Auscision N cars

Auscision Models recently released, in July 2013, their HO scale Victorian, N passenger cars. These cars ran to Horsham up till early 1993, when all services past Ararat ceased. These models are only available in sets of three; as when released to traffic, they ran in permanent sets of three. These were then increased, through rising demand, to four and five car sets. A luggage van is included, but are rarely used in traffic, today.
As usual, the quality of reproduction is of excellence. The only down side is that the roof is a separate moulding and is glued to the body.  On the orange versions, the join is noticeable, as the roof is all orange, or the grey (in prototype) did not round the roof curve far enough to hide the join. The 'Heritage' Mk 1 and 2 livery, plus the new grey and white livery, are, better suited the style of assembly of the coaches, as the roof colour extends down the to the top of the body moulding, thus hiding the join. The cars have full interior, with even luggage racks, and the interior has been moulded in the correct cream colour. (I should know, as I supplied the laminex color chip).
I  received my N set; in V/Line Passenger 'Heritage" red and blue livery. While no cars in this livery have every ran to Horsham, the beauty about model railways, is that one can do what they want, and as with prototype, with the N class locomotives, one can mix and match liveries.

 
Though: As reported by the ABC, Wednesday 19 June, 2013:

The Horsham council will appeal to Public Transport Victoria (PTV) in a bid to extend passenger rail services west of Ararat.

Councillor Tony Phelan successfully moved a motion at Monday night's council meeting to request the authority investigate integrating a V/Line train service with the existing timetable.
The council's Tony Bawden says while the different rail gauge east of Ararat makes it difficult to provide continuous services, there is the possibility for a connection.
"We did have a meeting with PTV a couple of months back where we floated this idea and so we'll be formally requesting PTV to reinstate passenger rail services to Horsham and other towns," he said.

Maybe, loco hauled services might return to Horsham, or would it be Vlocity High speed DMU sets.
 (V/Line passenger, today 'operate' a rail service to Melbourne via Great Southern Rail's Overland service. One coach is booked for pickup of road side passengers to and from Nhill. Up to 60 seats are available to Victorians at V/Line ticket prices to travel as far as Nhill. ).

AWM open top container models

AWM Automodelle is a German company that produces a wide range of European Road vehicles in 1/87 scale. They also have a range of container models, and while recently researching European domestic containers, I came across one that is of use for the Australian environment.
It is a model of a 40' canvas covered open top container.  AWM SZ 40ft open top Container MSC. While I have not seen one on the Adelaide Melbourne corridor, in Wongm's Rail Gallery, there is a photo of one, on a NQKY on a PN MA3/AM3 freight.

http://railgallery.wongm.com/wagons/pn-ma3-flats/E106_2586.jpg.html

MSC open top container. Could do with some flat varnish to take away the gloss look.

I purchased mine off ebay,  for the sum of EUR6.02, or at the time $8.62, plus postage. Go to http://stores.ebay.com.au/DS-AutoModelle?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 and search for containers. 
I also purchased some nice European 45' reefer units in Ferroverde and Unit 45.com liveries. (These containers, for interest, transport fresh flowering plants from Holland to Italy by rail. 

 http://www.gemeenteninbeeld.nl/GreenRail/beeldtaal_film.html 

The above video is in Dutch, but one can get the sense of what it is about. 

It is also interesting to note, that while Europe is generally electrified; cross border inter-modal services are hauled by diesel locomotives: though they use an electric in the video, and if you look closely, the loco changes between countires.
This is due to most European countries operating on different electric systems and voltages, so a Class 66/77 is able to travel non stop, while an electric hauled train has to stop at the border crossing to change locomotives. Strangely similar to Australia many years ago, before through running.)