It Seemed like a Good Idea at the Time…
In the first half of 2018, I approached an acquaintance to ask if he’d mind if I visited his home to take a look at his layout. The layout is quite possibly unique because it’s South Australian outline, built to 1:48 scale. While this is not a scale or prototype I model, I’d had a desire to see it in person for a couple of years after hearing the owner (Brian) talk about it in a presentation at one of the Aus7 Modellers’ Group’s Sydney O scale forums.
The layout isn’t actually located in South Australia, but in our nation’s capital which, according to Google, is 1159km from Adelaide, so it’s a long way from its spiritual home. Both Brian and his wife Fran are regular attendees at the O scale forums and, while I’d spoken to them briefly on a number of occasions over the years, I wouldn’t claim we were close friends. However, when you work in a minority scale and prototype (and you don’t get much more minority than being, to my knowledge, one of the very few SAR outline O scale modellers) you take your modelling friends where you find them, I suppose.
Brian and Fran are extremely friendly and readily agreed to the visit, even offering to
