Introduce Yourself

Hello everyone,

Now I will preface by saying, I'm not confident on my writing skills on the best of days with grammer and structure. So I’ve used AI assistance to help me proof read and make adjustments to my introduction. Ive had times where what Ive writen in some way has sounded confusing to others. SO hopefully with AI. This will flow more smoothly.....So here we go.

I’ve been a member of the website for a while and have lingered around from time to time. But now I have a moment to properly introduce myself.

So my name is Shannon. I live in the southeast suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, which is a state southeast of the continent. I first got into OO live steam around the end of 2002 when a retiree was selling some OO live steam locomotives for a widowed friend of his. The first set I purchased was a double tender Flying Scotsman and Mallard starter set.

All seemed in good order until I had the chance to learn how to run them. The Mallard set ran as it should. But the A3 seemed to work fine, but there was no throttle response. This is when my skills of dismantling and repairs from the many years I worked as a BMW spare parts specialist, dismantler, and apprentice mechanic kicked in. I found that the throttle rod was broken. Luckily, the same gentleman had another Flying Scotsman, which he sold to me at half price to make up for it, and the rest was history.

After a while, I was scouring the web and became acquainted with a fellow in England who had a lot of spare parts from these models he had collected, stripped, or repaired. He helped me immensely, and our conversations provided invaluable information that I couldn’t find elsewhere. Through these discussions, I gained practical knowledge, learning tips and tricks that helped me build on my self-taught skills and service these models properly.

I’ve slowly but surely built up a collection of locomotives I’m happy with. Over time, I purchased a few more Mallard sets and another A3 set to service and later sell. Eventually, I became more confident with the ins and outs of these models, refining my ability to maintain them. What’s been most rewarding is bringing new life into these models, especially since I didn’t know how they were cared for or stored during their time in use. I focused on restoring them so that the next collector could enjoy a model that runs as though it were new. By doing this, I've been able to add other examples to my collection as well.

Apart from that, I’ve got plans to build an exhibition layout like the club members who display these models at train shows in the UK. I want to display them here on my end of the globe. Surprisingly, since I first learned about these models when Hornby first introduced them, I’ve yet to see anyone exhibit them. So, I plan to change that.

Now, for a twist in this introduction. Even though I own these wonderful models, I am by no means an English prototype modeller. It was never something that excited me. In fact, I started financially supporting this hobby by purchasing N-scale American locomotives, as that is where my interests lay. But now, 18 years later, I still have the American N-scale models, though they went through many phases of culling and collecting. Then, when the pandemic happened and my career in the automotive trade ended, I found myself working in retail at a model train shop.

Thanks to this new career path, the model railroader in me wanted more. And in short, I now model many scales I have time for. Bit ironic, in a sense, since most people don’t like having their job as a hobby. Where I, on the other hand, ended up being the opposite of the norm. So, in saying that, I’ll list below what I collect, apart from OO live steam, so you members can better gauge the kind of modeller I am:

• N Scale American: This is the prototype that got its teeth into me at a young age when my grandfather introduced me to the hobby. While he introduced the hobby to me in HO, I started investing in N-scale due to space limitations for a decent layout.

• N Scale Australian, Victorian: The HO equivalent sparked this interest, and it is the reason the American prototypes took a back seat. This began when I started my new job after events during the pandemic.

• HO Scale Australian, Victorian Prototype: The first few days on the new job, I was taken aback by a model released at the time, which reminded me of fond memories from my childhood. But I don’t have the space for this scale. All it did was make me search for the N-scale equivalent and chase that direction. Later on, when I started making new friends and attending a couple of clubs, I thought I’d start investing so I had something to run. This is what started my investment in HO.

• O Scale Tin Plate Clock Work: I’ve only got a couple of examples, but I enjoy the history and workings of these. I guess it’s the tinkerer in me that made me purchase these.

• HOn3 American Prototype: By chance, something had popped up on social media that made me look into this. So, I started to invest in it, thinking it would suit my desire to model American narrow gauge. I fell in love with narrow gauge earlier on when I was modelling in N-scale American.

• Nn3: Because of my interest in American prototypes, I’d always wanted a layout in this scale when I first saw narrow gauge railroads. But rarity and funds prevented this until an opportunity presented itself a few years ago. And funny enough, this all happened after I acquired some HOn3 items. Luckily, it was only a handful of items to begin with, so it’s on the back burner for now.

• O Scale 3-foot Narrow Gauge American: I only have a DRG&W K36 and a wagon. At the moment, the loco is sitting on a piece of track I hand-laid as a display and learning experience. This was an impulse buy, but having a brass piece of this size just called out to me, and I had to have it.

• Hornby TT120: I can say this was probably another impulse buy. At the time, I told myself that if I had TT, I could better promote it to fellow modellers who wanted hands-on advice about the scale.

• Z Scale: This was never a scale I planned on acquiring. Mainly, the prices of locomotives and rolling stock scared me, and there was very little in the prototype I wanted. But now, I’ve managed to get a layout and some trains, even though the European prototype is not something that excites me.

But besides all that, even though I don’t model the English prototype, I love these models. I think mainly because of how they work, the engineering, and the design that made them a reality.

Now, apart from all that, from a perspective away from model railways, I’ve been married for 6 years with 4 boys. My oldest is from a past relationship and is 11, and the younger three are with my wife, aged 5, 3, and 1.5 years. (Yes, they love the model trains.) And before anyone asks, “How does my wife put up with it?” I have no idea. If I figure it out, I’ll share it with the world!

I used to work in the automotive trade until the pandemic. Unfortunately, that all ended when I lost my job due to the circumstances. Luckily, I was looking for part-time work to make ends meet, and when it all came to a point where I was hired for part-time, I started working full-time. I started my own small business a bit more than a year ago doing 3D printing. It’s still early days, but things seem to be moving along quite well. A lot of the skills I’ve acquired over the years have mostly been self-taught through tinkering and making mistakes. Not to say that I didn’t take courses in my past career to learn more about automotive repairs and such or search the web when I needed answers. But I’d say I’ve made myself resourceful when I need it. I’ve always been a hands-on learner, regardless. My childhood curiosity of dismantling things and understanding how they worked formed the foundation of my learning process.

So there you have it. I don’t know what else I could possibly tell you members about me, but I’m sure there’s enough of a "biography" above that would start many conversations in the future.

Thanks to life’s teachings and the opportunities that arose, I now have a small collection of OO live steam that I enjoy when the time permits. Tinkering with these models has taught me enough to confidently do repairs, and if anyone local to me needs help, I’d be happy to assist.

Ultimately, my goal is to reintroduce OO live steam to the public in the exhibition circuit and to show the younger generation the designs and engineering that have come and gone. Hopefully, this will inspire them to collect or, looking into the future, bring new life and reintroduce it to the mainstream hobby.

So, I’ll finish this up by saying thank you for reading my post. I hope I didn’t bore you with it. Feel free to say hello—friendships come about in weird and wonderful ways if that’s what comes of it.

Thanks again.

Below is a photo of my current collection.