I've come back from last Sunday's Railway Modellers Club of Queensland's Open Day Buy and Sell reinvigorated, and ready to push on to finish my next model railway book before the year ends. As far as sales of my books are concerned the day was a huge success, but it also happened to mark 9 years since I last made a public appearance as an author promoting what was then my 3rd novel.
Not only was the open day a chance for me to meet so many people and answer questions about my books and what I am up to next, the buy and sell was an opportunity for me to move on a few Model railway items that were just taking up room in my wardrobe. To be able to say that I easily made twice as many sales from my books than the bargain priced models I put out for sale on one half of the table was extremely encouraging, and has already got me thinking of doing another book appearance next year.
| An inside look at the RMCQ club layouts. N scale in the forground, HO at the rear, G scale outside. |
As far as Model Railway clubs go, the RMCQ at Brendale is relatively close to where I live in Brisbane. Over the years I've come to know a few faces amongst their members, so its always nice to have a catch up with people at events such as this. Inside, the club layouts have grown over the years that I've visited, especially the N scale layout. And the members are a friendly group that can cook a sausage on the BBQ like the best of them, which doesn't help with ignoring your hunger if your table is down wind of the BBQ gazebo!
For once I was on the other side of the table. Instead of hunting through the treasure trove of model railway bargains that buy-and-sells are known for, I was instead selling a lot of the stuff that I'd amassed over the years with plans of one day doing a model of this or that. I decided a few weeks back that if I wasn't going to build it or use it within the next 6 months, it was time to pack it up and sell it. After becoming empty-nesters this year and moving into a smaller apartment in the city, I'm acutely aware that space is no longer something I might have more of one day. It's crazy how much stuff hides in the back of the wardrobe that makes you question why you bought it in the first place! Bulky items such as completed kit structures are just too delicate and expensive to pack and send in the post if you sell them on eBay or Facebook, so if someone makes you an offer for something you no longer need nor want, its easier to take their money and reclaim the wardrobe space.
| Most of what you see is now gone! |
De-cluttering tends to put more focus on the things you actually want to do or model. Scrapping ideas for small project layouts that I might never get around to actually doing, shines the light back onto the layouts I am currently building. Philden Street Yard I'm hoping will be completed before Christmas, and ready to make its exhibition debut early in 2023. While my Queensland narrow gauge Philden Creek layout is laying dormant beneath it while the books and Philden Street take priority. That will change next year. But with years of lockdown projects and ample time to do some modelling now being replaced with the want to get out and travel once more, I'm conscious of not taking on too much. While there's a couple of pre-ordered locomotives I'm looking forward to in the coming year, I could quite happily not buy anything else and still be content with my two little layouts for the forseeable future.
I guess that all changes whenever a new must-have model is announced. But for now... well, I've just booked a holiday for late next year that might very well yield another railway photography book after I travel through some previously unvisited railway territory. That actually seems more exciting than a new model of this or that. And as I've learned, this or that projects only lead to cluttered wardrobes followed by buy-and-sells. So it's back to the books for me, and hopefully I will have an update next week on Philden Street Yard's new lighting upgrade. There's some big improvements ready to be revealed.
