectacular modular layouts. The double ended staging yards on one of them are awesome.

KG

Go Paramatta!!!

Amazing as it may seem, the final was shown live in the states.

I noticed the elaborate lighting of the modular layouts. Is this an Australian thing? I don't recall seeing this much lighting at train shows here in the mid-west.

Any new models being previewed at the show Rick?

santafedan Wrote:
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> I noticed the elaborate lighting of the modular
> layouts. Is this an Australian thing? I don't
> recall seeing this much lighting at train shows
> here in the mid-west.


Australia primarily follows the British concept of exhibiting layouts. Everything must be professionally done and lighting and backdrops are essential or they will not be invited into the show. I have long been a critic of how layouts are exhibited "up on top" - at least in North America - because I see fanastic layouts with nice scenery only to have you looking through/over the layout to see stuff stored under the layout beyond or someone's gut standing there.

Of course, I am placing Free-mo aside from this comment. Free-mo is a get together of guys to run trains with each other, however, it still would be nise to see backdrops there too. In that case, it is the guys running with each other and is not meant to be an exhibition for the public so I can see that. I wish we had that here too.

The exhibitions down here will generate large scale attendances when on public display. Of course, there will be the model industry there to promote their wares and even sell them. China has had a great influence on the development of the Australian Model RR scene as we can find lower production runs and much better quality than when I arrived in this country in 1989. Some of the tradeoffs we see here that will carry these products to market is that freight cars get sold in sets, higher prices per unit (with the retail cost of a lone freight car approaching AUD $60 for the more detailed ones) and of course limited runs so "if you snooze, you loose" - or - to modernise the term, "if you're away, its' eBAY!"

Rick

kgmontreal Wrote:
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> It looks like there were some spectacular modular
> layouts. The double ended staging yards on one of
> them are awesome.
>
> KG


Ken

That was a layout that I was impressed with too. It was HO so have another look at the photo and look at the trains on there to give you an idea of the size of that layout. Unfortunately, none of the public got to see what this club had inside their layout.

Rick

Hey after searching the net I found their site. here is the link.

http://www.nmra.org.au/Layout_Tours/Coffs%20Harbour/index.html

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Their main site..

http://www.freewebs.com/coffsrailwaymodellers/

> ...I have long been a critic of how layouts
> are exhibited "up on top" - at least in North
> America - because I see fanastic layouts with nice
> scenery only to have you looking through/over the
> layout to see stuff stored under the layout beyond
> or someone's gut standing there...

I would think one problem with the "roof" concept is that the operators are forced to run their trains from outside of the display to keep an eye on them. Sounds like more walking ...and bumping into public ...problems when operating.

thomas

Thomas Wrote:
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> I would think one problem with the "roof" concept
> is that the operators are forced to run their
> trains from outside of the display to keep an eye
> on them. Sounds like more walking ...and bumping
> into public ...problems when operating.
>

Actually, once you have a rope barrier between the operators and the public, meeting the public can be very enjoyable for all involved (assuming that everyone involved has taken the normal steps to good hygiene! =)

Having operators in front of the layout can also help to reduce any incidence of "sticky fingers" from unscrupulous attendees.

Cheers,
Harry

tracktime Wrote:
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> Actually, once you have a rope barrier between the
> operators and the public, meeting the public can
> be very enjoyable for all involved (assuming that
> everyone involved has taken the normal steps to
> good hygiene! =)
>
> Having operators in front of the layout can also
> help to reduce any incidence of "sticky fingers"
> from unscrupulous attendees.
>
> Cheers,
> Harry

Good points! Forgot about the people barriers.

thomas

tracktime Wrote:

> Having operators in front of the layout can also
> help to reduce any incidence of "sticky fingers"
> from unscrupulous attendees.
>
> Cheers,
> Harry


... and sometimes you get to interact with some yummie mummy's.

Rick