55, Where have I been?.

In the months since my previous post, most of my "computer" time has been spent working on the digitising of my slide collection. This was made possible following my acquisition of a good quality, dedicated slide/film scanner, purchased from the U.S.A. via EBay.
The subject matter of the vast majority of my accumulation of images is rail related, ie. trains!. From an early age I was captivated by the atmosphere of the Australian rail systems, with an ambiance of a working museum along with some fascinating architecture.
As I could see the decline in the network accelerating, it was obvious that the future was not going to be too kind with this part of our heritage. I photographed extensively from the mid '70,s to the mid '80,s, when corporatisation and rationalization took a firm hold and "sterilised" the whole scene. I was particularly interested in the vanishing branch lines, their very nature, through reasons of economy, prevented them from much modernization. My travels, with camera in hand, took me to all Australian mainland states, with the exception of Western Australia, but my heart remained in Victoria. Here, I gained employment with the "Victorian Railways" at the start of 1977 and, with the exception of a sojourn in the Building industry, I am still there, currently working for the current suburban franchise operator; "Metro trains" as a Train Driver.
I regularly upload some of my better pictures to; http://www.flickr.com/photos/24609616@N05/ pending a decision on a more permanent site. Other images, more related to the rail infrastructure, I have submitted to the "When there were stations" site, an ongoing work in progress.
An interest has also been shown to have some included in a couple of publications, the first, soon to be released by Nick Anchen, from Sierra publishing, is about Victorian Enginemen.

A more relevent posting, detailng my progress on the front steps for the house, will be up soon.