2023 All Gauge Sale

2023 All Gauge Model Railway Club Table Sale, Brisbane 30 July 2023

Early this year I set myself the task of completing 4 books and attending 4 model train events over the course of 2023. With my 3rd book already released only a week earlier, this weekend's All Gauge Model Railway Club in Brisbane was the first such event for me to attend.

Since moving to Queensland in the early 1990's, the table sale days put on by the All Gauge Model Railway Club have been a staple on the model railway calendar for many south east Queensland modellers.

From my N scale days of scouring through tables of what people were selling in search of a bargain 30 years ago, to more recently cherry-picking 2nd hand rollingstock models to use as a subject for my book Model Railway Weathered Wonders, I've drained my wallet at this club's table sale days many times over. For once it was my turn to stand on the other side of the table, behind copies of my Philden Model Railway books.

I now have 5 Philden Model Railway titles available, with 1 more to follow later this year.

Along with standing around while helping good friend and fellow modeller Anthony Veness sell a bunch of his pre-loved models on the day, a few people did actually stop to ask about my books or to let me know that they've enjoyed following my blog.

After doing another such open day and buy-and-sell event last year following the release of my 2nd Philden title, I was looking forward to fronting up at another club event this year with 5 of my books in tow. Not knowing how many books I might sell on the day, I made sure I had a shipment of 2 cartons couriered up from my printers in Melbourne. Much to my relief, they arrived only 3 days prior to the event!

It turned out that I had ordered enough books to cover both this event and the British Railway Modellers of Australia Convention in Brisbane on the 22nd - 23rd of September, at which I will also be speaking.

My attention now turns to applying the finishing touches to my Philden Harbour layout in time for the Redlands Model Train Show on the 26th - 27th August in Cleveland, followed by the Sunshine Coast Model Train & Hobby Expo on Saturday 2nd September, at the Church of Christ at Dicky Beach. Having now done two such buy-and-sell days with my books in the past 12 months, it's doubtful that I will do any further such days in the future. I'd rather leave the space for people to haggle over a broken $5 freight car, and quietly slip into obscurity come the end of the year...

Well, that's all until next time. I have a long list of tasks that need to be completed over August before I can sit down to write my final book.