Popular Post Rail-Online Posted December 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 8, 2020 It is with great sadness that I have to report that Ray Hammond passed away earlier today. A pioneer of P4 and Scalefour modelling and a founding member of the Scalefour Society and I am proud to say he was a good personal friend. As an influential and pioneering modeller he will always be remembered, especially by those who floundered about in the early days of P4 back in the 1970s. His model of the BR(E) branch line terminus ‘Buntingham’ will be remembered on the exhibition circuit for its near flawless running. A friend of mine who helped one day still recalls that it is the only time on any layout that he can remember operating for a complete session without a single derailment. Later it would be ‘Thursford’ that did the rounds at the finescale exhibitions and those of us that helped operate it were always impressed by the build quality, from baseboards, track, bouncing signals and electrics to Locomotives and stock. He even won a prize trophy at one show tor ‘best scenics’ which, quite frankly, he was shocked about! He will be sadly missed. Tony 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmrspaul Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 A second obituary of an elderly acquaintance within a few minutes. As you say a pioneer of getting P4 to work, although I never quite followed how fascinated he was to get signals bouncing I hope I remember correctly that his day job was insuring commercial aircraft. Another very sad passing. Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim V Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Very inspiring modeller, but the last time I spoke to him was when I invited him behind my layout Clutton at the St Albans show in 2013, he was very interested in how the staging roads worked. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stanley Melrose Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 In the middle of last year I received a lovely letter from Ray, whom I have known (along with his wife, Iris) for many years. He wondered if he might purchase two Japanese-built LMS 2-6-0 Crabs back from me? He had sold them to me some 20 plus years previously. I was delighted to agree and Tony (Rail-Online) delivered them to Ray. I had a phone call from Ray and despite his speech difficulties and my hearing problems we had a wonderful few minutes recalling our membership of the 5516 Group - named after the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, LMS Patriot loco. Far too many of those who were members* are no longer with us and now Ray has gone. A sad day, indeed. Rest in peace, Ray, and keep an eye out for those of us left behind to remember your friendship and who enjoyed observing your modelling skills. * Brian Rogers, Gerry Arundel, Sid Waite, Don Field come to mind but there are so many others. 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 (edited) What a sad day...... I joined the North Middlesex MRC in Winchmore Hill back in the early 60’s as a lad and remember Ray well. I was lucky enough to be part of his team that went to Central Hall and recall going to his home in Cuffley? for a rehearsal before the show. Once I started work we had a large machine shop and I managed to sweet talk the supervisor into making Ray a set of planing jigs for his pointwork. I bumped into Ray again some 50 years later at Alexandra Palace and laughed after he told me he used them for many years. His Tenshodo? Crab was the first brass loco I had seen. The detail for a young lad brought up on Triang, Hornby and Trix was just unbelievable. RIP Ray. Thanks for elevating my interest in model railways beyond Hornby and Triang. Edited December 8, 2020 by gordon s 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Izzy Posted December 8, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2020 Reading this sad news reminds me of the early years of the Scalefour Society and of many others, Ken York etc. It was Ray who devised the actual S4 standards, which Buntingham used, and differed slightly from the standard P4 ones. RIP Izzy 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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