Model Railways
I have been interested in model railways since I was about five, when I was given a tinplate O gauge Hornby Train set for Christmas. I can clearly remember it running round a circle on the floor of my Grandmother's parlour, where we were staying. Some time later the Engine was part-exchanged for another tinplate, an LMS Royal Scot. This was sometime between age 5 and 8, because in 1939 a Hornby Dublo three-rail goods train set arrived, and the O gauge was stored in the attic.
This was enjoyed laid out on the floor at home throughout the war years and was not added to because Hornby was busy making War Machinrey. I never had a permanent layout in my childhood. The train sets remained in their boxes throughout college and early married life, and reappeared in the late 60's when an attempt was made to interest the children. I converted what I had to 2-rail and found room for a fold-up train board on the wall. In the 70's there was room in the basement of our American home for a proper OO layout, and I added a Duchess class "City of London", much admired by my American friends but which never became interesting to my children. Once again the trains were put away in their boxes and the tinplate O gauge was given to charity.
It wasn't until retirement in 1990 that I returned to modelling, with a layout in the attic. A large faithful replica od Evercreech Junction took shape, first in N gauge, which I found too fiddly as I wanted to build kits and scratchbuild a little, and then replaced in OO gauge. Moving house in 2007 resulted in this layout being reduced in size to just Highbridge, and it was accompanied by an 009 narrow gauge portable layout. The narrow gauge bug bit hard and I added On-16.5 to my collection, made to run on a railway club's layout. I also built a sectional exhibition layout in American On30 scale. So by 2012 I had 3 layouts at home in OO. OO9 and On30 gauge, and had built in both On-16.5 and O gauges for the club. I sold all the home layouts, the second 0n30 one being bought by the 7mm scale model rail society to display at shows. Because the club's ON16.5 brickworks layout was rarely run, i decided to build a home brickworks layout that could be carried in the car for ehibitions, using the stock intended forthe club. this one still exists in 2020.
This was enjoyed laid out on the floor at home throughout the war years and was not added to because Hornby was busy making War Machinrey. I never had a permanent layout in my childhood. The train sets remained in their boxes throughout college and early married life, and reappeared in the late 60's when an attempt was made to interest the children. I converted what I had to 2-rail and found room for a fold-up train board on the wall. In the 70's there was room in the basement of our American home for a proper OO layout, and I added a Duchess class "City of London", much admired by my American friends but which never became interesting to my children. Once again the trains were put away in their boxes and the tinplate O gauge was given to charity.
It wasn't until retirement in 1990 that I returned to modelling, with a layout in the attic. A large faithful replica od Evercreech Junction took shape, first in N gauge, which I found too fiddly as I wanted to build kits and scratchbuild a little, and then replaced in OO gauge. Moving house in 2007 resulted in this layout being reduced in size to just Highbridge, and it was accompanied by an 009 narrow gauge portable layout. The narrow gauge bug bit hard and I added On-16.5 to my collection, made to run on a railway club's layout. I also built a sectional exhibition layout in American On30 scale. So by 2012 I had 3 layouts at home in OO. OO9 and On30 gauge, and had built in both On-16.5 and O gauges for the club. I sold all the home layouts, the second 0n30 one being bought by the 7mm scale model rail society to display at shows. Because the club's ON16.5 brickworks layout was rarely run, i decided to build a home brickworks layout that could be carried in the car for ehibitions, using the stock intended forthe club. this one still exists in 2020.
Current Highlights
Here are some examples of recently completed scratchbuilt models.
The locomotives are made from Plasticard with very few bought-in parts. They are mounted on commercial ready-to=run chassis
This is a gallery. Click on any picture to enlarge it, then scroll left or right to get more. Point to the upper left or right top corners to get movement arrows
The locomotives are made from Plasticard with very few bought-in parts. They are mounted on commercial ready-to=run chassis
This is a gallery. Click on any picture to enlarge it, then scroll left or right to get more. Point to the upper left or right top corners to get movement arrows