Cann River

Modelling Background

y first foray into model trains was receiving a HO scale Lima train set one Christmas in the early 1970s. It was the classic circle of track, and a little 0-4-0 and four wagons. A neighbourhood friend of mine had an N scale English layout of which I saw great potential for space vs scenery. After convincing my father that I needed to change scales, I began making N scale bridges out of matchsticks. I started out on my N scale journey with some American passenger cars from Rivarossi painted red and a Baltimore and Ohio E8 painted in Victorian Railways (VR) blue and gold livery. As my modelling skills improved, I managed to ‘cut and shut’ the E8 to the correct length for a VR S class. I accomplished a similar operation with two E8s to make a B class. Articles in AMRM written by Tony Scott in the 80s inspired me to seriously model VR in N scale . The early Aust-N-Rail GYs and their other early kits kept my roster growing, but there were still many gaps. While attending the AMRA Box Hill exhibition I was fortunate to meet Chris Pearce and saw his Spirit Design VR E and W passenger cars. I was convinced to stay with N scale and keep growing my layout. I joined the Victorian N Scale Collective, where I met