QR @ Pinkenba

This period was a little blurry, I wasn't sure how, what, where and when to get started with my journey. I was in a team meeting with my manager and was going through a rough time outside of work with my beloved father-in-law who was ill at the time and my manager attuned to this, decided to switch the meeting up and shift the focus onto us as individuals moving away from corporate discussions.  I had previously mentioned to the team  So how did I get here  and my manager asked how things were progressing, and I mentioned I had "blocker" this is what we call items that stop us from producing outputs for software releases. He mentioned had I thought about going to a train show to break the ic e on the topic which I had no idea these existed, it turned out there was going to be one up at Bundy. 23 March – 24 March 2024 Bundaberg Multiplex Sports & Convention Centre Civic Avenue Bundaberg West Unfortunately, due to personal reasons I did not make this event. What's t...

Being in the Information Technology and software domain, I have methodologies to help guide practice to achieve goals and I wasn't sure how to start this process with a model railway layout. Sure, I could just go into a shop and buy a heap of stuff I didn't know what I was buying and then end up realizing I have bought the wrong thing or never actually use it properly, so I was little stumped where to start. Going to the library is a little time consuming these days as most local libraries are more like community hubs and sometimes information is not available in their catalogues resulting in a blind book purchase. The Queensland State Archives was a consideration, but that would have been a bit of day trip and time off work to try and coordinate, and I would need to renew my passport to travel 😁. So, I turned to everybody's trusted source Google,  quickly I become overwhelmed with the number of possibilities, acronyms, forums and videos of various viewpoints. Then I remem...

My youngest came to me one day and said "Dad, you need a hobby!". At first I wasn't sold, and replied, "I already have a hobby, I play computer games" to which I was advised that's not a hobby. But when I sat down and considered this idea over cup of coffee, I thought wow, all the kids are grown up now and maybe it is time to carve out some time just for me and focus on something I can use to relax outside of work and have fun at the same time outside of having a few drinks and watching footy. So off to Google I went. After googling around for a couple weeks, I stumbled upon model rail as a topic and was hooked instantly and down the rabbit hole I went. When I decided to announce I had found my new hobby, I think it may have backfired as I think the youngest had hoped I would take up something else to get me out of the house on weekends instead of my fortress of solitude where my gaming console lives. All jokes aside, the family have been my biggest support...

Hello and welcome to my blog. This will be the space, where I try to model a period of history in Queensland. The Queensland Railways "QR" and specifically the Diesel era which provided an important role to the economic development of Queensland.  Pinkenba is a location where my Dad and Grandad worked together shunting for QR and provides great childhood memories of the various Diesel locomotives, shapes and sizes of the tank wagons I got to watch growing up.  A interesting fact about me, I come from a several generation of family members who worked for QR, but my Dad encouraged me to pursue another career and whilst I wanted work with trains, I tried to move in direction of a Park Ranger and Carpenter, however life's journey has directed me into the world of technology and software which has provided a great opportunity and rewards which I am grateful for. So, this blog will be my journal to recreate the Pinkenba area in the form of a shunting layout where I start the ne...