60027Merlin

As a lifelong resident of Edinburgh living in the west of the city near the quadrupled ECML lines for Glasgow Queen Street/Stirling and Aberdeen the railway was a way of life for a great many people in these times of quite a few decades ago. Not only were there great numbers of local railway enthusiasts but there was also a fair number of railway employees resident in the area. With Haymarket Shed being the local shed there was no other area or locomotives I really wished to model when taking up the hobby especially as my father started me on the "right track". Not only was it a busy railway but the Haymarket pacifics were always part of the scene and their names were well known even by non interested parents etc. of the local lads who resided near the line. For those of us who were fortunate to experience the scene then Haymarket was and always will be "Top Shed".

Whilst I model classes of locomotives which were Edinburgh based or regular visitors to the city my main focus is on 64B Haymarket which I visited hundreds of times. Great days amongst all those pacifics with the home based ones and visitors from Carlisle, Heaton, Gateshead etc. and in the summer the Kings Cross A4s on the Non-Stop. Add in the V2s, B1s, Ks, Directors, Shires and the many North British Railway classes plus Caley classes and B. R. Standards and it made for interesting times with all that variety. In addition the variety also included St. Margarets and Dalry Road sheds plus all the other lines now gone, for example, in the west of the city the Corstorphine Branch and the Balerno Branch. I stick to locos and stock that ran in the area so that it keeps faithfully to these times as if other locos etc. not seen locally were used it would destroy the overall atmosphere. Rather than stick to one year as some people do I prefer to model within a 5/6 year period (1956 - 61) giving me a bit of scope which allows for some variations in appearance whether it's early or late emblems, single/double chimney A3s and so on.

Just for a change now and again the layout has a bit of a transformation for running sessions and the appropriate locos and stock for the Waverley Route or the Caley line from the Caledonian Station to Carstairs/Glasgow Central come out of storage. After these running sessions are over normal service is resumed with The Glamour Boys of 64B.