Category Archives: Rail Heritage

Rail Heritage WA — 50th Anniversary

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Tomorrow night (Friday 13th February) Rail Heritage WA is holding a 50th Anniversary Meeting at the Rail Transport Museum — 8pm onwards. Hear from people who were Foundation Members — what were their ideas? Slides from the early years too! All welcome. Supper provided.

On Saturday 28th March, Rail Heritage WA is holding a social evening. Enjoy the opportunity to socialise with members, volunteers, interested people from kindred groups, etc. at this fully catered function being held at the Rail Transport Museum. For just $25 a head you have roast meats, salads and a choice of desserts, together with tea & coffee and a soft drink — this was most enjoyable when held for the ATHRA. Beginning at 5pm, with the meal served from 6pm, enjoy the surroundings and the company on the last evening of daylight saving for the summer. Friends and families welcome. Please book by Friday 20th March by either phoning Derek on 9361 3187 or by email to email hidden; JavaScript is required.

Later in the year Rail Heritage WA are also planning:

Changes to Museum and Model Railway opening times

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The Rail Transport Museum is changing its opening hours (and entrance prices) from the 3rd March 2009. From that date the museum will no longer open on public holidays (the last public holiday the museum and model railway are opening is Monday 2nd March), but will be opening on every Wednesday of the year. Unfortunately the model railway club has insufficient members to be able to open every Wednesday of the year, so we will continue to open on Sundays and Wednesdays during school holidays only.

So our new opening details (from 3rd March 2009) are:

  • Sundays: 1 — 5 pm
  • Wednesdays (school holidays only): 1 — 4 pm
  • Museum entrance fees: $7 adults, $6 seniors/pensioners, $3 children, $50 platform pass (annual pass for families)

Edmonton send their thanks

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We received a nice note from Ian Jenkins at the Edmonton Model Railroad Association (our sister club in Canada). They were so impressed with our donation of a copy of Rails Through the Bush earlier in the year that they built a special holder for it and mounted it on the wall of their clubrooms rather than simply file it away in their library!

In other news, Geoffrey Higham (Rail Heritage WA) tells me that Latest issue of the Westland journal is now available from the entry kiosk. Apparently if WAMRC members identify themselves appropriately (e.g. by wearing the club green shirt uniform), we can pick it up for $6 (same as Rail Heritage members) instead of the normal $7 cover price. Please make enquiries at the Rail Heritage kiosk if you are interested.

RailHeritage Newsletter

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The November issue of the RailHeritage WA newsletter is now available: 11–08-newsletter

An interesting point to note in the newsletter is that the museum is planning to change their opening hours next year to open on Sundays and Wednesdays (not just in school holidays), but not on public holidays. Contrary to what is stated in the newsletter (“The WAMRC will also be open on those days”), we are yet to formally discuss this at a general meeting of the club (it will be discussed at the general meeting on Wednesday 19th November). It was discussed at the last committee meeting and we struggled to see how we can achieve this given the small number of our members who are available to open the club on Wednesdays… we shall see!

RailFest this weekend

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It was full steam ahead last night down at the club trying to get ready for RailFest this Sunday. With the N‑Scalers only just back from the Albany Hobby Expo, and the Arid Australia boys still making their way back from Sydney, we are not as prepared as we normally are.

All members are requested to come along on Sunday for as long as they can — not just the one or two hours you have put your name down for on the public layout roster. It appears likely we could be short of people!

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The picture above is from the N‑Scale layout whilst on display at Albany. It shows the brilliant effect that can be achieved by using “Glass Coat” 2‑part epoxy resin for simulating water. The picture is of a cow drinking from the river (complete with reflection) viewed under the bridge on the new terminus station module constructed specially for this exhibition. On the rails above, a German beer train is being shunted by a steam engine.

I’ll post some more pictures from the exhibition soon.

Railfest 2008 — Sunday October 12th

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ARG’s 3107 (ex-L258)

The date for RailFest 2008 has been announced — Sunday 12th October. Mark it in your diaries. The image above was taken at RailFest 2004 and shows ARG’s loco number 3107 (ex-L258) — one of a number of locos visiting the museum on that day for RailFest. More pictures from past RailFests can be found in the gallery.

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In sad news, our condolences are passed on to long time past member Ray Cooper on the death of his wife Margaret after an extended illness.

Image: ARG’s 3107 (ex-L258) with another Alco at RailFest 2004 (Brian Seaton)

Hard Work — Soft Light

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3km bridge at Hotham Valley Railway following heavy rains at the end of May.

The Railway Museum will be exhibiting selected photographic prints by WA photographer Kevin Scott taken for the new book 48 months, 48 minutes — building the Perth to Mandurah railway. The exhibition will be on display Sunday afternoons from 29th June 2008 for a limited time only. This book, and others about the new line, is on sale at the museum. [Hard Work — Soft Light Photographic Exhibition Flyer]

The official opening of the photographic exhibition will be on Sunday 29th June at 3pm. Kevin Scott will be at the museum to open the exhibition and speak about this project — get your copy of the book signed by the photographer!

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AMRA have started sending the Branchline newsletter electronically to us, instead of by post, so I’ll upload them to this website from now on rather than printing them out: AMRA Branchline — June 2008. One advantage of getting it electronically is that all the pictures are in colour!

This edition contains the wrap up from the Model Railway Show as well as an interesting snippet about sound equipped DCC locos. The issue of excessive noise levels in the club rooms as a result of the constant throbbing of sound equipped diesel locos, or the chuffing of steamers, has come up on a couple of occasions in our club. AMRA have obviously had the same issue as their committee has decided that sound equipped locos may only be run (with the sound on) in their clubrooms for a 10 minute period following each hour (i.e. from ‘o’clock’ to ‘ten past’, one sixth of the time).

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Remember the devastating bushfires around Dwellingup at the beginning of 2007? Thousands of hectares of bush were burnt out, and the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway was severely affected as every one of their timber trestle bridges was destroyed — as well as many drainage culverts and thousands of wooden sleepers. Restoration and rebuilding of the railway is proceeding well, and I was delighted to discover progress is being documented and photographed on-line on the news pages on their web site.

A link to the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway has been added to the links page.

Image: The rebuilt 3km bridge on the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway after heavy rains at the beginning of June 2008 (from the HVTR web site).