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Discussion in 'Miniature Railways' started by BiggerBob, Oct 2, 2011.

  1. BiggerBob

    BiggerBob New Member

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    http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/..._of_the_line_for_model_railway_club_1_3109119

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    Is this really the end of the line for model railway club?

    Members of the Peterborough Society of Model Engineers who are leaving their present base after almost 30 years. Picture: Rowland Hobson/Peterborough ET
    By Ann Molyneux-Jackson
    Published on Friday 30 September 2011 13:17
    WHEN the last model train pulls out of the station at Thorpe Hall this Sunday (2 October) it will be a sad occasion for passengers who have been riding on them for almost 30 years but, most of all for the members of the Peterborough Society of Model Engineers who have poured their passion and energy into the venture and are now having to leave the site for good. Ann Molyneux-Jackson reports
    DRIVER Arron Homewood shovels more coal into the engine of his small but perfectly formed model steam locomotive and then sets off on another circuit of the track with several eager passengers sitting behind him.
    The track takes them alongside the Cromwellian splendour of Thorpe Hall and then winds around the site below the spreading apple trees that have been here for longer than anyone can remember.
    A whistle blows and the train goes through a tunnel before returning to the station to pick up the people queuing beside the ticket office.
    Members of the Peterborough Society of Model Engineers have been running steam and diesel trains on the 1,143 foot track around the orchard at the city’s Thorpe Hall for almost three decades.
    But unfortunately they won’t make it to their 30th birthday on this site because the trains stop running for good this Sunday afternoon – two years short of that particular milestone.
    Andy Hall, who is just shy of his 80th birthday, remembers how overgrown the orchard was when the society first moved in 28 years ago.
    “We had to force the door and the brambles and then one person had to hack for half an hour before anyone else could come in,” he said. “The site had been abandoned for 20 years but there were some ancient apples that have no attention but yield lovely fruit free of disease.”
    A retired engineer, who owns seven model trains, two steam and three diesel, which were built from scratch, and two in bits in the workshop at his home in Woodston, Andy saw the track being built over the course of almost a year.
    But it wasn’t the first track built by the society – the first one ran round the grounds of one of Peter Brotherhood’s workshops in Werrington, Peterborough, for several years. The present track has changed very little since it was built in the early 1980s which makes it even sadder that it now has to be taken apart.
    For members of the Peterborough Society of Model Engineers, of which there are 70 from as far afield as Holbeach and Melton Mowbray, these Sundays are like a boyhood dream come true as they get to drive the trains, collect tickets and be the station master.
    But there’s also some hard graft involved with a dedicated bunch coming to the site every Friday to do maintenance jobs on or around the track and to cut the grass.
    As you might expect many members used to work in engineering for companies such as Perkins Engines and British Sugar but are now retired.
    Some are passionate about locomotives, building them from scratch or kits, refurbishing them or generally slaving over them for hours in garden sheds or workshops.
    Others prefer to work on traction engines, mill engines, clocks, boats, aircraft, tools and military equipment such as cannons.
    “But the model railway is the most visible manifestation of our work,” says Jim Hogg, the chairman of the society.
    “It has run every Sunday from the Sunday when the clocks go forward to the Sunday before the clocks go back for the public but has been open to members all year round for private running. If they have built a locomotive they want to run it round the track.”
    The model enthusiasts have been aware for several years that their time at Thorpe Hall was running out but it still came as a shock when they received notice to leave at the beginning of the year. The orchard has been earmarked for redevelopment by the Sue Ryder charity who own Thorpe Hall and run it as a hospice.
    Members of the society were originally asked to be off the site by April but this was later extended until the end of November allowing for one last season.
    By then everything the society still want will have to be removed from the site but the tickets office and tuck shop will be demolished when the diggers move in.
    Despite looking at some 20 alternative location, nothing suitable has been found to match the present one acre site with its toilets and car parking facilities.
    Jim Hogg is resigned to the idea of leaving but obviously wishes the society could stay where they are.
    “There is total disappointment, everybody is very unhappy about it,” he said. “There are people coming in here now who brought their children and are now bringing their grandchildren.
    “We are never going to get a place like this. It’s a beautiful setting, an interesting track and safe for kids.”
    He added: “By the end of the day on October 2, we will be feeling really fed up.”
    Pete Jackson, who is retired from his job in engineering at Perkins Engines edits the society’s magazine and manages the track maintenance.
    “The track has been up for almost 30 years and it has to come down in a few weeks,” he said with a sign. Taking it all down is going to be sad.”
    But don’t be mistaken into thinking that this is just a retired man’s hobby.
    Jake Beeken may be just 15 years old but he’s as enthusiastic about model trains as any of the older members.
    It all started because his granddad had a table top railway and years after watching that make its way round the track, the Hampton College pupil is well and truly hooked.
    Jake is now the proud owner of his very own locomotive, a Juliet steam engine, which runs on the track and can carry passengers.
    But it’s not a cheap hobby and he has to save up all his Christmas and birthday money to pay for any new parts. “You constantly have to do things as things are always going wrong,” said Jake.
    “And if you don’t look after the trains they can get damaged.”
    Unfortunately you can’t drive a model train with passengers on until the age of 16 so Jake won’t be able to do that at Thorpe Hall.
    The same is true for Vikkie Firth, who at 12-years-old became the youngest member of the society when she joined in May.
    Her links with the Thorpe Hall Model Railway go back to when she was three years old and took her first passenger ride on a train there.
    “I’ve built trains from scratch and she was turning the lathe from the age of about eight,” said her dad Mike, who lives in Fletton and is also a model railway buff.
    “I’m interested in the mechanics and how things work,” said Vikkie, who now has her own electric engine.
    Father and daughter are both understandably disappointed about the loss of the Thorpe Hall site. “Everyone is here to enjoy themselves and we’ll really miss that,” said Mike. “If it goes out of town I think fewer people are going to go along.”
    Marion Parker is one of the cogs that keeps the model railway running. She doesn’t drive one of the trains or even clip the tickets but her role is just as important because Marion makes the tea and provides other refreshments in the little hut on site that also doubles as the ticket office.
    Roped in by her husband Brian, Marion has now been whetting the whistle of enthusiasts and passengers alike for three years and is one of four women on the “tea making” rota.
    “When Formula One is on the television I get cover,” she said.
    Marion, who is also the fund-raising co-ordinator with the task of raising money for a new track, says she will miss brewing up, about 250 cups of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, for visitors on a busy Sunday afternoon.
    “We have such nice people that come down here. I’ve got to know them and I recognise the regulars,” she said.
    “We have such a sad day coming up.”
    Drivers like Arron Homewood, who used to drive steam trains on South African Railways and on the National Railways in Zimbabwe, go home exhausted at the end of a Sunday spent driving round the track dozens of times at Thorpe Hall. This week they will also leave with heavy hearts.
    Steaming on
    MEMBERS of the Peterborough Society of Model Engineers may be leaving their present home at Thorpe Hall but it’s still full steam ahead as far as their meetings are concerned.
    The group will still be getting together twice a month but there will be a change of venue from the Great Hall at Thorpe Hall to the church hall at All Saints Church in Park Road, Peterborough.
    On the first Monday of each month there is a bits and pieces informal meeting where people are encouraged to bring along what they are working on and on the third Monday, a meeting with a speaker is held.
    For more details about the society, check out their website, www.peterboroughsme.co.uk
    If you could help with a new site for the model railway, contact chairman Jim Hogg on jim.hogg@virgin.net
    Children will be ‘heartbroken’ by closure
    IT has been a bittersweet experience for parents coming to the Thorpe Hall model railway with their children for the last time.
    Louise and Steve Morgan, both aged 39, and their three-year-old son Ethan are regular visitors to the orchard at Thorpe Hall on a Sunday afternoon.
    Ethan even had his third birthday party at the site.
    “At this age it’s all trains, trains, trains,” said Louise.
    “He’s going to be heartbroken when he hears it’s not running anymore.”
    She added: “I love it, the setting is lovely, it’s easy for children to run around and it’s safe.”
    Michelle Brown and Tom Beran, both aged 38, are another couple with a train mad son.
    The pair, who are landlord and landlady at the Coalheavers Arms in Woodston, Peterborough, often bring one-year-old Jacob to ride on the railway and chose it as the venue for his first birthday party this summer.
    “If they take it out of Peterborough we can’t just say, ‘we’ve got a few hours, let’s nip down there,” said Michelle.
    “The children really love it. Jacob is really into trains at the moment and it’s lovely to come down here and bring a picnic. The customers in the pub say, ‘we used to go there when we were children.
    “It seems such a shame.”
    Clare and Lee Drabwell were visiting the railway for the first time after their children Chloe (4) and 22 month-old Harlee were invited to a party there.
    “We’ve had a really good time and it’s really disappointing they’re closing,” said 32-year-old Clare.
    Chloe had been on the train three times and her little brother was also keen to get in on the act.
    “We didn’t think he would like it because he cried when he went on a tea cups ride recently,” said 32-year-old Clare, who lives in Hampton, Peterborough.
    “But he loves it, he keeps saying, ‘let’s go on Thomas.”
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