Had a great day today, combining some family time with a visit to the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition. This exhibition really seems to get bigger every year, and it is not possible to see everything thorougly, particularly with two children in tow. So I focused on the important retail stands. I didn't spend too long at any of the exhibits, but the Wallerawang and Binalong layouts looked good, as well as the Lego "outback Australia" layout - very clever and creative and popular with the kids.
The crowd grew quickly after 10am and many of the usual suspects were spotted. Exhibitions (and most railway enthusiast happenings) do sometimes feel like some sort of live "Embarassing Bodies" event with the higher than average concentration of ageing men in anoraks and desert boots who look and smell like they could do with a good wash. But it did strike me that, for the time I have been in this hobby and the size of the crowd there, how relatively few I know well.
The rtr models are generally getting better and better. I was persuaded by Oscar Deluca to buy some SDS BCW wagons, which I had previously felt were a bit outside my era. But he was right - they are probably the most accurate and detailed NSW prototype ready to run models we have had to date. Anyway, I want to run a 48 class eventually so a BCW or three won't be out of place.
With the glut of rtr models, it's hardly worth building kits anymore, but rather than regret this, I now feel that I can concentrate on being the Traffic and Way and Works Branches, rather than spend my modelling time being a rolling stock supplier. For the time poor, this is not such a bad thing.
I also picked up some SDS Tulloch 10,000 gal tank cars, some Austrain 1915 CVs and a twin pack of Austrains FOs. Even these are very impressive, ready fitted with internal carriage lighting. I had intended to pick up some of the Trainorama MRCs, but the "pinstriped" sides, representing the tongue-and-groove timber cladding, is overdone. A bit disappointing; it's probably otherwise a fine model.
For a bit of colour, here is a shot from the Wombat Road bridge at Demondrille, taken last week.
Happy modelling!
