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Pre-history |
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Once upon a time, a little boy called Brian was very ill in hospital and was given a cast model of Coronation by its driver Fred Bishop. Ted, his future brother-in-law, painted this watercolour of it for him.
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Uncle Brian still has the loco, an icon that represents the family's interest in railways. It all started there really, before Colin was born; Brian and Ted shared an interest in steam trains.
We believe the model to be S-scale. "S" is 1/64th scale or 3/16 inch to the foot. A few of these castings were made; 1 and 2 were owned by Sir William Sannier and his assistant Riddles. Brian's is stamped number 3.
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About the same time the News of the World gave Brian a Hornby O-gauge electric layout with a Princess Elizabeth engine like this; sadly it was lost when the flat they lived in was hit by an incendiary bomb in the London blitz of 1941. |
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Then last Saturday after the war, Father Christmas brought another little boy his first train set. It looked a bit like this:
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In 1948, Colin was elected a member of the Hornby Railway Company! Honest guv; look here's the proof.
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One day his Daddy took him to buy this! Supposed to be GWR Dunster Castle, the tender was fine but the Hornby clockwork engine bore no resemblance to the real thing. Colin didn't find that out for years to come. Meanwhile he just loved playing trains with Daddy and Uncle Brian (who took this photo).
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Then one day, about the time Colin first went to Mercers' School, Daddy decided there was not room for clockwork O-gauge on the floor; the alternative was electric Hornby Dublo on a table – hurrah!
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see the next thrilling chapter ... |
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Prehistory
Change of scale
Lambourn
Raising the game in the interim years
The birth of Deddington Junction
Early years at Deddn Jn
Re-wiring and first refurbishment
The Grand Refit
Building Barford terminus
Hempton shed refit
Work in progress - latest news
Thirty Years On – Grand Re-opening
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3; fin de siècle
The Deddington Junction mythology
Loco power
Rolling stock
Track plan
Electrics
Museum
Thomas and friends
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