GRANBY JUNCTION

At my age, childhood memories are inevitably a bit blurred. Nevertheless, aged nine, I have a distinct memory of gazing with much longing into the window of a cycle shop in Crosby. The object of my attention was a Hornby Dublo train set. A circle of track, three or four wagons and a strangely-shaped, rather box-like, steam engine. All could be mine for the sum of £6-10-0. In 1947, this was a princely sum. I was disappointed but not surprised when there was no train set under the Christmas tree. That was pretty much the end of my modelling aspirations for almost half a century.

Fast forward to 1992 and another continent when I spotted a British magazine that featured a GWR branch line terminus (of course) with one of those curious boxlike locomotives. There and then, aged 55 and knowing little about railways and even less about modelling, I decided that it was time to start – better late than never. The first locomotive that I bought was, of course, a GWR 0-6-0 ‘Pannier’ tank engine.

With so little knowledge, where was I to begin? In the early days, my main sources of information were magazines and books by the likes of Iain Rice and C.J.Freezer. Nowadays, the internet is my friend. I am a member of the forum, RMWeb, which is now my primary information source. Apart from benefiting