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.......................
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