23 hours driving for 5 hours of watching trains

Sounds about right to me!

After a pretty 'ornary start to my work week, I decided I had had enough of making money and not being able to spend at least some of on things I enjoy, so my dear wife organised a place for us to stay in Stawell, where one of the best model railway exhibitions in rural Australia takes place on the second weekend of July every year.

The exhibition takes place in a State Emergency Services hall - a good venue with lots of room and quite good lighting. The Stawell Exhibition normally has a good variety of layouts, including American, Australian, British and European outline. Layout types varied from switching layouts, to micros, to continous runs.

I had about $100 to spend so purchased some new railroad cars and automobiles for the era I model - 2 grain box cars, one PS1 covered hopper, and an RB (bunkerless) reefer. All with metal wheels and Kadee 52's or 5's.

The website of the Grampians Modelrailroaders, who host the exhibition, is: http://gmr.has.it/