Pure nostalgia: Henbury…

Look, before we go any further, I know Henbury was not a B2! That said, this model is pure nostalgia…

4 year old me spent a summer in Bristol whilst we moved house, staying at Dad’s childhood home in Ashton Gate, every day walking to the docks and hoping to see Henbury in steam. I had this postcard, well worn and creased, a fragment of a vivid memory, now long lost…

Postcard from childhood, Henbury on the dock railway at Wapping Wharf.

So when Hornby put their Peckett in Port of Bristol livery it was almost inevitable that just for that literal nugget of nostalgia that I’d own one. I did toy with keeping it named Henry but childhood won and it now carries faux Henbury plates from Custom Nameplate Studio, along with lovely etched works plates. I will add a little weathering to finish it off, but it won’t be dirty.

Sat here on Pont-y-dulais with a GWR brake van (modified and repainted AA3 from Oxford Rail with my own etched end plates) I’m transported to days of innocence, a summer of endless sunshine, steam, weed strewn harbour tracks and inlaid rails. What a wonderful hobby. Until next time, more soon…