The National N Scale Convention 2024 was held between May 31 and June 2 at Wangaratta Performing Arts & Convention Centre in regional Victoria with 11 exhibits and 15 traders.  

153 people attended from across Australia (two from overseas) with 29 partners coming along to the Branchline Convention Dinner. This is a record attendance for the National N Scale Convention. 

Layouts included Pat Gagel’s ‘Binda’, Peter Hill’s ‘Essendon Depot’, Stephen Curry’s ‘Hexhamish’, Canberra Monaro N Scale Group’s T-Trak, Sydney N’s ‘Gresham’, Rob Popoviski’s ‘Gunnadoo’ and Daniel Thomson’s ‘Senohikui Tetsudo’ with the Inland Rail exhibiting their N Scale layout (whilst supporting the Convention as a sponsor).  There were interesting displays of fine craftsmanship from the 2mm Fine Scale Association, ‘Pocket Sized Modules’ and ‘Puzzled and Confused’.  

Traders at the Convention were Auscision Models, Aust N Rail, Buckambool Model Trains, Gopher Models, Lyndon’s Trains, Trackrite Underlay, Millennium Engineering (DDC EX), J&J Hobbies, Pallas Hobbies, Frate N, Burfitt Tools, Rosco Models, Vision N Scale and the NMRA.  

The Convention was supported by Rural City of Wangaratta, Inland Rail, Branchline, SMS Paints, Micro-Trains and the Victorian N Scale Collective, with Kato and Lemke providing a significant number of items to be given away as prizes. 

The Friday tour saw over 70 people visit SCT Logistics at Barnawartha North; delegates enjoyed a close look at SCT’s T414, as well as the SCT005 which was brought up from Melbourne especially for the tour. 

Thanks to Greg Sadler and Countrywide Coaches, the Convention had a partners’ program on the Saturday whilst delegates attended clinics. Highlights included Rob Popoviski’s ‘Making a layout in an hour’, with the layout being given away at the Branchline Convention Dinner on Saturday night, and Rob Barker’s ‘Weathering rust and grime’ which gave delegates the chance to give weathering a go on their models.  

On Sunday, many popular clinics were attended such as Ian Wood’s ‘Making Eucalyptus Trees’ and Steve Price’s ‘Modelling Roads’ with the results of the modelling competition being announced during the closing formalities:

Locomotive: Roger Gillard

Rollingstock: Bruce Cook

Diorama: Daniel Thomson 

Lineside: Daniel Thomson 

Best in Show: Roger Gillard

Peoples Choice: Graeme Goodsell 

Tony Scott was the recipient of the Dane Parker Memorial Perpetual Shield.

The next National N Scale Convention will be in South Australia in 2026, expected to be late in the year. 

Thank you again to everyone who supported this great event - see you in two years’ time!