The Australian Model railway Association of Victoria held their annual open day today and I promised to take the Grandchildren along. Little did I know that they would be at a birthday party in the morning and would come to me full of lollies and red soft drink!
Solution?
At least they were in seatbelts on the drive but clearly needed straight jackets and gags as well. I do love them dearly! Really!
The place was a lot weirder than a 40k or Cosplay convention with ancient ferroequinologists everywhere! I swear they had their hands on the controllers drooling and whispering “my precious” as we walked by.
Eric if you do not watch out, you will be turned to the dark side and this will be your future!
The clubs layouts were extremely impressive. As always I do not like the clean pristine look that is the product of most railway model enthusiasts but that was the only criticism I had on the outing.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
Great scene and lighting but look how clean it all is. My eight old Grandson was also keen to point out their were no passengers or drivers in the cars or the trains. “It looks like everyone is gone except from the stations” – remember this one Eric!
I took this pic as these silos are common in Australia and it was an easy model to make. Maybe for SofS Challenge next year!
A huge layout with geeks everywhere. I hate that smell of rail enthusiasts in the afternoon!
Typical early Australian homestead.
A great refinery oil distribution kit.
There was also a second hand stall but it had nothing I was interesting in as it was mostly rolling stock.
At this stage the rain was pouring down, but they children wanted to go outside to see and I quote “the big train”. This was your typical garden train set – not sure what gauge,
The eldest loved this because rain was pouring down over the trains and it looked “realistic” (listen to video later).
Tramway shooting by.
At last! Something about wargaming.
This was their favourite train because it made a huge sound as it chugged past and blew its whistle. More importantly it had a carriage with “yellow arches” advertising. Guess what I had to buy on their way back home!
At last a figure on a train.
Train speeding through the rain.
Grandson driving “Thomas” through the tunnels as “Percy” roars past.
I generally go away from these displays with at least one idea and this was no exception with the grain silo idea for a project.
Very nice! Hey, not to worry, I’ve always rooted for the dark side;)
Take note, even the one factory fresh diorama, a pre-WWII American Wildcat, still had panel lines of dirt! I think the concrete runway also had oil staining! LOL. Oh and as far as people go, remember the scale I’m running is 1:160! I’ll have to grab some pre-painted dudes! And I could see adding some critters around the layout, like little easter eggs.
I will be adding weathering to most every thing in this new layout – eventually (I think I already have graffiti decals stashed away somewhere).
Ooooh, a garden railroad – I think that would be fun to build, but it would have to be in retirement, as those are not easy to move and cost a freaking fortune!!
Yep I would love a garden layout as well. believe you me retirement dloesn’t mean you don’t move!
Impressive layouts and looks like a day of great fun!
Well he’s not wrong it did make it look more realistic!
A model railway (especially an outdoor one) is something I’ve always fancied building, the one thing that has always put me off though is that fact I have absolutely no interest in playing with it after it’s built.
I’m odd like that 😁. The layouts were lovely though.
Cheers Roger.
If you follow Chris and Pete’s lead you can use it for Garden Gaming! With cake! I know the cake can arrive on the train like one of those Sushi restaurants!
I know I am over tired and going silly. Good night!
Ferroequinologist! Excellent! That goes onto my list of words that the spellchecker red-lined, and I had to look up. The dictionary suggested proctologist as an alternative. No, just no! 🙂
Regards, Chris.
I’ve met some that need a loco where the sun don’t shine!
That looks like it was very enjoyable.
Cheers,
Pete.
Thanks Pete. It was a great day.