Childhood model railways

[port perran]

Memories

I've been thinking of starting this thread for a while as I was/am completely unsure about the level of interest but here goes anyway.

The idea is partly inspired by the excellent tales from John @Train Waiting on his inspirational Poppingham threadingham where he frequently waxes lyrical about trainsetty trainsets.

I'm sure that many of us had model railways or trainsets, call them as you will, as youngsters and I thought it might be an idea to share photographs of such layouts regardless of quality of modelling or the photographs themselves.

As a start, here are the only two photos of my loft layout which I/my Dad probably started in around 1964 and continued in use until I lost interest in about 1969 or so.

The layout was Hornby Dublo three rail which ran right around our loft. The locomotives I can recall were 7013 Bristol Castle, Standard 4 80054, 46232 Duchess of Montrose, 8F no 48158 plus an A4 and what is now a BR Class 20 diesel loco. There may well have been others.

Anyway, here are the VERY poor quality photographs probably from 1965 when I would have been 10/11 taken with a Box Brownie camera in poor light.
Note the thumb print which must have been on an original negative.
Note also the Airfix German fighter (possibly a Junkers?) hanging from the roof.




The track laying, as you can see, was not all that it might have been but remarkably the trains ran well enough.

It's frightening to think that this was all some 60 years ago but I had great fun with that railway.

Hopefully this will encourage others to share their childhood modelling efforts.

Martin
 

[Moonglum]

What a splendid idea Martin @port perran , I will see what I can dig up for a proper reply, In the meantime, the German aircraft looks like a Messerschmitt Bf 109 to me,

Tim

[Newportnobby]

Deffo an Me 109
Tak-a-tak-a-tak

[Dorsetmike]

I didn't have a layout as such, Christmas 1939 saw a clockwork Hornby 0 gauge 0-4-0T, followed in 1940 with a Hornby electric Flying Scotsman, definitely not a scale model, a 4-4-2, in those days Hornby produced this 4-4-2 model in numerous liveries including a French company with either electric or clockwork motors, coaches also the same models in many liveries. As said no layout just bare track on the floor.
I also had a fairly big Meccano set.

[Moonglum]

I cannot be a 100% sure of the dates but my father built "our" first OO layout circa Xmas 1965, I would have been 7 and 1/2 years old. The layout was on a board about 6' by 3' and sat proudly on the dining room table to show my friends (even the poor old milk man got pulled in to see it). From memory, the layout was a simple oval with a passing loop or a siding , it had an aircraft runway painted in the middle and my father had built an Airfix Fairey "Swordfish" and 3 Gloster "Gladiators" to sit on it. Landscaping and buildings were initially minimal but some more Airfix kits were added. I am pretty sure there was a Triang Hornby Hall (Albert Hall) and a Castle (Caerphilly?) body that was occasionally swopped over on the Hall chassis and possibly a "Britannia". Rolling stock was sparse but friends often bought their stuff around. Sadly, I really cannot remember much more about it - except that it was a much loved plaything. The layout was transferred to my bedroom and mounted on a wall and could be folded away. This is the only photo I have.
 
 



Was the black loco the Hall? Circa 1966/7, my father traded the lot in for N Gauge (Lima in the main) - most of it survives today on various dioramas after being dismantled a year or so later.

Tim

[Newportnobby]

When I was aged about 7 or 8 I did have a small dining table top layout but it was very basic with twin ovals and a couple of sidings. My first loco was a Tri-ang Jinty as they worked Wolverton Works, followed very soon with an EM2 Co-Co electric 'Electra' which had working pantographs so Christmases and birthdays saw me collect the necessary catenary stuff. That way I could run the EM2 and the Jinty on the same track. I also had a Tri-ang Hymek along with some MK1 coaches and the GPO coach which collected the mailbag and then fired it into a lineside 'bin' (sometimes even hitting it). I dimly recall many wagons but exactly what has been lost in the mists of time.

No pictures survived the many house moves my parents made

Although my interest in real railways continued until about 1968, my interest in the models seemed to disappear quite quickly – maybe 1965. It was rekindled around 1973 when I started in N gauge.