Arakoola Heading To The UK in 2016

Posted by Trevor Hodges on March 24, 2015
Posted in: News. 2 Comments

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

7th Heaven Extras

Posted by John Parker on November 21, 2014
Posted in: News. Leave a comment

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 7th Heaven Extra is an addition to Building 6042 Part 2 which was published in 7th Heaven Issue No. 43. You will find it by ‘clicking’ on 7th Heaven Extras.

John Parker

821.2 Reasons

Posted by Trevor Hodges on October 19, 2014
Posted in: Commentary. Leave a comment

I Googled the distance I have to travel to get to the Forum next  Saturday and it turns out that it’s 821.2km from the Gold Coast airport to North Sydney Leagues Club. I suppose that the casual observer might question why the heck anyone would travel so far for a model train event? I used to drive from Warren in western NSW and from my home in Armidale before I moved out west. Both of these trips are well over six hours by road so just over an hour on a plane is pretty easy compared to that.

Now of course a cynic might sat that I’m the President of the Aus7 Modellers Group so I can hardly be considered an unbiased observer: I have to go to these things don’t I? Well the simple answer is no. While I held the Secretary’s position for 6 or 7 years I was voted in as President without even being present at the meeting where the vote occurred, so physical proximity has little to do with a rise to prominence in this organisation! 🙂 There is nothing that compels me or anyone else to attend the Forums, certainly not the unalloyed pleasure of attending the AGM each October.

So why do I go to the Forums? I speak for no one but myself in the following comments. No one needs me to speak for them, they speak volumes by simply turning up and having a great day.

Perhaps the simplest answer as to why I go is that I enjoy the company of the other people who attend. Of all the model railway events I attend I feel this one beats all the others hands down for its friendly and relaxed atmosphere. I know one of the reasons John Parker has been so reluctant to change the venue is due to the principle of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Barbara Streisand would never get a nose job in case it altered her singing voice: we don’t want to move from Norths just in case some vital ingredient is lost in the move. The French probably have a word to describe this ingredient but I’m buggered if I know what it is. Frisson?

I’m notorious for not actually listening to the talks at Forums. I always seem to find myself drinking coffee, swapping stories, shopping, asking questions of a trader or locked in some deep conversation with someone or other and never actually seem to get to the talks. Perhaps that’s what I like so much about the Forums: the ostensible reason we’re all there is to listen to people deliver learned talks on a wide variety of topics but you don’t actually have to sit and listen if you don’t want to. You’re not tied to one place or activity.

Perhaps one of the easiest things to overlook about the Forums is the simplicity of the format and how well this works. No single individual is responsible for this beautiful simplicity. it results from a gradual process of development over a decade of holding these events. As the original organiser of the Forums, Nick Sheridan is primarily responsible for the broad outline, however they have been incrementally evolving for years through several sets of hands. We are all the beneficiaries of this process of development with the organisation now in the able hands of our Vice President, John Parker.

However in spite of the fact that I hold an executive position in the Aus7 Moddellers Group, that the event is relaxed and friendly and that you aren’t forced to sit and listen to the talks if you don’t want to, this doesn’t seem quite enough to explain why I bother to go to most of the Forums. There must be something more, some bigger draw! I was thinking about this topic as I drove over to Lismore this afternoon, a trip of about half an hour. It struck me that perhaps the most compelling reason I go to these events is to be in the company of other people who share my passion about modelling. For just a few hours no one I speak to will have that slightly bemused and confused expression on their face as I talk about trains. Everyone else in the room gets it: and they get it in the same dialect, Aussie O-scale. I never come away from a Forum not feeling energized and ready to get back to the modelling bench.

If that’s not a good enough reason to travel 821.2km then I don’t know one that is. See you next Saturday.

PS It’s 861.2km from Tullamarine airport to North Sydney Leagues Club, only 40km more than from Coolangatta. Makes you think doesn’t it? 🙂