when fishes flew and forests walked

As a child, I spent many weeks a year in North Wales with my grandmother. She was friends with an elderly gentleman who suggested that I might enjoy visiting his railway. A special train was run with the most decrepit coach and locomotive I had ever seen. Progress was to say the least, ambulatory and after a while I remember getting bored and began to poke my finger through the rotten wood of the carriage until Nana caught me!.  The whole ramshackle affair at Towyn reminded me of the Roland Emmett railway at the Festival of Britain. 

Tal-y-Llyn pre-preservation

I quickly discovered that there was also a derelict line at Portmadoc. My cousin and I cycled up to Boston Lodge and 'gained entry' into the buildings and viewed the desolation. Only a few years later, Prince was hauling a few coaches across the Cob, and during one of my visits, I even managed to catch a very cold ride behind the Simplex through the old tunnel to Festiniog.

the real Moelwyn tunnel after closure

My mother used to tell me about the nightmare journeys she sometimes endured returning home to Barmouth from university in Bangor. My family had free passes for the WHR so she would change at Dinas and travel to Minffordd and pick up the main line again! On one occasion, she spent a very cold night somewhere between South Snowdon and Beddgelert as the 'tiny engine' called 'Palmerston' had broken down and no other was available until the next morning. She well remembered the 'Gladstone Car' which she froze in during the night. She found it difficult to imagine how such an awful railway was associated with two prime ministers! On another occasion, the 'American' engine broke down and the driver broke his foot kicking old 590 into submission while abusing it in Welsh and pure Anglo-Saxon! My mother would always say that the invective did not bother her at all as she was reading Anglo-Saxon at Uni!

Unsurprisingly, her view of the Welsh Highland was a tad jaundiced! She had family in Festiniog and would often visit using the Festiniog Railway, having taken the Cambrian to Minfordd exchange station. I am not sure whether she actually realised that in the end, the WHR and the Festiniog were one and the same.

the butchered Russell with the 'Gladstone Car'

I also had an aunt who owned a hotel in Ilfracombe and she told me of the wonderful little train that used to run near there. For a while she had something going with one of the loco drivers. She had stacks of photos of the L & B but never landed the driver and ended up as a rather wealthy old maid with a talking budgie. Unlike the stories my mother told of the Welsh Railways, my aunt only spoke of the L&B with affection and it appears that it had never let her down. I decided that this had to be the best!

Hooked on narrow gauge, I built a large 008 layout in the late 1950s, after being inspired by Ahern's books and Hancock's periodic articles. Aberglaslyn Pass was heavily featured. The only loco, a double Fairlie, was scratch built in brass and employed a Lone Star motor driving through UJ shafts. I managed to persuade a clockmaker to make it for me if I repainted his Moggie Minor. The whole affair worked very well at scale speeds, thanks to spur gears and the detail and finish would stand muster today. Actually, it ran like a clock!

I now realise that I must have been one of the first doing this sort of thing. I wish I still had this engine but I swapped it for an 1936 MG Pa which was far better for getting girls!

Whilst in Colorado Springs in the '70s, I was able to find the time to build some locos in silver. 009 was chosen this time as by then, N gauge had become quite popular. I made many components by photo etching. I was a member of the Denver Model RR Club which had a layout at the Golden Railroad Museum, where everything is weathered to the nth degree.  Even now, our models are more weathered than is usually seen in the UK. I remember an Xmas competition for the best weathered children's' toy. My son was not best pleased with his ride on tractor!

Aviation, sailing and other activities (such as work) occupied the intervening years. The locos, packed in boxes, have visited most of North America, the Caribbean and Europe. They even made 4 trans-Atlantic crossings in small yachts before finally coming to rest near Ludlow in the UK!  Amazingly they still work! Only now have I been able to take them out and begin to build the rest of the railway. We have decided to concentrate on the L & B as we feel the Welsh lines are being done to death. The L&B also appeals as it was in effect a 'big railway' on narrow tracks.

After some consideration we have decided to model a freelance section of the L & B as this offers a greater degree of creative opportunity. There was a scheme to extend the line onwards to Minehead. Indeed, the route was actually surveyed. We have built the intermediate station of County Gate on this projected extension, where the branch from the harbour meets the main line. The fictitious history of the railway is partially true. There really was a Glenthorne Estate near County Gate built by Halliday and coal was actually offloaded onto a beach from ships close by. We apologise for any offence the distorted history may give; it is unintended.

Jenny is a fine arts graduate and used to be involved in the stage design for Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones and worked as an artist on the Beetles cartoon 'Yellow Submarine'....trains leave her cold but she loves scenic dioramas. John is more interested in the railway aspect but also prefers making buildings and scenery. Both John and Jenny were pilots until age got the better of them (John still holds an absolute World Air Speed Record taken in an aircraft built by him) and loves music and oriental cats (despite the cat jokes on this site!). If you would like to hear some of John's music, click here.

We would like to thank:

Malcolm Alberry for the design of the Loconet installation and automation
DCC supplies
CML Electronics Limited
Hereford Model Shop
Backwoods Miniatures
Neil Moss for his wonderful artwork for coach etchings
Peter Wallace who now builds our chassis and without whom we would have a lot of dysfunctional locos!
Tony Freestone for panelling and lining the locos
Townscene for the excellent plaster mouldings used at the harbour.
Peco and its offshoots for so many excellent products

and the Desperados, the team who selflessly give their time to help run CG at exhibition

those that inspired

P.D.Hancock for his inspirational articles on his Craig and Mertonford Railway back in the 1950s. We later learned that the C&M did not run as well as it might!

P D Hancock's 'Alastair' based on a Lynton and Barnstaple Manning Wardle. It is a bit oversize in order to accommodate the motors available at that time.

J Ahern (Madder Valley Railway) who wrote the series of books on how to model railways properly when 3 rail Hornby Dublo and Lionel was more the norm.

Madder Valley Railway (Now at Pendon Museum)

Jack Nelson who taught us about perspectives

Part of a Jack Nelson diorama at Betws-y-Coed Railway Museum
photo by Chris Brooker

 and  finally, Doris and Iliffe Stokes who were the very first, in my opinion to make model railways 'atmospheric'.