Celebrating the 50,000 Milestone!

Overnight this blog passed the 50,000 hit mark, which is not too bad considering that I only started blogging the step-by-step updates of Philden's construction in May 2015. While I may only be building a small bookshelf model railway layout, it seems fair to say that I've somehow managed to build a somewhat bigger model train blog, (my own page views of course are disabled). So to celebrate, I sent in a last minute pre-order for a set of Auscision Models NODY wagons. Picking out a set of NCTY Tubemakers Structural open wagons with the steel cradles I think is a giveaway as to what new industry I will build on my upper level expansion. With the price of models only expected to climb in the very near future, I thought the special pre-order price of $230 with free postage will be money well spent. They'll look fantastic behind my Freight Rail 86 class electric as they are shunted into the shed road coming off the new station.

Overnight I also received notice of another approaching milestone, its been almost 6 months since I released my book 30 Years Chasing Trains. It only feels like the other day that I was asking fellow blogger Mathew Hughes for some tips on where to shoot some photos of trains during my trip to Newcastle, (and sitting through the 62-0 drubbing the Knights received at Hunter Stadium at the hands of Cronulla!). Although I haven't spoken at length about my book before now, basically I sat down over a year ago to sort through 30 years of my own train photography, realising of course that 2016 marked 30 years since I first ventured track side with my a camera as a 14 year old kid on a BMX bike. Since those days, I've managed to travel the entire east coast of Australia by train and have even ventured across the ditch to NZ to chase trains with my camera.

The book became a 100 page full colour photographic memoir of a train chaser presented in 8 x 10 inch high quality paper. Having been rejected by many of the established railway publishers here in Australia because it didn't fall into an era or location specific genre, I pushed on and published it myself anyway, as a tribute for 10 years of sacrificing a decent working salary while trying to establish myself as a full-time writer. In a sense it was my way of ending a career on my own terms, doing something I've loved on a subject I've always loved. Trains. The book is presented in state-by-state chapter form covering Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand, with the cost being kept to only $35 Australian plus postage. The book is printed and ships from Melbourne, London or San Francisco, depending on what country you order from. Watch for regular discount promotions that Blurb run on their websites and you could save between 20% to 40% when adding the promotional code at checkout. I've yet to see any other similar Australian railway book produced for that price. If you're not into online shopping however, Alcoworld in Sydney now stocks the book, as does Model Train Buildings at various model railway exhibitions here in Australia and the Driving Creek Tourist Railway in New Zealand.

Available now through Blurb. 100 full colour 8" x 10" pages.

Until next time, safe travels, and happy modeling.