It’s fairly common for model railway enthusiasts to have a shed in their back garden dedicated to a permanently set up railway layout. But Colin Marshall of Cannock, Staffordshire has gone one better: much to his wife Janet’s dismay he has two sheds given over to his hobby. Shed number one, as Colin calls it, houses the model railway itself: this is a 1/76th scale replica of the railway yards servicing the Staffordshire potteries in the 1930s. Even to a non-enthusiast Colin’s creation demonstrates incredible skill and patience, not to mention a tremendous knowledge of engineering as well as social and industrial history. ‘It’s taken me over fifteen years to create this layout’ Colin – a retired lorry driver – states ‘and I’ll still be working on it the day I die’.
However, shed number two is equally fascinating. Colin’s collection of model railway locomotives, wagons and coaches has grown so large that he cannot store it in the same shed as his railway layout. Shed number two is lined with metal shelving which is crammed with replica steam engines, carriages and freight trucks. Colin has also painted the shelving in the black and maroon livery colours of the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company which provided rail services in Staffordshire between 1926 and 1948. ‘I know this is all a bit silly’ Colin laughs, ‘but my thinking is that if I know that it’s silly I can’t have gone balmy just yet’. Colin’s choice of shelving for his models was as much determined by aesthetics as practicality: ‘I chose heavy duty shelving for shed number two to create a suitable industrial atmosphere. It might not look like an engine shed or loco works from the 1030s, but it feels like one’. Colin is planning to open his model railway to the public on specific days of the year in order to raise money for local charities.
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