The 30th 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, 12th September 2026, using the same 200-seat lecture theatre that we had for last year. 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 with a lot of new building work taking place, especially around the former main entrance to the Hospital, so 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 2026 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 10 July 2026, especially if you require hard copy notes. Later registrations will be accepted up to 21nd August 2026 for a slightly higher Registration fee, but we cannot guarantee printed notes will be available.
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 sign posts 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 or will be located under the “Registration Form” heading. The registration details will also be sent to everyone who has attended the last few Conventions.
The program for 2026 will include the following presentations:-
Moving Livestock in the 1970s by Noel Potter
Noel held numerous positions within the various railways that operated in South Australia including Loco Power Roster Clerk (Who can forget the triple headed 900 class diesels that Noel rostered for their final fling on the Overland) and also holding the position of the Livestock Agent for AN being responsible for running all of the various livestock trains. It was during the 1970s period that live sheep and cattle movements were being made to Outer Harbor, so Noel is very well placed to talk about the logistics of moving the large number of livestock involved with each live shipment. Numerous trains also had to be rostered to attend the various livestock sales around the state, resulting in many large trains arriving at the Gepps Cross Abattoirs.
Adelaide, Wolseley and Baltanoola Railway – Part 3. Murray Bridge. 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 model of the Adelaide Railway Station. This year his presentation will be about his model of the Murray Bridge Station including the Station Building, the Refreshment Rooms and the station yard.
The Whyalla Steel Works by Peter Knife.
We have previously been given a very detailed paper on the Whyalla Railway line that ran to Iron Knob and Iron Baron, partly presented by Peter. This year, Peter is going to talk about the standard gauge railway that runs inside the Steelworks itself as distinct from the 3’ 6” railway that delivers the iron ore to Whyalla. Peter’s presentations are always highly researched and give an amazing amount of detail.
The NR Class Diesel by Frank Hussey.
Frank is the author of the 138-page book entitled “The NR Story” which deals with the history, the development, and the operations of the locomotive. During the course of its life, numerous liveries have been applied to different locos within the class and the book contains photos of virtually all of these. We expect that the paper presented by Frank will also show many of these liveries. Having been strongly involved in part of the development of the NR class, especially the cab layout, Frank is well placed to talk about this class of diesel. The AMRM have kindly allowed us to reuse a plan of an NR that appeared in that Magazine in April 2000. Ready to run models of this particular diesel can still be purchased.
3D Printing for Model Railways. by Paul Sutton
Paul runs his own 3D printing business in Victoria and over the years has produced a number of 3D models for model railway purposes. Paul has a website “pauls 3D prints” which advertises some very nice SAR models, as well as many interstate-based models. He will be talking about the different types of 3D printers available as well as about the software required to produce such models. Paul has produced a large number of models for Victorian enthusiasts, but also has an interesting collection of SAR models including the Brill 75 class car and Brill Trailer. Some of his models will be on display at the Convention.
Thirty years of Presentations by Rodney on all aspects of Railways and Model Railways by Rodney Barrington. This year marks the 30th Convention that we have held in South Australia on modelling things South Australian. Rodney has been on the Committee since the groups inception in 1996 and has presented a wide and varied number of well researched topics over the years. Rodney is going to remind us of some of these many topics noting that the papers themselves are still available in CD form. We note that many of the participants at the Convention these days were not participants in the 1990s, so we think that a review of past papers will be of more than passing interest.
Containers by John Looker
In order to keep abreast of some of our more modern freight movements, John is going to discuss the various containers that can be found on the railways at present, as well as dealing with some of the containers that could be commonly seen in the railways more recent history. Mineral sands, iron ore, copper and just about everything else except livestock are currently being transported in various types and sizes of container. Even livestock was transported in livestock containers if we go back a number of years.
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
A further article in the series on early SAR steam locos will be printed, this time it is about about the SAR H class 4-4-0 locos which found employment over much of the State including the Northern lines, the Victor Harbour line and last of all, on the Murry Mallee lines.
We have also booked a separate room for the after-Convention evening meal which this year will be held at the Marion Club, 262 Sturt Road, Marion.
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 the 2026 electronic registration forms that will be available from June and also for 2026 registration enquiries. We no longer use the Parholme 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.