Layouts are only 10% materials, the other 90% is Men/Women

With apologies to the late Harold Clapp! I reckon individuals who seek to make in three dimensions a scale operating version of what exists in the real world are special. No matter how good or bad the result, I "dips me lid" to anyone who has tried to model a layout. And I know I am guilty sometimes of forgetting that behind layouts are real people all with their own interests and challenges of time, resource and capability, as has been my own experience. It's been a real pleasure to meet and have some of these people visit "Glenburn" since starting a few years ago, particularly as many of them live far away, so the opportunity is rare. Earlier visits to this far flung outpost of VR modelling up North have included John Dennis, Bruce McLean, John Page, Bob Gallagher, Ian Weickhardt, Graeme Houghton and Grant Djung.

............and I wish I had taken a picture on those occasions to include here!

Here's a couple of visitors over the last few weeks:

James McInerney & Louise Smithers of AMRM
- James is the builder behind the seminal "Lambing Flat" layout, and Louise is his very patient Production Assistant for his AMRM work. Here they are during a short break during a fairly intense photo session for an upcoming "In Progress" article on Glenburn in AMRM.

Brett Whelan and family (and one of my children!).
- Brett works mostly in Proto48 and is one of the finest modellers I know. Pretty much a 100% scratchbuilder, the quality and precision of Brett's work is literally astounding. Ian Weickhardt put us in touch when he realised we were modelling very similar fields, albeit in different scales. People who model this aspect of the VR are pretty thin on the ground, so it was great to spend some time with him and his family while they were passing through Sydney recently.

In early December Peter Ennis and Iain Stuart, both long time VR modellers, dropped over for a general cud-chew on matters VR, and to share some of our modelling. Given we're all many kilometres from people of like interest, this was a rare and enjoyable treat. Here's the three of us:

L-R: Peter Ennis, self, Iain Stuart

And here's Peter's PSM DDE providing a window into a "What if" earlier era on "Glenburn":