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Recent Events It is with great regret that the recent passing of one of our founding members, Bruce Norton (April2017) un-expectantly occurred. Bruce was 62 years of age and had just begun his retirement. Bruce will be greatly missed by our members and will always be remembered for his freely given help an all things to do with the hobby. Our members have decided to rename our "President's Clubman Trophy" to the "Bruce Norton Memorial Trophy", for the best club member for the year. The annual Australian Model Railway Exhibition (WA) was held over the recent June long weekend. Our club did not exhibit this year but several members made the journey, and a great time was had by those who attended. Layout Refurbishment Currently AMRA members are very busy refurbishing the rear layout, and a new (additional) radio control system is going to be added to the existing Lenz DCC system. N Scale Modules N Scale "T Track" Briefly, this system uses small "building blocks" all built to basic dimensions that enable many modules to be bolted together and form one very large layout. The modular approach is not a new idea, but what these folks are doing is keeping the price of the modules very low and very simple to build and encourage younger folk to "have a go", or like many, those people who think they do not have enough space for a model railway! This may be the answer to you actually having a small model railway, or at least a section(s) of a layout that can form a bigger display when connected to other Modeler's modules! The following link to the Australian "T Track" web page will give you a better idea of the concept. http://users.picknowl.com.au/~austnscale/austtrak.htm or the North American site below; HO Modules Building on the success of the "T" Track modules built by our dedicated N scale members and it was decided to adopt a similar approach and construct HO modules along similar lines.
The members embarked on a modular layout for exhibition purposes and to encourage any member to take part and build a pair (or more) of modules. The simple construction methods employed seem to have struck a cord with our members, six people put their hand up to build a pair. The basic building block is 600mm x 600mm or multiples thereof. However we decided that a 1200mm length is a better minimum standard. Although if the smaller modules are needed to make a bigger display fit together, then they would still be acceptable. The club members took to the idea with much enthusiasm and
there are more than enough modules to get a respectable size modular
railway set up. Standards for the modules like
the basic length, width, back scene height and colour, electrical wiring
and connections and track work were established. Also the method
of train control will be DCC based with three (separate) bus wires,
one for each mainline and one for the yard. A central (semi-portable)
control panel equipped with Diode matrix control was built to enable
easier selection of trains from the yard modules. The Modular set up was displayed four times in Albany and twice in Perth. We had very few (and only minor) problems, set up and take down in under two hours for a 8.4m x 4.8m arrangement (18, 1.2m modules). I think the most difficult thing was to curb the enthusiasm of the members erecting the display!
HO Modules (Update) The club's HO exhibition modules have been sold to a past member, Scott McKenzie, in order to make way for a new modular system currently being designed by Rob Smart and Peter Pocock and Garry Lamb. It will not be as "ambitious" in size but still themed on a "Rural Australian Railway, set in late Spring".
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