The Sydney Model Railway Exhibition is an annual railway modelling exhibition, which is held on the Labour Day long weekend in October in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. It is organised by the New South Wales Branch of the Australian Model Railway Association (AMRA). The Exhibition was first held in 1962 in Burwood, and since then, the Exhibition has been held annually: first at Burwood at the Police-Citizens Boys Club, and then at the Lower

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings and ...

. In 1977 the Exhibition moved to the Ford and Mazda pavilions at the

Sydney Showground (Moore Park) The former Sydney Showground (Moore Park) at Moore Park was the site of the Sydney Royal Easter Show in New South Wales, Australia, from 1882 until 1997. The Show was moved to the new Sydney Showground at Sydney Olympic Park, built for the ...

, before moving to the

Whitlam Centre The Whitlam Leisure Centre is a multi-use indoor arena in western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was the first home of the former NBL team West Sydney Razorbacks. Facilities The site includes a full sized 50 meter swimming pool, a heate ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1984. The Exhibition was held at the Hurstville Leisure and Aquatic Centre in 2005, when the Whitlam Centre at Liverpool was being renovated. The 2019 Exhibition is to be held, for the first time, at the Southee Pavilion at

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the City of Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council. It i ...

. It includes various layouts and commercial stands of the following gauges: *

G scale G scale or G gauge, also called large scale (), is a track gauge for model railways which is often used for outdoor garden railways because of its size and durability. G scale trains use a fixed track gauge of to accommodate a range of rai ...

O scale O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sc ...

* On30 scale *

00 scale OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular Standard-gauge railway, standard gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm scale, 4 mm-sca ...

HO Scale HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO. The ...

* HOn3 1/2 scale * HOn 2 1/2 scaleAustr *

N scale N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. Effectively the scale is 1:159, 9 mm to , which is the width of standard gauge railway. However the scale may ...

Z scale Z scale is one of the smallest commercially available model railway scales (1:220), with a track gauge of . Introduced by Märklin in 1972, Z scale trains operate on 0–10 volts DC and offer the same operating characteristics as all othe ...

The programme sponsors a vote of favourite layout, for which the winner receives a prize (usually, but not always, a train set). In the past, "The Train Shed" has operated a ride-on

Thomas the Tank Engine Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional, anthropomorphised tank locomotive who originated from the British children's books ''The Railway Series'', created and written by Wilbert Awdry with his son Christopher Awdry, Christopher, first publish ...

for children at the show. Ride-on train rides are now operated by the North-West Model Engineers. There is also a "U-Drive" display that allows visitors to operate working scale models of Thomas the Tank Engine and Australian prototype trains. In 2005, the Association moved the exhibition to the

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD and is part of the St George, New South Wales, St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of ...

leisure centre for 2005 and 2006 before returning to the Whitlam Centre from 2007 onwards. This model railway exhibition is one of the oldest and largest model railway exhibitions in Australia. In 2012 the Australian Model Railway Association celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition. In September 2023, the AMRA NSW Branch announced on Facebook that the 2019 exhibition ran at a loss, and COVID had prevented exhibitions in 2020 - 2022. AMRA NSW stated that it "is not currently in the position to host the Sydney Model Railway Exhibition, not in 2023, not in 2024, and not for the foreseeable future."

References

{{Reflist Exhibitions in Australia Model railway shows and exhibitions Recurring events established in 1962 1962 establishments in Australia