According to Chris…
His grandchildren call him ‘Granddad Trains’ and he’s been a dedicated railway modeller since the 1960s but, despite popular legend, Chris Leigh doesn’t remember when dinosaurs roamed the Earth!
Chris Leigh on how inspiration is the most important ingredient for modelling.
Inspiration is probably the most important factor in railway modelling. We make models of places, stations and trains because we are inspired to do so by some mysterious attraction. It may be the aesthetic appeal, the sight, the sound, or perhaps a memory. If we’re not inspired to make models, we develop ‘modellers’ block’. Like writers’ block, it can be difficult to break out of.
I’ve been lucky in so far as my work provides plenty of inspiration. I’m also free to go where I want when I want, so inspiration can come from trips further afield. However, I have often found that the best inspiration comes from a renewal of acquaintance with my ‘grass roots’ interests. There are really two of those, the area around Staines and Egham, where I grew up, and the Western Region of BR. The latter is long gone, and these days is best represented by preservation through the
likes of the Severn Valley and Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam railways, and the Great Western Society’s Didcot Railway Centre.
My recent article on the ‘Great Western’ special train of May 9 1964 (MR260, May 2019) got me an invitation to a reunion with ‘Castle’ No. 4079 Pendennis Castle at Didcot.
When I first went there in the 1960s, the huge provender store was still standing and the transfer shed had yet to be moved into the GWS site. Today, the GWS is almost tucked away behind the mass of railway electrification metalwork and the most hideous multi-storey car park I have ever seen. Once inside the depot, however, it is easy to immerse oneself once again in the steam era.
I was met by the sight of two vintage commuter trains, the Crimson Lake steam railmotor with its matching trailer, and ‘14XX’ 0-4-2T No. 1450 sandwiched between autotrailers from the Collett and Hawksworth eras. As a child of the post-war era, I was pleased to see that autocoach No. W231 has lost its bogus GWR livery in favour of authentic BR crimson and cream. I was also pleased to see the depot busy with visitors at 1030 on a Bank Holiday weekend.
The collection of signs and running-in boards is such a great opening draw, dating back to an era when little places had stations – Foss Cross and Culham in GWR blue and white enamel, Stockcross & Bagnor, Upton & Blewbury with cast iron letters on timber boards. Later, in a workshop, I saw a freshly painted board for Fairford. It must be a replica, at least in part, for the letter ‘O’ from the original is in my garage! I picked it up at the derelict terminus in 1963.
I was on a mission, however. I had things I wanted to do. I needed to take a better look at gas turbine No. 18000. I had last seen it at Crewe, years ago. Long a favourite of mine, I had no photographs of it. It is just a shell, horribly modified at one end, and now painted in a nasty shade of green. However, it is the only surviving link with BR’S first foray into modern traction, the LMS and SR diesels having been scrapped long ago. But before 18000 could be restored to its original black and silver, it would need major bodywork repairs; it’s in a poor state.
So, too, would the ‘Ro-tank’ wagon with its three-axle Dyson road milk tanker trailer, which I wanted to photograph. Years ago
I took lots of photographs of it with a view to building a model but then lost all the pictures. Needless to say, since I re-took the photographs, I have now found the originals!
Much of the GWS wagon collection is in a poor state. Wagons which were restored in the past now suffer from spending years in the open. One can understand the need to concentrate resources on the locomotives which are the centre’s ‘bread and butter’, particularly as the vital resource of skilled manpower is dwindling. The same situation exists across preservation centres throughout the UK and one wonders how, in future, the conservation and restoration of the allimportant but less ‘exciting’ rolling stock will be managed. Or will there even be a need for these objects of inspiration once the generation to which they are relevant is gone?