News

LEDs have been around for over 40 years and some people are still afraid of them. LEDs come in many shapes and sizes and colours. The big advantage for us modellers is that they do not generate heat (no damage to the plastic shells) and are very forgiving of voltage variations. A 1.5 volt lamp … Read more

With advancement and availability of small parts suitable for model railways, some people like night running with lights on the locos and lights in rolling stock. Here is how I installed the interior lights – this one is an NSW SHG (Australian)- first with track power for the lights then updated with a Function Decoder … Read more

It is always best to have your track near your programming device (Command Station, SPROG, or Computer). For greater flexibility, the track should be part of the layout trackage. The reason for this is to minimise the handling of the finely detailed locos on your layout. To prevent a running loco from accidentally shorting the … Read more

For many years we have had the twin solenoid machines (Peco, Gem, Tenshodo), then along came the motor driven screw machines (Fulgarex, MannMade), then the stall motors (Switch Master, Tortoise, Cobalt). All this time other modellers have just been using a single unit to do all the motion and animation duties on their models, model … Read more

The move to the new location left me without some means of exhausting dangerous paint fumes (read Floquil) when using my airbrush. I considered allocating a corner of the adjoining garage but realising what dust could do to a freshly painted model if the automatic door was inadvertently opened led me back to the new … Read more

I switch all of the easily accessible turnouts on my Cedar Valley Short Lines with slide switches I have altered to my own design. They are robust, inexpensive, easy to construct, route power to the turnout frogs, look similar to prototype switch stands and have moveable targets which show which way the turnout is thrown. … Read more

Turnouts are the least understood of the items associated with model railways and to compound the problem upgrading to DCC has brought more misunderstanding.

Good day to all NMRA AR members. As you are aware I took over as President of the Australasia region (AR) on 1st, March 2022. The following information is a summation of activities of the NMRA AR for March, April, and May 2022. I’m not sure if other presidents have had reports issued directly to … Read more

On behalf of the NMRA Australasian Regional Committee (ARC) this email goes out to all of our NMRA AR members. It goes without saying that SE QLD and Northern NSW are being hit by a significant weather event, the likes of which we have not seen in a decade or more.  There will be many … Read more

Now that the dust has settled from the recent AGM, it is time I introduce myself to you the members. My name is Duncan Cabassi, I live in Brisbane, and I am the new President of the NMRA AR. Previous to this I have been the Division 1 Superintendent taking over from Martyn Jenkins in … Read more