About Me


As a lifelong railway enthusiast, I have spent the past three decades exploring the railway lines of Australia and New Zealand while photographing in some distant corners Down Under. There is perhaps no greater acknowledgement of my railfanning exploits than my book 30 Years Chasing Trains.

The 100-page full colour book is a photographic memoir full of images that span my early years of train watching when growing up in Gosford, NSW, to life as a dad, regularly stopping the car to photograph trains whenever we holidayed as a family. I'm forever indebted to the patience of my wife and children on many a hot summers day!

2015 was the year that I launched the Philden Model Railway blog, a simple side project to document my journey into the world of Australian HO scale railway modelling. It was also the year that my book Train Tripping Coastal Queensland, was nominated in the travel guide section for the 2015 Global eBook of the Year Awards. Here I am a decade later with six self-published Philden Model Railway books to my name.

Me taking a rest in the forests in the south of Western Australia while riding the Pemberton Tramway.

For a self-published writer and self-taught photographer, the years that followed would see me research, travel to and photograph many historic railway stations and disappearing rural landscapes throughout the country. The books that I have proudly self-produced have all been a reflection of that inner peace a writer enjoys through the freedom of working independently and being able to oversee the project without compromise.

From book tours along Australia's east coast, to being a convention keynote speaker, my love affair with trains has never waned throughout a writing career that stretches back 36 years.

As the keynote speaker at the 2023 British Railway Modellers Convention in Brisbane, Australia.

Completing the series of six Philden Model Railway books left me mentally and financially drained, and you can read about my decision to retire from writing over on my Author Blog. The behind-the scenes costs of constructing and documenting the model railway projects for each book, and then producing, self-funding, publishing and distributing the finished titles at the expense of any regular income, may take some time to fully recover from.

Creatively I gave the project my all, but in 2024 I returned to full-time study in photography in an attempt to reinvent myself creatively and explore some other artistic interests away from the subjects of railways and model trains. So, it would seem ironic that the first photo competition I would win not long after completing a Visual Arts Certificate, was for a photo of a railway station.

Who knows where my photography career may lead me now, but you can follow its progress on phillcreations.blogspot.com.

My model railway interests in 2024 have returned to simply being a hobby that provides me with a few moments of escape from the rigors of life. My modelling interests are divided between HO scale in the relatively modern era of Australia's east coast rail operations, and the charm and nostalgia of OO9 scale modelling in the Welsh Highlands narrow gauge preservation scene. However, there will always be a little bit of Philden to share here, on the Philden Model Railway Blog. I hope you'll stay along with me for the ride.

Cheers!
Phill O

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Printed copies are available exclusively through Blurb and eBooks on Apple's iTunes store.

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