In the summer of 2000, my son moved out and I suddenly had an empty, if small, spare room. The 9' x 6' space looked a whole lot bigger empty than when it was occupied; but I wondered for some time what to do with it. Then the notion of fulfilling a latent ambition came to mind: "Let's build a model railway!" The idea was born, and OO Gauge was to be the standard.

First thoughts took me back to my early train spotting days at Brighton Station in my home county of Sussex. I recalled having nearly visited the preserved Bluebell Railway a few years ago, and then I thought wouldn't that be an interesting challenge to model the Bluebell? I did not know where to start and had little idea that there could be any supporting infrastructure in Calgary for modeling something British, and old. But that fear soon proved to be unsubstantiated.

Towards the end of 2000, thanks to some knowledgeable contacts within the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society (BRPS), I located the original architect's (Myers) drawings, had them copied and mailed to me. These drawings consisted of plans and elevations to a scale of ¼" to 1'-0" of the up and down platform buildings, the milking stage, and the original north-end covered wooden footbridge. As often proves to be the case, some of these were not built exactly as they were designed; but I decided to build as closely to Myers' drawings as possible.