BTC model railway

[westrail]

Not strictly LNER so apologies for that, but does anyone remember the O gauge model railway owned by the BTC that toured the country as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951. I recall being taken to see it when it visited Hull - we also had a visit to King George Dock to see HMS Campagnia, the Festival of Britain touring exhibition ship.

Anyone know the ultimate fate of the model railway?

[2512silverfox]

Apart from seeing it like you at various MRC exhibitions , I knew the model quite well and operated it in the mid 60's when it was based at Stratford where it was maintained and new rolling stock was built. The man managing it at that time was Charlie Holmes.

It appeared at Clapham Museum several times, the last I remember being 1966. I am not sure when it was broken up, but a new layout in 4mm depicting the proposed Channel Tunnel was built for the exhibition circuit at about the same time. This featured mainly HD ALs and HD Mk1 stock. There were no scratchbuilt items like the original 7mm layout.

I do have the flyer for the original layout somewhere.

[hq1hitchin]

Apart from seeing it like you at various MRC exhibitions , I knew the model quite well and operated it in the mid 60's when it was based at Stratford where it was maintained and new rolling stock was built. The man managing it at that time was Charlie Holmes.

It appeared at Clapham Museum several times, the last I remember being 1966. I am not sure when it was broken up, but a new layout in 4mm depicting the proposed Channel Tunnel was built for the exhibition circuit at about the same time. This featured mainly HD ALs and HD Mk1 stock. There were no scratchbuilt items like the original 7mm layout.

I do have the flyer for the original layout somewhere.

At the risk of going slightly off topic, do you know what became of the O gauge (?) model railway that used to be in the School of Transport at Derby? Evidently this was something to behold as it was a LMS representation of the line from Derby to Manchester with full signalling, and was used for training stationmasters and others in things like single line working. I would love to see a picture of it and know that it had gone by the mid 1970s.

[Autocar Publicity]

Didn't the Railway Modeller carry something about this layout, in the back 'News' pages, several years ago? No reference I'm afraid, but I vaguely remember them mentioning it - think there might have been a picture as well - or a plan??

[52D]

Im sure an issue of railway world/railway modeller circa 1966/67 carried an article on the LMS layout.

[hq1hitchin]

Im sure an issue of railway world/railway modeller circa 1966/67 carried an article on the LMS layout.

Would love to see that - when we were there in 1975 it was mentioned, together with vague talk of the locomotives and rolling stock being taken away. Wildly off topic now, although part of BTC - I suppose, there was a London Transport Underground model railway at The White City, which was going in the mid 70s. Although the LT school has gone now, I presume the layout survives somewhere?

[lead_plug]

Another BR(E) instructional model railway was that at York Rd station (KX). This would have been used for training footplate recruits.
We used to have a BR Eastern Region Staff Railway Society, part of the Staff Association set-up, (four pence a week deducted on paybill) which gave us the chance to see what went on in the other bloke's area.
One evening visit was to York rd, and another instructional model railway visit was to the WR signalling school at Royal Oak.
What luxury - when I joined the footplate ranks, they just gave me an engine to fire and expected me to get on with it. Pity the war-time drivers!!

[L&Y Man]

Another BR(E) instructional model railway was that at York Rd station (KX). This would have been used for training footplate recruits.
We used to have a BR Eastern Region Staff Railway Society, part of the Staff Association set-up, (four pence a week deducted on paybill) which gave us the chance to see what went on in the other bloke's area.
One evening visit was to York rd, and another instructional model railway visit was to the WR signalling school at Royal Oak.
What luxury - when I joined the footplate ranks, they just gave me an engine to fire and expected me to get on with it. Pity the war-time drivers!!

The "BR in Miniature" layout appeared in The Railway Magazine of December 1964, p885. The layout, it says, was built by Mr Ronald Beddoes (59) and his two assistants, Messrs Charles Holmes (27) and Daniel Fountain (29), who were on the staff of the Chief Publicity Officer of BR. Mr Beddoes was an experienced modeller, with an intricate system 50 ft long by 20 ft wide filling his own back garden.

Subsequently, he made nine scale layouts, including one for the proposed Channel Tunnel. If I remember rightly, it included several of the planned Roadrailers, which at the time were meant to have a glowing future.

L&Y Man

[AndyRush]

Needless to say, there is footage of one of the layouts on the internet......
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=69880

Regards

Andy

[badwolf]

There was also a model railway at Ilford used for trainee signalman, it was still there in the late 80s but don`t know what happened to it after Ilford finished.

[2512silverfox]

The Pathe shows the updated (and steamless) layout from about 1964. It still has the same rolling stock but with diesels and not a steam loco in sight. Charlie and Danny are shown at the controls - Charlie on the right. I think Ron Beddoes retired at about this time.

On display at the Clapham museum however in 1965/6, the steam locos were very much in evidence!