Eclipse247

I too was something of a fan of Ray Pope's books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and was also, even at a fairly young age, impressed that the model railway equipment described was recognisable as, for example, the r-t-r of the era. For example the West Country "Barnstaple" was frequently mentioned which, I assume was the Dublo or Wrenn model. Hornby's factory at Margate was also mentioned and, as I recall, met with Telford's approval as a staunch Southern man .

Hi Pat,

I'm glad you liked them. My father was quite hot on detail and accuracy. They also had depth in terms of social and political issues. I would be interested in your interpretation of them. Maybe see my blog here. Mark Pope

I too was something of a fan of Ray Pope's books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and was also, even at a fairly young age, impressed that the model railway equipment described was recognisable as, for example, the r-t-r of the era. For example the West Country "Barnstaple" was frequently mentioned which, I assume was the Dublo or Wrenn model. Hornby's factory at Margate was also mentioned and, as I recall, met with Telford's approval as a staunch Southern man .

The Model-Railway Men is now available to buy/order in paperback from most bookshops and Amazon.

Thanks. Mark

YES!!! I read the first book aged about 7 or so and loved it,(around 1973) must have read it 50 times! Totally forgot about, what an unexpected blast from the past.

Hi Ghost. They are on their way back. It takes a while to sort out the technicalities. Glad you liked them. It seems many did not come across this series back in the day. Hopefully I can put that right now using the media which didn't exist then. Btw. I am the Mark from the book. I recently did a book signing at Calne Model Railway show and I will probably do Corsham Model Railway Show in April both organised by the Bentley MRC.

Mark

I've read (and probably still got in the loft) The Model Railway Men, The Model Railway Men Take Over and Telford and the American Visitor. I'll have to look out for the others, I hadn't realised there were so many. Some of the covers of the Pope books are classic 70s childrens' book, I specially like the one for One's Pool

Yes that was a good one. It was read on Jackanory by Prunella Scales. It looks like there are a number of Model Railway Men books you havn't read.

I'd love to see them available on Apple iBooks (I don't do Kindle!) but would certainly enjoy a hard copy of them too. As a kid I read all of the then-available books in the series from Beverley library.

Hi Jon, Thanks for the input. I will have to look into doing an iBook version. A new hard copy would be around half the price of a 2nd hand original.  I am wondering how many others don't do Kindle?

That's exactly the one I was thinking of - a great layout!

 

My early memories of the Modeller come from Weymouth Library, which had a collection of RM bound volumes in the children's lending section in the 70's - how enlightened! - which I used to borrow regularly, indeed almost permanently! They ran from 1970 to 1975, in maroon hardback covers - a source of great inspiration and ideas over what felt like a 'golden period' for the magazine, with many large 'system' layouts (I remember one which had just about the whole Western Region over several rooms, with multiple track everywhere!). 

 

As a slight digression the library also had a few of 'The Model Railway Men' books by Ray Pope - anyone remember those? - which were set on a boy's layout where the 'little people' came to life, and were named after iconic engineers - Telford, Stanier, Gresley, etc - it sounds cheesy but they were great stories and a good read. I see the books on eBay/Amazon these days for large sums. 

 

David

Re Davids comment re "The Model Railway Men":-

Ah, Amazon's auto-pricing algorithm strikes again!

See also: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110425/03522114026/infinite-loop-algorithmic-pricing-amazon-how-book-flies-cost-2369865593.shtml

The algo has pushed the price up to £857! However, 2nd hand copies go for around £20. The Kindle version is much cheaper. I am not sure how they are offering a "new" copy. They could be remainders that sat in a box for many years.

Does anyone think a hard copy paper version would be more acceptable? If so, they would be cheaper than the second hand originals thanks to the print on demand services that were not available back in the day!

My father was a teacher/educator/author and the engineers mentioned could bring home to a childs mind that these guys were creative as engineers, in the same way he was as an author, and they could be creative in their own lives. ie to remove boundaries between creative/inventive people and those who may become so.

I too was something of a fan of Ray Pope's books. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and was also, even at a fairly young age, impressed that the model railway equipment described was recognisable as, for example, the r-t-r of the era. For example the West Country "Barnstaple" was frequently mentioned which, I assume was the Dublo or Wrenn model. Hornby's factory at Margate was also mentioned and, as I recall, met with Telford's approval as a staunch Southern man .

Hi

You might like to know that these books will be coming out as Kindle versions starting with the first in the series called The Model Railway Men which is available now. The Barnstaple was the Dublo version. The chapters in this story were interwoven around what was in the railway layout, and the house layout, including the loft room water header tank that Gresley fell into in the last chapter. The crane used in chapter 4 "Stuff for a Drass" was part of the layout.