Cliff Harris

[corneliuslundie]

Written by Tony Miller for the WRRC Newsletter and reproduced here with permission

 

No. 5 Williams Place, Porth will be an address well known to many students of Welsh railways because, without an e-mail address, that or the telephone number was the only way to contact Cliff. It was also the address at which Cliff lived all his life, having been born in the front room in 1936. Located next to the railway, the house was one of the first built in Porth at the start of the mining boom in the Rhondda. From there, for over 40 years, Cliff made the short journey to work in Porth station ticket office.

His railway interests extended to membership of both the Historical Model Railway Society and the Welsh Railways Research Circle, of which he was a founder member and thus merits a few words in the Circle’s Newsletter. He remained a member for the rest of his life.

Although not very active in either group with regard to committee involvement or organisation, he undertook to be the first point of contact in both societies as a Steward or Line Superintendent – the title differed – to field queries about specific South Wales companies. In these roles he was the epitome of the spirit of both societies in that he was ever willing to answer questions, often accompanied by appropriate sketches as well as factual details. It is well over 45 years since the writer first took advantage of Cliff’s generosity and sharing his deep knowledge of the railways in South Wales. Some of his surviving papers reflect the wide scope of his own enquiries and the help afforded to others.

Cliff was an active 4 mm scale modeller, too, and some of his models were included in the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum’s display of the Taff Vale’s West Yard Works. He had a layout in a garden shed, although that activity tailed off from 2007 following his retirement from Porth station and the shed’s rickety condition! His wish was that some of his models would be displayed at the Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the successor to WIMM, but whether that comes to fruition remains to be seen. He was also a military modeller – but that’s another story.

So farewell to a long standing friend, with whom a number of days long ago were spent visiting and measuring a few pre-grouping railway structures such as Taffs Well, Rhoose box and Gileston.

RIP

With thanks to Lynne Williams for additional notes)

 

Jonathan David

[kevinlms]

There is an article by a C.W. Harris in Model Railway Constructor 1977 August, previewing the model railway in 4mm scale for the 'National Museum of Wales'. I assume this is Cliff?