dunwurken

MarkSG There are published colour photographs of Craig in the RM Dec 1979, Apr 1980, Jan and Feb 1993 and in a RM special, Famous Layouts in 1990. All the RM colour photos were taken by PD himself in 1979 and the originals are now with the E&LMRC. The photos in my Picassa Gallery are the first time such close up pictures have been available and were taken for to assist the E&LMRC cataloguing its collection. Pacific231G PD was influenced by John Ahern however the two men only ever met once or twice during their lifetimes. PD was modelling almost to the end and had a small railway in his room at the nursing home in his final days. With regard to the E&LMRC in the 1950's it was indeed a golden age with its founder W Loch Kidston [a founder of the O Gauge Guild and was involved in the early days of Scalefour/P4], PD Hancock [Craig and Mertoford], John Charman [Charford], Ken Northwood [North Devonshire] and the club President, Sir Eric O Hutchison who had been writing in the MRN since its inception in 1925. There was also a young Don Rowland who is still with us and working in Scalefour. Malcolm

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

I am not sure if you are aware but parts of Craig have been uncovered and are now in the ownership of the Edinburgh and Lothians MRC and are currently with me, a club member, for safe keeping. For photos see: -https://picasaweb.google.com/112904466287746079405/MoreOfPDHancockSCraig# Malcolm

Tony The layout has now been moved from the E&LMRC clubrooms and now 'resides' with myself. Evaluation of what will be required to return this layout to something approaching its former glory is now in hand. I fully agree with you this is more like preservation and restoration than railway modelling and I feel I should be consulting museum conservation staff rather than fellow railway modellers. Fortunately what we have to hand is, for its age, in surprisingly good and original condition so not too many decisions are required as to what should be kept and repaired and what might need replacing and so on. Where possible repairs will be undertaken using methods and materials familiar to the creator and in this respect we have magazine articles, a PECO booklet and PDH's book, Narrow Gauge Adventure, to assist us not to mention the many colour slides dating from 1979. Progress reports will be posted from time to time Malcolm