I've been a very big fan of real railroads
and model trains ever since I was a child growing up in British Columbia
and Alberta, Canada. For my first Christmas in Canada, my brother
and I got our first toy train set, just a circle with a CP locomotive and
some cars.. We were living in a small community called Buffalo Head
Prairie in northern Alberta at the time and the nearest train line to us
was the Northern Alberta Railway (if I remember the name correctly).
I used to see their trains pulling through the town of Peace River during
our frequent trips to the dentist there.
A couple years later we moved to B.C.
First to a community called Blind Bay which was on the Shuswap and a year
later to a small village called Avola on the North Thompson River a couple
hours north of Kamloops B.C. Half the village seemed to work on the
Canadian National Railway which had a major line to Jasper and Edmonton
running right through our village. It was there where I developed a
love for trains. Our house was about 200 meters from the tracks and
from our dining table we could see all the trains passing through while we
sat down to eat. I used to get especially exited every time a VIA
passenger train came through because passenger trains were already so
rare, even during the late 1970s.
While we were in Avola, I got another toy
train set for Christmas. However, it was identical to the
first. I was yearning for a large set with switching tracks so was
able to convince my father to buy one from a friend in Blind Bay during
one of our weekend visits to my Grandmother's. His whole set was
already mounted on a large sheet of plywood and we hauled it back to Avola
and set it up in our basement. Several years later we moved to
Brooks, Alberta which was on the CPR line.
We had a very spacious house there and I
was eventually able to set up my train set in my bedroom where I started
to experiment with building scenery. Internet wasn't around in those
days so it was difficult to obtain tips and tricks and none of my
creations looked very realistic. Several years later the trains were
all sold off when we moved to Australia. After 3 years in Australia
I moved to Thailand where I was born.
During my 12 years in Bangkok I never had
the space, time, or money to get back into my favorite hobby. Model
railroading is not a popular hobby here because most people simply cannot
afford it. An oval track with an engine and some cars will set you
back at least a hundred dollars (and that's only now due to internet) and those are for the cheapest sets
available on the market. However 12 years ago when I moved back
there was no internet and the only place selling train sets was Central
Department Store and they were selling at 15,000 Baht for a simple oval
(that was the equivalent to US& 600 back then).
Since I now live in Pattaya and have a home
with more space (and a much better paying job) I decided to get into model
railroading once again. And now with websites like eBay it has
finally become more affordable if you are willing to opt for second hand
equipment as I have recently opted for and there is now a wealth of
websites offering tips and tricks on how to create that model railroad
you've always wanted to build.
I am in no way a professional model
railroader and the pictures and information found in this website is from
my first "real" attempt at model railroading properly. I
hope that by sharing this website with others (especially in Thailand) I
can help those that want to get into this hobby get started. I
started this layout in December 2004 and am having a very good time
working on it with my 9 year old daughter. She drives the trains
while I do nature's work creating the scenery.
 |
My 9 year old
daughter behind the controls |
For some great
pictures on 'real' Canadian Railroads operating in western Canada, visit
Hank's Web Site http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/
or click on one of the links below (also from Hank's Website)
English 
