IMRA's first major model railway

So, here is a bit of change of pace (and scale).

Moving from the 1:1 to the 1:87, I thought I would post a few sides taken around the Illawarra Model Railway Association's (IMRA's) first major model railway, located at the Wollongong Police Boys Club.

The IMRA club layout was a spaghetti plate of tracks, as was typical of the time.  Sharp curves, heinous inclines and action everywhere.  The layout was scenicked in a European/US style, also typical of the time.  And while as a kid I thought it was huge, it was all squeezed into a single, modest room at the Club.

The layout was a basic double loop (half was hidden under a mountain as staging).  An out & back dog leg formed the other part of the layout on the lower level, while a branchline left the main station and made its way up  and around the walls to a terminus.

Several of these shots were taken in the late 1960s, where we liked too over-expose photos.

Shortly before the Association moved out of the premises, Senior Rambler and I snuck down on quiet weekday night.  We loaded up the layout with our own rolling stock and fired off the following photos.

Here is an out of focus shot of the main station, showing the turntable at the end of the dog leg.  Aisle width was set at squeeeeeezzzzzzzzzy.

Here is a strangely pitched photo of the south end of the main station, with a brass pig about to pass a near new Lima 38 class on an epoxy CUB set.

For a short while we turned on the layout lights and killed the room lights.  How is this for atmospheric? Almost Cityrail standard. Certainly meets the Cityrail standard of having no trains.

Here's a semi-focussed shot of the loco depot in the dog leg.  No doubt the thrill of seeing a bashed up 58 class made the photographer shake.

The branchline was notable for a curved trestle bridge. The same epoxy CUB set has been dragged to the end of the line and is returning, using a Workshop 5 41 class (powered by an AHM mechanism).

A better-staged shot of the same bridge was made using a brass 50 class. 5173 was a long time inhabitant of the South Coast, so its sort of poetic.

And here is the terminus station, with a set of Freidmont FO cars waiting for the 50 class to stop being a show pony down on the bridge.  The left hand side of the photo shows the dog leg yard. 

Here is a sneak behind-the-scene peak under the hill.  Clearly no one had read the NRMA's standards for access when constructing the layout.  Its the 1970s so there has to be a new Lima 44 class in view somewhere.

While the layout was evicted, bits of it did live on in our garage before it made a triumphant return to the exhibition scene around 1979.  It was notable for being the heaviest exhibition layout ever. 

Back to the big scale and out of the 1970s in the next post.

Cheers,

Don