The boys responsible for Arakoola are taking the layout to Guildex in the UK next year. Such an undertaking is expensive and, to help out, they’ve set up a raffle to raise a bit of much needed cash. The prize is a fantastic ModelO Kits/DJH AD60 Garratt, the largest locomotive to run on Australian rails. Each ticket is $20 and, as there are only going to be 200 tickets sold, that’s pretty good odds. You can find out the details at the Arakoola blog Why not pitch in and support this great enterprise?

Some Exciting News

The Arakoola team would like to let Aus7 members be the first to hear something very special. We are taking the layout to the U.K.

For almost twelve months we have been having discussions with the executive of the Gauge O Guild about the possibility of exhibiting the layout at the annual Guildex exhibition in Telford in the U.K. and we have just been informed that their February Board meeting has invited us us to attend the sixtieth anniversary show in 2016.

Telford is regarded as the premier O scale event on the U.K. modelling calendar and attracts exhibitors and visitors from all over the U.K. and indeed the world so this will be a real opportunity to show them something quite different to the usual British, European and American prototype layouts they are familiar with.

This is a huge logistical and financial challenge for us. The shipping arrangements alone are complex and very expensive and preliminary arrangements have already been made. Each of us will be making a significant financial investment in the venture and we are grateful to the Guild also for some generous assistance. We will also be undertaking some fund raising activities starting as soon as they can be arranged. The first of these will be the raffle of a Model O Kits/DJH AD60 Garratt kit.

To let you know more about it we have set up a Blog at https://arakoola2telford2016.wordpress.com where you can see how this all came about, track our progress, leave comments, ask questions and maybe take part in some of the fund raising activities including how to go about purchasing raffle tickets. There will also be an article in the next issue of 7th Heaven.

Due to the need for some upgrade work on the layout we will be limiting our exhibition appearances this year, with Liverpool being the only possible. However we are planning an open day similar to the one we had in 2013 so keep checking the Blog for details.

Finally, we want to thank John Birch, our good friend and Aus7 member in the U.K. for his representations to the Guild on our behalf and his assistance with arrangements at that end and also Guild Overseas Representative John Drago for his encouragement when it all seemed too hard.

Paul

We had a small technical hitch with posting the material so if you go to the page now and look in 7th Heaven Extras tab you’ll find the content John was referring to.

A new tab has been added so that additional information related to 7th Heaven articles can be posted in a timely manner. The information will be complementary to the print copy of the magazine.
The first 7^th Heaven Extra is an addition to Building 6042 Part 2 which was published in 7^th Heaven Issue No. 43. You will find it by ‘clicking’ on 7^th Heaven Extras.

John Parker

A short video of the O Scale Modellers Forum held on Saturday October 25 2014 at the North Sydney Leagues Club has been added to the Aus7 Events section under the Videos tab.

I’ve just posted some new photos of Arakoola in the Gallery section and some new videos in “Videos”. Drop by the site and take a look.

Trevor