Mirthwaite

YouTube is an amazing resource and source of information, and it’s free. Of course there is a lot of crap on there, which can be ignored. For finding information, entertainment, seeing how to do things or fixing problems I find it invaluable, whether it be IT issues, plumbing, finding old films/documentaries, audiobooks, railway history, etc, and of course railway modelling. If you have a problem you can bet someone has encountered it and put something on YouTube showing you how to fix it. As for railway modelling, the reviews can be useful, ads can be skipped after a point, and you can fast forward past tedious bits like unboxing. Sams Trains presentation can be annoying, but I guess it goes down well with kids, which I guess are his main audience. It can be useful to see how locos perform, how they are put together, etc, but question the running on tracks laid directly on carpet - not a good example to set for aspiring young modellers, but I guess Sam’s channel is aimed more at kids who just like to play trains rather than serious modellers.

I remember the two original Beatties shops in Southgate as being purely for model railways. When they expanded and opened the other shops they became more general. I lived in Bowes Park, so Beatties and Howell & Dimmock were both a short bus ride away. Can just remember steam at Wood Green and Palace Gates, and would hear trains, whistling at night before entering tunnels north of Wood Green, particularly the A4s with their distinctive chime whistles. Later I did my first train spotting there, watching early diesels and the new Deltics. A particular favourite was watching the early evening expresses thunder through Wood Green, such as the Master Cutler (usually Brush type 4 hauled) and the Aberdonian, which was a very long Deltic hauled train of around 17 coaches as I recall. Also remember the miniature railway that ran round the lake at Ally Pally. Another old shop that springs to mind is Jennings in Ponders End. Not one I used much, but I know it lasted longer than other local shops.

As a north London boy my first my first memories of model shops were visits to Col Beatties in Southgate with my Dad. They had four shops close together in The Broadway near the tube station - a main shop, a second hand shop, a slot racing shop and around the corner a fourth shop we rarely visited, which I think was a repair shop. The second hand shop was full of 3rd rail HD as it was a time when many were moving to 2 rail. Later, when I began to earn some money I remember visiting Howell & Dimmock in Lordship Lane, Kings Cross Models in York Way and W&H in New Cavendish St, and Puffers in Kenton. I built a zero 1 layout in the attic based on Par with around 20 locos, mainly diesels, Westerns, Warships, Hymeks and a few steam locos, from Lima, Hornby, Airfix and Mainline. On one of my last visits to W&H, to pick up a zero 1 chipped Mainline 22xx, I saw the late Willie Rushton, who was picking up an LGB loco for his garden. After a long period away from model railways I got back into it a few years ago building a 16mm garden railway, and made the odd visit Kent Garden Railways, a free trip to St Mary Cray once I got my Freedom Pass, until it closed it’s shop during COVID lock down and made the switch to mail order only. More recently I’ve started to get back into indoor modelling and try and take in model shops on my travels. Some of the best I’ve found have been on preserved railways, and can recommend the shops at Bure Valley and Spa Valley railways, Smiths in Sheringham and John Duttfield in Chelmsford. I’ve also used Trackshack, and was very sorry to see them shut down, also during the pandemic, as their service was always excellent and customer friendly. As an aside, my zero 1 chipped locos all ran faultlessly, with excellent slow running, so I find it a bit concerning when looking at online reviews by the likes of Sams Trains that so many new, and vastly more expensive locos seems to have so many faults and dodgy motors. Detail and accuracy have certainly improved (although Lima diesels were pretty decent and there was always the option to add missing detail), but reliability and serviceability seem to have taken a backward step.