When I was a wee lad, my first train sets came from the toy shops in the big department stores and were British outline. I had a Hornby clockwork set in 00 scale, followed by a succession of battery-powered Hornby-Meccano trains in 0.
My connection with British railroading was further entrenched through the magazines that were available to me. At the time, finding a North American modelling publication such as Railroad Model Craftsman or Model Railroader required a trip to the hobby shop – and in Toronto, that required most of a day via public transit and therefore only happened a few times per year. By contrast, I could find British magazines in smoke shops and bookstores – and there seemed to be one of those every few blocks in my neighbourhood.
North American railroading eventually won me over and I have enjoyed several decades of modelling and operating layouts based on Canadian or American prototypes.
Then a few years ago I was invited to help my friend Brian Dickey exhibit his 7mm scale Great Western Railway layout Roweham – and the experience rekindled my interest in British trains.
Since then, I’ve acquired a few locomotives and built several kits for passenger cars and goods wagons – all in 7mm. Most depict the GWR (“God’s Wonderful Railway” or “Great Way Round”) in the Edwardian era. (That said, there’s been some challenges with maintaining focus, and a few other eras have crept in.)
I’ve shared a number of posts on this website about my British modelling. You can find all of them in the Great Western Railway in 7mm scale Category.
In the summer of 2024, I started building my first-ever 7mm British layout. I call it Bydemill and it’s inspired by (but not faithful to) the GWR terminal at Highworth. You can read all about that layout in the GWR Bydemill (Highworth) Category.
Enjoy if you visit!
The Model Railway Show 