Well, another model railway show has come and gone. I think most would agree that this year’s show was a wonderful success. The public attendance figure was certainly up on last year’s, which gives testimony to the hard work put in by all concerned.

Having said this though, I know and understand that there are a few things that we can do better and improve on.

I would not have been able to put this exhibition together without the help and support of several people.

First, I would like to thank all the AMRE clubs for the hard work and effort they have put into this year’s exhibition. All of the clubs have performed well in carrying out their folio duties.

Thankyou to the ladies who worked so hard in the ticket office. These ladies are the first contact the public has to the exhibition, so thankyou for your friendly welcome to everyone who attended.

Thankyou to Adam Wade for his work on maintaining the AMRE website. Terrific job Adam.

To Nigel Gardner for the work he put into mapping out the exhibition layout. This can sometimes be a thankless job. I am sure the decision to integrate the layouts with the retail/kindred stands was a huge success. Many thanks Nigel.

May I at this point, thank the people on the executive committee ( Bill, Tom and Jeff ) for their advice, encouragement and great support to me. I really appreciate you guys.

And to everyone else who had a role to play in the exhibition, my heartfelt thanks to you all.



The Friday setup was well carried out. Sure there was the need to make some last minute changes. Some forced upon us because of the floor in the venue and others because we were given incorrect exhibit area measurements. My thanks to everyone for your patience, understanding and willingness to help out with these changes.

Nearly all exhibitors were able to come in and unload their vehicles without any real dramas. I do not recall any incidents during setup. It was terrific to see everyone working well together.



Throughout the exhibition, we did encounter a few problems. I have noted these and will be working hard to try and eliminate them for future exhibitions. These included  
These, along with other issues will be addressed.



More money was allocated for advertising this year. There have been some comments made about the level of advertising for this year. May I respond by saying

• We had television advertising on channel seven.
• There were quite a few radio spots given to us in community announcements.
• I was personally interviewed on the ABC with Peter Goers and Ashley Walsh on two separate occasions.
• There were ads in some of the print media.
• There were printed handouts. SANGS gave out hundreds of these and some were letter dropped.
• There was a giveaway promotion in the RAA’s SA Motor.
• And of course there was the corflute signs.

After collating the public survey, we found that most people found out about the exhibition by

1. Word of mouth from a friend
2. the roadside signs

followed by the other forms of advertising.

The putting out of the corflute signs is most important if we are to attract people to the exhibition. So I will again be asking all the clubs to assist in getting these signs out and about.

I think that the public response we got this year to the exhibition was mainly due to the amount of advertising done.



There has been a fair amount of debate concerning the Greyhound Park venue. Although it has its problems, it is still the best option for us at this point in time. When looking for a venue we need to constantly keep in mind

• The cost of hiring the venue
• The space required to fit the exhibition in.
• Keeping the location as central as is possible
• Ability to provide the power needed to run the exhibits.
• Catering facilities to feed both the public and the exhibitors.
• The provision of free car parking.
• Adequate public amenities ( a legal requirement in South Australia )

Greyhound Park, at this time, meets each of these needs. Having said this though, we will always be looking out for other venues that will fulfil these needs. It would be amiss of us not to consider alternatives, but we will not be changing venues just for the sake of changing.



The Monday pack up was achieved without any fuss what so ever. My thanks to everyone. The whole place was vacated by 1740 hours. A terrific effort. For those folks upstairs, many thanks, considering the short notice given to pack up. We will be talking to Greyhound Park about a more appropriate finish time.



It was terrific to see a couple of layouts return to the exhibition. Gavin Thrumm with Mt Laura, Peter Michalek with Liralau and Paul McKinnon with Mac and Friends. But if we are to improve, there is a need for us to find new layouts for the exhibition. The quality this year was good, but some of the layouts would need to improve in some way.

We cannot allow the quality of the layouts to decline, so care will be taken when accepting layouts for future exhibitions. With this in mind, I will looking at updating the invitation process to include photos of perspective exhibits, accurate and complete measurements of the space required and the overall appearance of the layouts.

So lets all start looking for, or building good layouts to exhibit in the future. When doing so, you need to ask yourself these questions “ would I enjoy looking at this layout?” or “Would I exhibit this layout if it were mine?”

It was also good to see so many come to the AMRE dinner on the Sunday night. It was organised so that everyone had a chance to meet up, converse, have a good feed and go home early ready for the next day. I believe we achieved this.
My congratulations to those who won the awards on the night.

May I also thank Alan Norris and his team for the great effort in organising the raffle. My thanks also to those who donated the prizes won.



Even though we had a fantastic response from the public this year, we cannot rest on our laurels. Each new exhibition brings with it new opportunities and challenges. If the exhibition is to continue we must be prepared to meet those challenges and make the most of the opportunities presented.

In closing, can I say that the purpose of the AMRE exhibition is to introduce this wonderful hobby of model railroading to as many people as is possible. It is aimed at the general public, not current model railroaders. It has disappointed me a little that most of the negative feedback we have received has come from those already in the hobby. I will not be making wholesale changes or reinventing the wheel just to supplicate a few disgruntled modellers, but making those changes needed to make this exhibition the best it can be!

It is inevitable that, as we move from one exhibition to another here in South Australia, the same layouts will keep popping up, people will do things differently, that no two venues will be the same, but I am confident that all those involved will be having a great time, no matter where the show is being held or by whom!

While people keep coming to look at the hard work and creativity each of us puts into the hobby, it is the hobby of Model Railroading that will be the winner.

Happy modelling to you all.

Arthur O'Connell
AMRE Convenor