Changing dates, plans, circumstances

Hands up those who will be lucky enough to exhibit a layout at a model train show this year?

Now hands up those who were planning to, only to have plans change due to life or exhibitions being cancelled or postponed until next year?

Just like my previous incarnation of Philden, I decorated the layout's framework with some relatively inexpensive stick-on vinyl lettering I bought from a seller on eBay.

My hand has gone up for the second question. After realising that my layout was not near ready enough to attend this year's Bundaberg Model Train & Hobby Expo in March, (subsequently cancelled), the next show to be postponed for another year is the Toowoomba Model Train & Hobby Expo that was scheduled for June. With the prospect of even further shows being called off as the year unfolds due to ongoing uncertainty, there now seems no point in my rushing to complete the final touches for me to exhibit Philden Street Yard. Not when the year has thrown a curve ball or two our way up here on the Sunshine Coast.

Cancelled model train shows aside, there is a sense of hilarity to the bad luck that seems to be hampering any real progress on my layout of late. It's only February, and already this year I've had to contend with contracting Covid over my summer holidays and watching our small business take a huge hit as a result. Having my model railway blog hacked by a crime syndicate that sent me a ransom note the next morning. A weekend spent recovering from a bad reaction to my Covid Booster shot, followed immediately by an emergency trip to the dentist after having a corner of my tooth break loose. And now it seems we'll soon be faced with the task of packing house and moving. None of which is really conducive to working on the layout or my next book!

Why a crime syndicate wanted to hijack a model railway blog is beyond me, but it took a full evening to gain backdoor access to my own blog, reset passwords and deny access to the host who was doing all the damage from an iPhone right here in Australia. It then took two full days to restore all the links on my blog which had been redirected to Alibaba and Eastern European lighting stores! And the person had the cheek to email me with the header "I'm the one who accessed your website last night, please pay..." naturally I didn't open the email to read the rest. Both my blogs are now protected by a second level of security requiring mobile phone code authentication before being able to log in. But for a moment I had no control over Philden Model Railway as the person had reset all the administration functions and commenced redirecting all the web traffic elsewhere. Thankfully that's now all behind me.

The timing of having to move is equal parts good, bad and to be expected. We've been sharing a house with our son and daughter-in-law while they saved up for a house of their own. Now they're about to take their next big step in life leaving my wife Denise and I to finally become empty-nesters! But after a year which has seen our business decrease 50% on account of my wife being unable to work since last March with a long term back complaint, having your landlord wanting to raise the rent $165 per week is a bit much. It seems that all over Australia we're not alone. Rent, fuel, everything is going up. The challenge will now be to find something a little smaller and a lot more affordable by mid-year. Once again, my bookshelf layout concept will need to prove itself resilient in the face of yet another house move.

The finishing touches of decor being applied to Philden Street Yard.

Anyway, enough with the negativity. The finishing touches to the layout's decor had just been put in place and everything was looking good for the layout to make its exhibition debut this year. I bought some custom cut vinyl stick-on lettering and motifs on eBay over my summer of having Covid, as it was the only activity I felt up to doing. I lined them up to decorate the front fascia of my small layout with names of towns in Victoria where freight trains would have operated to in the late 1990's to early 2000's. It gives the layout a sense of place and helps create the illusion that the staging yard is more than a place to just park my trains. The large Philden St. motif on the end panel lends the boxy appeareance of the layout a little bit of home decor. Instead of making the layout feel more at home however, I now need to get the clear perspex front panel cut to size solely to protect the layout when we move house.

The end decor motif met with the wife's approval.

It also heightens my frustration with pre-orders for people who rent. I'm now sweating on the arrival of my Indigenous NR Class locos before I have to start packing up my layout and boxing up my model trains. With the Freight Australia G Class already earmarked as my next locomotive acquisition for Philden Street, I guess I'll probably be getting my pre-order sent to my Son's house as I don't know when it will come out, or where we will next be living for that matter. They're all small nuances I know, but still...

My journey around Victoria on a 3.3 metre long model railway... Wodonga - Tocumwal - Shepparton - Deniliquin - Echuca - Swan Hill - Bendigo - Boort - Mildura - Ouyen - Philden Street Yard - Geelong - Dimboola - Warrnambool.

It may only be February, but plans for the year keep changing each and every week. The only certainty is that I have an already booked trip to Uluru over Easter to look forward to. Denise and I booked that last year as our 50th Birthday presents to each other. We'll nicely get to do that short holiday before we have to return and house hunt in earnest. A lock-up garage and a living area big enough to house the layout is a must!

The finished fascia lettering leaves only the warehouse roof and Philden Street overpass and the two partly-constructed buildings to complete.

Maybe the second half of the year will find me with some new stories to tell, a layout that is finished, and an exhibition that will actually go ahead. Who knows? It feels like a lot can happen between now and the end of the year! For now, I really need to get to work on completing my next two books...

Cheers!