COLLECTOR Graeme Anderson’s fascination with trains began as a young boy.
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“I’m a wartime boy,” he said.
“You only had four things back then: Hornby trains, Meccano, Phantom comics and stamp collections.
“I have gotten rid of the comics and the Meccano but still have a lot of interest in the Hornbys.”
Hornby, his favoured model train brand, has been making toys since 1901.
It first produced a clockwork train in 1928 before going electric.
Mr Anderson still remembers his first impression of the great hulks on the railways.
“We had no television but every now and then you’d have magazines and films come out depicting these enormous things of power with steam pouring out of them,” he said.
“My first Hornby train I owned aged seven years old, straight after the war when the company started production again.
“Sometimes if a model is a bit expensive, I’ve got to walk away from it. Sometimes I’ve just got to have it.”
- Collector Graeme Anderson
“I started with the tinplate stuff; quite valuable now though I can’t remember what happened to the collection."
Mr Anderson started collecting trains in Tasmania in 1992 after relocating from Auckland, New Zealand.
The move meant a regrettable sale of his train collection but also presented him with an opportunity to start hunting all over again.
“I like collecting A4s the most for that swooping front nose and the sheer power of the things,” he said.
“Along the way, I got interested in other engines, diesels and stuff like that.
“Sometimes if a model is a bit expensive, I’ve got to walk away from it. Sometimes I’ve just got to have it.”
As any collector, Mr Anderson has his most prized pieces.
Above all things, the Sir Ralph Wedgwood trilogy is admired the most.
The collection British Railway locomotive class A4s from 1962 to 1965.
“It’s highly treasured and quite sought after,” he said.
“My favourite non-Hornby train would have to be the beautiful blue Princess Helena Victoria.
“It came from a high-powered class.”
A train collection would hardly be complete without the requisite infrastructure.
Mr Anderson has 75 pieces that he can put together so he can watch trains whiz around.
The complete set-up takes him about seven days to put together and takes up most of the room in his two-car garage.
“I love doing thinking about and working on the layout – it’s extremely satisfying,” he said.
Mr Anderson will have a display at the Launceston Scale Model Club Toy Expo at Aurora Stadium on October 29 and 30.