Queen Elizabeth II - 1926 to 2022…

I am not pro-Royal, nor am I against, today I’m choosing to reflect on the reign of a woman over our country, whose personal sacrifice to the role of sovereign is all to easy to forget…

Rather than a picture of the woman herself, I present today a 1980s Lima Class 47, Fire Fly, in Inter-City livery. A model, if I’m honest, that belonged to my brother, but somehow today is in my collection of Dad’s models. Almost unmodified, the same tooling exists some 40 years later in the Hornby Railroad range, and whilst there are inaccuracies, to the childhood James (as well as best friend Tim) it was a wonderful model, between us we had 10 I think!

Why Fire Fly? In the 1980s Bristol Bath Road had responsibility for turning out a locomotive for the Royal Train and I believe 47609 did the honours on several occasions. Bristol of course also being the birthplace of my Dad and of some happy child hood memories of my own.

Our hobby can seem silly and inconsequential at times, but these ribbons run through our lives and intertwine between model and reality in a wonderful way that ties our lives together. Normal service will resume tomorrow.