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Dave Cooper

I have been interested in railways all my life, largely I think as a result of my mum putting me outside to watch the trains in Woodgrange Park goods yard just after I was born. I had model railways in OO (Tri-ang) and N (Lone Star push-a-long) through to my teenage years then started modelling properly in N Gauge in 1975. I stopped railway modelling for a few years after 1978 while motorbikes, girls and 18+ took up my time. 

 

I began modelling again in 1988 with a few OO gauge kits, but realised I was never going to fit an OO layout in the house. A chance to swop this stock for some N Gauge was opportune, following which I joined the N Gauge Society later that year. I helped set up an Essex area group based around Chelmsford in 1989, which is where I met Steve. We had similar tastes and I began to get involved with his Lynford Junction layout, to the point where I stopped building my own layout and concentrated on building stock and structures for Lynford.

 

I moved to Suffolk in 1994 and started another Area Group, which is where I met Stuart Atkins and Martyn. I built up a considerable collection of stock over during the 90's, including many kit and scratchbuilt items. I won a few prizes in the N Gauge society Annual Modelmaking Competition, the Chairman's Shield in 1997 with a much modified Langley Q1 and then the President's Shield in 1998 with a scratchbuilt H16 4-6-2T on a Farish chassis. After a cycle accident in 2005 I gradually lost interest in the hobby, and had sold all my stock by 2009.  My wife and I moved to France in 2010 to convert a barn into a home, which took up all of our time.

 

While the barn kept us busy I always had the model railway bug chipping away at me, and the growing collection of N Gauge stock that could be used on a Southern Region layout tempted me back in 2013. I had kept in contact with Steve, and when he was looking for operators for "James Street" in 2014 I suggested bringing Martyn and Stuart Atkins on board, and the rest is history........!

 

I started my own N Gauge layout in 2016 called "Brickmakers Lane", which is loosely based on the area around Stewarts Lane in South London. It too has no fiddle yard, and lots of track, but as it is meant to represent an urban environment I think it is OK. I hope to get this on the exhibition circuit one day.

I can normally be found operating the reversing loops and yards on "James Street" from the central well during exhibitions

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