THE ST LAURENCE RAILWAY COMPANY

The Monastery Model Railway

FR KENTIGERN HAGAN OSB

There is a long history of clergymen being interested in railway matters. We think of Wilbert Awdry and his Thomas the Tank Engine stories and Bishop Eric Treacy and his vast collection of photographs.

Here at Ampleforth we had Fr George Forbes (OA20) with his encyclopaedic knowledge of timetables, and for our purposes Fr Leonard Jackson (W36) and the model railway he developed and transported around the parishes he served.

I come into the picture late on. Although I knew Fr Leonard, we never ever had any conversation about model railways. I had a small collection of my own with no permanent base whilst growing up and had always loved railways and watching trains go by. (No, I was never a trainspotter.)

My involvement at Ampleforth began whilst I was working at Gilling. There was a small Model Railway Club with a rough and ready layout housed in one of the courtyard outbuildings. Having shown an interest in the activities of the students involved I soon became “Chaplain and Technical Advisor” as we tried to rebuild the layout, make it more reliable and maintain its stock.

When Fr Leonard died in February 1999, his extensive collection was offered to us and so one half-term weekend I took a minibus to Parbold, dismantled his layout and brought it to Gilling.

After a period of integration of items and giving renewed pleasure to club members a change of circumstances saw the railway dismantled and stored in boxes. In later years some small scale temporary sets were used and a new form of club created, providing a challenge to build miniature layouts on a bookshelf. However, much of the stock remained boxed and gradually deteriorating.

This led me to ask permission to establish some sort of Railway Layout Room back at the monastery, so that the Community could enjoy the fruits of Fr Leonard’s interest (and mine).

At first a simple oval layout was created, but this was extended with the edition of a branch to a terminus station.

From here various developments took place leading to an extensive “h” shaped layout with an oval mainline, two branch termini and a large freight terminal. A third major rebuild, after an amazingly generous bequest from an elderly parishioner of St Chad’s, Kirkbymoorside saw an extensive oval main line an enlarged branch with through station and terminus and two freight terminals, all allowing multiple operators or a busy task for a single person. Hidden amongst these developments were references to members of the Monastic Community and their interests and other little cameos for visitors to spot. Gradually a fleet of specific freight vehicles have been built up representing Abbey Produce and other local businesses.

The Monastery Refurbishment project and the move to Bolton House meant that this layout had to be dismantled and once again put into storage, but the return “down the hill” allowed further negotiation and the opportunity to rebuild a new layout.

This current incarnation of “The St Laurence Railway Company” sees a large “L” shaped main line running around two smaller oval circuits with loops.

This allows up to four trains to be in continuous motion. There are two small freight yards linked to the main stations, a small branch to the “Hatton Orchard” a further branch to a village terminus and two other branches which lead to areas where different modules can be attached. Thus, more freight facilities can be added, or other passenger termini. There is also a diesel maintenance shed, a steam shed, a coal mine or a fishing harbour. With such a modular approach there are all sorts of interesting possibilities for action and a sense of the railway serving locations with passenger and freight trains. Again, a group of operators can take charge of different areas or a single operator can have a busy time.

I do hope that this whistle-stop tour of the development of the “St Laurence Railway Company” and the accompanying photographs may be of interest to some. I also hope to provide a link to a short video clip showing things in operation.

I do hope that this whistle-stop tour of the development of the “St Laurence Railway Company” and the accompanying photographs may be of interest to some.

Some of Phase Three B