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’s Obituary
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RIP George Sumner 4/10/1937 — 26/01/2018
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/
Obituaries for Bruce and Len
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!
Online Model Railway Clubs
Is this the future of Model Railway Clubs — an activity you do in seclusion and only interact with others on the Internet?
The General
The Australian Museum of Motion Pictures and Television (AMMPT) is organising a screening of the classic silent train film “The General” starring Buster Keaton at the Cygnet Theatre in Como on Monday 21st August. See the attached flyer for more information: DAVID BAILEY 2017 — THE GENERAL
Now on Facebook too
We’ve finally gotten around to creating a Facebook group for members (and friends) of the club to socialise online. You can find the new group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wamrc/
One of the first posts on that page is the latest plans for the upper level of the public layout. Head there to check it out and let us know what you think!
Model Train collection worth ‘millions’ donated to Ipswich museum
PHOTO: A Bockholt model of a JA Maffei Munchen 96 class freight locomotive. (ABC News: Alyssa Betts)
A secret collection of model trains that needed its own house in southern New South Wales and came with a staff bound by confidentiality agreements is being documented at the Workshops Rail Museum, west of Brisbane. Read the full story on ABC News.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016–12-28/model-train-collection-worth-‘millions’-donated-to/8151582
Merry Christmas!
Wishing all members and friends of the WAMRC a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!
The new public layout roster volunteering form is now on the whiteboard at the club. Please make sure you drop in to the club before mid-January and put your name down for your preferred dates. I’ve also added a second sheet where you can specify specific dates (or ranges of dates) where you know you will not be available.
How Fast Is That Train?
New member Pete Wright brought along his latest acquisition on Wednesday night to demonstrate to other members: an Accutrack II Speedometer from Sprog DCC. It’s quite a neat little self contained unit, battery powered and self supporting with a perspex ‘tunnel’ for the train to run through.
It supports multiple scales [US‑N (1:160), UK‑N (1:148), US-HO (1:87.1) and UK-OO (1:76.2)] and the speed display can be in miles-per-hour or kilometers-per-hour. The tunnel is quite wide and tall — big enough for double N‑gauge track, or a single HO line with double stack containers.
Speed sensing is done using infra-red sensors — an LED and diode at each end of the unit pick up the train as it traverses the tunnel by breaking the reflected beam off the white card on the far side of the tunnel. Some quick testing showed a little variation in repeated passes of a light loco through the tunnel at a constant speed — but this may have been due to variations in the speed of the loco itself.
Thanks Pete!
Matt & Kim to the Rescue
Be sure to watch Matt & Kim to the Rescue at 7pm on Channel 9 this coming Sunday night! The WAMRC and Railway Museum feature in this episode of the locally produced TV show where a family with 2 sons with special needs enjoy time away from their home while it gets a full makeover.
Special thanks to WAMRC members Roger Winfield and Don Finlayson for manning the model railway at short notice a few weeks ago when this episode was filmed.