Sunshine Coast 2025 Model Train Expo

[Grover65k]

Preparation​

The past weekend has now become a tad blurry, but I will endeavour to present a true picture to your GScaleCentral lordships & ladyships!

In line with the discussion re pantechnicons, I hired a Toyota Hi-Ace van to transport the necessaries up to the Caloundra Church of Christ at Dicky Beach. It’s a bit of a tourist area – possibly similar to UK beaches – golden sands, sunny weather, warm ocean, sun-worshipping beach goers…

The first minute will give you the general idea


Where was I?

Oh yes, I delivered 24 large plastic boxes plus accessories to the main church hall on Wednesday. Thursday was a washout as the band and choir needed the stage for choral practice. Friday was panic stations – putting together 50+ metres of track with the yard, the electric isolation sections, 3 full loops, a Christmas circle on a table, buildings, trestle-track and ore trucks, and various other display features. Once the track was down, onto the locos and consists. Then testing (although I didn’t do enough of that – more later). At least I had the assistance of my brother-in-law for half the day, and help from above as all of the live rail track powered up without problems or glitches.

Next stop… Saturday!

 

[Grover65k]

The Day​

Early morning start… only to find parking spots already in high demand. S’funny how the 2 spare hours before the Expo starts at 9am just disappear into thin air! People come streaming in… a continuous flow of comments, amongst which are a few along the lines of “I wish I had room for that”. My response being “You have a backyard or garden?”.

Later in the morning comes an un-looked for kindness. A gentleman comes over and admires the setup then proffers me a free book from his railway book stall. “Garden Railways” by R.E. Tustin, published in London in 1949. Looking through it this week has been fascinating to see the effort he made to run an “O” scale railway in an English garden! And it operated during WW2 as well! Very inspirational and humbling to think I have it so much easier in garden railroading with LGB equipment.

On to lunch – a quick sandwich & coffee. Now the children are more evident, so the kiddie-wink train is rolled out with 2 gondolas loaded with stuffed toys. After the usual backwards/forwards/backwards fun – where I make out the little Stainz loco has a mind of its own – the loaded toys are given away, and the train retired until the next audience arrives.

Late afternoon highlights a small problem in the display. I didn’t realise that the low pile carpet on the stage is somewhat slippery and the circulating trains are causing the track to slide sideways and outwards on the curves. I’m depending on just the standard LGB fishplates to provide mechanical and electrical connectivity (rail clamps would have taken a week to install and tear-down!). And yes, on the main line there was a sudden cessation of movement – the track had sprung apart. A quick callout to the track repair gang (me) and live action returns. Later, the small 4-wheelers suffer a series of derailments as the moving track decreases the passing clearance for the two small passenger & freight runs. Oh dear! More leaping onto the stage to resurrect and reinstate the running of the train & carriages. This time the audience is suitably amused when I wave a few elephants from the circus diorama at them, and explain the accident as “elephants on the track!”.

Finally, we have the all-clear to begin packing up as the attendee numbers dwindle. The last soft toys go to worthy recipients, but the indomitable Stainz was still choofing around the circuit to the very end. Instead of just me to face the dire job of dis-assembly and packing, an army of older gentlemen sweep into action and the carriages, track and accessories are spirited to their boxes and carry cases in an hour and half – as against the entire day I took to set them up!

 

[Grover65k]

Aftermath​

I am aware that all of this may be nothing new to you experienced gentlemen who have exhibited many and varied layouts, but this was my first run at attempting a display! And I forget to mention that there was a rear-end hiccup at one point because the pointsman in the yard (also me) didn’t notice that his points were incorrectly set.

The trip back to Brisbane? The van was full to the gunwales!




The operator in his “Casey Jones” look-a-like cap? He’s spent the last week recovering.

Cheers,
Grover

PS: Milo wanted to help round up the visiting public but wasn’t allowed in church.

 

[Grover65k]

Videos​

As yet I have not mastered the embedding of videos, I have used my previous YouTube channel (aka "Arthur Oneshed") who has been trying to breed Giant SE-Asian Gouramis in a 9m x 5m ex-swimming pool. Not exactly train videos, but they may be worth a look for budding zoologists.

Arthur Oneshed (Tony)

Dedicated to the Giant Pink Gouramis in the "Billabong" QLDAF: https://tinyurl.com/y2ah9skb INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/giantpinkgourami/ FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/grover65k

www.youtube.com

These are the train videos:

G-Scale Expo - Large scale trains on stage

G-Scale Expo - Pennsylvania F7-A

Best Regards, and thank you for your interest & support,

Tony (Grover)

PPS: To the moderators... if I have trangressed in anyway with posts pls advise - my apologies in advance!

 

[Northsider]

A huge endeavour for one person! I have exhibited, but only as part of a team who all play their part (in fact the others do more, 'cos I just turn up on the day, whereas they set up the day before...). It's a great thing to have achieved all that single-handedly -no wonder the week after has been a bit quiet!

And now the questioning starts: "Will you be there again next year?"

 

[grizzmo]

Well done Tony, great job setting up and running by your self. Great to see people up real close to the edge. Bet you were grateful for the helpers packing up.

 

[dunnyrail]

I used to frequently exhibit LGB with my pal from Swindon, was always a lot of work but good fun. Real problem was at the end deciding who's track was who’s! In the end I decided to put red dots on the underside of all my track thus resolving the problem next time out. Certainly an endeavor tricky to be considered on ones own, plus G scale does take up a lot of van as can be seen. Glad it all went well for you Tony, here is to the next one.

 

[Grover65k]

Thank you @Northsider! It all came together because I’d been reading hints & tips from this forum. Someone had mentioned making sure that the LGB hooks (in the couplers) were on both ends of a carriage to ensure a positive connection impervious to the effects of odd or uneven trackwork. It worked well, although I was glad at the end-of-day that I had two LGB PIKO “chopsticks” – 36039 Uncoupling Wands (& the information in the 2018 forum post ‘LGB Manual uncoupler’).



Will Grover be there next year? “Stay tuned for further developments”



Hi @grizzmo! I loved visiting Tassie! Stayed mostly around the Deloraine and Launceston areas visiting my niece on her mixed sheep/Highland cattle farm. Appreciate your comments – I’ll take credit for the planning but I was definitely helped by family and the church folk to pull it all together. And the track right on the edge was only used for the ‘sacrificial’ train (= the kiddie-wink train). The rationale being that if it plummeted to the floor due to small fingers or accidents then “so be it”! The small white Stainz seems to have a million miles on it based on slider wear and a grubby exterior – if it had leapt off the stage then a refresh project would have been instituted.



Cheers @dunnyrail … With your experience is that a volunteering offer to come to Oz for my next expo display? It was a lot of fun and the time just rolled past with lots of interested people. You tend to have an evangelical approach to the fun and worthiness of G scale railroading and I tried to put that happiness across to everyone I talked with. The Expo organizer was also very happy with my contribution to the show – so an all-round success was had!

Tony

 

[dunnyrail]

Thank you @Northsider! It all came together because I’d been reading hints & tips from this forum. Someone had mentioned making sure that the LGB hooks (in the couplers) were on both ends of a carriage to ensure a positive connection impervious to the effects of odd or uneven trackwork. It worked well, although I was glad at the end-of-day that I had two LGB PIKO “chopsticks” – 36039 Uncoupling Wands (& the information in the 2018 forum post ‘LGB Manual uncoupler’).

View attachment 347622

Will Grover be there next year? “Stay tuned for further developments”



Hi @grizzmo! I loved visiting Tassie! Stayed mostly around the Deloraine and Launceston areas visiting my niece on her mixed sheep/Highland cattle farm. Appreciate your comments – I’ll take credit for the planning but I was definitely helped by family and the church folk to pull it all together. And the track right on the edge was only used for the ‘sacrificial’ train (= the kiddie-wink train). The rationale being that if it plummeted to the floor due to small fingers or accidents then “so be it”! The small white Stainz seems to have a million miles on it based on slider wear and a grubby exterior – if it had leapt off the stage then a refresh project would have been instituted.



Cheers @dunnyrail … With your experience is that a volunteering offer to come to Oz for my next expo display? It was a lot of fun and the time just rolled past with lots of interested people. You tend to have an evangelical approach to the fun and worthiness of G scale railroading and I tried to put that happiness across to everyone I talked with. The Expo organizer was also very happy with my contribution to the show – so an all-round success was had!

Tony

Happy to if you pay for the boat trip, thought of flying all that way horrifies me now though I did do it in 1987.

 

[dutchelm]

I was doing a show & a friend helped me carry in my boxes. When I had finished unloading I had far too many boxes. I asked my friend where all the boxes had come from & he said the back of my car. Looking out at the car park there were 3 grey cars with boots open. Whoops.

 

[Grover65k]

Postscript​

As I have bought far more track and train stock than was needed for the Expo the problem of what to do with it arises.

The solution is at hand (or at least just over the state border). My brother in Northern NSW has a 5yro grandson who is mad-keen on Thomas the Tank engine. So, I have put together a double circle layout with an “X” crossing and two manual R1 switches. Completed by an LGB OHO locomotive (re-labelled with Dymo tape to Hudson’s nickname – “Sunny”) and 3 wagons from the LGB Toy Train division with accessory car/truck/digger.

I’m delivering them this weekend and will take more photos. Hopefully my brother will become GOTY (Grandfather Of The Year) in someone’s estimation!

 

[dunnyrail]

Sure the little one will love it, new enthusiast in the making. Perhaps dad will get hooked as well?

 

[Grover65k]

PPS Post Scriptum​

My brother was suitably impressed with the LGB delivery. His wife less so – until I explained the benefits of grandfather/grandson interactions that would occur outside on the garden lawn. The cuteness factor was heavily emphasised and the financial outlay glossed over somewhat.



In terms of on-the-job training, Poppy (as he is known to the grand-children), had a crash course.

Unfortunately, this was a literal happening…



But it firmly cemented home the need for level track, and opened the possibility of a right-of-way to be established in the garden beds rather than on the lawn. No locos or rolling stock were harmed in this demonstration. The Special Commission of Inquiry into the 2025 Uralba Rail Accident decided that speed, dodgy track-laying, and an inexperienced operator were to blame.

Otherwise, it was a successful launch and hopefully Poppy’s daughter and her husband will welcome large scale into their home life for the sake of their 5yro train-mad son!

Video: Uralba RR Opening Day

Location: Northern Rivers area, NE NSW



First actual operating session...

Possibly the corner and points are cambered incorrectly?

 

[dunnyrail]

PPS Post Scriptum​

My brother was suitably impressed with the LGB delivery. His wife less so – until I explained the benefits of grandfather/grandson interactions that would occur outside on the garden lawn. The cuteness factor was heavily emphasised and the financial outlay glossed over somewhat.

View attachment 348058

In terms of on-the-job training, Poppy (as he is known to the grand-children), had a crash course.

Unfortunately, this was a literal happening…

View attachment 348059

But it firmly cemented home the need for level track, and opened the possibility of a right-of-way to be established in the garden beds rather than on the lawn. No locos or rolling stock were harmed in this demonstration. The Special Commission of Inquiry into the 2025 Uralba Rail Accident decided that speed, dodgy track-laying, and an inexperienced operator were to blame.

Otherwise, it was a successful launch and hopefully Poppy’s daughter and her husband will welcome large scale into their home life for the sake of their 5yro train-mad son!

Video: Uralba RR Opening Day

Location: Northern Rivers area, NE NSW

View attachment 348060

First actual operating session...

Possibly the corner and points are cambered incorrectly?

View attachment 348061

Running on grass needs a very well manicured lawn, can be done as in this vid.

 

[PhilP]

Looks like there might be the potential to extend the line.
What a fantastic view!

PhilP.

 

[playmofire]

Postscript​

As I have bought far more track and train stock than was needed for the Expo the problem of what to do with it arises.

The solution is at hand (or at least just over the state border). My brother in Northern NSW has a 5yro grandson who is mad-keen on Thomas the Tank engine. So, I have put together a double circle layout with an “X” crossing and two manual R1 switches. Completed by an LGB OHO locomotive (re-labelled with Dymo tape to Hudson’s nickname – “Sunny”) and 3 wagons from the LGB Toy Train division with accessory car/truck/digger.

I’m delivering them this weekend and will take more photos. Hopefully my brother will become GOTY (Grandfather Of The Year) in someone’s estimation!

View attachment 347897

View attachment 347898

That'sa nice layout with running and shunting possibilities and on the outer circle room for stations. With use of a simple isolater such as the old Playmobil one, you could park a second loco on the shorter siding.

 

[Grover65k]

That'sa nice layout with running and shunting possibilities and on the outer circle room for stations. With use of a simple isolater such as the old Playmobil one, you could park a second loco on the shorter siding.

Thank you @playmofire The idea behind the layout design was to get some action happening with the option to park operating machinery next to your open-cut mine or industrial zone! It can be stretched as I included some 120cm lengths in with all the curves. And yes, the isolater would be a good idea. I'd used very simple ones in the Expo layout. Just a yellow LGB isolating rail joiner on one rail (at the track connection) with an LGB Track Power Cable connector bridging the gap, then operated by small Rocker Switch (3-pin, SPDT, 10A) sited next to the controller.

​

 

[Grover65k]

Looks like there might be the potential to extend the line.
What a fantastic view!

PhilP.

Yes @PhilP , the lawn in front of the house stretches left & right about 20m. And the view? When you're not train-watching you can also do whale-watching (with binoculars!). Cheers!

 

[Northsider]

the financial outlay glossed over somewhat.​

Oh, I think we've all done that once...or twice...

 

[PhilP]

PhilP.