The Demise Of The Model Railway

Modelling is my hobby, as well as my job.

It all started one Christmas when I was about 8.

Father Christmas had been, my main present was a Hornby train set, a circle of track no more than 24" in diameter, one 0-4-0 loco, two blood and custard carriages and a guards van. It was the smallest set they did, and probably more than my parents could really afford, but I was overjoyed with it !.

I didn't get much chance to play with that set on Christmas morning, I had two older brothers who thought it was their duty to show me exactly what to do, I felt that even at my tender age I was capable of putting eight pieces of track together and plugging in the controller.

All too soon it was dinner time with the order to "Clear the table!"

It was some days later that I evetually had the time to have a good go !

But each time it had to be packed away, even with my enthusiasm it became a chore to get out and set up, despite large amounts of pocket money being spent on extra track and points, I was a regular visitor to Dazeleys and Deans in Ross on Wye where I lived.

By the time I was eleven my two brothers and sister had married and moved out, a bedroom became spare in our three bed terraced house at the top of Tudor Rise in Ross on Wye, my hopes were dashed as it was soon designated "the spare room", needless to say it was empty 99% of the time, my requests to have access to the attice were quickly rebuffed by my Father, "You're not going up there" [Ironic really because I had already been "up there" to see if it was indeed a feasible place]

I yearned for that space for over 40yrs, eventually after serving in the Navy, and getting married, we moved into a property that had a garden large enough for a  shed !

I soon set to work and within a matter of months the embryo of a layout formed in what had become a cosy "man cave", little did I know that on the horizon my whole life was about to take a turn that would change it forever.

From my time in the services  PTSD, anxiety and depression began to take over me, bullying at work didn't help the situation, and after suffering for some years, my wife of twenty seven years said "no more" and asked for a divorce.

My railway now nearing completion was dismantled and sold off, the shed sold, as I amd what remained of my of my life was moved into a one bed flat.

So, today I am where I was at the age of eight, a model railway, packed away, with no room to set it up and use it.