“You can have it on extended loan” were the kind words that precipitated this latest arrival at Wrecsam Canolog…
Sometime around 1990 I visited Hattons in Smithdown Road for the first time. That trip was to secure a Christmas present, IIRC, a Lima DMU. Whilst my best friend Tim had already acquired a 3 car green example I really wanted one in blue and grey, as were the 101s and 108s still visible from my bedroom window across the fields on the Chester to Hooton service. Alas, they only had green or all over blue. I chose blue, and Dad couldn’t stretch to a 3 car, so 2 it would be…
Frustrating at the time it eventually metamorphosed into a
121 but its memory as the reliable performer shuttling between
Didcot and Jamestown as well as running services on the branch linger deep in the memory. Whilst a blue and grey Farish 108 would be very welcome, this blue one (thanks Paul) brings back fond memories. There is something about the juxtaposition of the dark turquoise of BR blue that works so well with the urban setting, here Wrecsam Canolog is transported to anywhere, purely a stage for my memories, memories not of real trains but model ones.
So has she fuelled any plans? Paul has kindly said I’m welcome to detail and weather it (which I will as a way of thanks) but thoughts turn to something Mosslanda, both ‘More Mosslanda’ and ‘Urban Grit’ show a single track line with an urban setting, one that really sets of BR blue (and blue and grey, and Regional Railways and even West Yorkshire PTE?). It would be great if the ‘OO gauge display plank’ was sold as then I’d have the perfect space! Oh well, until next time, more soon…
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Hi James. The frustration of arriving at a model shop with a particular model in mind and it not being available! I once went into The Engine Shed (Sussex) looking for a BR blue Lima class 33, I came away with a blue class 26, it was all they had! It was a good runner but not what a 13 year old Tom wanted. The choice today is phenomenal, my money is still limited but not nearly as constrained as it used to be as a teenager. I would agonise over what I would spend my limited funds on. A new loco was a serious investment. Sadly, I never got as far north as Liverpool to visit Hattons. I managed a couple of visits to the now legendary Victors model shop on the Pentonville road in London and even found a few Canadian HO boxcars to buy, all since long gone. Thanks for stirring up some great memories yet again. Take care.
ReplyDeleteLater visits had the same frustration Tom, I remember picking up 'Sir Daniel Gooch' in GWR150 green when I wanted 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel' - and a cheap Class 33 in Railfreight Construction, 'Isle of Grain' that in reality only lasted a few months in that livery before it was crashed and sidelined!
DeleteDad used to visit Victors when he went to London - we got a few models from there over the years - my local shop was Waltons (now of Altrincham - I still try to use them when I can) and when that moved, we were left with 'Arts and Crafts' where I remember ordering my Regional Railways 31/4 and Mainline Freight 37/0 in later years... that same feeling of hard earned birthday and pocket money being exchanged for these 'dreams in a box'.
Today, there is a lot of choice - but I don't know about you, I find myself drawn to the same prototypes as then anyway!
ah ah, I know that. All my life I have traveled the four corners of France, moved apartments 20 times, with the same worry of having to order my train models online, from the webshop of Paris. at 40, I moved to Paris... I even live in a neighborhood which has 3 railway model shops... I can literally window shop, choose my models visually... only problem... I'm falling in love with English trains. my new constraint forces me again to order trains online. fortunately my partner loves England and allows me at least once a year to take the train to buy trains! positive point of my story, I practice the English train from reality to miniature :)
DeleteYou’re lucky to have model shops on hand, my closest is an hour away and it’s stock of Evergreen styrene and Humbrol enamels only seek to dwindle further each time I visit!
DeleteThe standard of the models has changed ( for the better) but my taste remains the same James. Dapol class 33112 Templecombe, flies the flag for blue class 33's in my fleet these days. Victors was absolute paradise if your taste ran to American or Canadian HO models.
ReplyDeleteSo you followed me in reliving childhood OO in N! That has been the fuel behind much of my collection!
DeleteHi James
ReplyDeleteThe mention of Victors brought back memories of a unique retail experience. I used to model British industrial railways - a bit of a niche back in the 1970's., but was getting dissatisfied and was thinking of overseas prototypes. RTZ's mining railway i Spain was a possibility and just after our son was born in 1978 I went to see their archivist in London. Waiting for the train home I went into Victors on Pentonville Road and "discovered" the quality and depth of H0 rolling stock and also that this could be used on industrial style railroads without too much modification. I gave up on the UK and Rio Tinto ( although I did have a slim volume published based on that research) and started modelling a industrial and shortline railroad based on the forest products industry - for no better reason at the time than Victors had some books . The rest as they say is history and it that is what drives my modelling adventure. I went to Victors several times a year up to their closure and it was always interesting talking to Bernie and his staff.
Best regards
Alan
Thanks Alan, you’ve hinted at much of this previously but I’d never realised it was literally just a ‘Victors had some books on logging lines’ that got you hooked!
DeleteI should add, that’s how my Dad got started with his logging disconnects, spine cars and the MDC Shay!
Delete