Older Inspirational Layouts

[PatB]

He died on June 28th 2011 in the nursing home where he was then living

There was a very good speech at his funeral quoted in full here.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40424-pd-hancock-funeral/?p=432484&hl=+p.d.%20+hancock&fromsearch=1&do=findComment&comment=432484

 

I don't know when he stopped modelling but I don't think it was many years before his death.

Philip Hancock was born in 1928 and lived for almost his entire life in Edinburgh where he was a well respected academic librarian. He started building the Craig and Mertonford in 1950 and was contributing articles on narrow gauge modelling and modelling in general to Railway Modeller and MRN almost as soon as he started modelling.

The first article by P.D. Hancock that I have is a description and very good drawing of a small motor coaster in MRN in April 1950 that refers to his 4mm scale layout but not that it was NG. A plan of the CMR first appears in MRN in November 1950 when the layout was in its early stages of construction but he refers back to an article about the loco "Dunedin" in July 1949 that I don't have.

 

He said in his book that he was very inspired by John Ahern's articles that he'd first read in 1947 so it's interesting that a couple of years later his own articles were appearing alongside John Ahern's in MRN.  

 

Thank you for that.  Much appreciated.

[Michael Delamar]

Ive uploaded a video my dad and I took of the Doncaster model railway show sometime in the mid 90s, I think it may have been 97?

 

some inspirational layouts on it,but I cant remember the names of most of the layouts, some people here should be able to.

 

First layout is our clubs Olive mount junction,the small N gauge modern image depot I liked, aswel as Brockholes which was a favourite.

 

 

Edited March 21, 2013 by Michael Delamar

[t-b-g]

Here here!

 

and possibly "son of Rice" Tim Shackleton?

 

I am very pleased to call Tim Shackleton a friend and I have a huge respect for his modelling and his writing but an inspirational layout builder? I doubt that anybody could name a Shackleton layout and I am not even sure that I have ever seen or heard of him finishing one!

 

I am not entirely sure that he would enjoy being named as "older" either! The bloke is only a few years older than me.

 

No witty riposts please!

 

Cheers,

 

Tony

[HSB]

At risk of derailing thr thread, what happened to P D Hancock?  I've got a copy of RM from the early 90s in which he relates the demise of Craigshire and his first efforts in 16 mm scale but I haven't come across anything since (having been away from model railways for most of that decade).  I assume that, at the time, he was somewhat advanced in years and so is likely, by now, to have joined CJF and Peter Denny but if that's the case, if anyone can point me to an obituary it would be appreciated.  A pointer to any further writings on the Torlum Valley Railway (as his 16 mm outdoor line was called) would be interesting too.

Sadly he passed away very recently.

 

Having now been into railway modelling for over half a century I tend to think of many of the "older" layouts mentioned on this thread as actually being fairly recent! (Policemen are getting younger too!!!   )

One name that hasn't been mentioned yet is Edward Beal, not so much for his layout 'The West Midland' as for his books. I bought the reprint of his 'Modelling the Old Time Railways' a couple of years ago and it is still well worth a read. It is sobering to think that in 'Old Time' he was looking back to the railways of around fifty years before. Looking back a similar distance from today takes us back to the late steam/early diesel days on BR which many of us are modelling now!

[trisonic]

Can someone remind me of the builder of the layout of part of the Furness Railway (in EM) in the sixties? I remember beautiful scratchbuilt locomotives.....

 

Best, Pete.

[martin_wynne]

Can someone remind me of the builder of the layout of part of the Furness Railway (in EM) in the sixties? I remember beautiful scratchbuilt locomotives.....

 

Best, Pete.

 

Hi Pete,

 

Ross Pochin, layout was I think "Haverthwaite".

 

regards,

 

Martin.

[clecklewyke]

Hi Pete,

 

Ross Pochin, layout was I think "Haverthwaite".

 

regards,

 

Martin.

Ross Pochin's locos are in the safe care of the Cumbrian Railway Association, as I believe is Haverthwaite. I'll check.

 

Ian

[clecklewyke]

I am very pleased to call Tim Shackleton a friend and I have a huge respect for his modelling and his writing but an inspirational layout builder? I doubt that anybody could name a Shackleton layout and I am not even sure that I have ever seen or heard of him finishing one!

 

I am not entirely sure that he would enjoy being named as "older" either! The bloke is only a few years older than me.

 

No witty riposts please!

 

Cheers,

 

Tony

Hi, Tony,

 

I referred to Tim as "son of Rice" as he followed on from Iain in MRJ, with inspiring articles on kit-building and RTR modifications in a style which was reminiscent of Iain's articles, in that they always were rounded, with lots of colourful and personal descriptions, none of " I did this, then I did that", lots of "why" as well as "how". 

 

So I was referring to him as an inspiring writer, rather than layout builder - this thread has got twisted - see post No 198 but I'm probably a bit OT. Sorry for that.

 

Is Tim still writing? I see his name popping up as a tutor at modelling weekends etc. but sadly not as an author in MRJ.

 

Ian

Edited March 22, 2013 by clecklewyke

[Donw]

For both Peter Denny and Frank Dyer operation was very important. I have the feeling that for Ian it was less so. I have the impression that for many modellers the building is the thing and especially with micro layouts operation is limited. I do think that kids especially find the operation grabs the interest at first spending hours building things and painting weathering comes later. Perhaps part of the problem is the less interesting nature of operation on todays railways. No critiscm intended of anyone.

Don

[martin_wynne]

For both Peter Denny and Frank Dyer operation was very important. I have the feeling that for Ian it was less so. I have the impression that for many modellers the building is the thing and especially with micro layouts operation is limited. I do think that kids especially find the operation grabs the interest at first spending hours building things and painting weathering comes later.

 

Hi Don,

 

If you design a layout for operation, it is difficult to get ultra realism in scenery and atmosphere, which is regarded as so important nowadays. Here is a picture of Adavoyle Junction in its old home. It was great fun to operate, and contained some superb individual models. But it hardly qualifies as a scenic masterpiece as a whole (click the image to see it larger):

 

 

But I think we can add Tony Miles to the list. More: http://templot.com/GNRI/adavoyle.htm

 

Martin.

[t-b-g]

Hi, Tony,

 

I referred to Tim as "son of Rice" as he followed on from Iain in MRJ, with inspiring articles on kit-building and RTR modifications in a style which was reminiscent of Iain's articles, in that they always were rounded, with lots of colourful and personal descriptions, none of " I did this, then I did that", lots of "why" as well as "how". 

 

So I was referring to him as an inspiring writer, rather than layout builder - this thread has got twisted - see post No 198 but I'm probably a bit OT. Sorry for that.

 

Is Tim still writing? I see his name popping up as a tutor at modelling weekends etc. but sadly not as an author in MRJ.

 

Ian

 

Fair do Ian! He is certainly inspirational to a lot of people. I just took the swing in the thread to be to inspirational layout builders but I am happy to see the net cast wider than that!

 

Tim has had a few articles in the recent press, about weathering. I can't recall which mag it was and as it isn't one I get, I can't look it up. Maybe Model Rail or Hornby magazine.

 

He has also just had a second weathering DVD released via Activity Media and has filmed another DVD for release later this year.

 

He lives a long way from me so we don't meet often but he has been here a few times doing a bit of very subtle restoration work on some parts of Buckingham.

 

Hopefully he will be up this way again before long.

 

Cheers,

 

Tony

Edited March 22, 2013 by t-b-g

[New Haven Neil]

I'm not pedantic, I don't mind straying to 'inspirational modellers' to bring Tim and others into the fray!  My whole raison d'etre was to highlight those who have inspired us over the years, especially in our formative years, which for me as a '59 model, was the 70's and 80's mostly, but feel free to expand that either way!  It's interesting to learn more of people and their models I knew little or nothing of.

 

Mention of Edward Beale for instance, a gent who was hugely inspirational to a generation or two, was almost unheard of by myself as an impressionable teenager, but Bill Hudson, the Lowerys and the regulars in Railway Modeller back then certainly were.  Ricey came a little later, but I love his style of writing.  I'd love to meet him.

[Grafarman]

For modelling: Bob Denham - his Springwood layout in N gauge was a first for me; proper length trains running through realisitic (for then!) scenery...not sure if he's still around now; that was 1979...

For writing: Allan Downes (now of this manor) - his descriptions of structural builds and uniquely- styled scenics over the years have been ongoing highlights...

[SteamAle]

Haverthwaite by Ross Pochin

Ross was a member of Manchester MRS and modelled in the fore runner of EM with a track gauge of 18 mm. He scratchbuilt all his stock, turning wheels etc, which could hold their own against Scalefour ones today, as well a making motors when needed. He was more of a scrathcbuilder than layout builder and Haverthwaite was primarily to provide a setting in which to display his models and occassionally run them. Articles about the layout and some of the Furness models have appeared in the model press.

When he made a house move, the layout, which was a permenant fixture was removed and stored by a friend of his. The store was a wooden garage and during some very hot weather the linoleum tiles that some of the track had been laid on melted and distorted the track. Track laid on rubberised carpet underlay survived although the rubber is starting to perish now. The layout was advertised as free to a good home in the EM newsletter and as a result came into my care. A long slow restoration job has started and trains have managed to complete a full circuit but only after regauging to allow current EM stock to run. It was too big to go in the spare room so occupies the place designed for a car to be!

The station buildings were retained by the family.

The stock passed to Bill Shillcock, another MMRS member, and after his death the Cumbrian Railways Association (CRA) purchased the entire collection of both builders. A selection of these award winning models are displayed on the CRA stand at a number of exhibitions, including Wigan, but never yet Manchester! A full set of photographs are available to view on the CRA Zenfolio site (well they should be in the very near future) http://cumbrianrailways.zenfolio.com/

Ross built another layout in his new home based on Millom in South West Cumberland but I don't know what happenned to this one. A book about Millom and its railways is available from the CRA for those who may have an interest in the area.

Bill had a layout that he purchased based on LNWR prototype but running Furness stock. This is in my care as well and will be available to attend exhibtions soon. Unfortunately the CRA committee will not let me run the original stock on it!

Philip

[Poggy1165]

Thanks for this Philip. Ross Pochin - now there was a modeller! I remember staring for long periods at his locos on display at the Manchester Show, awestruck by their quality.

[Donw]

I saw Adavolye somewhere Martin and enjoyed watching. It perform better than most layouts.

 

Don

[New Haven Neil]

I recall being stunned by Ross Pochin's Furness well tank in Railway Modeller, as a young lad.  I had never seen anything with such detail and realism, and of such a tiny and odd(to me) prototype.

[dunwurken]

 

Posted Yesterday, 11:12

PatB, on 21 Mar 2013 - 07:19, said:

At risk of derailing thr thread, what happened to P D Hancock?  I've got a copy of RM from the early 90s in which he relates the demise of Craigshire and his first efforts in 16 mm scale but I haven't come across anything since (having been away from model railways for most of that decade).  I assume that, at the time, he was somewhat advanced in years and so is likely, by now, to have joined CJF and Peter Denny but if that's the case, if anyone can point me to an obituary it would be appreciated.  A pointer to any further writings on the Torlum Valley Railway (as his 16 mm outdoor line was called) would be interesting too.

 

He died on June 28th 2011 in the nursing home where he was then living

There was a very good speech at his funeral quoted in full here.

http://www.rmweb.co....h=1#entry432484

 

I don't know when he stopped modelling but I don't think it was many years before his death.

Philip Hancock was born in 1928 and lived for almost his entire life in Edinburgh where he was a well respected academic librarian. He started building the Craig and Mertonford in 1950 and was contributing articles on narrow gauge modelling and modelling in general to Railway Modeller and MRN almost as soon as he started modelling.

The first article by P.D. Hancock that I have is a description and very good drawing of a small motor coaster in MRN in April 1950 that refers to his 4mm scale layout but not that it was NG. A plan of the CMR first appears in MRN in November 1950 when the layout was in its early stages of construction but he refers back to an article about the loco "Dunedin" in July 1949 that I don't have.

 

He said in his book that he was very inspired by John Ahern's articles that he'd first read in 1947 so it's interesting that a couple of years later his own articles were appearing alongside John Ahern's in MRN.  

The article "Return to Craig" in RM Nov 2001 was PD's last article.  Articles on the Torlum Hill Light Railway appeared in the RM in Jun 1991 and May 1996 and in the RM Mar 1999 he was the author of the article on the Peter Kinnear's Strathmore Railway.  PD's first article on 'Reflected Light' appeared in the Apr 1948 MRN so his writings spanned 53 years.  There may have been an article and/or photographs in the Garden Rail magazine but I do not have access to copies of that publication so I cannot give details.

The Edinburgh and Lothians MRC and myself now own much of what remains of the Craig and Mertonford layout.  I am a member of the club and am acting as custodian of the their PD Hancock collection which includes some of PD's books and photographs.  Whilst I own some OO standard gauge rolling stock from Craig what one would regard as the iconic locos from the layout both narrow and standard gauge are not in the ownership of the club or myself [and we are missing a few key buildings from Craig]!

With regard to Dunedin I do have a copy of that article and can confirm much of the body survives and the chassis I seem to recall was used under Ian which also survived up to the time of PD's demise.

Photos of much of what survives can be viewed in my gallery: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/112904466287746079405?authkey=Gv1sRgCLfbrJ6D26fQkAE

Work on restoring Dundreich is in hand.

Malcolm

[HSB]

I spoke to her son Richard at the weekend, Vivien is still with us and modelling.

Must have got my wires crossed somewhere! My apologies to the lady.

[DLT]

  Whilst I own some OO standard gauge rolling stock from Craig what one would regard as the iconic locos from the layout both narrow and standard gauge are not in the ownership of the club or myself [and we are missing a few key buildings from Craig]!

Malcolm

I'm not sure about the ownership, but some of the C&M narrow gauge locos are in the care of the 009 Society, and can be seen in their display cases at certain shows.

Very glad to see that this layout is in good hands.

Cheers, Dave.

[dunwurken]

I'm not sure about the ownership, but some of the C&M narrow gauge locos are in the care of the 009 Society, and can be seen in their display cases at certain shows.

Very glad to see that this layout is in good hands.

Cheers, Dave.

Sorry to say none of the locos are with the 009 Society.  In the past PD himself lent some models to the Society but the ones you see in the Society showcase, namely Duncan and Moira, belong to Rod Allcock who has also constructed a replica of the diesel, Joan, and is currently working on a replica of Ian.

If my memory serves me correctly the 009 Society only own one C&MR wagon.

Malcolm

[Iain Popplewell]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Derek Naylor's Aire Valley a narrow gauge system which appeared in a series of articles in the early seventies.As a spotty 12yr old I lived for the next article to appear and it was this layout together with P D Hancocks Craig and Mertonford that finally got me modeling in 009 as soon as I got a Saturday job and the requisite funds.Oh happy days.

A few years ago I bought the requisite year volumes of Railway Modeler of E-bay from pure nostalgia.What a joy I could remember the articles almost word for word.The layout was still impressive and inspirational even today.

As an aside,I wish modern day writers of articles in magazines were half as erudite as P D Hancock his writing style was wonderful.

Edited April 13, 2013 by iainp

[Iain Popplewell]

For modeling: Bob Denham - his Springwood layout in N gauge was a first for me; proper length trains running through realistic (for then!) scenery...not sure if he's still around now; that was 1979...

For writing: Allan Downes (now of this manor) - his descriptions of structural builds and uniquely- styled scenics over the years have been ongoing highlights...

 Allan Downes another hero of mine.Not just for his humorous writing style but for his modeling style.If I remember correctly he once constructed mountains out of cement in a converted pigsty.Pipers Mead was his inspirational layout of the early seventies.I recently spotted a recent article in BRM I believe were he had constructed pipework (quite convincingly I might add)for an iron works using Yorkshire fittings for Gods sake!The man's a national treasure long may he continue.

Edited April 13, 2013 by iainp

[clecklewyke]

 

 

As an aside,I wish modern day writers of articles in magazines were half as erudite as P D Hancock his writing style was wonderful.

Not many are university librarians!

 

I met PDH once, when I was a junior administrator at Edinburgh University, and he seemed to be a lovely, modest man. It always amazed me that the C+M empire ran around a small bedroom in a Dalkeith Road tenement, a stone's throw from where I worked.

 

Ian

[New Haven Neil]

IainP, I am sure the Aire Valley had a mention earlier!  It was inspirational to me too.  Remember  'C-OIL' anyone?