Early childhood model layouts...

I miss print photographs, in this digital age we snap away at everything and photography has become disposable. How many of us even bother to group photos by content into albums anymore? Anyhow, I was given a bunch of old family photos by my Mum and I've selected a few railway related ones to share here...

I'm probably about 3 or 4 here, around the time I went to school anyway, and I've just received my first proper train set - I think it was called Smokey Joe, but not the electrical Hornby pug version, but an American outline model clockwork locomotive with plastic wagons. The building shown here I believe were built by my Grandpa at the same time, but alas none of them survive.

Look at the three faces staring intently at the Mainline Class 03 shunter, at the time 'my Dad's locomotive' a few years later... this model ended up as part of my collection (seen here). We had progressed from wind up power to having some track powered models, still living in London at this point. I recall I had a Lima Western (seen here) and a GWR 8750 Hornby Pannier ('Duck') and some then new Hornby 'speed link' wagons - although I'm not sure what photos may or may not survive of these - the track on the floor still at this point although I believe my Dad may have started work already on a layout in the garage...

That layout progressed to what you see here - this was a section that got moved when we re-located north to Chester with Dad's work, and was originally along the back wall of the garage. This is the only photo I have of the layout, which got scrapped as work progressed on the permanent layout installed in the 'train room' (seen here). It was a figure of 8 with a few branches off to side pieces that had been truncated and he had to modify it a little to work in Chester. After this photo was taken it continued to be worked on, I know it ended up with ballast and a few trees in twisted wire, so proved a good proving ground for the 'first' layout my Dad had built since his childhood. He always said to me, he was lucky we came along as it gave him an excuse to build a model railway - or at least the impetus... and what a set he build, with this first foray leading to the extensive British outline 'Didcot' layout, and then his grand finale, the Canadian H0 scheme in the double garage next door to the brick built shed 'train room'. I learnt a lot from my Dad, but it was the availability of a train set, or later model railway, that got progressively more accessible as my own skill and interest developed - so that it was just a case of 'switching on' to be able to run a train. I look back on those days and realise how lucky I was - as well to have a good friend living in the village who shared my passion for  trains, model railways and was a fantastic model maker as well... Anyway, that's probably enough nostalgia for today. What I hope it shows is that we all start somewhere, whenever we start doesn't matter, but our passion and emotional connection to the hobby is what drives us forwards. For me this stretches back nearly forty years, for you it may be more or less, but the hobby we share will continue to enrich our lives, and those around us for many more years to come...