My involvement in the hobby started at the tender age with the arrival of a Hornby clockwork LMS goods set. Although I continued in the hobby into adulthood, it wasn’t until the arrival of some commercially-produced kits for O-16.5 narrow gauge in the 1970s that I actually completed a small layout, ‘Babergh Light Railway’, that ran reliably. It was set in my home county of Suffolk and was inspired by the Southwold Railway. I took it on the exhibition circuit for a number of years and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
A move to a larger house meant I could consider moving up to a modest 7mm:1ft scale standard gauge layout and again looked to Suffolk, and the MidSuffolk Light Railway in particular, for inspiration. This little branch, in the rural heart of the county, had an ambitious plan to build a link from Kenton, a village about halfway along
