The 29th annual Modelling the Railways of South Australia Convention will be held at the Medical Lecture Theatre and Tutorial Rooms of the Flinders Medical Centre on Saturday, 6th September 2025, using the same 200-seat lecture theatre that we had for 2024. Doors open at 8am for those attendees who wish to register early, look at the commercial stands, or to lodge models for display. Formal proceedings start at 9am and are timed to finish around 5pm. The hospital is a big place and if you happen to get lost, be sure to ask for directions to the “Medical Centre Lecture Theatres”, rather than the “Model Railway Convention”.
For anyone using the train, we suggest you stay outside the hospital and walk up-hill past the entire hospital to the southern end. Here you will find a drive going up between the Northern end of large car park building and the hospital, and at the top of the drive is a very short-term car park and our normal entrance. This way, you won’t get lost in the multitude of hospital corridors. The free car park area can be reached by driving nearly up to the top of the hill where there is a road going left between blocks of residential units. This road eventually enters the fourth floor of the Southern end of the large car park building.
Planning for the 2025 event will be subject to any Covid rules that are in place at the time. The committee is planning for the same alternatives as in the previous year. These include full use of the 200 seat lecture theatre, however should any restrictions be placed on the number of attendees allowed into the lecture theatre, those who register first will be given priority to attend the Convention, and if for any reason the Convention has to be cancelled, the notes will be sent out to everyone who has registered or who has asked for a copy of the notes. People who register to attend will have the choice of printed notes, a CD or both. If you cannot attend and want a set of printed notes, then these must be preordered during the Convention registration period. Please note that we have specifically asked that registration forms be lodged with us by 11 July 2025 so that we can work out how many sets of notes to print. Later registrations will be accepted up to 22nd August 2025 for a slightly higher fee.
The convention area can be reached from the southern end of the hospital through the same ground level entrance we have used for a number of years. Convention signposts will show the way from this entrance door to where we meet. A large multi-story car park is situated at the southern end of the hospital and we are again negotiating to have free car parking available on the 4th floor of this building. Included in the Convention fee are morning and afternoon teas, and a hot lunch. Approximately 200 pages of Convention notes will also be provided, containing a number of colour photos and plans relating to the topics being presented. Only the current years hard copy notes and/or CD can be ordered on this year’s registration form, but some previous years’ hard copy notes and all of our CDs will be available for sale at the Convention. The remaining hard copy notes that we still have for 2011 to 2016 are currently being sold at a discount – three years if we have them for $65 (Including postage). Prices for the most recent hard copy notes and discs will be included on this year’s registration form that can be downloaded from this web site from around the middle of June. The forms are located under the “Registration Form” heading. The registration forms will also be sent to everyone who has attended the last few Conventions.
The program for 2025 will include the following presentations:-
Modelling Adelaide Station by Gavin Thrum
Gavin is particularly well known amongst South Australian Modellers for the various layouts he has built over the years. All of his layouts that have been displayed at the annual “Adelaide Model Railway Exhibition” have won awards. Gavin’s permanent layout comprises models of several stations between Adelaide and the Victorian border. Last year he spoke about his Mt Lofty Station. This year his presentation will be about his model of the Adelaide Station including how to fit part of Mr. Webbs 1920s station building into his home layout.
The 3000 Class Railcars by Wayne Hoskin
This year we are continuing on our series of presentations on railcars. Our notes cover virtually all types of railcars that have regularly operated in South Australia and these notes include detailed plans and photos of each type of railcar. The 3000 class railcars are the current operating class of railcar in the Adelaide Suburban Network along with the 4000 class which operate on the electrified sections of the network.
Wayne is well versed with the 3000 class railcars having worked in the Railcar Depot for a number of years.
Mitcham to Belair Railway by Ross Hurley.
Ross has given a number of talks each year during History Month on the history of the train line between Mitcham and Belair. We have already published plans of Mitcham, Blackwood and Belair station buildings which would help modelling this section of the line. Ross has found a number of other structures, buildings and sidings which would indeed add to the general variety and interest for anyone basing a model railway on this part of the main line to the South East and beyond.
Narrow Gauge Brake Vans by Hugh Williams
The written paper for this presentation includes some great plans drawn by Henry Pattenden of most types of SAR narrow gauge brake van, as well as a complete list of every SAR narrow gauge van and photos of each type of van. Plenty of photos, mostly in colour, will feature in a PowerPoint presentation.
West Croydon Station by James Gauci.
James built a display layout based on the West Croydon Station which is situated on the Port Line. Not only has James had to research the Station Building, but also all of the houses facing the station at Croydon. James will describe the trials and tribulations of researching the whole area, and as a bonus, part of his layout will be on display at the Convention. The layout has won a number of commendations and has been featured on television. Plans of the West Croydon Station will be included in the notes.
Modelling the Pichi Richi Railway by Rodney Barrington
Rodney’s presentations are always very detailed and having published a book on the Pichi Richi Railway last year, we can expect the same again for this year’s presentation. Rodney has assembled a number of plans of buildings and structures now used by the railway and some of these will be published in our notes which will be of great assistance to anyone wishing to make models. The Pichi Richi Railway really preserves the last vestiges of narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock which were once so prevalent all around South Australia.
Modelling Cool Cars and four wheel wagons by Don Bishop
Don gives us some detailed instructions on building a few of the common four wheel broad gauge freight wagons as well as assembling or converting kits that are currently available to models of the local prototype.
Other information
There are one or two other short articles to be printed in our notes, these depending on the page count of the scheduled presentations
Two further articles in the series on early SAR steam locos will be printed, this time they are both about the SAR M classes including five 0-4-2 tank locos purchased from New Zealand and twenty second M class 2-4-2 tank locos purchased from the Victorian Railways.
As in previous years, a number of commercial stands will be at the Convention. John Gordon looks after this area of our activities. He can be contacted on [email protected] or via the Convention email site.
Note that we have two other email addresses. [email protected] for all general enquiries including requests for information and [email protected] for this years electronic registrations and registration enquiries.
We no longer use the Parkholme post office box, but the postal address for hard copy registration forms this year is 16 Sargent Parade, Belleview Heights SA 5050
Attendees are encouraged to bring along any models of their handiwork, especially models built using previous Convention notes.