After growing up in Victoria, my employment took me all over the country before I finished up back in the city of my birth. However, it was during my time in Queensland that I decided that when the time was right, I'd relocate to the Sunshine state.
As a child, I had an insatiable interest in trains. This culminated on one fantastic Christmas morning, when a beautiful Hornby train set was waiting for me under the tree. Having a grandfather who formerly worked for the Victorian Railways was a bonus, and every chance I got; I would quiz him on all thing's trains. My paternal grandparents lived near the Newmarket stock yards, and I vividly remember sitting on a fence post, for hours on end, watching the shunting of stock wagons across Ascot Vale Road: Ls and Ms, smelly, noisy; and every now and then, a LL or an MM. I can't remember seeing any other kids doing that. Sometimes I got lucky and scored a ride in the locomotive cab or the van.
My first proper layout was Marlee Junction that featured in issue 290 of AMRM. Constructed over a period of 10 years, it was about 97% complete, when the move north was realised. This layout was then dismantled and sold. Based on the Mansfield line in North-eastern Victoria, it featured wide open scenery and continuous running.
After I purchased a house in North Queensland, in 2017, a return to the wonderful hobby of model railways was not far from my thoughts. I started planning and scheming, initially rather modestly. But one thing was a given: I wanted to move to O scale (1:48) and model my memories of the Victorian Railways.
But where? I wanted somewhere a bit different that combined wide open spaces with operational interest. Somewhere that had large infrastructure, such as long bridges, loco depots, and junction stations. Then it came to me, why not Casterton in South-western Victoria? A 46km-long branch line that was opened in 1884 and closed in 1977.
During my early teens, my grandparents retired to Casterton with a property on
