RMweb Premium PMP Posted January 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2015 Sad news from Peco this morning, John Brewer has passed away. A gentleman of the old school. RIP John, you'll be missed. http://www.pecopublications.co.uk/john-brewer-1943-2015.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted January 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2015 Yes a sad day. John was a modeller with diverse tastes in railways. Spent the odd ten minutes or two at York over a pint with him putting the model railway world to rights. John you will be missed. Baz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Sad news indeed. We take people around us for granted without considering we are all getting older. This got me wondering how all the other people in the railway press are getting on, folk who I have spoken with on the telephone but never met except for a few. RIP John. Larry Goddard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bike2steam Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Sad indeed, as you say, a gentleman. I had a great day at Peco when I took Bembridge there, in 1995, for a photo shoot with Len Wheal, an old friend from the Ongar &DMRC days of 20 years earlier. John treated me, and my good wife, to lunch at the Albion pub in Beer. When ever I saw him at shows after that, he would always ask, with a smile, if I'd built another layout yet, knowing I was always busy with other projects. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2015 John was a true gentleman and a good friend, although due to the tyranny of distance we had not met for many years. Adding together his time at MRN and then RM he must have been one of the longest-serving of all model railway magazine editors. As Barry O says, John had very diverse tastes and he was also a skilled modeller, although his natural modesty meant that his work was probably not as widely known as it should have been. I will cherish my memories of shows and particuarly apres-shows with John. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ELTEL Posted January 8, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2015 Sad news indeed met and chatted with John at various Exhibtions over the years RIP Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Very sad indeed. It was only two nights ago I was reading the piece about him in the Railway Modeller Annual. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Dread Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Another true gentleman gone. Always had a kindly word for anyone. I, for one, will miss him. R.I.P. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted January 9, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 9, 2015 How sad, and what a true gentleman he was. He was ever the courteous host when CTMK and I visited Peco for the first time, when I was doing the articles for 'Engine Wood', and like others, we got treated to lunch in the village and a free wander round the site. Always kind and friendly whenever we met up at shows or elsewhere, too. Gents like that of 'the old school' are getting fewer these days, and he will undoubtedly be missed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted January 9, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2015 Anyone realise that John Brewer was editor of RM, for longer than CJ Freezer was? April 1978 to June 2008 compared to CJF's August/September 1950 to March 1978. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 9, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 9, 2015 Anyone realise that John Brewer was editor of RM, for longer than CJ Freezer was? April 1978 to June 2008 compared to CJF's August/September 1950 to March 1978. Yes, and he had a spell at MRN before that - hence my comment in post #5 above. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bécasse Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I had known John for at least 50 years as he was a fellow South Londoner. His first railway-related journalism post was with the much respected Meccano Magazine. When Paul Towers departed from the Model Railway News chair, it was John that replaced him but, sadly, the publishers eventually decided that they wanted to relaunch that magazine as Model Railways with Roy Dock returning as editor and John had to go. John remained good friends with Roy, though, and when Roy retired and Cyril Freezer replaced him, John was Peco's obvious choice as the replacement editor at the Modeller. John had a stroke a couple of decades or so ago, from which he recovered but not completely. It became clear some years ago that his health was deteriorating further, although being relieved from the constant pressure of the editorial post at Beer helped a bit. I last saw him not long before I moved permanently to Belgium almost four years ago, but had reports from others from time to time. It is perhaps not widely known that his modelling interests lay in the direction of the Netherlands. He owned, and even exhibited, an HO NS-based layout, and had been working on an HOn3½ model of the RTM metre gauge terminus in Rotterdam for seemingly almost as long as I had known him. It is sad to have lost not only another friend, but someone who was so deeply rooted in the post-war history of the hobby. David Woodcock Champlon, Belgique Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Very sad to learn of John's passing. We used to meet in the days when a gathering of the model railway media meant three of us. Usually it was going to Broadstairs in the early days of the Hornby annual press event. He was a great gentleman and a very knowledgeable one. RIP John. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted January 19, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 19, 2015 Theres little I can add to what everyone has said. A regular visitor to Westcountry Exhibitions, John was always friendly and cheerful. I first met him when he was exhibiting his broad gauge layout based on Exeter Quay; "Exeter St Leonards" I think it was called. I've got some photos of it somewhere. Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turin 60 Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Can't remember how I met John, but it was back in the 70's and I'm sure the Seaton Tramway was involved. As has been said a real gentleman. RIP John. John Bruce. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampshire Hog Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 I first met John when he came to our club as part of the team to photograph my layout and another for inclusion in Railway and Continental Modeller, There were also other layouts present representing other time periods, gauges and countries and he was interested and knowlegable about them all, I also remember his sense of humour and as others have already said he was a true gentleman. RIP John. Kevin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Oops, missed this post earlier! I met john back in 1968 when I worked at the famous kings Cross shop. john was a friend of AF (Frank) Rowles; they were part of a group called Ravensbourne Press along with Colin Binnie who wrote a book about the Brighton Terriers. John as we all know moved to Devon later and I lost touch with him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 7, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 7, 2015 Ha, I knew I had them somewhere. John's lovely Exeter St Leonards layout, a broad gauge terminus set on Exeter Quay. I think I took these photos at a small show in Seaton or Beer, in about 1985/86, around the time I began exhibiting myself. John later built a Dawlish sea-wall type layout, but again set in broad-gauge single track days. I thought I had some photos of this but I haven't found them yet. David Taylor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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