Aus7 member Bruce Wood (left) receives the C38 he won in the membership promotion last year from John Della, proprietor of PSM at the Oct 31 Forum. Everyone was very happy to see Bruce receive the prize and he had a big smile on his face all day. Well done Bruce and thankyou to John for the donation of the prize.
I’ve just added a new page to the site which is the spot for the Aus7 Information sheets I spoke about on Saturday at the Forum. You can find the pdf for sheet #1 on Couplers and Buffers by following the link.
I’ve just posted some new photos sent to me by Bruce Wood in our Gallery section. Go take a look.
To launch their new model railway retail space ModelOKits are inviting everyone to their new showroom opening to help launch the site and help raise funds to send Arakoola to the UK:
Date: Saturday 5th September 2015
Time at: 10am to 4pm.
Location: Unit 4 61/71 Rookwood Rd Yagoona NSW
In addition to the launch of the showroom, where the full range of ModelOKits will be available for sale, there will also be the following exciting events:
Entrance will the purchase of a $20 ticket in the Arakoola to Guildex 2016 Garratt Raffle.
Please contact Glenn Scott at sales@modelokits.com or on 0404935663
Venue: North Sydney Leagues Club, Saturday the 31st of Oct 2015, 12.45 pm
Note: If members have an item they wish to add to the agenda please contact the Secrtary at least 2 weeks prior to the AGM. Any financial member of the Aus7 Modellers Group is entitled to vote at the meeting. Proxy voting will be allowed. Any member wishing to vote by proxy should contact the Secretary.
John Parker has just posted a video of the highlights of the Aus Modellers Group Brisbane Forum held on the Saturday the 11th of July, 2015. You can find it in the Videos section of the blog under Aus7 Events. Or just follow this link.
Come along to the next Aus7 Modellers Group Forum!
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? 
Long time Aus7 member Bruce Wood (left) was the lucky winner of the Precision Scale NSWR C38, drawn at the Aus7 Forum on Saturday the 21st of March, 2015. While the locomotive is yet to be released, Bruce was presented with a certificate from Precision Scale by Aus7 7 President Trevor Hodges which can be redeemed for the loco when it is finally released.
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
Aus7 Modellers Group 