Broadmeadow Exhibition
One of my great enjoyments of a Friday evening is to turn off the alarm ready for a Saturday morning sleep in.
This routine was abandoned Friday night as I had to be up early for the Saturday morning train.
So for the sixth time in a row the alarm went off and after a shower and breakfast my beloved drove me to Hornsby to await the interurban train to Broadmeadow.
The indicator had shown our train as the next on platform 5, but confusion reigned when the Casino XPT turned up instead. With due respect to pensioners a train is a train and as they were about to board the train the loudspeaker roared into action and then explained that this was the Casino XPT, booked seats only.
It looked like there were plenty of seats on board, so quick as a flash we showed out gold passes to the attendent, explained we only wanted to go to Broadmeadow and were summonsed aboard.
We eventually arrived at Broadmeadow and then began the 20 minute walk out to the racecourse.
The show at the Broadmeadow Racecourse is a hobby show i.e. not just model trains. Many moons ago it was purely a model train exhibition, but the wheel must of fallen off some where and now we get a smorgasbord of hobbies.
I intended my first circuit of the area was to check out the model railway items first, then if time permitted check out the rest. Just inside the door I saw a pile of Austrains ELX's. I was using the reverse logic of a Victorian modeller, where I thought a splash of VR red wouldn't go astray and brighten up the sombre blacks and greys of NSW. Maybe they think the same and buy a few black wagons to break up the red? With a pile of these VR wagons so high, that John Eassie was able to hide behind, I thought no rush and I would get a pack on the way out.
Dropped in at the Gwydir Hobbies stand and purchased a nice looking palm tree for Bega Loco. At $34 I'm glad I don't need more than one. It seemed a feature of NSW loco depots to have a palm tree growing.
The great thing about these exhibitions is also the social side where you bump into people you know and then spend then next twenty minutes catching up news. Most of these talkfests seem to take place a the aisles narrowest point. Also known as a choke point and thats what I feel like doing to some inconsiderate morons as well.
I came across one table set out like a village and after looking for the train tracks and finding none, then worked out it was supposed to be all about war gaming. Well I reckon either the war hadn't started or they had called a truce and decided to go home. Nothing was happening. So I moved on.
After working my way around the hall I had found out that only one layout I hadn't seen before. It was Rix's Creek. Had some nice trains running.
Got round to Mr Joe Casula intending to get a PC3 station for Bodalla and found out they had run out of the kits. But Joe said there would be more available at Liverpool. As a consolation prize I purchased two new buffer stop kits. As Joe said if these new items sell well the the money can be ploughed back into new items. Go support guys.
The lunch queue was about forty minutes long so I decided to wait till I got back to the station to replenish the gut.
So with half an hour to go for the train back home, I went over and got a pack of VR ELX's and headed off for the station. An eight car train turned up at 4.45pm and after an uneventfull journey arrived back at Hornsby.
Tonight the ELX"s have already been weathered with Tamiya Khaki drab diluted down with alcohol (not beer) and they now look more respectable.
I probably will not go next year to Broadmeadow as I look upon this exhibition as a good social day out more than seeking new layouts to view.
Roll on the Liverpool exhibition.