G'day James, Welcome aboard from sunny Sydney. Enjoy the banter and camaraderie that is P1MRC. Cheers, Gary.
Hi all. Thanks for the welcome messages. I logged in today and was somewhat surprised (in a good way) to see all the messages welcoming me to the website! A bit about my modelling self. Apart from a brief stint in the land of N Scale, I have always been a HO / OO scale modeller. I have been a model railroader since the 1970s, starting with an Australian outline Lima trainset (NSW class 44 and cars). I also had some British, European and American outline models all mixed in together on my layouts during that time. In the 1990s or so, I changed to modelling exclusively American outline, mostly due to the lower cost and all wheel drive and electrical pickup. My largest layout was a modular one I called the "Chicago & South Forest Terminal RR" (C&SFT) , a 14 x 10 feet 'U' shaped switching / point to point layout, which had DCC control. In around 2008, a move to another town about 800km away meant half of the C&SFT had to be scrapped, but it still provided a lot of operating fun. A few years after that, I decided to build a 6x1 feet switching module. This eventually led to another large-ish modular layout, representing the south side of Chicago around Blue Island and Calumet. But that layout got to big to move comfortably, and renting like we do, I couldn't guarantee that I would have space for that layout. And so I decided to go micro and have since built 6 micro layouts, most of which I operate in the one operating 'session'. I will add topics or pages for those layouts in time. Other information about me I have been married since 1995, to a very understanding woman, who has encouraged me to pursue my hobby. I have been a website designer / web application developer / software engineer for the last 15 years, and before that I was (at different times) a Pastor, a Computer Programmer, Self Employed Business Operator, and Warehouse / Stock Records Clerk. Regards, James Corowa, NSW, Australia.
Hi James, and welcome to the forum. Great intro, I look forward to seeing a few pictures of your railway empire Kim
G`day James and welcome to Platform 1 MRC, I hope you enjoy your journey with us Gormo.......Sydney.......Oz
Hi James and welcome to the madhouse . That is some resume and thanks for sharing. Looking fiorward to seeing the layout threads. Paul
Corowa you say... down on the Murray. Lovely little town. I haven't been there for about 7 years. I stayed in the van park on the river. I'm led to believe it has or had one of the oldest vineyards in New South Wales...? Cheers, Gary.
Hi Gary. Corowa is in a vineyard district, and it is quite an old town so it's possible that it has or had the oldest vineyard in NSW. There are many wineries in the area, although I don't think there are as many on the NSW side of the river as there are on the Victorian side, at least in the vicinity of Corowa. We have only lived in Corowa for about 6 months this time around. Previously we lived in Culcairn, about an hour's drive away, for about 8 years. And before that we lived in Corowa for about a year. Regards, James
Great to have you aboard James. Looking g forward to seeing some photos of you layouts and hearing more of your adventures. Take care for now good sir. Toto
Welcome James from a fellow Aussi, from Melbourne. Sounds like you are an experienced modeller and you have some interesting modules to tell us more about. Regards Bernie
Just up the Burwood highway from me. Selby wold have been interesting with Puffing Billy going through town.
I grew up on a property just up the track from the Monbulk Creek trestle bridge. I spent many hours listening to and watching the NAs labour up the grade from the bridge, and would often walk on the walking track or bushland next to the line as far as Emerald watching the trains all the while. Living where I did is probably a major reason I have such an interest in trains. Regards, James