
FYI and reading pleasure, a whole heap of new links have been added to the Links Page. Lots of great resources and information there!
Where did these new links come from? I’m glad you asked.
Continue readingFYI and reading pleasure, a whole heap of new links have been added to the Links Page. Lots of great resources and information there!
Where did these new links come from? I’m glad you asked.
Continue readingThe current situation with Coronavirus/COVID-19 has placed the club in a difficult position.
We have suspended all club meetings, social activities and get togethers for the time being.
As such, we are currently unable to commit to opening to the public when the museum is open.
On behalf of the club I apologise for the inconvenience, but trust you understand that the health and safety of our members is paramount.
I’d never seen this fantastic sketch of WA railways before when it popped up in a group on Facebook (“Railage Sketch and Freight Diagram of Western Australia”, 3rd Edition, 1922, H.E.C. Robinson Ltd.).
It’s not a map as such, more a schematic sketch of the railway routes, but importantly shows the name of every ‘station’ in the state at the time and mileage to Perth (or other centre). It’s a great resource for the club as we use WA station names on our main HO layout — deliberately picking one station starting with every letter of the alphabet to end up with 26 locations on the layout. (We had to stretch the rule about with ‘X’ — no stations in WA start with ‘X’! Instead we used the WA town name ‘Xantippe’ which was never served by the railways.)
This is another example from the wonderful free online resource that is Trove from the National Library of Australia: https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/26359059
That image above is quite low resolution — good enough to make out most of the names. The full, high-resolution version is a whopping 576 Mbyte image available from Trove (see link above) which is quite difficult to download or view even with a fast computer and good internet link. I have created a high resolution PDF version which is a much more manageable 13.2 Mbytes: nla.obj-233482959.pdf
RailFest is on again as usual on the last Sunday of the October school holidays. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Railway Museum so promises to be a big one!
A special fair is being held by Vintage Services in conjunction with the W.A. Doll and Toy Group at Cannington Exhibition Centre on Sunday 4th August 2019.
There is a booking from someone disposing of an extensive collection of N Gauge model trains that she is taking to the Fair, so it may of some interest to railway modellers.
If anyone is looking to sell some stuff themselves, they can apply directly to the fair using this form: https://wamrc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-Antique-Fair-Form-4-AUGUST-2019.pdf
As discussed at the last general meeting, a wonderful piece remembering early members of the club, Sid & Yvette Harvey, has been written by life member Don Finlayson — thanks Don!
By a terrific stroke of coincidence, a few months ago a member of the public gave us the above newspaper clipping above from May 1963 which is directly relevant to the story. Head over to the Harveys’ page to read all about it.
George’s funeral was very well attended last Friday and Don Finlayson has written a lovely obituary for George. It is now available on George’s Memorial Page.
George Sumner in 2011 when he was awarded his life membership certificate by Tony Gray.
Paul Webb phoned me yesterday to let me know the sad news that George Sumner passed away in hospital on Friday night (26th January 2018).
George was one of the longest continuous members of the club having joined in 1983 . He was awarded life membership in 2011: Life membership for George Sumner
Update (2nd Feb): George’s funeral will be held next Friday (9th Feb) at 10am at Bowra & O’Dea Cannington (corner of George St West and Albany Hwy): https://bowraodea.com.au/notice/29217/
Don Finlayson has supplied a couple of obituaries for Bruce Norton and Len Hughes who both passed away earlier this year. These have now been added to the club’s Memoriam page.
Thanks Don!
Is this the future of Model Railway Clubs — an activity you do in seclusion and only interact with others on the Internet?