I have been interested in railways and model railways all my life. I went through the stages of a Hornby O Gauge clockwork train, then an OO Scale Tri-ang electric train set. I started modelling New South Wales Railways in 1965 while attending university. This continued off and on for many years through marriage in 1975 and a new house and then a long period of inactivity with a young family. My son (for some reason) also grew up to love trains. He has grown up now, but still lives at home. We are jointly working on the construction of an On30 layout in a purpose built shed in the back yard. He also has an N Scale layout and an F Scale Garden Railway under development. I was employed as an industrial chemist (food technologist)for 32 years with the same company but left that position in 1999. I then worked for Queensland Railways as Curator of their Heritage Collection and the development of The Workshops Rail Museum (TWRM), Ipswich. I joined TWRM in 2002 when Queensland Museum took over ownership of the Museum. I was awarded the 2006 Queensland Museum Scholarship and spent 5 weeks in the UK studying railway museums and heritage railways.