LAYOUT: At home with Dave Lowery
As Model Rail celebrates its 20th birthday, CHRIS LEIGH visits DAVE LOWERY to talk about how the pair came to work together on a pioneering magazine... and to explore Dave’s extraordinary ‘O’ gauge layout.
A man whose love for railway modelling and sense of fun has helped to bring the hobby out of the shadows.
It was 33 years ago that I first became a magazine editor, when I took over Model Railway Constructor from ‘Steve’ Stevens-stratten (who died in 2015). In those days there were just three model railway magazines, only one of which (Railway Modeller, then edited by Cyril Freezer) is still published today. The third of the trio was Model Railway News, and its editor was Roy Dock. At that point, little had changed in the hobby for a long time, and magazine circulations had been in the doldrums since the late 1960s. My arrival seemed to herald a period of upheaval, at least for both MRC and MRN. Model Railway News had long been aimed more at the lathe-owning model engineering segment of the hobby, perhaps because it came from the same publisher as Model Engineer. In a bid to move it into the growth area of the ready-to-run market, its name changed to Model Railways and a new editor, Cyril Freezer, was brought in. Another rethink and another change of editor soon followed, and Dave Lowery was appointed. Dave was already well known in the hobby as an early exponent of Protofour (‘P4’) modelling with his exhibition layouts ‘Bevleys’ and its smaller sister ‘Bevet’. Both were exceptional LNWR layouts where Dave could indulge his passion for all things Crewe. In those days, as now, the relationship between the editors of the mainstream model railway magazines was one of cordial competition. There was really little or no ‘press and public relations’ awareness among model manufacturers, and far fewer opportunities for editors to meet at events. In those days, Dave was still a clean-shaven ‘youngster’ who had yet to develop the likeness to British actor James Robertson-justice, which came in the 1990s. I can’t recall how we first met. Dave reckons it was at Twickenham MRC’S exhibition when I was with Egham club, exhibiting our original ‘Fraser Canyon’ layout. In that case it would
probably be thanks to the affable Paul Stapleton, Twickenham’s secretary at the time. I recall that I responded favourably to the occasional telephone request to loan Dave a photograph. Old LNWR official pictures were long out of copyright, and a bit of underthe-counter co-operation did no one any harm. However, declines in magazine circulations continued; disastrous decisions over paper quality at MRC and changes of direction, title (what had become Your Model Railway) and editor meant both magazines vanished from the shelves in the 1980s. It would be nearly a decade before Dave and I would cross paths again. By that time I had moved to Peterborough to edit Steam World for EMAP, and Dave was running his own successful model making business, building and painting mainly display models for the railway industry. Around 1996 a problem arose at EMAP. A sudden departure of RAIL editorial team members left an upcoming issue with nothing to go in its 12-page modelling supplement called Model Rail. My previous model magazine experience was called into play, with the instruction: “There’s a chap called Lowery who lives down the road and used to edit a model railway magazine. Pop round and see him.” “Dave Lowery?” I asked with a grin. “I know him.”
DOGGED BY DESIGN
I recall my first visit. I was met at the gate by a large, blond, hairy beast that thrust its snout straight into my pockets. I’m a bit wary of dogs! “Euston!” came a booming voice from a large shed in the garden - a converted garage, I think. Yes, Dave’s golden retriever also reflected his love of all things LNWR. The dog and I established cordial relations, but it always inspected my pockets for food - and it was bigger than me! Dave’s layout was a real eye-opener. This was the mid-1990s and the
LNWR ‘P4’ exhibition layout was stowed away under a fixed ‘O’ gauge station area full of modern image locomotives and stock. The tracks ran outside under an awning and there was even a water feature, a pond on which a model boat had sunk. Dave is not a big fan of model boats, having once been commissioned to build a kit which fought him every inch of the way! On a shelf was an ‘O’ gauge Class 142 kit. I eyed it with interest and, in due course, would do a swap for it. I have yet to build it, and it’s still sitting on my shelf 20 years later. Dave was wrestling with the construction of an ‘O’ gauge Class 158 for a client. It was one of the immortal El Crappo range from Colin Massingham. The less said, the better. A while afterwards I swapped Dave an unbuilt Class 56 kit for a superb American ‘HO’ harbour scene, which now forms part of my layout. Dave seldom has any emotional attachment to his model-making. He reminds me of a farmer with livestock. Offer him the right deal and it’s yours. I wonder if he’ll tell me I’m wrong? Dave and I share an interest in railway buildings, and when the opportunity came to move house and buy a former railway cottage he jumped at the chance. His ‘O’ gauge layout, or at least the main part of it, was placed on a farm trailer and moved in one piece to its new home in a former stable block. The problem was it was only half a layout. It was set in place at a much higher level than before, as there would no longer be a ground-level garden railway section. Instead, four tracks were laid on a semi-circular structure which ran outdoors and turned back to re-enter the building and provide a full circuit. It was weather-proofed by building a box structure over the tracks.
THE LOWERY APPROACH
Dave has always enjoyed doing things differently. As he told me: “Most people buy a property, have a spare room and build a layout. I bought a property, built a layout and then built the spare room over it.” A 30ft by 30ft layout, packed with operating potential and interest is the result. It consists of three separate rooms, one of which is reached by a stepped ‘underpass’ beneath the layout. It features in Model Rail from time to time and is always changing and developing. Dave has never taken his modelling too seriously. He debunked the one-time poker-faced approach of