Rail enthusiasts steam into city

Steve Malone shows off his Petrie train model, the first coal powered miniature train ever made when he first built it about 10 years ago, at the Australian Narrow Gauge Convention held at The Workshops Rail Museum in North Ipswich.

Rob Williams

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• Inferno at rail museum

IT CAN take model train enthusiast Steve Malone hundreds of hours to construct his intricately detailed miniature trains.

The Brisbane resident was among the passionate hobbyists who headed to The Workshops Rail Museum over the Easter weekend to attend the 10th Australian Narrow Gauge Convention.

Mr Malone said he had been making models since the 1960s, using metalwork skills he learnt at school.

So dedicated is he to his hobby, he has a model railway set up around his back garden.

“I like making things,” Mr Malone said.

“Model railways utilise a range of skills such as woodwork and metalwork.

“There is no end to what you can do.

“It is a hobby with so many facets.”

He said his favourite train was his Petrie model, which depicted a train which ran in the 1960s taking sugar to mills in Nambour.

The convention featured workshops, demonstrations, lectures, clinics, competitions and social activities for narrow gauge railway modelling enthusiasts.

Workshops director Andrew Moritz said close to 80 people had attended the convention.

“The convention brings together modellers from all over Australia,” Mr Moritz said.

“They come to learn new crafts and skills and take in what specialist suppliers have to offer.”

Mr Moritz said it had been about 12 years since the convention was last in Queensland.

“We are obviously elated they chose the workshops,” he said.