Back on the Tri-ang, Midland and Scottish, No. 46205 ‘Princess Victoria’ was still rostered for the crack expresses of the carpet, and indeed the freights too, while No. 46201 ‘Princess Elizabeth’ generally posed on a siding. ‘Princess Victoria’, being a versatile Pacific, also handled all the shunting.

All changed, however, with the arrival one birthday or Christmas of R253 Dock Authority No. 3, the red Tri-ang 0-4-0 Diesel Dock Shunter, with its realistic scale 140mph top speed, ideal for shunting the tight curves of the docks.

In retrospect this was a magnificent model, aimed squarely at the junior market. It was robust, powerful, almost unbreakable and performed heroically. Any self-respecting dock system would have craved this Shinkansen of the shunting world. Well preserved examples are fetching about £55 these days.

I have noticed that average model rolling stock can generally be re-sold at about the price they were purchased at, even decades later, they will hold their value if not significantly interfered with.

From sources unknown I also received a decent Mk 1 coach in crimson/cream and a bogie brick wagon, the one with ‘BRICK’ emblazoned on the side. I’m not sure it was prototypical but it certainly augmented the heavy Lego freights teetering around the track.

As a slight aside, enthusiasm was fed by occasional trips to Weston-super-Mare, usually by the ‘Cardiff Queen’ or ‘Bristol Queen’ from across the channel, and after the delights of the pier, what better than to visit the prominent premises on the promenade known as the ‘MODEL RAILWAY’. I know nothing of the history or demise of this place, but in the mid-60’s this was a large and very substantial OO gauge scenic model railway, by far the biggest I had ever seen. I remember little of the detail, save that the star attraction was the Blue Pullman. Somewhere I have a postcard of the place, but it would take me a month to find it. A cursory glance at Google doesn't seem to shed any light.

Another pastime of mine was known as ‘taking the model apart and putting it together again’. I knew where dad kept the screwdriver, knew how to release the bodywork, unlock the springs, clean the motor, attend to the brushes and more or less put it all back together. Occasionally I would blame the 240v plug in the wall for a late running express. It was about this time that I attended my first Electrocution Lesson.

By now Tri-ang and Hornby had entered into wedlock, though I’m not sure it was out of love, more of a forced marriage. For the next seven years (until 1972) they would be known as Tri-ang Hornby, and were the dominant force by far in British railway modelling.

It was Christmas of 1966, I believe, when, quite out of character, Granny miraculously produced a Tri-ang Hornby R259S No. 70000 ‘Britannia’, complete with Magnadhesion and Synchrosmoke from her handbag. Both the recipient and the locomotive were chuffed, until the latter ran out of smoke oil.

I’m not convinced either Magnadhesion or Synchrosmoke worked very well, the former was probably the more useful. My experience with Synchrosmoke was that it produced a namby-pamby waft of barely visible steam, however anything more substantial and the A&E departments would have been overflowing with burnt boys. The ‘Britannia’ immediately took over the prestige expresses of the day and put in a good shift.

And then, early in 1967, Dad casually announced we were going to live in Glasgow.