Behind the Backscene
Model Rail fires the questions at LNER guru and curry enthusiast Tony Wright Next month Creator of some of the most realistic railroad scenes ever, Pelle Soeborg.
1 What was your first train set/model?
A Tri-ang ‘Transcontinental’ 4-6-2, plus some box cars and a caboose, in 1953.
2 Are you working on a layout now?
Yes, I’m just completing my 4mm:1ft model of ‘Little Bytham’.
3 What piece of modelling are you most proud of?
I built a 4mm:1ft scale ACE ‘P2’ as No. 2002
Earl Marischal for A1 Trust Chairman Mark Allatt. Ian Rathbone painted it – perfectly!
4 Have you ever finished a model railway?
Yes – several, all as a member of Wolverhampton MRC: ‘Pendeford’, ‘Fordley Park’, ‘Leighford’, ‘Stoke Summit’ and ‘Charwelton’.
5 What model have you’ve always longed for?
None really. If I want a particular model, I’ll build it.
6 Favourite trainspotting location?
Retford.
7 Favourite locomotive?
The production ‘Deltics’.
8 When did you start working in the model railway industry?
Full time, in the early 1990s. Prior to that, I regularly contributed to the model press.
9 What did you do beforehand?
Teacher.
10 What modeller has influenced you the most?
The late Brian van Meeteren – he really should be much better known.
11 Strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything ‘strange’. I’m incredibly fussy about what I eat – as my wife will testify!
12 What is one of your weird quirks?
I don’t suffer fools gladly… is that a quirk?
13 What book are you reading at the moment?
The Book of the V2 2-6-2s, by Peter Coster, Irwell Press. I’m currently building a ‘V2’.
14 If you were stranded on a tropical island, what two things would you want with you?
A lighter and a gun!
15 What have you done that you are most proud of?
Regularly fundraising (via this hobby) for Cancer Research UK.
16 What was your favourite cartoon show growing up?
Popeye.
17 What is your favourite song?
Or tune? That being the case, Handel’s Largo.
18 First record you bought?
Gambler’s Guitar by Rusty Draper. You’ll have to look that one up!
19 What is the best advice you ever had?
Marry money – though I didn’t take it!
20 What is one food you wouldn’t want to give up?
Curry. Proper curry.
21 If you had access to a time machine, where and when would you go?
I’d stay where I am right now (I live in Little Bytham) – but I’d go back to July 3 1938.
22 Favourite film?
Hobson’s Choice.
23 Temptation you wish you could resist?
A tendency to be sarcastic, at times.
24 What is your best childhood memory?
Seeing my first ‘A4’. It was No. 60014 Silver Link at Riccall, just north of Selby, in the early/mid-1950s.
25 The hidden talent which would surprise people?
I doubt if I’ve got too many obvious ones.
26 If you could pass any new law?
An immediate reinstatement of capital punishment.
27 What do you drive?
I did drive a TVR Chimaera 500 up until recently… now it’s a Ford Focus ST.
28 Perfect Sunday?
Watching a village cricket match. I used to play until recently.
29 What actor would you like to play you in a film?
John Mills.
30 How would you like to be remembered?
Not as someone who ‘meant well’.
I don’t suffer fools gladly… is that a quirk?