My wife and I attended the above clubs exhibition on Saturday and as a new HO modeller I was most impressed. I’ve posted a link here for their web site and I would be interested to here from US modellers of what they think of the clubs layouts.
Thanks for the opportunity to see what this group is achieving. There is some very nice work going on here (by the way for American railfans and modelers a reference to “North Shore” would normally be a reference to the heavy duty electric interurban and freight railroad that ran from Chicago to Milwaukee circa 1910 - 1960). I was particularly taken by the various bridges but then I am something of a nut for bridges anyway I guess. Do Australians use materials from Plastruct, Micro Engineering, and Central Valley as we do for bridges, or are there domestic sources of scratch building supplies and detail parts?
The interesting thing about Australian railroads is that the physical plant looks so familiar to Americans, as if the equipment was just being swapped out on one of our own layouts (the roundhouse on one of the layouts is an example). There are subtle differences of course and the trains themselves and some structures are distinctive to our eyes. Likewise the model railroading standards for layout construction, scenery, weathering, and track planning also look familiar to American eyes as well, making it easier for us to assess the level of achievement.
Dave Nelson
Hi Dave,
Yes we have access to most of the products you would use in the States, as well as our own as far as scenery and accessories go, ie bridges etc, with a lot of scratch building going on as well. I’m currently in the middle of researching a wooded tressle bridge that existed on one our outer suburban lines some years ago and that will be my focus for my new layout. And though some of the hardware may be unfamiliar to US eyes, much of it is locally produced versions of US equipment, more so in diesel traction. EMD’s and Alco’s the prime examples.
Ray[:D]