Stawell 2014 Exhibition

July means two things to a south eastern Australian model railroader – really cold weather, and the Stawell model railway exhibition. This year my wife and I left the kids at the grandparents / friends and headed west towards the Grampians in western Victoria (Australia). On Saturday we spent the day catching up with church friends we hadnt seen in a while, and on Sunday it was time to explore the miniature world on offer at the exhibition.

One of the more interesting layouts I have seen in a while was the Black and White layout, a HO scale layout modelling the second world war, as it would appear in black and white photos. In keeping with the war theme there was a Stalag 13 POW camp, numerous bombed out buildings, track ripped up by bombs, even a meeting of Axis and Allied leaders.

The Stawell Exhibition is one of the best model railway exhibitions around due partly to the large space in which it takes place and partly because of the organising and exhibition efforts of the Grampians Model Railroads club members. Its always enjoyable attending the exhibition at Stawell and this year was no exception.

Most of the layouts exhibited this year I had never seen before and its always a breath of fresh air to attend an exhibition where most of the layouts have not been seen before. There was also a good mixture of scales and regions modelled.

For more information on the Stawell Model Railway Exhibition and the Grampians Model Railroaders, you can view their website at http://gmr.has.it/ .