The Gerry Brown Pages - A Tribute
Gerry Brown
1950 - 2004
Gerry Brown was first and foremost a beloved husband to Christine,
and a devoted father to their children, Sarah and Laura. He was a great
friend of the model bus fraternity, and single-handedly spear-headed the
development of free interactive correspondence related to diecast buses
on the Web. He was, and still is, held in great respect by both the
enthusiasts and the manufacturers that he got to know so well. His
untimely passing in December 2004 came as a huge shock to all who knew
and loved him.
Gerry is best remembered as the founder of Diecast Buses Interactive
(dbi), an on-line discussion group. The group was in its heyday at the
time he passed away, and his interest in model buses, and the
development of dbi, is best recounted by way of the only completed part
of an 'Interactive Interview with Gerry Brown' that had been planned for
release in 2005.
It was written in October 2004, and is reproduced verbatim below.
Back
in 2001 there was little in the way of freely available news and
information for the die-cast model bus collector. Gerry Brown the
originator, and still the current owner, of the dbi web site says:
“Being an avid die-cast bus and tram collector I used to search the
Internet in the hope of finding news of new bus models being announced -
I never found anything!”
Gerry’s career in the toy industry started and fuelled his interest in
die-cast models; buses and trams struck him as a particularly good
subject for die-cast modelling as a different livery could create a very
different model but still use the same basic casting. His first bus
model was a Bedford OB in 1:50 scale in the livery of Felix of Ilkeston
because it reminded him of the bus that took him to school. His first 00
(1:76) scale model was an EFE Midland General Bristol Lodekka - a bus
which would have travelled past his current home in years gone by.
The lack of information for the model bus collector prompted thought,
and then action. Gerry comments: “I was so convinced that I had found a
use for the Internet that was not being met that I set up a site to
broadcast die-cast bus and tram news; in April of 2001 diecast buses
interactive was born.”
Yahoo Clubs became the home of the dbi web site as it was free and had
reasonably good facilities. This then merged with Yahoo Groups (born out
of EGroups). As Gerry says: “We cope with the various changes Yahoo
throws at us: these days, Yahoo is only a small, albeit very important,
part of the diecast buses
interactive web site.”
Initially set up as a means to bring news to the model bus collector,
dbi soon encouraged postings on all aspects of the hobby, and in August
2001 dbi News became a separate entity, solely existing to disperse news
relating to die-cast model buses around the world.
When asked why dbi had become such a resounding success Gerry offers the
following: “dbi has grown because it has been marketed in a reasonably
professional manner - this is something I was determined to do having
seen other sites disappear because not enough collectors knew of them.
We have been mentioned in all of the leading model and bus magazines and
this has helped us grow into one of the biggest model bus and tram
communities on the World Wide Web. dbi has developed into a much
respected name both amongst collectors and manufacturers. We have
carried out interactive interviews through putting readers’ questions
directly to leading figures from the die-cast model bus industry. We now
help several manufacturers with researching new bus and tram models; the
web site is well established and is growing all the time. diecast buses
interactive is now a
well-established and respected brand name and logo.”
The Interactive Interviews that Gerry mentioned commenced in 2003, and,
in all, four company representatives were willingly interviewed by
Gerry, with questions being posed by members of his discussion group.
Sadly, the fifth Interview with Corgi's Adrienne Fuller was never to be
published. The words from the manufacturers remain thoroughly absorbing reading
today, and Gerry's initiative certainly brought about a greater understanding between
manufacturer and enthusiast.
These pages were first put up for viewing on 6th December 2009, the
fifth anniversary of the all-too-early passing of Gerry Brown.
We are grateful to Gerry's
wife, Christine, for her approval of this tribute, and for her
permission to reproduce the Interactive Interviews that Gerry conducted.
Interactive Interview 1 - Colin Summerbell (Corgi)
Interactive Interview 2 - Don Craggs (Britbus)
Interactive Interview 3 - Colin Hill (Sunstar)
Interactive Interview 4 - Colin Summerbell (Corgi)