Hollerton Junction - Tony Archer's layout

['CHARD]

In yesterday evening's episode of The Archers, Tony showed his brother-in-law Justin Elliot his layout, set in 1961.  No idea what gauge,  as it wasn't mentioned, but I'm guessing it's OO.

 

I think I'll contact Tony and see if he'll post a track plan on here; anyone got his contact details, or perhaps he's already a member and lurking.

[The Stationmaster]

So at least one other person has listened to it.  Fascinating dialogue which sounded quite sensible and complete with 'Justin' mentioning 'building from scratch' - the next time I see his alter-ego Simon Williams in the town I shall have to ask him about his hobbies   (He's ok - very nice bloke actually and quite approachable, we've chatted in the past on a couple of occasions).

[dave750t]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

his alter-ego Simon Williams 

I believe he can do an uncanny impersonation of Justin Elliot. It's a pity he looks nothing like him :-)

[Nick Holliday]

Remarkable that Tony has found the time to entirely scratch build a large layout, despite the fact that he had a farm to run, and, up until now, claimed to spend any spare time rebuilding and maintaining his Spridget, and with never a mention from his long suffering wife,  or any of his siblings, about this other hobby!

[vaughan45]

3 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Remarkable that Tony has found the time to entirely scratch build a large layout, despite the fact that he had a farm to run, and, up until now, claimed to spend any spare time rebuilding and maintaining his Spridget, and with never a mention from his long suffering wife,  or any of his siblings, about this other hobby!

Cheque book or debit card modelling - he's had it all built by a professional model maker! Too afraid to mention it before.

Edited February 14, 2021 by vaughan45

[Derekl]

It was mentioned a yer or two back when a Hornby passenger set was found in a loft - it belonged to the son who left the program some time ago following a tractor accident. Tony wanted to give it to Johnny the 17/18 year old, but he wasn't that interested and there was some talk of Tony building a layout in the workshop. I don't recall hearing any more about it (although I don't always listen) so I was quite surprised to hear it had transformed into what appears to be a substantial and successful project. (Although they didn't actually run any trains, so we don't know whether i works).

[The Stationmaster]

On 14/02/2021 at 15:16, Derekl said:

It was mentioned a yer or two back when a Hornby passenger set was found in a loft - it belonged to the son who left the program some time ago following a tractor accident. Tony wanted to give it to Johnny the 17/18 year old, but he wasn't that interested and there was some talk of Tony building a layout in the workshop. I don't recall hearing any more about it (although I don't always listen) so I was quite surprised to hear it had transformed into what appears to be a substantial and successful project. (Although they didn't actually run any trains, so we don't know whether i works).

That was when it all started and i think there have been occasional mentions since then about 'Tony and his trainset' -probably depends on who the scriptwriters are at any particular time.  But good to hear that he received a 'Castle' for his birthday although we don't know if it was in the correct livery of course.  While Fank Dyer set his 'Borchester' layout firmly in ER land the original general area of the fictional location of Ambridge would put it into GWR land.  The branch line to Borchester itself (from Hollerton Jcn) was 'closed' in an episode many years ago, in typical branch line closure fashion; I'm  fairly sure that back in the 1960s.

[Derekl]

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

But good to hear that he received a 'Castle' for his birthday although we don't know if it was in the correct livery of course.

He described it as a "Great Western" Castle class - if in GW livery wrong for 1961, but I would probably describe it similarly even if in BR livery. Whatever one may think of it, the Archers is usually carefully researched and accurate (obviously there has been the occasional mistake). I suspect there is a model rail enthusiast knocking about in the production team or perhaps in the script writers.