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Railway & Modelling Obituaries

Sidney Stubbs


Ralph R

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It is with great sadness that I report on the passing of Sid Stubbs, the President of the Manchester Model Railway Society.

 

Sid, in his 90s, was one of the hobbies pioneers and will be sadly missed by all whose lives he touched. He joined the MMRS when he was 16 years old and had been a member ever since. He was one of those who would share his knowledge freely and he was a gifted model maker.

 

He came into the hobby when things were best made by hand and in Sid's case this included wheels, motors and gears. His models ran on 24v and were superb performers.

 

He was part of the Manchester team who started modelling in EM in the early 1950s. This team included Alex Jackson, John Langan, Norman Dale, Ross Pochin, Norman Whitnall and many others who decided to improve the standards of 4mm modelling by developing their own. The Manchester profile was a standard they developed for wheels and this was later developed by others into even finer standards.

 

Sid's health had deteriorated over the last 2 or 3 years and he spent the last 3 or 4 weeks in hospital. Funeral arrangements are not yet know but will be advised in due course.

 

We shall miss a lifelong friend.

 

Ralph Robertson

Editor of the Link

Manchester Model Railway Society

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Many thanks Ralph,

Condolences to Sids family and all those who knew him.

Alas I had not had the opportunity to get to know Sid since I joined the MMRS but I did at least get to meet him on a couple of occasions.

Truly, he was one of the hobbies greats.

R.I.P Sid.

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Thank you Ralph; I'm sorry to hear that news. I met Sid a couple of time at MMRS shows but I've heard several tales about his micro-engineering prowess and the lack of need to consult drawings whilst turning things out by eye with 0.1mm precision.

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I'm thankful for Ralph posting this because it wasn't a posting I was relishing doing at all. It seems to have been a year when we have lost a lot of skilled modellers and Sid is no exception.

 

I think the best way of describing his talents is that Ive seen some of his models made in the earlier half of the last century and they stand up exceedingly well against even todays superb models. At that time people probably felt they had been timewarped in.

 

He's going to be sadly missed, and especially so at Dean Hall, he always had a word for you, appreciated everyones efforts no matter how hamfisted they were and always had gentle and often inspirational advice for improvement. Not only that but he was one of the few remaining real gentlemen of the hobby. I like to think that in another life he's sat at a big modelling bench with the likes of his old mates Alex Jackson, John Langan and Norman Whitnall all getting on with their latest project an having a good chinwag. The hobby is much poorer for his passing.

 

Rest in peace Sid.

 

Andy Cooper

Chairman

MMRS

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A true gent and a great modeller and engineer. I only met him a couple of times, principally at the Scalefour AGM at Dean Hall a few years ago, when he entertained us with a whole manner of stories from his early modelling days.

 

I'll raise a glass to him on Friday.

 

RIP Sid.

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I didn't know Sid well but I did get to meet him and see some of his models close up when he visited Roy Jackson's "Retford" probably 3 or 4 years ago. Sid produced a lovely model of an LMS 4-4-0, fully scratchbuilt, including wheels, gears and motor. He was concerned that the loco may not run very well on a 12v supply but he needn't have worried. The loco ran beautifully. I recall that it was over 50 years old but few modellers before or since have had the skills to produce models of that quality from raw materials.

 

Sid (and others of his kind) represents something that our hobby seems to me to be losing. People who are willing and capable enough to make things for themselves, even when they could probably make more use of commercially available parts.

 

What a lovely bloke and a sad loss to the hobby in general and to Manchester club in particular.

 

Tony Gee

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Extremely saddened to hear this news. As has been said, Sid was one of the true greats of our hobby. But not only that; he had time for everyone, it didn't matter who you were, he would at least pass the time of day. He had a very droll sense of humour, and could be relied upon for a pithy remark when it was needed.

 

92? A great life well - led.

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I remember reading about his layout (Deeley?) in RM back in 1966 - there was obviously still a lot to do, but the trackwork in particular was beautifully crafted.

Always sad to read of the passing of one of the hobby's true greats.

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I remember reading about his layout (Deeley?) in RM back in 1966 - there was obviously still a lot to do, but the trackwork in particular was beautifully crafted.

Always sad to read of the passing of one of the hobby's true greats.

 

Wasn't it called 'Northchurch'?

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