Illawarra Model Railway Club

The Layout

Waterfall, 7mm layout, HO layout

The association was established in 1961. Modelling interests of the members include Australian, US, British and Japanese prototypes. The range of scales modelled is N, HO and 7mm.

Layout Description

Within the clubrooms there are 2 permanently setup layouts. One is 7mm and the other HO. Both layouts are DCC controlled by a single DDC system. Both layouts are freelance designs with the intention of allowing operational running of trains.

The 7mm layout is single level with 2 stations, 2 yards and a staging yard which allows for shunting of trains. The track is mainly hand laid track which was recovered from a large O gauge layout in Mt Pleasant, Wollongong.

The DCC HO layout is a multi-level layout which allows for through running of trains and also performing shunting movements. The layout is currently being extended on the lower level. The scenery on the layout is generic in nature.

The DCC system used by the club is NCE. The system was initially installed with the NCE radio system. The system has been upgraded to having WiFi connectivity to allow the driving of trains from mobile devices. The WiFi service is provided by a Raspberry Pi running JMRI.

On the ground level there is space for the current IMRA exhibition layout Waterfall to be permanently setup. This layout is a prototype layout based on the Waterfall station and yard on the southern boundary of the Sydney metropolitan rail network on the Illawarra / South Coast line. The layout is based on the track plans from the late 1950’s-60’s. All the structures on the layout are scratch built from plans and or photographs. When the layout is in the club rooms it is operated on DC, when at an exhibition it operates on DCC.

Current layout construction being undertaken by the club at present consists of an N gauge layout and also Free-Mo modules being built by various members. The Free-Mo modules are HO scale.

Site Information

Layout Owner:	Illawarra Model Railway Association
Address:	Fowlers Road, Koonawarra 2530
Phone contact:
Email contact:	info@imra.org.au
Layout details:	Name: Waterfall, 7mm layout, HO layout Scale: HO, N (under construction), O with DCC and DC Size: Dedicated building with mezzanine, 10 x 15m
Directions:	Refer to website for precise map location: http://imra.org.au/location.html
Special instructions:	Plenty off-street parking in community parking area. Wheel chairs unable to access mezzanine level. Bakery in adjacent shops.