Origin

It all started back in the late 70`s. We had a family day out to the Great Central Railway at Loughborough and my Father mentioned other places to visit, and so after visiting Didcot, Severn Valley Railway etc it became a regular thing to do at weekends. Travelling on mainline trains became more frequent too, obtaining Rail-rover tickets being very popular! At the time, my father did a lot of travelling around the country in his job, and I`d always spend my school holidays near a railway or on a platform somewhere!! I can`t even remember the names of some of the old delightful stations where a Class 40 would trundle through with a freight train……….

It wasn`t long until My Father constructed a simple 6x4 layout which lived against the dining room wall, being laid across the dining table when in use. This was not too popular with my Mother!!

My Dad playing with our first layout...........

A few layouts later, including an N guage adaptation of Euston Terminus (The base boards were last seen replacing some rotten flooring in one of my parents sheds) and over 15 years in the hobby, I gradually lost interest. However, the interest was somehow rekindled in 2000, and I have been planning elements for a new layout since. Where was the layout to be based? Despite fond memories of the Midland Mainline, Waterloo-Exeter during the 50`s demise, and virtually every Depot and major stabling point visited at least once, most journeys were started at Northampton, Long Buckby or Rugby on the WCML. THAT`s what I wanted to model.