A 1:1 scale of steam train 3801, coming out of the Maldon curves near Picton. How much fun would it be recreating a scene like this? Photo: Kane Knapp, Georges River Model Railway Club.
Model railways and their patient creators are rolling into Goulburn over the weekend with a fascinating hobby shared by millions of people around the world.
Cities everywhere have model railways. In Hamburg for example one of the biggest tourist attractions is a vast model layout occupying a multistorey building where 900 model trains and 12,000 wagons run every day.
Organiser Peter Tonks from the George’s River Model Railway Club, which is presenting this weekend’s Goulburn Model Expo, says while not as extensive as overseas, railway modelling is spreading out from just about every capital city in Australia.
“We have people in Sydney that have built beautiful layouts,” he said. “Ross Balderson has done Newcastle in the turn of the 18th-19th century and Central Station. Waterfall has been done by the Illawarra Model Railway Group, and that’s a beautiful replica when the steam age was coming into the diesel age.”
He says one of the best examples of a model railway is the Bathurst Rail Museum’s model railway, where professional modellers have built to scale the Tarana to Bathurst line which volunteers maintain and run the trains.
Peter said bringing 30 model sets to Goulburn would give people an opportunity to see what this marvellous hobby brings. “We are hoping to inspire young people to look at it and think, ‘I would like to do that.’”
Models need not be elaborate and expensive. Some models at the Goulburn Expo will be simple enough for parents to help their children to recreate. Some are small enough to put away underneath the bed.
But they are all a brilliant means of teaching their creators patience and skills.
“If they build their own layouts they have either got to have timber work or metal skills,” Peter said. “Some layouts are made out of aluminium tubing.”
Modellers’ artistry and perception skills come into play recreating from raw products a bridge or houses and scenery. They’re using spray painting airbrushes, small hammers for track pins holding down tracks, different types of pliers, and cutters to trim or cut, sandpaper, glues of varying strengths, silicone and acrylic paints.
You may need a little humility too, especially when recreating an actual location, because people familiar with the railway station may point out any inaccuracies, or a member of the train fraternity could spot an error on a model locomotive.
Glasson, a 7 mm scale fictional layout based on western NSW branch line operations. The layout is named after Lloyd Glasson, an avid and skilled O scale modeller and builder. Photo: Will James.
Guilford Model Railway Group will bring a model Goulburn railway station to the expo and Epping Model Railway Club will bring a model Binalong station.
Men and women get hooked on the hobby in multiple ways – coming from a railway background, or seeing what is actually possible to make. A retired engineer, Peter enjoys building structures, houses and frameworks on layouts.
“There are a lot of proprietary products that you can buy, but as I say to a lot of mums and dads who have a boy or girl who is very keen, just raid your pantry and have a look at the herbs and spices,” Peter said. “They can be used. You can use tissue, toilet paper; you don’t need to spend a lot of money to do the scenery work.
“I built a layout for a young lad and actually used teabag leaves because they were small, to act as a ballast and a lot of people didn’t pick it,” he said.
A train set can be as simple or as complicated as people like.
“For those who love a challenge, you can do digital commands so each of your locomotives has a small microchip in it and in some cases a sound card and speaker so you get real sound,” Peter said. “You can get the train to toot its horn, or in some cases with the steam it’ll sound like a steam train chugging along.”
The extent of someone’s modelling hobby can be determined by how deep their pockets are, or, if they’re married, how much their spouse is prepared to allow them to spend.
Serious hobbyists go to extra lengths building their own locomotives. But for others, the sky is the limit when it comes to the choice of American, Swiss, German and Japanese model trains that can enhance a layout, or be kept in pristine condition by collectors.
Goulburn Model Rail Export will be held on 7 and 8 September at the Goulburn Recreation Area, 47 Braidwood Road, Goulburn. Open Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and on Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm.
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