KNYSNA NEWS - A 68-year-old Knysna resident's love of model trains and railroads has evolved into a "lifetime hobby" complete with impressive examples built to scale and powered by digital command control with sound, lights and all the other bells and whistles.
His name is Brian Messenger and he is a toolmaker, draughtsman and collision repair specialist. He also raced motocross, surfed, windsurfed and did motorcycle touring before settling in Knysna with his wife of 30 years, Roz.
Messenger's love of all things intricate and interesting stems from his Hobby Shop which he operated in Cape Town for almost 20 years. "I have been in the hobby of model trains for more than 45 years and over this time I have built various layouts," he recalls.
"What I enjoy the most about this hobby is the creativity of it. You have to know a bit about everything like carpentry, electrical, design, scenery, building and planning to name a few. You don't have to be an expert at them. I do a lot of scratch building, both of buildings and rolling stock. I also modify vehicles, figures and rolling stock to suit my needs for the layout."
Passion for detail
Messenger's real passion is in the detail. "As in real life, everything must be weathered to look well used. You must always look around to see how the real world looks and then do that on your scale. Wherever you look, there is rust, dirt, rain damage and buildings in need of repair, for example. My layout reflects what you see in real life."
Although there is a Society of Model Engineers in Knysna, this hobby is different in that this involves the actual building of model trains right down to the finest detail. The Model Engineers build locomotives on a much larger scale.
A model of a freight transfer terminal.
Messenger tries to encourage as many people in Knysna as possible, to take up the hobby. "I have always believed that this is a lifetime hobby and if you don't feel like working on it for a period of time, it will still be there when you return. A lot of modellers start with a table tennis-size table for the layout and grow from there. I did this as a youngster."
He has made significant progress on a number of models, some of which are as large than a single garage. "I could've gone bigger but that's all the space my wife allowed me," he jokes. "I am hoping this will attract more model railroaders involved in this fantastic hobby."
Find out more
To get in touch with Messenger and learn about this interesting hobby, email brianmessenger@icloud.com.
An inside view of one of the models built by Brian Messenger.
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