The Rail Heritage August newsletter is now available: Rail Heritage August Newsletter

Our good friends, the Albany Model Railway Association are once again holding the bi-annual Albany Hobby Expo in the Albany Centennial Hall Pavilion (Lockyer Avenue, Albany), on the 9^th and 10^th of October 2010 (the last weekend of the school holidays). Opening times are 10am to 5pm on the Saturday and 9am to 4pm on the Sunday. [These dates were originally going to clash with RailFest, but RailFest has now been postponed to 31^st October.]

For general enquires about the exhibition, please contact Peter Pocock on 0419 967 991 or Chris Winton on 9841 8136.

The Albany Hobby Expo is always an enjoyable, relaxed exhibition. Although the WAMRC has exhibited the past two times it has been held, this year we are unable to make it unfortunately.

Image: Cow reflected in a stream on the WAMRC N-Scale exhibition layout at the Albany Hobby Expo 2008

The August issue of the AMRA Branchline newsletter is now available:  August AMRA Branchline

With the explosion of electronics in use in Model Railways in recent years, the club is finding itself going through more and more dry cell batteries. Peter Tullis recently obtained a ‘Dry Cell Battery Recycling Container’ and has placed it in the library for anyone to use.

When replacing dead batteries, please put the old ones in the container rather than throw them in the bin. You can even bring them in from home as well! The types of batteries accepted include:

• AA and AAA cells (single use & rechargeable batteries)
• C and D sized batteries
• Button batteries (e.g. from watches)
• 9V batteries
• 6V batteries (e.g. lantern/torch batteries)

Any broken, damaged, leaking or corroded batteries should first be placed in a zip-lock bag (use one of the old mug bags).

Once the container is full, it will be returned to the recycling depot. From there, the batteries are sorted into single use and rechargeable types. Single use batteries are sent to NSW for recycling (by AusZinc), while the rechargeable types have to be sent overseas (France or Singapore) as Australia currently has no recycler for these battery types.

Lead acid batteries (both sealed rechargeable and vehicle batteries) cannot be placed in the container. These types of batteries should be disposed of at Household Hazardous Waste depot, or directly with a scrap metal dealer.

For more details, see the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council’s Household Battery Recycling page.

On 24^th June, I had the pleasure and privileged of tagging along on a site visit to Kentin Engineering in Malaga, to view two recently completed 12″ gauge miniature W-Class steam locomotives. The site visit was organised by the Mechanical Branch of the WA Division of Engineers Australia. Read more to see the photos I took and see a copy of the excellent presentation given that night.

Image: Miniature W-Class Steam Loco No. 961 in steam at Kentin Engineering

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a whole bunch of them – some video too! (Click on the slideshow to view the photos in more detail.)

These two locos (numbered 961 and 962 – following on from the WAGR W-Class numbering sequence of 901-960) have been built as 2:7 scale (12″ Gauge) miniature replicas of the WAGR W-Class steam locos. Although the original Beyer, Peacock and Company plans were used in their design, they are not exact scale replicas – the design brief calling for safety, efficiency and aesthetics as the primary design goals. As such, they are instantly recognisable as W-Class steam locos, but a discerning eye will note that the buffer plates and frames are thicker than they should be if it was truly to scale, the tender internals are completely different, and of course the cab arrangement is designed for driving by someone sitting in the tender, not standing on the footplate!

A fascinating presentation about the research, design, construction and testing engineering process was given on the evening by the principal project engineers Richard Stuart and David Naeser. A copy of the presentation is available here: W-Class Presentation. My thanks to the team for allowing me to reproduce the presentation here.

These two locos have apparently been commissioned by a local WA businessman. Although all of those present at the evening were very open and happy to answer any technical questions about the locos, they remained loyal to their client’s request for anonymity despite multiple queries!

Although the railway they will run on is not yet operational, the team is not resting on their laurels. They are now working on the design for a miniature replica of a South Australian Railways 400 Class articulated Garratt loco for the same client!

The June issue of the AMRA Branchline newsletter is now available: June AMRA Branchline

We have been given kind permission to reproduce some photos of models on Arid Australia taken during the Model Railway Exhibition by a visitor. Click on the image above to go directly to the new gallery.

Image: Passenger carriages speed past while a double-stacked container train waits in the loop on Arid Australia

The WAMRC will once again be helping the Arid Australia guys with their massive layout. See you there!

Courtesy of Peter Tullis, 11 pictures from the highly successful Rail Enthusiasts’ Day held on Sunday 2^nd May are now available in the gallery. Click on the image above to go directly to the slideshow.

Image: G-Gauge live steam

That time again – the next general meeting is in two weeks; usual time and place. Here is the formal notice: General Notice 19^th May 2010. Minutes from the March general meeting are available in the members’ area.

We are also now a couple of months away from the AGM in July. That means it is time to start thinking about nominations for committee positions! Here is this year’s nomination form: Nomination Form 2010 (paper copies are available in the clubrooms). Completed nomination forms must be received by the Secretary no later than Wednesday 30^th June.

Image: Grip Car 3 at the Wellington Cable Car Museum in New Zealand