A place to call home.

Whilst this blog is primarily concerned with all things 'train', and my efforts to build a museum of Toy Trains, I also recognise that there are other necessities of life- such as a roof over one's head at night.  And so a significant event occurred on Thursday with the signing of a contract with a local builder to build a cottage at Whistlestop.  The idea of a one-bedroom cottage is to give us somewhere to live for a while as the other projects planned for Whistlestop develop, although we still are hoping to build a larger house adjacent to the cottage one day.  I am extremely excited about being truly able to call Whistlestop 'home', which we haven't been able to do previously.

Here is a picture of the cottage site taken a couple of years ago when it was the storage site of one of my brother's projects- a 1927 Hupmobile.

Here's another picture taken from where the front verandah will be, looking southwest.  I'm really looking forward to developing this area more, with all the grass being mown, and gardens created amongst the rock outcrops.

There is a cartoon which I don't have access to at the moment unfortunately, but it shows a bloke showing a mate his train-room which is a really grand building, and in the background is a very modest structure which is his home.  I really don't know why that's funny........................

With the excitement of building our home, and all the other extremely exciting projects that are ahead of me, I am very concious that there are many, many, people in the world who are homeless through no fault of their own, with no prospect of ever improving their situation.  My daughter Amy works with an organisation whose aim is to help people trapped in extreme poverty- and the number of those people is perhaps surprisingly high.  You may like to read her blog at Love, Liberation & Lost Luggage.

Why not Aussie Trains??

I have mentioned several times on previous posts that I have a really strong interest in Australia's heritage, particularly regarding Railways and Transport.  Why then is there such a strong American emphasis on my Toy Train collection?  Why don't Aussie Toy Trains feature in my forthcoming Museum?  Both good questions, and the simple answer is that there simply are not enough Australian-made toy trains to create a worthwhile display.  There are a few though, so let's have a look.

Prior to World War Two Australian children had relied heavily on British-made toys, which for most boys meant that they had a Hornby O gauge train set.  After WW2, with British industry struggling to get back on it's feet, there was a vacuum in the Aussie toy market, and several local manufacturers attempted to meet this need.  There were three main toy train makers- Ferris, Maurlyn and Robilt- although there were other smaller concerns as well.  There is an excellent book about Australia's Toy Train industry called Spring, Spark and Steam which details every known maker, and which I thoroughly recommend if this subject is of particular interest.

The Ferris company specialised in making early car radios (we had one in our Holden), but diversified into toy trains.  They made a few different styles, but perhaps the most common type was the Sydney Suburban train.

I'm sure that these were quite popular in Sydney, but as a Melbourne Boy they were of limited interest in comparison to the other 'big' manufacturer's offerings.  Robilt trains were built only a few miles from where we lived, although I didn't know that then.  My introduction to Robilt trains was also what I still consider my 'Greatest Find'.  In suburban Melbourne our local council would have occasional collections of rubbish which was too big to be taken by the dustman each week.  We would put all this stuff out on the nature strip by the street, and in due course it would be collected by contractors.  Things like old mattresses, tree stumps, old prams, all sorts of stuff!  For young boys it was a real adventure!!  The prams would be stripped of their wheels for use on Billy Carts, bits of wood acquired for cubby houses, and other interesting stuff duly carted home, much to our parents chagrin!  In one of these piles of junk down the street I found a small cardboard suitcase.  This was opened, expecting either junk or nothing at all, but low and behold it was a complete Robilt train set in good condition!!  I couldn't get home quickly enough!!  I had never seen anything like this before, although in retrospect it was probably only ten to fifteen years old when I found it.

The locomotive was like this, except that mine was black, with V.R. on the tender.  It is clockwork O gauge.

There were two carriages like this.  The top-of-the-line locomotive that Robilt made was a fairly good model of the VR S class steam locomotive used to pull the Spirit of Progress train.

So you can see that there were some really nice Aussie Toy Trains, but certainly not enough variety to base a whole museum on.  Now there are also some really excellent HO and O gauge model trains of various Australian prototypes made by companies such as Austrains, Auscision and Train-o-rama.  I do eventually hope to build a scenic model railway for the museum based on a Victorian Railways line around the 50's or 60's, which is what I remember when growing up.  This is some time off though.  In the meantime I am gathering a nice collection of models, as well as the continual search for the wonderful old Robilt, Ferris and Maurlyn toys.

Another layout addition

Another interesting package arrived in the mail today, containing an MTH Tinplate Traditions set of #92 Floodlight Towers, which are copies of ones originally made by Lionel in the 1930's.  These are suitable for either the Standard Gauge layout or the pre-war 0 gauge layout, and are 21" high.

I've been looking for a set of these for a long time, and now they're all ready to be installed on one of the layouts! Every new item is exciting, and I really hope that will always be the case.  Nearly all these Lionel-type accessories do something, and most have a light of some sort.  I want to be able to dim the overall lighting in the Trainbarn for a short period while visitors are there so that all the little lights on the layouts and in the trains become more prominent.  I think kids especially will really enjoy that!  Ok, I will too!!

Although of course I really enjoy the actual trains, what I think I enjoy most about this hobby is building the 'layouts' that the trains will run on.  A layout can be as simple as an 8 x 4 sheet of plywood painted green with the track screwed down onto it, or as complex as one of the many amazing scenic layouts built by railway modellers, with plaster mountains from floor to ceiling.  If you want to see a truly awesome 'layout' have a look at the Miniatur Wunderland website, about a model railway display in Germany.  My layouts in the Trainbarn will not be particularly realistic- they are toys, not models- but with a little bit of imagination the scenes will show all the various aspects of a real town, railroad yard, or countryside.

It was a German toy company- Märklin- that developed the idea of building toy train layouts, as against a simple circle of track with a train running around it which was the norm at that time. They were the first to sell extra track items, station buildings, signals etc.  These items now are highly collectable, of course!  The Lionel company took accessories a step further and not only fitted them with electric lights (Märklin had used candles), but made them do all sorts of other action-type things, as well.

When you come and visit the Trainbarn at Whistlestop, no doubt you will want to see lots of colourful trains running around the layouts, but I hope you also notice and enjoy the many accessories- some large, some small- that for me, at least, make each layout so enjoyable and interesting.

Scales and Gauges

Like any hobby or occupation, Toy and Model Railways has it's own jargon, which can be very confusing to outsiders.  It is impossible to talk about Toy Trains without using the terms 'Scale' and 'Gauge'.  Sometimes they're used interchangably, but they're actually quite different.

Gauge is simply the distance between the insides of the two rails that the train runs on.

For example, many real trains are said to be Standard Gauge, which is 4 ' 8 1/2'' gauge.  The most popular Toy Train gauge is 0 gauge, which is either 1 1/4" or 32mm between the rails, depending on which country you are in.

And then there is 'scale'.  This is simply the ratio between the size of the real thing and the model.  It can be expressed in several different ways, somewhat adding to the confusion, ie as a ratio 1:87 for HO scale, or as 3.5mm/foot, which is also HO scale.  For example a model of an F-7 diesel locomotive in HO scale will be 1/87th of the length, width and height of the real locomotive.  If you had 87  HO models and lined them up in front of each other, they would equal the length of the real loco.

Model trains are usually built to a certain scale, ie HO, or N.  Toy trains however, are usually built to run on a certain gauge of track, often with little regard to being the right size relative to that track gauge.  Lionel, for example, had several different price ranges for it's trains, which all ran on the same gauge track.  The more expensive the train was, the bigger (and more detailed) it was.  So those who are interested in model railways talk of O scale, whereas toy train enthusiasts would say O gauge.  Confusing, isn't it!!

To help guests to Whistlestop better understand scales and gauges I decided to set up an interesting display  showing all the different common model railway scales.  I am collecting the same locomotive in the same colour scheme in every common scale, and placing it on a short section of track.  It was hard to find a loco that is common enough around the world that it was or is made in every different scale.  The only one that I am aware of, and the one I have chosen, is an F-7a diesel lcomotive in the beautiful Santa Fe Warbonnet livery.  So far I have this loco in Z, N, TT, HO and G scale, missing examples in S, O and 1 scale, which are all available, I just haven't been able to get one yet.

Here is a picture of the first three (Z, N and HO) to show you the idea.

I have since been able to obtain one of these in TT scale, which is perhaps the least known and hardest to find.  This scale was and is most common in Germany, and a German company- Rokal- made a Santa Fe set in the 60's, or thereabouts.  I was very fortunate to obtain the complete set of carriages with the loco, too.

The assumption with this display is that a certain scale goes with a certain gauge of track.  For example, the HO scale loco built to 1:87 proportions runs on track with a gauge of 16.5mm, and N scale- 1:160- runs on 9mm gauge track.  Scale modellers have almost infinite variations of scales and gauges and you could literally write a book about the subject!!

The biggest 'model' train gauge is considered to be G scale- 'G' indicating their normal use in the Garden.  I was recently able to obtain a Santa Fe F-7 built in this scale by LGB.

Also part of the display will be a backdrop poster of one of these F-7's pulling the famous Santa Fe Super Chief train somewhere in the back blocks of the U.S.

That's a very brief explanation of scales and gauges, but if you are now more confused than ever then you will just have to visit Whistlestop when it opens to view this display in person!! 

Mistletoe

To many people Mistletoe may have pleasant romantic connotations.  There is a tradition that a young woman standing under a branch of Mistletoe at Christmas time is eligible for a kiss from any young man in the vicinity.  One would have to be a bit careful with that in these days of harassment law suits, but there is another reason altogether why I absolutely hate Mistletoe, which is that it is killing many of our beaut gumtrees.  There are some who would say that Mistletoe does not, in fact, kill trees, but I beg to differ.  Perhaps there are other factors involved, such as the tree being stressed from drought, but I have seen many, many nice trees- young and old- die at Whistlestop due to Mistletoe infestation.

The tree in the picture at the top of the page is a typical example of the problem.  On an otherwise nice tree many seperate infestations of this parasite occur, from seeds placed by birds, or seeds in bird droppings.  This tree is probably about 30 years old, and is surviving, but is far from healthy.  Another very similar tree next to it has died because of the mistletoe, and now needs to be removed. Apart from the fact that these trees are attractive, they also perform a very useful function, which affects the whole property.  As the trees grow up they create shade, naturally enough.  The tea-tree scrub which is so prevalent on Whistlestop will not grow well in shade, and will die back, leaving the shady area under the trees open and grassy.  That is very much how I imagine this bit of land was before it was affected by misguided attempts to clear it.  As much as anything else I would really like to bring Whistlestop back closer to it's 'natural' state, albeit with a few railway lines and vehicle tracks running through it!

Mistletoe, like the tea-tree scrub, is native to the area.  It does seem to be way more prevalent than it should be, though.  I think this is largely because the bushland is out of balance.  It is said that the Australian native Sugar-gliders will eat Mistletoe and keep it in check.  I have never seen this, as I doubt there are any of these wonderful little creatures around due to the many foxes and feral cats.  I have seen grubs eating the Mistletoes, so effectively that the 'plant' will die, or disappear.  I haven't seen that for a while, though.  Sometimes the Mistletoe will so completely suck the life out of the branch it's on, that the branch will die, killing the Mistletoe also.  The only effective way of removing the Mistletoe is to cut off the branch that it's on.  If the branch is low down, no probs, but in many cases it is well out of reach.  It might be worthwhile, or necessary, to hire a hydraulic tower sometime in an effort to remove the more troublesome Mistletoes.

The tree in the picture above- the one just to the left of centre- which is now so prominent, is interesting.  It was just another tree amidst masses of tea-tree scrub, largely blending with all the other bushland.  It did, however, have a large mistletoe on one of it's branches, visible through the scrub because the Mistletoe is a more yellowish colour than the rest of the bush.  I can't really remember, but obviously in one of my Mistletoe-purges where I would bash through the scrub with a ladder and long saw in search of lowish Mistletoes, I cut off the offending one from this tree and left it to decompose near the base of the tree.  Years later, while clearing the area for the Trainbarn and carpark I re-discovered this tree.  It is absolutely healthy and a really nice tree, and now it's location is where I have decided to build the Trainbarn main entrance.  It would almost certainly be dead had I not, all those years ago, removed the Mistletoe from it.

Influences

I've already mentioned a few of the early influences that have given me such a passion for creating my Toy Train Museum- the original Whistle Stop in Frankston Victoria perhaps on the top of the list- but there were many others too. 

When I was about 14 years old we went for a short holiday to Swan Hill, on the Murray River.  I found many aspects of this trip fascinating, but none more so than a visit to the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement.  This was one of the first, if not the first, open-air musems in Australia.  Obviously I had never seen anything like this before, and I was captivated!!  It had probably only been open a year or two when we saw it, and it has developed a lot since then.  I found the concept of creating a whole environment- in this case a small town- very much as would have existed in a past time, totally fascinating.  It was, quite literally, like stepping back into another age.  Although I enjoy and appreciate many aspects of modern life, I also very much enjoy Australia's heritage, and it is so easy to learn about and feel our heritage in a place like the Pioneer Settlement.

This is the main street of Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement. (from their website)

So the seed was planted, and nurtured, that I really wanted to create a similar heritage environment as sort-of my life's work.  Many ideas have come and gone, but some have stuck, and grown, as I've previously explained.  Although I have talked about the Toy Train Museum in a building- the Trainbarn, and the idea of a 15 inch gauge miniature railway running through the bushland of our property, the overall effect of what I want to achieve is something similar to what I experienced at Swan Hill all those years ago.  I want people to step back in time, and take a break from the pressures and stresses of modern life when they visit Whistlestop.  I want them to experience old-fashioned hospitality and courtesy, but mainly I want them to experience the rich heritage of trains, railways, and other early types of Australian transport in all their various forms.

The vintage car ride, at Swan Hill. (from their website)

I have an overall plan- the big picture- of what I would like Whistlestop to look like in the years to come.  This includes various walking and vehicle tracks through the bush, and one of these tracks lends itself very well to being a Main Street, similar to the one at Swan Hill.  This is where the main station of the miniature railway will be, too.  Gradually I plan to add some Town buildings along here, the first of which will be a Machinery Dealer, 'displaying' old tractors and engines.  There are many other ideas too!!

This is a view along my Main Street.  The pile of old telephone poles on the left will be the basis of the Machinery Dealer building.  The first step toward creating the Street, apart from more clearing, is to get it surfaced with deco, and drainage constructed.  Another job for Bobcatman!! The miniature railway line will be on the right of this picture, with the main station just beyond the trees.

Thank you to everyone who's involved in the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement!!  You've done a fantastic job, and I hope to visit again soon.

Chipping aweigh....

I have mentioned in previous posts that many of the trains and accessories that I am using on my Toy Train Museum layouts are very authentic reproductions of the Lionel originals, made recently by Lionel and MTH Trains.  You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a relatively easy way to build a collection- that anybody with enough money could simply go down to their local hobby shop, or get on the Internet, and within a day or two they'd have a sizeable collection. This may perhaps be true in some parts of the United States (these are all American trains), but this just isn't the case from Downunder!  Or worse, from the Island that I'm presently working on!

Most of these reproductions are made in very small quantities, in limited runs.  Once they're sold, well, they're gone.  Many of the items that I'm currently searching for are made by the Lionel Corporation, which is a new co-operative venture between Lionel and MTH Trains.  MTH have made many of these items previously, but had to put their own name on them as they couldn't use the original name 'Lionel', as Lionel were effectively 'the competition'. Now with this new venture the items are made by MTH to the same really high standard, and are now indistinguishable from the Lionel originals.  Except that they're 'new'!!

Ok, I can't wander down to my local hobby shop, because there isn't one, but what about the Internet?  I've found that not too many American dealers sell this sort of stuff, maybe only a handful.  Of those that do, most are not interested in sending it on a long voyage over the oceans!  Many, for whatever reason, will only 'ship' to the Continental U.S.  That's their prerogative, I guess, but it does make it much harder for me!!  So despite these items being new, and supposedly available, I'm only occasionaly able to actually purchase them.  MTH take note!!

Anyway, this post does not end sadly.  I have 'found' another large dealer in the U.S. who is good to deal with (some aren't!!), and happy to ship Downunder.  I was able to buy a really wonderful accessory from him called a #441 Weigh Scale for my Standard Gauge layout.

At first glance this thing might look a bit boring.  What you can't tell from the picture is the size.  At 29 1/2 inches long and 9 1/2 inches wide, it is huge!!  It has a light in the office, but it is also fully functional.  There is a small beam in the office, on which you place the little weights, and you can accurately weigh your carriage, or loco!  Apparently if you could find an original item from the 30's it would be very unlikely to work, as the mechanism suffered from zinc-disease, which caused it to swell and crumble.

It came in this beaut box, which also is much bigger than it looks.  It will certainly be like Christmas for me when I finally get the chance to unpack my collection, and place everything on the layout tables!!

One item 'down', lots more to go!!

Don't take offence at my incomplete fence.

When we bought the property that would become Whistlestop it was terribly overgrown with native tea-trees.  These are the result of a natural process- tea-trees require sunlight to grow, so that when all the big trees were knocked down by a previous owner- creating lots of sunlight- all the seeds sitting in the soil thought all their Christmas's had come at once, and decided now was a good time to grow.  In due course the gumtrees would  grow again too, creating shade, and the tea-trees would die back.  However, not wanting to wait that long, I needed to give nature a hand.

The track that had been crudely bulldozed through the property was impassable, so as a start to regaining control of the property, and opening it up a bit, I decided to start clearing along this track.  Not only were there tea-trees growing everywhere, but there were piles of dirt, rocks, and dead wood from the bulldozing efforts.  It was a very big mess.

Eventually I had cleared enough along the start of the track to make it passable, but it still looked really untidy.  I wanted to define this area better too, and make it look presentable for visitors to the Trainbarn, and Miniature Railway.  As I really enjoy carpentry, I decided to build a fence along the track.  To enhance the overall railway atmosphere of this area, I decided it should be a picket fence, painted cream, as are many fences on real railways.

Defining the area better has also allowed me to build the start of a small garden here.

As someone who is interested in so many different hobbies- not only trains, but old cars and machinery too- I tend to jump around from one thing to another at times, to the annoyance of others.  Having quite a large property which requires massive amounts of work to get it how I want it also causes me to move from one job to another without finishing things off.  The grass and tea-tree didn't stop growing while I was building the fence, and eventually attracted my attention!  So, the fence remains a 'work in progress'!! I'm not bothered at all by that, as I know I will finish it one day.  Well, it has to be finished before I can open Whistlestop to visitors.  I will enjoy finishing it off, when the right time comes.

This is a picture taken along the main track, from the Trainbarn carpark. You can see the start of the fence in the middle distance. Eventually it will extend further along the track, before heading off to the left along the formation of the miniature railway line, near where the white peg is.  Having the incompleted part of the fence in place was really helpful in deciding on the exact alignment of the track, which has just recently been surfaced with deco, and proper drainage provided.

I guess my 'philosophy' of working on Whistlestop is like doing a jigsaw puzzle.  I like to do a bit here, a bit there, a few edges to define things better, all the while keeping the big picture firmly in mind.  One day, it'll all come together and be finished!  But what will I do then.............

The Miniature Railway, at Whistlestop

So far I've mostly been talking about the Toy Train Museum planned for Whistlestop, in a building that I call the Trainbarn, but I've also mentioned my love of bigger train rides at places like the original Whistle Stop in Melbourne.  It's time to elaborate on that.

I've wanted to build and run either a miniature or narrow gauge railway since I was young.  The original Whistle Stop had a full-sized narrow gauge railway that was fantastic, but miniature railways also hold their own fascination.  You're probably familiar with miniature railways run by a club in the local park, which are usually of either 5 inch, or 7 1/4inch gauge and are very popular.

Another railway that strongly influenced me as a child was the Currumbin Sanctuary Railway, on Queensland's Gold Coast.  In those days entry to the Sanctuary was by donation, and you paid for rides.  We had quite a few!!  But it was just as much fun watching the train from a trackside vantage point.  It was originally always a steam-hauled train, although now it is mostly diesel hauled.  My brother and I were often allowed to sit on the footplate while the train was in the station.  I was hooked!!  I want one of these, please!!

Sometimes, quite rightly, our childhood dreams fade away.  Sometimes though, they develop and grow, and that's certainly the case with my dream of building and running my own steam miniature railway.  Part of the attraction of the land that we purchased for Whistlestop was it's suitability for a very interesting miniature railway.  It is undulating, with lots of natural features like rocky outcrops for the line to wind around.  Initially I picked what I thought would be the easiest route, but the more I looked at it I realised that it is better to pick a slightly more demanding route, as regards construction, that will be much more interesting for driver and passengers.

The largest commonly used gauge for miniature railways is 15 inches.  While I really enjoy the smaller gauges like 7 1/4", there is something really exciting and special about the larger gauges- called Grand Scales- where you can sit right inside the cab of the locomotive and carriages.  Surprisingly it is not that much more difficult or expensive to build a railway in 15 inch gauge, and so it was a very easy decision for me to make!  A 15 inch gauge miniature railway, winding through the Aussie bushland of Whistlestop!!

This photo (above) shows how comfortably the cab of a 15 inch gauge locomotive can accomodate it's driver, and there's plenty of room for another person too.

This is another view of the same loco.  It is one of these that I plan to obtain for Whistlestop.

Of course, this is another huge undertaking!  Like the Trainbarn and the collection of Toy Trains, I have broken construction of the miniature railway into phases, to make construction much more manageable.  Although I will enjoy running the trains very much, for me a huge amount of the fun is in the planning and construction. I doubt it will ever be 'finished'!

There will be a small station, or halt, adjacent to the Trainbarn.  There is no room for sidings here, it will just be a passenger platform and Ticket Office.  From this halt- called Wombat Gully- the line heads uphill, initially in quite a deep cutting towards the main station.  In the other direction it continues downwhill onto a large timber trestle bridge, over a dry gully.  It is this section that I call phase one- the section of line on a curve which is about 100 metres long, the platform, Ticket office, and road crossing.  Even though it is so short I want to complete this section first to give the whole area around the Trainbarn a finished look- to show what is coming next, and what the miniature railway will be like.

This is a view looking from the site of Wombat Gully station to where the cutting will be, and uphill towards the main station.

So, that's a brief introduction to my hopes and plans for my miniature railway at Whistlestop.  Expect to hear much more about it in future blogs!

The Trainbarn, at Whistlestop

Today I'll take you on a 'virtual' tour of the Trainbarn, and try to describe what you can expect to see if you visit. 

To give an idea of size, the first phase of the Trainbarn will be about 45' X 60' (14m X 18.6m), and the second planned phase will be to double this size.

From the carpark shown in the last post you'll enter the building via a wooden verandah.  The entry area will have the feeling of an American Train Depot, or in Oz we would call it a station ticket office. There'll be a ticket counter,  train arrival/departures board on the wall and a pot belly stove in the corner. From here you'll enter the area containing all the train displays and layouts.

The overall idea is that as you move through the museum you'll start with the very early American trains, progressing through the various distinct eras, and you'll leave after seeing the Postwar era, up until 1969, or thereabouts.  Of course Toy Trains didn't suddenly cease to exist in 1969, far from it, but that's the limit of what I want to try and display in this building.

Some collectors are happy to display different eras and different manufacturers together on the one layout, and that's fine, but I like to keep them seperate so that the evolution of toy trains and the different approaches taken by different manufacturers can be clearly seen.

The first layout that will catch your attention will be displaying various toy trains that would have been available in the U.S. up until the early 1920's.  The centrepiece will be a replica of Lionel's very first train, the no. 200 Wood Gondola, running on track of 2 7/8" gauge.  These were not actually made as trains, they were intended as store displays, but everyone wanted to buy the 'train', not what was being displayed in them!  Very few were made, and perhaps only a dozen still exist, hence the need to run a replica! (Superbly made by MTH Trains.  Equally nice replicas are also available from JLM Trains.)

On this layout, which will be 10' X 15' (3 X 4.5m) and covered with green indoor/ outdoor carpet beloved by toy train enthusiasts, will also be loops of 0 and Standard gauge track, displaying the earliest trains and trolleys made by Lionel around WWI.  What is Standard Gauge, you might ask?  In 1906 Lionel introduced a brand new size and style of Toy Train to replace the 2 7/8" gauge ones.  The track gauge was 2 1/8"(from inside railhead to inside railhead), which didn't match anything presently being made by anyone else.  They were so proud of these trains they called them, rather grandiously,  the "Standard of the World", and it is this name that they came to be known by.  Ives, American Flyer and others eventually used 2 1/8" gauge also, but chose to call their trains Wide Gauge.

This layout was inspired by the American layout of a famous collector in California, the late Ward Kimball, and was featured in Classic Toy Trains magazine in October 1990.

Another 'popular' size of trains in this era was 2 inch gauge, made by companies like Carlisle and Finch, Voltamp and Knapp.  The style of track was similar to the Lionel 2 7/8" track, but a slightly narrower gauge.  I'd love to have a loop of this track also and some trains to run on it, but they're not easy to find these days, of course!  The trains that will be displayed on this layout will depend very much on my collecting fortunes!  Although I have a very good idea of what I'd like, they are certainly not easy to find.

Adjacent to this layout will be a large display in the style of an old shop window, showing a timeline type of display  of American Toy Trains from the earliest days, up until the start of WW2, after which the style of toy trains changed considerably.
The next layout that you'll see is a large Lionel Standard Gauge setup, 24' X 16', showing trains from what is called the Classic era of Standard gauge.  These trains are brightly coloured, with lots of brass, and very loud in operation.  Bells ring and lights flash, creating a spectacle that kids of all ages enjoy!  These trains are just so much fun!  Here is an example of what I'd like to achieve, built by a collector in the U.S.

You can see more about this collector's layouts at The Great Train Room

There will also be a small 0 gauge layout here, 10' X 10' (3m X 3m) which already exists, but is currently stored elsewhere.  Eventually it will display Prewar era 0 gauge trains by Lionel, but prior to building the extension to the Trainbarn I am going to use it to show some of the trains built by Lionel after WW2.  These were different in character, with much greater use of plastics, and were extremely popular in the U.S.

Well, that's just a brief overview of what I hope to achieve!  There will be a lot more to see as well, and it will be constantly evolving.  See you there one day!

Making a start

The hardest thing about starting any project, particularly a big one, is taking the first step.  We bought the land for Whistlestop about 20 years ago, which was a fantastic start!  At the time though, we didn't really know what we were going to use it for, other than the fact that I felt it was suitable for my hoped-for museum, or at least it would make a good weekender.  When we bought it the property wasn't exactly prime real-estate.  It had been used for grazing sheep and cattle over the years, but a previous owner had made a very misguided attempt to improve it's grazing capacity by knocking over many of the mature gum-trees (eucalypts), which then allowed a lot of scrubby native tea-tree bushes to spring up and take over.  The picture below gives some idea of what we started with, but even this area is a lot more clear in the photo than when we bought the block.

Over the years we have gotten to know the property better. Many exploratory walks hacking through the scrub, getting scratched to pieces, gave me a much better idea of what I had to work with.  Some tracks have been cleared, although there is much, much more to do.  A site has been selected and cleared for our house, the building of which will commence early next year.  Somewhat more importantly for me though (I hope my wife doesn't read this!) I have mapped out the approximate course of what hopefully will be a very interesting route for the miniature steam railway that I plan to build (more about that later), and the site for the Toy Train Museum building, which I call the Trainbarn.  In Australia we don't have barns, we have sheds, but since this building is going to display American trains, I thought it should at least have an American-sounding name.

Although most of the planning has been done by walking around the property, I have found the Google Earth site to be extremely useful too.  The 'picture' of our block is reasonably current, and quite good resolution, so it's enabled me to get a much better overall perspective of the place.  I use the Ruler function to draw things like railway lines and buildings in their approximate positions- not what it's really intended for, but useful nevertheless.

After selecting the site for the Trainbarn, I have spent a lot of time clearing it ready for building, although there is still plenty to do.  As I do the clearing, new ideas come to mind- ideas that I totally hadn't thought about before starting the work.  That's how I like to do things, letting plans evolve as things progress.  But it's necessary to make a start first.

We need to provide parking space for guests to the museum, and as I cleared away more of the tea-tree scrub adjacent to the main track I 'discovered' a couple of good-sized gumtrees which I wanted to keep.  I love the Aussie bush, and gumtrees in particular, and I want the overall feeling of our place to be like a country park, with as many big trees and as much native bushland as possible, so I make every attempt to keep the existing trees, and have also planted many new ones.  Having found these trees I realised that there was just the right sized space between them and the main track for a small carpark, and space to build a native garden underneath them.  The photo below shows our car in the carpark, checking it for size, before we surfaced it.

I found the space a little tight to do a three point turn, so I widened it by a couple of feet to the left of the photo.  I then got a bobcat in to surface the carpark with deco- Decomposed Granite- which is a great hard surface that also allows rain to soak through for the tree roots.  I'll talk more about spreading the deco in another post, but suffice to say, I think those bobcat operators are amazing! Here's a photo of the just-completed carpark.

The next step is to get the required approvals for the Museum in general, and the construction of the Trainbarn building in particular, but I'm really happy with the progress so far.  A good start has been made!!

Interestingly, at the rear of the carpark in this photo, just beyond the big rock, you can just make out some white markers in the ground.   I am using these to mark out the route of the miniature railway line.  There will be a level crossing across the track, and a small station just to the right.

In the next post I'll talk more about the plans for the interior of the Trainbarn, and some details of the three main layouts that will be on display.

My Favorite Trains- Part 2 of a series of 10,000

I started collecting trains in the mid 80's, before that activity was as 'common' or accepted as it is now.  We often look back and wish that we had done things differently in days past, or taken better advantage of those earlier times, but the reality of the situation, for me anyway, was that trying to put together a collection wasn't as easy then as it is now.  I had the good fortune of acquiring a very nice collection of Hornby 0 gauge trains from a neighbour who had been a Hornby 'Boy' in the 30's, and this formed the nucleus of what has become a reasonable collection of Hornby trains from both pre and post WW2.  Before the advent of the internet, and collecting clubs, and swapmeets though, it was fairly slow going adding to the collection.

As the idea of building a Toy Train Museum that would be open to the public gathered momentum, I started thinking about what trains to feature.  What would people most like to see?  What trains would be the most practical to display, given that they might need to run for hours on end, without creating a maintenance nightmare.  What trains do I like best?  I soon realised that it just wasn't fair to expect trains that are in many cases more than 70 years old to be the mainstay of a public display.  They're fantastic for operation at home- superbly reliable really- and great for any of the weekend gatherings of collectors that regularly occur, but all day, every day would be asking a bit much, I think.

Somewhat ironically there are some modern versions of the old Hornby and Bassett-Lowke trains available now by companies such as Ace Trains, Bassett-Lowke (Hornby) and Darstaed which would be perfect for everyday running while still maintaining a vintage atmosphere, but by the time these were available I had already switched tracks towards another great train manufacturer, Lionel, in the U.S.  I definitely hope to show some of these wonderful British trains in the museum, but at a later date.

We are very fortunate in Australia that we have the option of picking the best of what is made overseas, as well as having a good choice of uniquely Australian items.  This applies in many areas, and particularly so for trains.  There are some wonderful Aussie products, and we have the choice of British, European or American items as well.  In days past though, there was a strong emphasis on 'Buy British' in every area of manufacturing, hence the most common trains available back then were Hornby and Tri-ang, both big British brands.  We also made Tri-ang under licence in Australia, now highly sought after.  But other items have always been available, too.  Lionel was never well known in Australia, but it most certainly was available, with dealers in most capital cities, at least.

Lionel is still very much in existance, and has been producing trains for nearly 110 years.  As you can imagine there has been an immense number made over the years and they are now highly collectable.  Because there are so many types, collectors divide them up into several categories- Prewar, Postwar and Modern era, amongst others.  Each era has it's own character and charm.  The Prewar trains tend to be mostly 'tinplate', ie made of metal and enameled in bright colours.  The Postwar, while still in many cases being called 'tinplate', are in fact made of die-cast metal and plastic.

Of course, as someone who has 'Never met a Train I didn't like', I really like them all!!  But you can't have them all, can you.  Well, at least not right away!  So I have decided to focus on the Prewar era Lionel trains for Phase 1 of my Toy Train Museum.  There will be several different layouts, each showing a different aspect of the Prewar trains.  One thing I particularly love about this era is all the wonderful accessories that were (and are) available.  There will be lots of flashing lights, ringing bells and big colourful, noisy trains!! 

Wait a minute, didn't I just say that I didn't think it was feasable to run old Prewar trains day in, day out? Yes, that's true.  What I discovered though, was that just about every old toy train that has ever existed in the U.S. has been reproduced by companies such as MTH Trains, and Lionel themselves.  These are very authentic copies of the old ones, but brand spanking new!!    They run, and sound and smell just like the old ones. So, it's these trains that I've chosen to run on my layouts at Whistlestop.  I think they will provide a spectacular display, and I absolutely can't wait to get started!!

What's in a name?

You might be wondering why I've chosen the name Whistlestop for this blog.  Apart from the obvious railway connotation, it's the name that I hope to call my Toy Train Museum, and is currently the 'unofficial' name of our property.  Unfortunately it seems I can't use the name for a business in Australia at the moment, as there is another business with a similar name already registered.  I may have to add another word to the name to get it registered, although I would prefer not to.

But why Whistlestop, though?

I grew up in Melbourne during the 60's and early 70's with an absolute passion for steam trains, but in reality I missed seeing steam in regular operation.  So when a small steam 'theme' park opened up in Frankston, not too far from where we lived, I thought it was just fantastic.  The main feature of this park was a 2' 6" gauge railway line that encircled the property, and on it ran the most delightful restored steam loco you are ever likely to see, named 'Carbon'.  It was built by the French company Couillet, and had spent it's working life at the West Melbourne Gasworks.  The name of the park was, of course, Whistle Stop. We didn't visit there as often as I would have liked, but it had a profound impact on my life, in a couple of different ways.

As a child I had been relatively content with my model railway, which was only 8' by 4' (2.4m x 1.2m)- but it was my 'world'.  I could do what I liked on it, and imagine all sorts of adventures.  But then at Whistle Stop, to see an attractive piece of Aussie bushland, complete with it's own narrow gauge steam railway owned by one family (I believe), well, it expanded my horizons enormously!  That's what I want to do, I thought!!  So, encouraged by various other positive influences whilst growing up, I made it my life's goal to create something similar.  Perhaps I didn't realise then that it would take so long before I could even properly start on this project, but that's ok.  The dreaming and planning is all part of the fun.

Whistle Stop also affected me in another way.  Try to find it now and you'll be disappointed.  At best, you will find a small public reserve of that name in the midst of a Melbourne suburb.  Yes, it closed down after only a few years, perhaps ten.  Whilst I'm obviously not fully familiar with the circumstances, the reason generally given is that Melbourne grew at such a rate that Whistle Stop soon found itself surrounded by new housing sub-divisions, which made it simply uneconomical and impractical to continue.  The park was closed, the line pulled up, and the locomotive Carbon was put into storage for many years.  I can hardly begin to imagine the disappointment of the owner and creator of Whistle Stop having to do that.

Whilst failure for any number of reasons is always possible, the loss of Whistle Stop, although hugely disappointing, was a valuable lesson for me, ie-  try to look ahead enough that wherever I select as a location for my Whistlestop it's not going to be consumed by suburban sprawl.  It's a bit of a juggling act though, to find a place where a sufficient number of people will visit, not too hard to find, but not too close to growing suburbs or towns.  So when we 'found' our property, now unofficialy named Whistlestop- approximately 130 acres of beaut Aussie bush in what I consider to be the perfect location- I was absolutely thrilled!!  How we 'found' it is a story for another time, though.

Now 'all' I have to do is build it.......................

My Favorite Trains- Part 1 of a series of 10,000

Like many people, I started off collecting what I had played with as a child.  My Uncle, who was the main train influence in my life, had given me a Lone Star Locos 000 gauge layout when I was about 2 or 3.  My first 'collector' layout was therefore a replica of this, built from memory.  Over the years I have been able to purchase a surprising number of Lone Star Locos items, many of which are as new, and still in their original boxes.

Lone Star Locos were made in the late 1950's- early 1960's, and were push-along.  The track gauge, I believe, was 8.5mm, making it very much the forerunner of N gauge, which came along soon after.  There was quite a nice variety of Rolling Stock and Accessories available and I have strong memories of going to a toy shop near where we lived and occasionaly being allowed to buy a new item.  A collector was born!!  Nowdays, of course, I have way more items than I could ever have dreamed of as a kid!

I must admit that even now I have trouble keeping the trains on the track!  With the fine flanges, small size of everything, and the need to push it along, I wonder how little kids coped with it.  Compare it, say, to any of the Thomas sets that little kids play with today, which have deep grooves in the track for the wheels to run in.

There is a small but very enthusiastic group of collectors who enjoy Lone Star.  In 2007 I had the great pleasure of visiting a museum at Whitewebbs, just north of London, where there was a very interesting display of all things Lone Star for the day.  Very nice people, great displays and lots of wonderful trains to buy at very reasonable prices.

There is a yahoo group called Treble 0 Gauge dealing with all aspects of Lone Star Trains, for anyone interested.

Some Toy Train websites

There are many wonderful websites that deal with Toy Trains, but here are a few of my favorites.

http://www.traincollectors.co.uk/
http://www.alresford-toy-trains.org.uk/
http://www.nttmuseum.org/
www.thirdrail.com/ttrgreat.htm

So, what is a Toy Train, anyway?

Simply put, a Toy Train is one that was intended to be played with by a child.  Nowdays that tends to conjure up images of a brightly-coloured, cheaply made plastic set that might run for a short while before breaking, and being consigned to the back of the toy cupboard.  This was not always the case, though.  Toy Trains built prior to the 1970's, or thereabouts, were superbly made, and built to last.  Even trains at the lower end of the price range were well made, and in many cases when found just need a quick oiling and check-over, and will run as well as they did when new.

The most common brands that we had in Australia were Hornby Dublo- made by the Meccano company, and Tri-ang- made by the Lines group.  Today these trains are very collectable, as long as they are in good condition. We'll discuss condition and values in a future post.  In the United States the most common toy train brands were Lionel and American Flyer.  There were, of course, many, many, others.

To illustrate two 'extremes' of what Toy Trains are, here are some examples from my collection.  The first picture is a Lone Star Locos diesel, made in the early 1960's in 000 gauge. It is comparable in size to today's N gauge, and is made from die-cast metal, as is pretty much everything that Lone Star made. It was my very first train-set!  It is operated 'digitally', ie you push it along with your finger!  Later on Lone Star also made powered models.

The second picture is of a Standard Gauge Lionel 408E electric locomotive.  It is HUGE, and has two motors. This one is a very authentic reproduction made by MTH trains, and again it's all metal with a beautiful baked enamel finish.  Note the three-rail tinplate track that it runs on.

Another aspect of Toy Trains is the way in which they are collected, and displayed.  Some collectors don't run their trains at all, but are happy to have them displayed on shelves.  Collectors who wish to run their trains usually have a large table, perhaps painted green, with various loops of track on which they can run several trains at once, around and around.  You might notice in the photo above that to run this train I just set up a square of carpet outside and built a circle of track!  Not my favorite way of doing things, though! There is no attempt to copy real railway operation.  One of the really fun things about toy trains is that there are no 'rules'!!  Whatever you enjoy doing yourself is the best!

In order to further define what Toy Trains are, it is necessary to differentiate them from another huge hobby- that is Railway Modelling.  Railway Modellers largely try to recreate a railway and scenes from real life, in miniature.  Building scenery is important.  Whereas Toy Trains are best left in a totally unmodified condition- as they left the factory- Railway Modellers will often modify locomotives and rolling stock to make them better represent the real thing.  Railway Modellers also like to operate their trains in a similar fashion to the real thing, definitely not just going around in circles!!  I have enormous respect for Railway Modellers and their creations, but it's not what I'm chosing to do myself.  I am definitely of the green-painted table, "Plywood Central", school!!

There are many, many superb trains made today by companies such as Hornby and Bachmann in the UK, and Austrains, Auscision and Trainorama in Australia, but they are highly detailed models, and are not primarily intended to be 'played' with.  They can still be collected, but would not be classed as Toy Trains.  Of course the boundaries of what is a Toy and what is a Model have become extremely blurred these days, in which case we revert to Rule 1, which says there are no rules.  It's a hobby, and we're free to choose whichever direction we want!!

Welcome to Whistlestop!

If you are reading this blog- perhaps attracted by the name 'Whistlestop'- there is a fair chance that, like me, you have more than a passing interest in trains- whether full-size, model, or somewhere in-between.  Anything that runs on rails!  I've had a passion for all things 'train' ever since I was very young, and this has evolved into a very enjoyable hobby of collecting what I call Toy Trains.  You could perhaps define Toy Trains as the trains we had when we were kids- in my case Hornby Dublo- but I will talk more about what exactly collecting Toy Trains is in future blogs.

As a collector, I very much enjoy seeing not only what other people have collected, but I enjoy finding out why they collect certain items, and seeing how they display them.  I love visiting museums- whether they are a bloke's backyard shed where his collection is stored, or any of the fantastic open-air museums displaying all manner of items in a living, realistic setting.  I have always dreamt of developing a museum of my own, and the idea gradually dawned on me that a museum of Toy Trains would be a lot of fun to build, as well as being reasonably interesting for others to visit.  So, this blog is about the twists and turns, the ups and downs, of putting together a collection of Toy Trains and developing the various facilities needed to display them in a meaningful and enjoyable way.

I am approaching what we call in Australia a 'Tree-change'- perhaps another way of saying it would be semi-retirement (but I hate the R word!!)- where I can put behind me the career that I have been involved in for most of my adult life, and finally do the things I've always really wanted to do!  For me this also involves a major move from an Island Paradise to the Aussie Bush!! 

For the next few months, as we pack and prepare, I'll be writing about 'The Story So Far'.  Stories about finding trains, the trains themselves, buying the land for the museum, and progress so far.  Next year though, we'll be moving into un-charted territory!!  Building the Museum!!  There is absolutely no guarrantee that things will go smoothly, or even work out at all, and I'll be writing about the successes, as well as the, shall we say, not so successful times.  It is said that a train trip is not so much about getting to the destination, but enjoying the journey itself, and so it is with this train trip through life.

I hope you enjoy reading this, as much as I enjoy writing it.  I welcome your comments.