Never meet your Heroes.

They say you should never meet your heroes as they never meet your expectations of them. I had the pleasure of meeting one of my "heroes" over the course of the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Minneapolis. Roy C. Links Crowsnest Tramway layout.
Can a model railway be a hero? I don't see why not. You can admire the design, concept and execution of a model railway in the same way that you admire the personality, abilities and roles of a famous actor.
The first version of a Crowsnest Tramway layout first appeared in the UK magazine Railway Modeller back in the 1970's. A simple plan for a simple shunting puzzle layout. The model making and the execution immediately struck a chord with me. This was a Micro layout before micro layouts had been popularised.
Version 3 appeared in the Model Railway press in the 1980's. The same concept had been developed to produce a new track plan but still a part of the Crowsnest concept. The track plan was not as successful as the previous one, but the same attention to detail in the modelling was still there.
This version of The Crowsnest passed out of the hands of Roy and into those of his friend Mike South who took the layout with him to Canada. Sadly, Mike lost a battle with Cancer a few years ago and the layout disappeared from view, until it was discovered by its current owner Craig Parry. To simply say that it was discovered is selling the story short. For as I spent time chatting with Craig over the three days of the convention he would tell me more and more about the stories of how the layout, and further examples of Roy and Mike South's model making came into his possession. The tales he told would fill a book. With all the models that Craig has accumulated looking at his display stand was like looking at the pages of Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review, the magazine that Roy created.
Craig is as passionate about the Crowsnest Tramway as I am, and it was great to talk with a kindred spirit who shares the same enthusiasm for a subject such as this,  I came away from our chats fired up with a new enthusiasm for the hobby and my modelling. In fact I even came home from the convention with a kit for a 1:32 sale locomotive, that will inevitably lead to another new layout.

The overall presentation creates a certain style.
The picture frame holds a sheet of glass to protect from dirt and fingers.

There is even detail behind the buildings where it's almost impossible to see.

Attention to detail includes features like worn steps.

So simple, yet so atmospheric.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."
There were a few problems with layout over the duration of the convention due to the age .
Here Craig is working to find electrical fault.

A late Birthday present

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and much to my surprise, a late present just turned up from my wife. This book. The third edition of Ken Hartley and Paul Ingham's book on the Sand Hutton Light Railway.

Happy Birthday to me.

The first edition of the Ken Hartley book, published in 1962 by the NGRS still resides in my collection, a small thin paperback.
I also had a copy of the 2nd edition from 1982. A somewhat bigger book than the first. It got lost when I emigrated to the USA some 20 years ago. Both books are a far cry from this magnificent tome. Hard backed, and in full colour with superbly reproduced photographs, drawings, and maps. A treat to look at.
Though I call myself a fan of the work of Sir Arthur Heywood. It's very probably more the work of Sir Robert Walker and the Sand Hutton that has inspired my layouts.
There was one particular image in previous editions of the book of the freight terminus at Claxton that had a huge influence on a previous Gn15 layout of mine. I built a model of the goods shed based on the end view in this picture. The barn I used for my working crane feature appears in the background of this image.
Finally, the caption of the photograph says it all. "Claxton terminus, abutting on Whinny Lane". Just seeing that name in print makes me nostalgic for that old layout of mine. Much of that model was inspired by just that one picture.

That image is in this book, and reprinted with such clarity I feel like I'm looking at it for the first time. There are many inspirational images in this book. Pictures that are familiar to me from the first books and others that I have never seen before. There's one of a short train leaving the yard at Warthill station and crossing a road that just screams out. "Model me!"
It's going to be very difficult to resist some of these cries from the pictures, I can tell you.