The Living Model Railway

Robert Hendry has lived with the Greenlane & Hillside Railway since he was a child. Started by his late father, Dr Robert Preston Hendry, this remarkable 0-gauge attic layout in Rugby has grown, developed and evolved - and continues to do so, many decades after its inception. What is it that sustains the life of this model, and why has it attracted operators to its stations and signal boxes week after week? It is because Dr Hendry managed successfully to mirror reality and capture something of the spirit that animates the prototype, without which any layout will remain lifeless - just timber, plastic and wiring.

So often we hear of modellers who have created exquisite layouts with superb scenic effects and magnificent locomotives and rolling-stock, only to dismantle them after a couple of months and start again. What was missing from these models that gave them so short a life-span? To discover the answer we must ask ourselves a more fundamental question - what is it we are trying to do when we create a modelrailway? We are trying to create in miniature something that interests us in ‘full-size’ reality. In the case of railways, the prototype is more than just trains and stations - it is a living entity. And unless we can capture something of the spirit that animates the prototype, our layout will remain lifeless - just timber, plastic and wiring. For 30 or 40 years the GHR has attracted operators week after week from many miles around, ostensibly for its authentic, prototypical block working of trains between signal boxes. But it is more than that. The layout’s success derives from the blending of all the elements of the real thing into a living tapestry. Each loco is not only a fine model - it is doing a job. The goods wagons are not just there to make up a realistic-looking train - they are taking specific goods between specific points.