A Bloody Paraplegic
HO Model Trains (1)

There are few other Hobby's or Activity's, if any, that will allow the Freedom, Independence and Interaction that the modern day Model Railway can offer people with Acute Quadriplegia, Paraplegia, Multiple Sclerosis, Marfan Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and the like.

Can you imagine up to 5 people with only the ability to hold a pencil in their mouths and to be able to push a few buttons with it, operating all aspects of a Model railway including Trains AND Points.

Add someone else who can push the keys of a computer to manage a software programme to run everything and you have an interactive Model Railway being run by people who don't really have the opportunity to have control of an awful lot in their lives.

HO Scale Model Trains connect grandfathers, fathers, and their sons in a project that all of them can relate too.

The powers to be at this place showed absolutely no interest in this concept even though it could be done.

You can only come to the conclusion that the Model Railway in the Selby Recreation Centre was eventually redesigned and rebuilt with the lowest common denominator in mind and if that wasn't very high level Quads (and others with a similar ability) who could run a Model Railway with DCC you have to ask who it was really designed for!

This very frustrating period of my life came about because they have a HO Model train layout in the Recreation Centre at the Quadriplegic Centre where I am staying. It was pretty run down and wasn't being used by any members of the Selby Recreation Centre when I switched it on one day in 2005.

Note bits and pieces down the side of each page >>>

The HO Model Train layout along with some Trains and Rolling stock was donated in 1989 by the daughter of Mr. Athol Lundy who inherited it when her father passed away and in it's day would have been a fabulous layout. We could only go by old photo's but the inside track would have been able to be accessed from the outside track, in turn passing through a middle section, and it would have been a heap of fun trying to work out how to get from one place to another.

It was a typical analogue DC layout of it's day, which meant that the trains would only go in one direction on any given piece of track regardless of which way the trains were facing. To move trains to a siding meant that you had to turn off the electricity from one part of the track and turn it on in another. This involves what is called block wiring which involves more knobs, buttons or switches.

Again from looking at old photos the original control panel(s) were pretty sophisticated for a Model train Layout of this age however they had been replaced by inferior controllers while at the Selby Recreation Centre.

Unfortunately I don't have access to these old photo's which, are within the Selby Recreation Centre, for my website

In fact on Friday 3rd August 2007 I was actually banned from taking photos of the HO Model Trains or the Layout whereas prior to that it hadn't been a problem otherwise I wouldn't have had any photos of the layout.

It took about half an hour to get hooked on the models but trying to get the layout working properly took years and even then members of the Selby Recreation Centre weren't to be involved.

It should have been a straight out easy job but we (Residents and Members of the Recreation Centre) weren't allowed to make any changes or improvements.

The initial enthusiasm about actually doing something with the Model Train Layout was such that the Selby Recreation Centre coordinator organised to take a number of the Quadriplegic Centre Residents to a local model train show on the 6th June 2005.

On July 1st 2005 a Model Train Committee comprising of members of the Selby Recreation Service was formed.

This enthusiasm shown by the people who make the decisions turned 180 degrees over the following years. Yep you read right - years!!!

Possibly the most interesting thing to come out of all of this is the total lack of interest that was shown by the CEO of both the Quadriplegic Centre and Para-Quad Industries. At no time during the years that we were battling to make improvements did he even come down, while we were there, to see first hand what we were talking about.

He was to eventually demand around October 2007 that the Model Train Layout was be refurbished to how it was when it was when donated some 18 years earlier.

This in itself was impossible given the changes that had already been made over the years by Recreation Centre staff and this was pointed out in a PowerPoint Presentation I made up which I distributed to the Board of Management in control of the Selby Recreation Centre, as a member, in November of 2007.

continued HO Model Trains 2

The greatest hobby in the world has to be working with HO scale model trains. Having a HO Scale Model Train layout is a great way for kids to learn how to build something from the ground up and allow retirees to keep their minds sharp by always having a hobby they look forward to.

Your HO scale model train journey all starts when you open your first HO scale model train set. How many of you can remember the excitement you felt when you opened up that box containing your first scale model train set and then started putting the track together in order to see your HO scale model train coming around the track.

Perhaps the greatest thing about working with your HO scale model train is, it is a lifelong hobby.

You can never grow too old to operate your HO scale model train set. Another great element of model railroading is the fact of your HO scale model train layout is an ongoing process, you probably will never finish it.

Your imagination can allow you to create any HO scale model train scene possible.

HO Scale Model Trains connect grandfathers, fathers, and their sons in a project that all of them can relate too.

Below: Old scenery on the Selby Recreation Centre layout which we wanted to clean up.

This job was given to outside volunteers even though we were more than capable of doing it.

A Bloody Paraplegic John Dwyer