I was born in Auckland, New Zealand way back in 1936. Although I was present there, I don't remember a thing about it. My earliest memories are from about the age of three or four when my mother would travel about four miles with me by tram into the city to buy material to make my clothes. She would drop me off in the department store where there was an operating electric train. I was told in later years that I would stand there for hours if need be just to watch the train going around.

My parents couldn't afford to buy me one and found it was cheaper to take me to the store a couple of times a month. I never complained and I can still recall the thrill of watching the train disappear on one side of the display then re-appear on the other side.

I'm an old 'newbie' and having the time of my life jumping in the deep end of the model train world and subsequently making all the mistakes that are possible - and some that are almost impossible to make - or as, in my case, uh -oh,  that isn't going to work -  so we'll cut that bit out and do it another way.

I recently purchased a Walthers 90 ft turntable (HO scale) after I had designed a layout and purchased all the track components. Naturally, I hadn't allowed for the turntable so I will either have to dramatically redesign the layout or scrub it completely or then again,  come up with an additional one. Somehow I don't know how I can manage to get that last idea past my wife.