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Stinking Bog
Monday, and the toilet immediately behind the signal cabin is particularly smelly on this muggy August morning. It only ever sees bleach and a mop once a year. To avoid the pungent pong, Harold tends...
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Great British Model Railways 2022
https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/great-british-model-railway-aug-2022?fs=e&s=clPeople often ask me why I don’t do a book. Well, here’s the next best thing, 12 fabulous layouts by some great...
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Honky Tonk Woman
An August Friday in 1969, the overnight mist and light rain is starting to clear, for the weather forecast is for another scorching day. Somewhere on the west of England mainline, sees a tatty Mk1...
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Radioactive Milk
It’s the first day of oil replacing coal at the Hemyock creamery used to heat the pasteurisation gubbins thingamajig machinery. Barry Bullhead and Clive ponder on the bridge playing Poohsticks,...
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Monochrome Monday and Music
Monochrome Monday, high up on Mendip, possibly near Chilcompton an ex LMS ‘Jinty’ tank loco poses for the photographer next to the loading hopper.And in other news, I need to escape toy train land from...
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Flying Visit
This time last week I had a flying visit to North Yorkshire on a photography assignment. But found time to pop in to Pickering Station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for a few minutes. I believe...
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Locked Out. Again!
Wednesday morning at Moorewood Colliery. Doug has accidentally locked himself out of the engine winding house again. It never used to be locked, but since moonshine is stored in there, management...
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Milk & Coal
It’s Thursday morning, and a fresh wagon load finest Welsh steam coal is just about to be propelled in to the dairy. In the 1950s powdered coal used to be mixed in with milk, cream, butter and cheese...
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Airfix 4F
It’s front end Friday again. Here’s my ancient rebuilt Airfix Midland 4F trundling across cement quay. I bought this engine back in 1982, and in more recent years it’s received a Comet chassis for loco...
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Don’t Be Like Barry
Saturday morning at the colliery. After several months of searching for Beryl’s ancient Austin Seven, it’s finally been tracked down behind The Pedant & Armchair pub. It was under a tarpaulin...
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Summer Holiday
Much like this summer, the summer of 1959 was also ‘scorchio’. But unlike these days, we just called it ‘glorious weather’, with summer carrying on right in to October. In this photograph of Combwich...
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Monochrome Monday
Monochrome Monday. Templecombe shed’s former GWR Collett No. 3206 temporarily blocks the crossing at Catcott, as it trundles past with the 7.05am Evercreech Junction to Highbridge goods. That’s the...
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Missing at Assembly
Tuesday morning at the brewery, and time for the daily loco count at assembly. It appears that Peckett is missing, or most likely just late. “It will be detention for Peckett if and when he can be...
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My First Cover Shoot
My first magazine cover. It is a scene on the then Southampton MRS’ Overcombe layout. Recently I was delighted to find that it still exists, now in private ownership. A revisit with lights and camera...
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Fear & Dread
Here in the UK, after several weeks of glorious summer weather (on Brit TV it’s called ‘severe weather Armageddon of dread, fear and doom’), the inevitable storm follows (the media calling that...
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Overcombe
In the late 70s, early 80s I was a member of the Southampton MRS. A fabulous group of modellers. They taught me so much in my formative years of railway modelling, things like how to build track from...
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Running the ‘shine
At a little known location somewhere on the edge of the Mendip Hills, the usual Saturday morning moonshine bargaining is going on. In recent weeks they’ve been moving about quite a bit more than usual...
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Such a Clever Horse
Monochrome Monday down on the docks. Arthritic Arthur really should stop jumping off the engine with his poorly back. Still he won’t be be told what to do, being an independent forthright soul. After...
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Simon
Daddy (Mendip) Sentinel is taking Junior (Simon) Sentinel for a trip around the brewery sidings. One day he’ll have a red nameplate just like his father, so he won’t forget his name when living out his...
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Flangeway Modeller Monthly
Local dirty rotten scoundrel, Terry Tuttle-Thomas-Smythe was known for a his pranks. The more dirty minded of you, might think TTTS is calling over to railwayman Sid Grumbefudge to shout “look no...
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