VALE

It is with deep regret that we record the unexpected death of Allan Brown in his home.

Allan lived a simple life, living in the same home for almost 75 years, having a handful of motor cars, basically one job and enjoyed his own company. By his own words, he was a loner. Yet his modelling skills and his personality touched so many in the model railway hobby that his legacy will remain for years.

Allan was the eldest child of Harold and Doris (Dot) Brown. Around the time Allan started school the family moved into a new cottage in an estate on the outskirts of Hurstville. Shortly after, Pam (Allan's sister), arrived. Allan was schooled locally, passing the Intermediate Certificate and, after of few minor jobs joined the Department of Motor Transport, spending much of his time at the Roseberry headquarters. Not enjoying the merger with the Department of Main Roads, he took early retirement and devoted himself to his model railway hobby.

From the proceeds of early post-school employment, in 1954, he splurged on a Hornby–Dublo three-rail Duchess of Montrose set that was quickly fixed to the obligatory 6 ft x 3 ft plywood board. Three years later steady employment and ready cash permitted him to sell the three-rail layout and begin to venture into the two-rail Hornby–Dublo; this steadily overtook available space in, of all things, the garden shed.

In 1963 a small backyard shed, a meagre 3.5 m x 2.6 m in size was built; this quickly became crowded with loops, sidings, stations, loco depots, storage, etc. to the point that the operating space became very limited. However, for