East Guildford was the layout presented by members of the WA Sn3.5 Group and AMRA at the 2023 Model Railway Show.
The layout represents East Guildford station which is a suburban station 12km from Perth on the Eastern mainline to Midland, Kalgoorlie and Beyond.
Originally opened in 1896 as Woodbridge and later changed to East Guildford in 1908
The railway and station sit on the highest area of land at the neck of a peninsula of land bounded by the Swan and Helena Rivers. This area of land known as Guildford when settled was deemed to be a good location for a navigable inland port on the Swan River to serve the eastern lying farming areas and became the first terminal of the railway from Fremantle in 1881. In 1884 the railway was extended to Chidlows Well passing through the area that would become the next station on the line - East Guildford.
The layout features the station area with its sidings servicing the Peerless Flour Mill and Douglas Jones Timber mill modelled in the late 50's to early 60's.
Many members were involved in the build of this layout which was commenced in early 2019 led by the late Murray Hartzer who sadly passed away during the layout build. Many of Murrays vehicles can be seen on the layout in his memory. Amid the issues of the Covid pandemic the construction of the layout continued to culminate in its display this year when AMRA held its first show since 2019.
The layout was awarded the only two trophies to be presented in 2023, being the Jack Stanbridge Trophy, which was for the best layout as voted for by the other exhibitors, and the AMC People’s Award, as voted for by the visiting public.
Thank you to all who contributed to the build of this layout!
Here are a few pictures from the show.
A video compilation can be found here
(484) East Guildford Station Western Australia - 2023 AMRA Model Train Show - YouTube
