countryboy

I loved my time in Wimborne... with its own model village too!

Well, if I do, the history of my locality would provide a nice backdrop for a model railway scene as I am fortunate to live close to the now disused Elora-Cataract section of the Canadian Railway near the village of Orton, which "was first named "Little Chicago", but was later named Orton in honour of the Dr. Orton of Fergus, who so faithfully looked after his rural patients in those horse and buggy/cutter days. Orton was on the Credit Valley Railway line from 1879, with the station on the Garafraxa side. Early Orton was a thriving community with a railway station, post office, Royal Bank, 2 stores, a blacksmith shop, chopping mill, fire hall, sawmill and shingle mill, hotel, a Methodist Church, school and baseball park. The hotel and school became private residences." [History of Erin]... nothing of those enterprises left now, apart from the church & a few houses. If I have time to spare, I could research the history of the buildings and maybe find photos of the station to model... well, I found a photo of the next station down the line:

Hi, Yesterday, I was taking a trip down memory lane back to my childhood days, living in Derbyshire... when I happened to Google the model shop that used to be on Cockpit Hill in Derby. I hit on a post on your archived forum dating back to 2008, when a "Peter from Wimborne" started a similar nostalgic post, asking if anyone remembered this great model shop in Derby. His post didn't garner much response in 2008. Well, Peter... if you're still here... I remember Syd Sharrock's shop very well indeed and, as a 10-yr old schoolboy, Syd must have been the beneficiary of 99% of my pocket money, mainly spent on Airfix WW2 plane kits and 1:72 toy soldiers. Quite something that you are now (or was back in 2008) living in Wimborne, were I too lived for 6 years after moving south, being born & raised in Derbyshire. I live in Canada now... don't suppose you've followed my trail here too, eh? I was back in Derby earlier this year... wow! what a change... no more Syd Sharrocks of course. What a great time the 60s were to be a young boy with a few pennies in my pocket to spend on an Airfix kit. Quite right... happy days indeed! Always a model-maker looking for something to build and model-making has grown into building 1:1 scale model house out here in Canada, which is great fun too! Always a kid with some building project on the go. All the best to everyone and especially to Peter from Wimborne.