“He wouldn’t let me touch it, I had to stand on a stool with my hands behind my back and watch as he controlled the trains back and forth, with the instructions ‘do not touch’.
“Saying that to a six-year-old is purgatory,” says Bob Wildeman, as he recounts a childhood memory of his father’s model railway.
Instructed to shield over lockdown due to a medical condition, Wildeman, 62, started from scratch on the construction of a childhood dream: his own model railway.
“Some days I’d lost track of time from starting a model at 9am and before I knew it, it was 7pm.”
Wildeman’s story is just one of many up and down the country who have re-discovered the charm of model railways.
It comes as modelling retailers reported sales increases of 50% between March and April, with Peco reporting relentless demand for their products.
Simon Kohler, Hornby’s marketing and product development director believes the surge in popularity is due to the escapism of the hobby.
He said: “Throughout this period people have learnt what the important things in life are – talking and creating.
“It’s allowed people to hark back to days gone by and think back to something that they have really wanted to do for a while.
“When you’re modelling you forget everything else that’s going on around you, you’re just focusing on one thing, you’re losing yourself in your own world and that’s been important over this period.”
It is a sentiment echoed by long term enthusiasts.
Paul Raven-Hill, chairman of Twickenham and District Model Railway Club, based in Hounslow said: “A lot of people have had a lot of spare time on their hands and asked themselves: What can I do? What can I fill my time with?
“The charm of the hobby comes from the ability to either recreate something or somewhere that you remember or grew up with or create something purely from your own imagination.
“My particular interest having lived around Richmond, Whitton and Hounslow is the area’s rail networks, so I like modelling Southern electric trains.”
Like Raven-Hill, many enthusiasts enjoy reflecting aspects of their life in their models.
Lockdown modeller Wildeman says: “Various elements in my model are from family history and places on the model are family names.”
But nostalgia is only one part of a hobby that requires a high level of craftsmanship, with enthusiasts learning a range skills.
Rod Gould is a committee member of Wimbledon Model Railway Club which was founded in 1924, the second oldest model railway club in the world.
He said: “Through this hobby I have learnt a great deal with regards to skills as it can involve local and social history, carpentry, metal working, soldering, hand painting or air brushing, electronics and many other disciplines.”
Wildeman agrees: “My artistic talents were renewed in my painting, my observations of the landscape and being able to put such a lot of details into a small space.”
However, much of the charm of the hobby is the joy of recreating replica models of times gone by.
Through extensive research and study of the club’s library of reference books and DVD’s, Twickenham and District MRC, which has around 55 members, ageing from sixteen to early-eighties, have made a replica of Twickenham station.
Raven-Hill said: “We were modelling the station as if it was never demolished to represent circa 1961. Everything is correct to that era, from the liveries to the rolling stock.
“It’s nice for me as I used to go trainspotting at Twickenham station in the fifties back when there was a lot of steam and pre-war stuff on the railways.”
While historical elements are important to many enthusiasts, new technology is making tracks into the hobby as well.
Paul Marshall-Potter uses a 3D printer to create figures based on real people, he also says real-life engine sounds can be fitted onto trains and there are even apps available for users to control their train set from their mobile phone.
“You’re building your own world, putting in exactly what you want and getting out exactly what you want,” says Kohler.
Join the discussion
Since this article first appeared on SWLondoner, Twickenham & District Mdel Railway Club has received many requests for help from newbies just starting in the hobby and experiencing technical problems. In view of this, the club has set up a panel of experienced modellers ready to help anyone living in SW London or NE Surrey with their modelling problems. Need help? Contact [email protected] and our team will get back to you as soon as possible, We’re here to help!
On behalf of Twickenham & District Model Railway Club I would just like to thank those readers of SWLondoner who have generously donated unwanted model railway items to the club. We have sold all the items to our members and the revenue generated has helped to keep the club solvent at a time when our regular weekly income has dried up. If anyone wishes to donate unwanted model train items please contact [email protected]. Thank you.
In addition to the Twickenham Junction layout featured in this article, Twickenham & District MRC has many other layouts in all the popular scales & gauges ranging from ‘N’ to ‘G’ and catering for all skill levels from absolute beginner to expert. We also take the ‘& District’ part of our name very liberally as we not only have members in Barnes, Chiswick and Staines we also have members in Germany, Malta, USA and even Watford!
So why not take up our FREE monthly club magazine offer and find out more about us? Email [email protected] and we’ll set up a free trial subscription for you backdated to December 2020.
To find out more about Twickenham & District Model Railway Club please visit our website http://www.tdmrc.org.uk
As a long term member of Twickenham & District Model Railway Club I just wanted to let everyone know that we are offering a free trial subscription to our monthly club magazine to all potential new members and all other interested parties. The magazine will give you a flavour of what the club has to offer and with clubroom meetings on hold at the moment it will in effect be a free trial club subscription. The free subscription will last until we re-open the clubrooms – hopefully this summer – and we will then invite you to a special re-launch Open Evening where you can meet us in person. To receive your free monthly club magazine please email [email protected] and we hope to see you sometime later this year.
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