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Leeds Model Railway Society: Behind the scenes INTERVIEW
They cost thousands of pounds, take hundreds of hours to build and are almost as detailed as the real thing.
Neil Hudson entered the fabulously intricate world of model railways
Most of us have played with a train set at some point in our lives, usually during childhood.
For those of a certain age, it was a time when make-believe ran in tandem with the real world, when the only limit to the former was your own imagination.
In an age of games consoles, mobile phones and on-tap television, there's something a tad anachronistic about model railways. As a pastime, it just shouldn't exist any more. Until, that is, you realise it was only ever a hobby for children over 21.
That's not to denigrate model railway enthusiasts. On the contrary.
Most enthusiasts fall into the over-21 category by a comfortable margin and a good proportion of those will own a bus pass but all of them to a man (and it is mostly men, it has to be said) will admit when they indulge their hobby, they're re-creating their youth.
Alan Smith, 68, is vice president of Leeds Model Railway Society and
has been interested in trains, both real and model, since he was a child.
He, said: "I was weaned on railways. I lived in the Lynwoods, near Dragon Bridge, Wortley and as a child I could see Farnley Junction engine shed from my bedroom window. I would lay in bed and hear the trains rumble past. I could see the line between Leeds and Wakefield from one upstairs window and the Leeds and Manchester line out of another.
"This club founded in 1947 and I joined in 1958 aged 16. My uncle, Arthur Brunt, was a founder member. He used to make locomotives from cocoa tins, cutting out the metal and soldering it together.
"The models we work on are not toys. People say we are 'playing' with our trains but you actually 'operate' a model railway.
"To some degree I suppose I am trying to recreate what I remember as a child. If I really admitted it, it is playing."
Grandfather-of-five Mr Smith, who has two grown-up children, might be playing now but he spent his entire career as a railwayman, starting work for British Rail in the engineer's office on Wellington Street in 1960, retiring early in 1993 following a car accident.
He said: "I joined the railways was because I spent my youth looking over the wall, then when I started work, I was over the wall. One of the things I missed when I retired was having the right to walk the track."
While he can't work on real railways any more, Mr Smith can do what he wants with his model layouts, some of which are incredibly detailed.
"There's no actual limit to the level of detail you can have. You get satisfaction from creating, it's like any creative hobby and it's the ultimate because you create a whole landscape. There's nothing here you can pick out of a box. You can spend 150 hours building a locomotive.
"Most of them will end up on the shelf, I've got dozens of models at home, hundreds of books and thousands of pictures.
"The only snag is that when I fall off the perch, my children will be left with a hell of a legacy and they will have to get rid of it somehow."
That might not be too much of a problem, given how much self-assembled model trains are worth. A quick search of eBay reveals some trains sell for thousands of pounds, which is why members of the society are careful not to leave any 'rolling stock', as they call it, at their
club and also why they are keen not to reveal its exact location.
A kit which might cost 500 to buy will be worth more than double when complete. Some of the engines owned by the club are worth over 1,000.
Nick Easton, 67, is another member of the Leeds society. The former veterinary surgeon of 40 years finds it relaxing to immerse himself in the world of model railways and will happily spend hours poring over the fine detail on a single model.
He has created many of his models from scratch, including one dockyard crane, a replica of Fairbairn steam crane in Bristol Docks, which Mr Easton first designed, then had etched onto mm thick brass plate, along with some 2,500 rivets.
The layout it belongs to is called Regis Bay and is entirely fictional.
It stretches to around five metres, almost the entire length of the room, and includes model train track, trees, houses and side streets populated by tiny model people as if captured in a moment as they go about their daily business: one carries a ladder, another holds a spade and is near a coal store, which has real coal in it. There is even grass poking out between the railway sleepers on the track.
When I ask Mr Easton how long it took him to complete this particular layout, he responds with a polite corrective: "You never finish a layout. I started this one 25 years ago and I'm still working on it.
"I have been a model maker since I was about six. It's always interested me. Model railways offers you the opportunity to model almost anything and it involves electronics.
"I've built that much stuff now that I now look for the challenge of doing something that's not been done. I've actually started designing them now. The more difficult, the better."
If you thought it was a hobby reserved for the working class male, think again. Pop tycoon Pete Waterman is a well respected model railway enthusiast, pop singer Rod Stewart's model layout appeared on the front cover of Model Railroader in October 2007 and Jools Holland is also said to be a keen modeller.
There are about a dozen model railway clubs in West Yorkshire alone and hundreds nationwide, with exhibitions throughout the year. Leeds Model Railway Society has about 40 members, the youngest being 14 and the oldest in his 70s. It meets on Wednesdays from 7.30pm.
* This year's annual exhibition will be held at The Grammar School At Leeds, Alwoodley Gates, off Harrogate Road, on Saturday and Sunday October 30 and 31, from 10am-5pm. Anyone is welcome to attend, there will be about 15 layouts on display and refreshments will be available. Admission is 6 per adult (5 concessions, children go free).
The National Railway Museum, York will host a free model railway weekend on November 6 and 7, from 10am-6pm.
Wakefield Model Railway Society will hold its annual exhibition at Thornes Park Athletics Stadium from 5.30pm-9pm on Friday November 26, 10am-6pm on Saturday November 27 and 10am-6pm on Sunday November 28. Admission 5 adults, 4 pensioners, 2 children aged six and over, family ticket 10.
l For more information about Leeds Model Railway Society, contact them via their website: www.lmrs.co.uk.
neil.hudson@ypn.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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