Railway Modelling Hall of Fame

[Peter Kazmierczak]

There are possibly two lists here: those who have influenced the hobby as a whole and those who've influenced us at a more personal level.

[Neil]

I like ten, it concentrates the mind and allows little room for favouritism as it leaves room only for the true pioneers. I suppose Frank Hornby has to be one by making the hobby accessible to the masses. I'd also nominate John Ahern for kick starting the scenic model railway. I'd be prepared to argue the case for Sidney Pritchard for flexitrack and matching points across a whole range of gauges and scales. I'm also minded to point out that as yet no representative of the exhibition circuit has had a nomination so I'm going to shout up for Mike Cook whose forty nine year span organising the York Show saw it start from humble beginnings to the behemoth it is today. Actually I may only need five nominations as my final choice is Dennis Allenden for his writing on our hobby; I have never read anything that comes close to his articles on Ste Coilne des Champs, his fictional slice of France, it's beautiful, evocative, creative and so utterly natural.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Neil

[Zomboid]

For his influence on me and probably many thousands of other non-elite participants, CJF really has to be in there. From my own knowledge I probably couldn't name 10...

[PaulRhB]

Our influences are obviously shaped by our interests at the time

Rev. W Awdry for the stories and bringing them to life with models.

Sidney Pritchard for the Peco empire of magazines and models.

Frank Hornby for thinking of offering affordable models in the smaller scales.

Iain Rice for his writings on planning.

Ted Polet for his 009 layout and writings not only creating wonderful models but sharing the enthusiasm of fearing a complete railway with operation.

Ian Beatties drawings.

Graham Hubbard for shaking up the rtr market.

 

The list can go in and on because so many have shared their influential writings in magazines and now online

[LBRJ]

Originally I was thinking along the lines of different lists for different eras - After all what was influential in 1930 was old hat by 1950 etc.

There are also far too many people to fit into a "10 for the hobby list"; its impossible to narrow it down so much.

 

I have already given my list of "pioneers" (and had to miss out a few USians from that list)

So I then went for my top ten - Those who have made me think as I do ( damn them! )

 

Roye England et al

P D Hancock

CJF

Barry Norman

Bob Barlow/Iain Rice

Paul Karau

John Vaughn

Chris Leigh

Ian Futers

and finally a mention for Mr Larry G of Carrog! A man at the very top of his profession, who does everything else with such ease and makes it look easy!

[The Johnster]

No argument with any of the above, but in my own personal case I would single out C.J. Fresser. iain Rice. and Ian Petherton's North Shields layout and his writings on the subject, an object lesson in integrating a model into it's assumed location and historical context.  North Shields' backscene, so evocative of urban decay rooftops on a grey day, was inspirational; ok the whole layout was, but the context was in a way more important than the action in the yard, 'against the backdrop of the ebb and flow of the electrics on the high level'.  Magnificent/

 

Elements from all 3 are easily identified on Cwmdimbath.

[PatB]

Most of my nominations are there already, but I'd put up  a couple of more obscure (to some) figures. John Van Riemsdijk of the Gauge 1 Association, Stuart Browne of Archangel models and Jack Wheldon were, between them, largely responsible for the early development of the efficient and reliable r-t-r live-steam garden gauge models that we know today.

[Oldddudders]

Wot the hell happened to George Mellor?

  

Why, is there some doubt as to the manner of his passing?

No, merely that he seems to have been passed up in the lists to date. His kits enabled lots of layouts in their day. As did Robert Wills’s.

[gismorail]

One person that comes to mind is Alan Wright who may not be known to all but he was a member of the Manchester Model Railway Group and he was responsible of the original 'Inglnook sidings' which has inspired many into model railways who may well not have had the space for a layout. He also once appeared on Master Mind with is specialist subject ; railway pub signs, 

I'm sure that many people in the North West area will remember him with great fondness, a true gentleman indeed. 

[drduncan]

My ten are:

Peter Denny

C J Freezer

John Ahern

P D Hancock

Roye England

Iain Rice

Alan Downes

Mike Sharman

Frank Hornby

Ron Neep (for pioneering high quality etched chassis kits making realistic chassis and EM more accessible than the then RTR offerings.)

 

DrDuncan

[Stentor]

I would add

 

Paul Bartlett - whose superb photo site is indispensable to anybody modelling wagons

DaveF - of this parish whose daily posts consistently inspire and Inform

 

Simon

[Nearholmer]

Are there any people active now who are clearly highly influential, fostering a radically different approach?

 

I ask this, because nominations so far tend to 'dry up' a couple of decades ago. Clearly the people concerned continue to have influence, and several of them are still a work, but I'm wondering about things like use of software mediated tools ....... is there any any single clear influencer there, or is it a 'groundswell' thing, with electronic communication allowing lots of people to influence one another?

 

Is it Mr York, in that he 'hosts the salon' through which we all influence one another?

Edited April 18, 2018 by Nearholmer

[PaulRhB]

Andy is an influence or under the influence? I suppose it depends what time on a Saturday night you meet

 

I don't think there's a clear leader in the modern tech apart from Herr Lenz and dcc. With 3D printing etc it was widely adopted from other fields so no one person championed it.

 

There are many current inspirational modellers pushing the boundaries a bit at a time and the list is pretty big

Gordon & Maggie Gravett, Pete Goss, Ted Polet are just the first four who come to mind for me and that is because we share common interests. The hobby is pretty established so unless you make a huge step of innovation you don't tend to stand out so much now.

If we get scale smoke, animated figures, scale weather etc its more likely to be adopting a technology from another field like robotics or imaging than it being an innovation for the hobby that spreads elsewhere.

There are great musicians now creating music that will last hundreds of years but will their names stand out amongst Beethoven etc in the long term?

It's a hobby, enjoy it and share the stuff that inspires you, don't worry about the legacy

 

Or legless in some cases on a Saturday night

[bécasse]

I would like to add a name that most people will never have heard of but who was actually responsible for inspiring many tens of thousands of railway modellers.

 

That man was John Anning. He was a Southern O gauge modeller, and for a good many years in the 1950s and 1960s, he was Chairman of the Model Railway Club and the prime mover behind the Club's annual five day Easter shows at the Central Hall, Westminster. He didn't do it all on his own, of course, he had a good, well motivated, team behind him, but he was unquestionably the man who made it all happen - and in his spare time too - his day job involved managing a factory.

 

Half a century plus ago, there were relatively few local shows and Central Hall was an annual national mecca, leading to attendances of well over 40.000 each year (and one year, when the counters were deliberately stopped to "keep within" insurance limits, over 50.000). Many of my generation will remember the Saturday afternoon queue which stretched right round the hall.

 

Many of the youngsters, taken by their parents, who saw the show year after year became active modellers and it is probably no coincidence that that generation continues to be very prominent in British railway modelling today even as age starts to take its toll. (And it is equally interesting that the "bulge" of modellers in continental Europe tends to be younger by perhaps 10 to 15 years.)

[johnarcher]

There are possibly two lists here: those who have influenced the hobby as a whole and those who've influenced us at a more personal level.

Agreed. As has been said here once or twice (!) this hobby is a bit of a 'broad church', so a personal list will tend to include those who helped develop the approach to it that the list-maker finds interesting. Certainly mine does, most of the names already mentioned I think.

 

George Stokes

John Ahern

Roye England (and rest of Pendon team)

Peter Denny

David Jenkinson

CJF

Iain Rice

Bob Barlow

Barry Norman

the Gravetts

 

I'll probably think of something else and edit that though.

[MarkSG]

Are there any people active now who are clearly highly influential, fostering a radically different approach?

 

I ask this, because nominations so far tend to 'dry up' a couple of decades ago. Clearly the people concerned continue to have influence, and several of them are still a work, but I'm wondering about things like use of software mediated tools ....... is there any any single clear influencer there, or is it a 'groundswell' thing, with electronic communication allowing lots of people to influence one another?

 

Is it Mr York, in that he 'hosts the salon' through which we all influence one another?

 

The "Hall of Fame" concept tends to be mainly aimed at recognising the contributions of people to the genre (for whatever genre the Hall of Fame is about) over a significant period of time. So there's an understandable reluctance to include people who are not only still very much active in it but also (assuming good health, etc) can be expected to have many more years of contributions to make in the future.

 

I certainly agree that there's scope to include the people who have made major contributions to the technological and communication side of the hobby in the 21st century, including our very own Mr York! I also think that innovators in things like 3D printing, laser-cut kits and print-at-home card kits deserve some recognition, too. The problem is that I don't really know who the most significant individuals in those fields are, and it may be a few years yet before we can look back at their contributions and say for certain that they made a major difference to the hobby.   

[Steamport Southport]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Monty Wells.

 

One of the pioneers of proper "modern image" modelling and hugely influential to many of us that have detailed RTR over the years.

 

 

 

Jason

[Stubby47]

People who have influenced me:

 

Ian Allen - for his spotters books

Chris Leigh - for all his books

Iain C Robinson & Allan Downes - for the inspirational buildings in the magazines

Rev Awdry - for the TtTE stories

Brian Monaghan - for the photos of layouts

Rev Peter Denny - for BGC

 

last, but by no means least, - my dad, for getting me into his hobby at a very early age.

[Allegheny1600]

The people who have influenced me most of all;

 

Iain Rice - for his well-known writings on all things really.

Monty Wells - for his introduction to modelling diesel outline.

Peter Kazmierczak - as above! (very influential in my formative years, thanks buddy!)

Bob Barlow - for bringing us the very best in railway modelling.

Sid Stubbs - for showing how to make something from nothing.

Alex Jackson - much more than just the coupling that bears his name.

Tony Wright - for instilling a desire to build loco (& rolling stock) kits.

Mike Sharman - outstanding work all round.

The Gravetts - for showing that esoteric foreign subjects can be 'done' in such an incredible way.

Pete Goss - another sublime scenic modeller.

 

Finally and I know these two are neither British or within the "ten" but I simply must include them;

 

Tony Koester - American writer/modeller/philosopher, similar to a combination of all the above.

Josef Brandl - German writer, scenic modeller par excellence. 

 

I'm pleased to observe that the majority of my list are still alive, long may they continue to live healthy, happy and productive lives.

Thanks for everything, folks.

John.

[Devo63]

My personal preference for any 'Hall of Fame' would be to limited to those who are no longer living. A 'Living Legends' category would be better for those modellers, writers and manufacturers who are still adding to their collective output.

 

Dave R.

[brack]

My personal preference for any 'Hall of Fame' would be to limited to those who are no longer living.

So I can't nominate myself? Or so we don't nominate some pioneering 2mm FS wizard who bins it all to build a Hornby Thomas layout in his dotage?

 

If we are allowed those still inhabiting their mortal coils I'd suggest Roy C Link, for a copious amounts of articles, excellent modelling, scale drawings, 0-14 as a viable scale, NG&IRM and many beautifully produced books he published.

[Metropolitan H]

A few more that come to mind - in addition to most of the others already mentioned:

- Bernard Wright - Swanage in "S" scale.

- GP Keen

- Norman Eagles - Sherwood Section.

- Jack Nelson

- Bob Essery

- Carl Legg - Lambourn.

- Don Boreham

- Bill Strickland

- James Beeson

- W Norris

 

Damn - that is another 10 names and there are more.

 

Regards

Chris H

[Mark Saunders]

My personal preference for any 'Hall of Fame' would be to limited to those who are no longer living. A 'Living Legends' category would be better for those modellers, writers and manufacturers who are still adding to their collective output.

 

Dave R.

As with all models there is far mor time spent doing research than spent modelling and a lot of people fail to realise this !

[Caddy]

Apart from the mention of Jack Ray and of course Peter Denny, we seem to be forgetting the operators. I would like to nominate Norman Eagles. He and the "Sherwood Gang" really ran a railway. Certainly inspired the way I have approached the hobby.

[APOLLO]

Not forgetting the late Frank Dyer of Borchester fame - the man who made OO work.

 

Brit15