The First Time

Do you remember the first time, I certainly do. For years I had been a aircraft, ship and military modeller but there were certain moral issues related to the construction of military models particularly those from the Nazi and Soviet sides (they had all the good tanks!) so my then girlfirend (now a Fellow of the Society of Antiquarians) suggested a trip to the Model Railway exhibition at Camberwell and as a consequence a copy of the Australian Model Railway Magazine was bought and that lead to a decision to model Victorian Railways and inevitably to my first train model.

My first was a Broad Gauge Models GY Wagon in HO scale which I bought from Trainworld at Brighton. I don't know the name of the bloke who sold it to me back in 1982 but he also sold me the brake gear and couplers  the basic model was $6.85. He was really helpful and encouraging.

I was searching through my stuff last weekend and found what may well be the instructions for the first one so I scanned them as a curiosity.

In fact the GY was the first rolling stock model for BGM. They started in 1980 and produced a few bits and bobs before moving into importing brass models from Samhongsa (the first one was a K class) and developing a range of plastic wagon kits of which the GY was the first. Both the K and the GY were announced in late 1981.

BGM transformed the VR modelling scene by producing (virtually) RTR HO scale models of rolling stock which meant anyone could easily model the VR. 

In April 2011 David Foulkes of Steam Era Models released a retooled GY – a much improved kit based on the original BGM moulds which i think he did back in 1981-82.