No 4811 shunts the Vacuum Oil siding at Morpeth, located in the Hunter Valley of NSW. The locomotive was scratch built by the author from styrene using an Atlas-O mechanism for power. As is the way with these things a kit of this class of locomotive is about to be released.

I imagine that the historical course of O gauge modelling in Australia during the 20th Century mirrors that of the UK. It seems to have been the scale of choice in the first half of the century, but then went into sharp decline after World War II with the arrival of the smaller scales that gave the impression that more layout could be had in a smaller space. In Australia the main usurper in this field was HO rather than OO. but the effect on O gauge was exactly the same as appears to have been the case in the UK. In Australia the scale essentially died out with virtually nonexistent trade support. Those left modelling in the scale were reduced to a small number of brave spirits who refused to change to a smaller scale just because everyone else was doing so.

The work of these modellers can still be seen and experienced in photographs that occasionally turn up in books and on websites, and through the reminiscences of men who were small boys during the 1950s and 60s and were lucky enough to see the work of these modellers at exhibitions and, even rarer, on a visit to someone's home layout. Almost universally, these experiences seem to have left a lasting impression on those who underwent them and they are often cited as the reason for a continuing involvement with O gauge. These artefacts and stories form a picture of a golden and almost certainly rose-tinted past, one that all but died out as times and tastes changed. Does any of this sound familiar?

Where this history diverges from that of the UK seems to be in the modelling of local prototypes. No one seems to think twice about this issue in the British magazines I've read over the years. However, Australia has always been a nation of immigrants and this has affected the hobby of railway modelling as much as it has all other walks of life here. All those British immigrants arriving after the war brought with them their interest in the hobby; they also brought their interest in UK railways. One interesting phenomenon seems to have been that O gauge modelling in those early years was a bastion of local Australian prototype modelling; however with the scale's demise, the modelling of local prototypes seems to gone into a bit of a decline as well. It took until the 1970s before we saw the emergence of growing numbers of HO modellers modelling their local prototypes. This was largely due to trade support that made local prototype modelling more accessible to an ever-increasing number of hobbyists.

I suppose the question that arises is: what is the condition of 7mm modelling in Australia today? The Australian model railway hobby has been subjected to the same forces and trends as those affecting it in the UK after World War II. The arrival of Scalextric cars, computer games, videos and DVDs have all impacted on the hobby, and for years I've heard modellers foretell the end of railway modelling as we know it. Up until 15 years ago, the modelling of local

Australian prototypes in 7mm or O scale was essentially confined to a very small number of people, mostly working in coarse scale and essentially scratchbuilding everything. Today it's possible to say that the landscape has been dramatically transformed.

Exactly who is modelling what and in which Australian state is all a bit complicated, and providing too much detail is beyond the scope of this article; however, an ever-increasing number of retailers are selling 'O scale' items (both 7mm and ¼in), so the market must be growing because someone is out there buying these products. Just 10 years ago you could scarcely find a single item in either of these scales on the shelves of your average hobby shop, but today they are increasingly available. My instincts tell me that Bachmann's range of On30 products has been partly responsible for this change. In spite of this growing trade and retail support, the historical development of the prototype railways on Australia's eastern seaboard, with three gauges in three states, has adversely affected the adoption of the scale over the last decade. Queensland's railways are built to 3ft 6in gauge and modellers in this state use ¼in scale items running on S gauge track. The NSW prototype was built to 4ft 8½in gauge and here we model in 7mm on 32mm gauge track (there are modellers using S7 standards with its consequent difference in gauge). Finally, Victoria's railways were built to 5ft 3in gauge and the modellers in this state use ¼in scale

operating on 32mm gauge, more closely to match the prototype gauge. And modellers in the UK think they've got a profusion of prototypes, scales and gauges! When I'm asked how such a confusing situation developed, I just blame the English and Irish chief civil engineers working in the different states during the 19th century. These men, all ex-pats, just followed the gauge they were most familiar with at home. We colonials had nothing to do with this silly state of affairs. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I feel that things really started to change for 7mm modelling in New South Wales about 10 years ago through the particular efforts of two individuals, Graham Holland and Gerard Imer. Graham and Gerard started a company called Gago (pronounced Gauge O), which began releasing limited-run kits of local New South Wales Government Railways outline stock. The major body components of these kits were cast in urethane, with both lost wax and whitemetal detail castings; they were highly detailed and used finescale standard wheels. They were a significant development over what was 'standard' in the scale at the time.

Gago operated for a few years before Graham went on to start his own company, Century Models, which has released two steam outline NSWGR tender locomotives, the Class 19 0-6-0 and the Class 50 2-8-0 standard goods engine, accompanied by a small range of rolling stock kits. Graham's other achievement, with the assistance of a small group of outstanding modellers, was to build Binnabri, a 36ft x 12ft finescale NSW outline exhibition layout. This layout very clearly demonstrated what could be achieved in 7mm and has only recently been retired from the exhibition circuit by its current owner.

Manning Wardle 394x Pioneer, a Manning Wardle 0-6-0, was imported into NSW from England in the 1860s and played a part in constructing many of the lines that spread across the state in the latter part of the 19th Century.This photo shows Pioneer in a near complete state before the crew was positioned permanently inside the cab. Final details had not yet been added at this stage and the brake assemblies have since been replaced by an etched set. Pioneer was built by the author in 2004 and adapted from an Agenoria Models' kit purchased at Guildex in 2003.

In spite of these efforts, 7mm modelling at the end of the 20th century remained confined to a relatively small group of modellers. But numbers have grown over the last five years and this has led to the emergence of new manufacturers. Companies such as Kerian Ryan Models, O-Aust, Waratah Models and Veteran Models (¼in scale Victorian outline), along with Century Models, are offering an ever-broader range of brake vans, goods and passenger rolling stock. These manufacturers and others have announced plans for the release of something like 10 new locomotives in 7mm and 1/4in scale over the next three years covering all three of the states I've mentioned so far. If only a percentage of these plans see the light of day it will be possible to say that 7mm/O scale modelling has come back into the mainstream.

I took up 7mm modelling at the beginning of 2000 after a house move caused me to tear down my permanent HO layout. I hadn't really intended changing to 7mm scale modelling, but in 1998 a friend of mine dragged me reluctantly along to an O gauge modelling seminar and I made the mistake of buying a kit. I bought a few more over the next couple of years with the intention of dabbling in 7mm during my declining years (I was in my late 30s at the time so you can see this was a long term project). The really big mistake I made was to assemble one of these kits rather than just storing them in a cupboard. From that moment on I was hooked.

At the time I was searching for a new challenge and something different after 10 years of working in HO. I considered both UK (GWR) and US O scale outline, but decided to stick with the prototype I knew best and for which I had accumulated a large reference library. The ready availability of products in HO had actually begun turning me away from the scale. I was a modeller who wanted to build things, and in HO I was finding myself increasingly in the company of others who had built the same kits and who had pulled the same r-t-r items from the same boxes. I wanted to scratchbuild and have a reason for doing so, and I've since found that you can put 100 kits together and hardly anyone notices but if you scratchbuild even the simplest piece of rolling stock everyone thinks you're a genius. I'm no genius, but 7mm seemed to have some of the answers to the questions I'd been asking myself about the direction my involvement in the hobby had been taking.

When first starting out, I looked around for information on the scale as it related to local prototype modelling and there didn't seem to be a lot available. Very little material appeared in the local hobby press and the number of active modellers seemed tiny at the time. Of course this was one of those chicken-and-egg scenarios: modellers can't build kits that don't exist and seeing other people building layouts, modules and dioramas tends to spur you on to

build your own. I made the decision to do two things: firstly I decided to build a small layout and second I decided to photograph my progress and write some articles for publication. I decided to worry later on about actually getting these articles published.

After my articles started appearing in the Australian Model Railway Magazine quite a few 7mm modellers contacted me. We decided to form our own modelling organisation, which we called the Aus7 Modellers Group. This group publishes a quarterly newsletter, 7th Heaven, and members of the group are now regularly attending exhibitions where we spread the word and encourage those interested to sign up as members. We're currently developing a website and have a limited range of endorsed products, and steps are being taken to put the group on a proper legal footing through incorporation. At this stage, membership numbers are approaching 100 and there's no sign that we've reached saturation point yet. The enthusiasm, energy and sheer good fun we have seems to be the best selling point for new members. They may not all be 7mm modellers, but they know a good thing when they see it and that's a very attractive force when it comes to signing up new members.

So what does the future hold for 7mm modelling in Australia? I joined the Gauge 'O' Guild in 2003 and later that year attended Guildex. One of the most gratifying things about visiting Telford was that I was able save three quid on the cost of entry, something to counterbalance the thousands it had cost me to get there. To use a well-worn English phrase, I've got to admit that I was gobsmacked by the event. At the time we hadn't yet formed the Aus7 Modellers Group and here was an event that was bigger than the largest annual exhibition in Australia covering all scales, and it was all exclusively 7mm! I doubt we'll ever match the sheer numbers of those involved in 7mm modelling in the UK, but then we don't need to. It's nice to know that the scale has witnessed a growth surge in both countries over the last decade or so, and that a great many people have had their involvement in the hobby re-energised by a switch in scale. I think the future of 7mm modelling in Australia is bright, and I like to think that the signs are all positive for its development and continued growth.

Binnabri – The dilapidated condition of the station at Binnabri
(Continental Modeller’s Railway of the Month, September 1994) speaks volumes about the State Government’s attitude toward maintaining the state’s railway infrastructure.
Closure of the line can’t be far away.