Down on Beaverbrook: Calming influence…

I admit if you have only come to the blog in recent months you’d be forgiven for thinking I was a N gauge modeller. Whilst I am enjoying exploring the possibilities in this new (to me) scale there is more to me than the smaller models it produces…

Life throws us a whole heap of stuff to deal with and work through, and whilst the hobby as a whole can be a chance to escape and recharge, reflect and move forwards it can also sometimes feel too much of a challenge to sit down at the bench. 

In those moments a layout like Beaverbrook is ready. I flick the power on and the scene comes to life before me, the Powercab feeling comfortable and familiar in my hand as the prime mover spools up and I’m transported hundreds of miles away. My phone is in my pocket. I’m not tempted to check messages or scroll incessantly. I’m not scanning eBay or Rails for retail therapy. I’m present, in the moment and playing trains.

Whilst I’ve always got a range of models and layouts in the works, what I’ve been blessed with, more by accident than design, is more than one that can be operated. Be it Paxton Road or Beaverbrook, when my mind is racing, sometimes I’m literally agitated and pacing around, if I can stand still and begin, then the feelings subside and the surface calms. The waters beneath may still be in turmoil, it’s no miracle cure, but I can carry on… 

I sometimes wonder if this depth of feeling and connection I have with this hobby is also imbued in the art I create. Is my partnership with model trains part of what makes them look, to others, how they do? It’s probably one of those questions that needs neither answer nor is possible for me to understand anyhow, but then, it’s human to be curious. In today’s post, you see one of my early ‘Beaverbrook’ locomotives that survives here, the Athearn GP15-1, switching the Co-op mill. Sadly it’s blown another two bulbs so I think we’re now fully into LED replacement territory. What a faff! Until next time, more soon…

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