Well my autocoach now has a screw coupling on one end. The end that will not and indeed cannot be coupled once all the super detailing has been added. It adds to the aesthetic of the model and given what the instructions say, it is good to have it mounted prior to adding the details under the coach. The screw link coupling was purchased at City Models in Perth. I certainly did not expect that on my holidays I would walk into a hobby shop that would have a stock of such an item on the shelf, but there you go. Nice shop though many wives including mine have requested a waiting couch to no avail. Imagine how many more purchases husbands would make if they were not being harassed by tired wives?
While in Perth we also visited Mayland Model Railways which has a new location just down the road but much bigger than previously apparently. While there I purchased what I suspect is a Ratio kit of a GWR toad brake van fully made up, painted and decaled. The only thing that makes it less than perfect is that someone had mounted knuckle couplers rather than any English/European style alternative. This is of course quickly remedied. Indeed as it is a brake van that theoretically is always on the end of the train, it will be a perfect spot to hang the other coupler from the opened pair of screw couplers that the autocoach has the other member of :-)
The other hobby shop we visited while in Perth that deserves a mention is Stanbridges which covers quite a range of hobbies including model trains. I did make a model trains purchase, FLEISCHMANN Locomotive Lubricating Oil I also made some Airfix plastic model purchases: the RAF Emergency set and the Aec Matador and 5.5" gun. Why these? Getting vehicles that fit a specific era can be quite tricky and these certainly satisfy the era I seem to be gravitating towards, even if Devon's Exe valley may not have seen a lot of military traffic. The Matadors were used for all sorts of things, ditto the Austin vehicles in the RAF emergency set.
In real train news, Australia is replete with old stations that have rolling stock parked on a length of track going nowhere. The town of Merredin has made a full museum around such a feature that is well worth a visit. I wonder what the future holds for some of these locations and the heritage stock they possess. Volunteer groups do seem to be trying to maintain them against the elements but it is a bit hard to draw custom to a static exhibit unless it has something extra to offer like at Merredin. Steamtown in Peterborough is also an awesome example of what can be done but it does own some working examples to add interest. The Pichi Richi Railway though is the full deal, an operational railway with working diesel and steam motive power and heritage rolling stock to match. Just make sure you don't go between November and March like we did as the volunteers are taking a well deserved break and the trains are not running and the workshop tours are on hold.
The holiday may go towards explaining the lack of posting in the last months. Another factor is that even had I considered posting, interweb connectivity and mobile phone coverage is hard to find along the drive to Perth from Canberra.
So without further ado, the photos of the things mentioned, or some of them at least:
