I've come to realise that building and running model trains is in fact almost certainly one of the most difficult, broad-range hobbies one can have.

You need to know some basic electrical engineering and maintenance for wiring up track power and maintaining locomotives and in recent times with the introduction of Digital Command Control (DCC), some programming and software manipulation skills would be advantageous. You need to develop artistic skills for weathering, building scenery and combining separate pieces made of various materials into one recognised looking item. You need to be able to work with timber so you can build the structure upon which your model train layout will be constructed and if you want to include budgeting, you need some financial management skills, because this stuff is getting expensive – nah forget that bit.

What other hobby is simultaneously so challenging and yet so fulfilling?

Saltwater Creek Railroad is HO scale and deliberately focuses on Australian and to a greater extent, Western Australian trains and infrastructure including landscaping and scenery. There is also a strong emphasis on locomotives past and present that relate to the Pilbara mining region of Western Australia. Unfortunately, most of these locomotives are not produced in HO scale with the related liveries such as Mt Newman Mining, Hamersley Iron, Robe, Rio Tinto and others, which means if I want to add it to the collection, I have to buy similar locomotives with differing liveries, strip the existing paint and repaint, add decals to suit and often install a DCC sound decoder. This results sometimes having slight differences and variations from prototypical, however I find that seeking perfection is never as smart as making progress.

All locomotives in the collection (80+), have ESU Loksound sound decoders installed and operate on the layout controlled by an ESU Command Control unit. All outdoor and indoor scenery lighting is LED equipped, housing and buildings have a 1970’s rural appearance and motor vehicles generally fit into the 70’s or earlier. There are three Magnorail double tracks in operation, one being a cycle path, a taxi cab circuit between ranks and a motor vehicle circuit through the town’s buildings.

The layout is always changing and to that affect, it never reaches a point of completion…so be it!