Tim Allsopp

[NeilHB]

Greetings (as Tim would say),

 

I must sadly report that my very good friend, Tim Allsopp (tim@dy on here) lost his battle with cancer, and passed away in the early hours of Monday 29th July. From his diagnosis last autumn, Tim, in his usual stubborn way, had been determined to keep going for as long as possible.

 

Many of you will have known Tim, be that from his usual spot at the Bar in Burton Town Hall during the annual Exhibition & AGM, or from one of the hundreds of exhibitions that he had attended over the last thirty or years with both the Association Demo stand, or behind the Port Wynnstay stand with Phil Traxson.

 

Tim, along with Phil T, was the driving force behind the Trent Valley Area Groups ‘Henmore Dale Light Railway’, the tale of which been featured on and off in Narrow Lines since 1996, and Railway Modeller in 2013. Over the last four or five years, Tim, along with a core group of TVAG members, had been working on the newest iteration (mark 3) of Henmore, Sandy Lane Halt. Tim was fortunate enough to see it make its operational debut at our annual open day in January 2019, even if, in Tim’s words, the wiring was a bit of a lash up bodge job!

 

Tim was a great source of support and guidance to those in the group, always happy to offer advice and assistance when one of us needed it. I will really miss our chats over a cup of tea, and Tim’s advice and view on projects that I had been working on was always welcomed as he encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and be a better modeller. I could always go to him for help, and he was always there, willing to help.

 

So long my friend, I hope wherever you are, that they have Landlord on tap. 

 

It would be nice if we could all add and share our memories of Tim please, as he knew so many people. I'd like to collate and publish these on our group website as a memorial to him. 

[88C]

I got to know Tim a little when I was modelling 0-16.5, always quite a character. On several occasions I gave him a lift to or from an event, the return always involved dropping him off at the Brunswick.

 

A sad loss, especially to the Trent Valley group.

 

Brian

[AY Mod]

Really sorry to hear that news Neil. Tim had been here since the early days and offered some worthwhile opinions. a really nice chap!

[Phil Traxson]

 Tim was one of the early members of the Trent Valley Group of the 7mm. NGA. Within weeks of him joining we became firm friends. His drive and enthusiasm  was boundless, though some times a little over the top. Never the less without him the group would have stalled at times, he often seemed to get the best ideas out of group members by winding them up, some times to the point where they would cheerfully have strangled him, and that includes myself, but he had the knack of knowing who it would work on and who it wouldn't.

 He also rapidly became my co-pilot at exhibitions with my model business and we must have travelled thousands of miles together over the last 20 odd years.  He was an excellent salesman (think ice cream to Eskimos and sand to Bedouins) Again that knack of knowing who he could joke with (or plain insult!) and who he couldn't was brought into play. As with his forays on the 7mmNGA demo stand there were times when I almost felt sorry for customers/prospective members as he drew them into conversation, I could hear their wallets screaming "don't listen to him " but he usually drowned them out. The one thing on these trips that always happened was a visit to a good pub on the way home, up and down the country there are several we called in regularly once or twice a year but we were remembered and made welcome by landlord and customers alike.

 His modelling skills provided many patterns for parts and rolling stock for "Henmore Dale" which usually became available to the general public through Port Wynnstay , indeed I still have some to release yet. All were  to his usual high standards and even his freelance stuff had to be practical, his basis was, if it wouldn't work when blown up to 12" to the foot it was no good as a model.

  As a personal friend of both me, and my family, he was there to help me out when I was struggling when I was carer for my wife for many years and I probably saw a side of him most others didn't. He was the one of the ones who would always give me a boost (or a boot) to keep me on an even keel. I am going to miss him for his humour, his help and also for being bloody annoying at times.

One anecdote sums him up I think. Some years back he had a hip replacement operation and on the day of his release from hospital I got a 'phone call,

Tim --  Greetings, they're letting me out today, can you pick me up at 4 o'clock.

Me-- Why haven't they got an ambulance available?

Tim-- Yes, but it will only take me home. You'll take me via the Brunswick, I haven't had a pint for a fortnight.

I went and picked him up.

RIP matey, I'm going to miss you.

Phil T.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Phil Traxson

[ngtrains.com]

This was news all of the group of mates that were the Trent Valley Group of the 7mm NGA and the Henmore Dale Layout Team knew was coming. Doesn’t make it any easier though.

 

I was in Wales driving on the FR when I got the news and have been trying since to think of some suitable words to say that I could actually get as far a writing without getting all emotional. Now home I find that Neil and Phil have pretty much said it all.

 

I can’t remember when I first met Tim because he just seems to have been there, but it would have been about the same time as Phil. Between us we’ve come up with some daft ideas, done some silly things and had a right laugh doing it and, inevitably, it involved more than a few beers.

 

Living some distance apart (the Trent Valley is very wide in the7mm NGA TVG concept) I didn’t see him as much as the others, but we operated a sort of distance scheme/scam operation regularly exchanging ideas, daft with the occasional serious one, by e-mail or phone.  Some of them worked but the submerged wagons in the flooded quarry which turned into an excellent model of goldfish in a pond was one that misfired slightly.

 

Tim always opened conversations with “greetings” but his other saying was his stamp of quality. If something was right/good/proper it would be `Tickety Boo’.  Only the other day I found a chassis that Tim had worked some magic on (installing novel features like it staying on the track) that was still in my `pending’ pile. I’d better finish it now and make sure its Tickety Boo but, just maybe, I’ll wire it up backwards in honour of his more cantankerous side.

 

RIP Tim, like others I am going to miss you

 

 

[NeilHB]

For those who may wish to attend. Tim Allsopp’s funeral will be next Thursday, 15th August at 11:20 at Derby Crematorium. And afterwards at The Brunswick.

 

Sylvia requests that we wear bright colours rather than black.

 

We’d be grateful that if you intend going, that you could let me know. As we’d appreciate knowing a rough estimate of numbers.