2024 - a transition of layouts and farewell

Prior to Christmas I officially farewelled my former HO scale Australian shelf layout Philden Beach. As you read this post it is probably being set-up in its new home in Newcastle, NSW which is ironic given my North Coast themed layout will have travelled from one end of the North Coast line in Brisbane to the other.

The cement unloading siding for the cement hoppers that never arrived.

My final look at Philden Beach was of an empty yard with the balance of my rollingstock now on eBay.

Selling the layout, I now know how an artist must feel to watch a prized painting walk out the door of an art gallery. It was an incredibly proud moment to give the new owner a walk-through of how the layout packs down for an exhibition and to help him load it into his car. Then just like that, it was gone, and I was left staring at a now blank wall in our loungeroom. Given that my wife and I can now have fun shopping for the right TV stand and discussing how to return our living space into something other than a model train room, it is safe to say that my era of modelling in Australian HO scale is over.

Fortunately, I had trains up and running on Bryn Nadolig just prior to the departure of Philden Beach. Here is my Bachmann Mainline Hunslet 'Linda' captured along with Santa on Christmas Eve.

In its place, I have Bryn Nadolig operational and sitting proudly atop the two IKEA cabinets that will move into place along the hallway wall. The 1150 mm x 550 mm little layout effectively becomes the new horizon of my model railway world. Hardly a newsworthy affair. Barely even enough to be the subject of a blog.

So, as great as my fictional Welsh Highlands layout is proving to be, moving into 2025 I'll be taking a break from blogging on Philden Model Railway as I transition into this next phase of life.

The New Year calls for a return to work after effectively being self-employed for the past decade and coincides with bringing to an end 10 years of blogging my HO scale Australian model train journey. Through this blog, I have been able to self-publish a set of 6 model railway how-to books, exhibit my layout/layouts at 10 different model train shows and even have the original Philden layout grace the cover of Australian Model Railway Magazine. Not bad as a side project for a novelist who took a break from writing back in 2015 only to produce a further 16 railway and model train books.

That journey is now over.

Just as I did this time last year on my Phillip Overton Author blog, it's time to sign-off on Philden Model Railway. Personal life changes hold no interest beyond family and friends, and with no new layout projects planned for the foreseeable future I can just concentrate on reinventing myself and enjoy watching some OO-9 gauge Welsh steam locomotives turn laps whenever I want to. Simple and uncomplicated. Unlike maintaining a blog, editing photos, writing books and feeling that your life worth is only ever measured in sales, likes and negative comments. It can be a brutal path to put your name out there publicly, even within something as seemingly innocent as a hobby. There have been some lifelong friends that I have made through this shared interest of things that run on rails, but for the large part, kind words and support are often as far apart as train stations on the Nullabor Plain. After a while it drains you of any interest in continuing with another blog post, YouTube clip or even writing an article for a model railway magazine.

Farewell from Philden Beach!

Finally, to all my loyal readers, to those who have taken the time to email, come up and said hi at a model train show or simply give a like on my YouTube channel, thank you! Your interest is what has kept this blog going for the past 10 years. If circumstances ever change and I embark on a new small layout project, then it will be a surprise when you see a new post pop up here. But for the large part it's goodbye. Thanks for being there from the beginning back in May 2015, and best of luck with your own model railway adventures! I hope I have left behind more than I have taken from this great hobby.

All my best! Over and out.

Phillip Overton

28 December 2024