Creative Caversham – Alan Monk – Caversham Bridge Newspaper

Age of the train – made in miniature

In 1975, seven-year-old Alan Monk knew just what he wanted: a Hornby Great Western Railway freight set…lighting his life-long passion for model railways, as he told Elestr Lee

“I PESTERED MY parents to buy the freight set for me, and my interest in railways – and especially in modelling – has never stopped. It started small, like most children I had an oval of track with a siding attached to a piece of hardboard, which I kept under my bed.“ But the whole thing expanded from there!” Alan recalled.
As a youngster Alan enjoyed trainspotting with friends; by his teens he started making models. Nowadays he specialises in researching a specific scene – a station or signalling system – then models a miniaturised version, recreating a small snapshot of our industrial history. Alan’s models are compact and neat, and come complete with 3D replicas of the trains and railway paraphernalia of their era. “So the trigger is often an archive photograph of a location, then I use my creativity to ‘translate’ what I have seen into creating the scene in miniature. Some modellers like to create a fictional scene, but I enjoy making my layouts as realistic as possible,” Alan explained.
“The hobby has evolved over the years. You learn some shortcuts you can take, and some things I used when I was a teenager have now been superseded. For example, if you want to represent brick or concrete, there are now sheets of a material you can buy which didn’t used to be available. Sometimes I buy a kit, but I may also decide to make a piece of rolling stock myself from scratch, painting it up, then making it look a bit grubby – railways aren’t clean and tidy!”
Alan exhibits his layouts to fellow enthusiasts at clubs around the country. “This year I am booked to visit 27 shows!” he said. “I take one of my layouts to set up and show. As I don’t drive, I travel by public transport, so my layouts have to be compact and portable. They are known as ‘microlayouts’ – under 120cm long. Exhibiting can be hard work, but it is very worthwhile. It’s good to chat with the people who come to view the exhibits – you may get to meet someone who actually visited or worked at the location, who can tell me more details about the scene – so I can go home and make it even better. I always aim to make it as accurate a representation as possible. I really enjoy this aspect. “The first layout I built, in fact, was the old GWR signal works on the north side of Reading Station. This was on the site where Aldi and the Range are today – the signal works along with the adjacent Vastern Road freight yard, all demolished in 1984,” Alan said.

“Because my layouts are quite small, I average producing one a year. The majority are of locations in Britain, but I also do models of railways abroad, for example in the Czech Republic and Germany.” Alan’s interest is in railways of the past – “Up to the mid-1990s, when they were still using the old diesel engines, and carrying lots of freight. Once that declined, my interest begins to disappear!” However, a thriving number of people share his enthusiasm. “I’ve been a member of the Marlow, Maidenhead & District Model Railways Club for around 35 years. I now organise their model railway shows twice a year. It’s very sociable and welcoming; predominantly it’s an older, male-oriented hobby, but there are women who model – and they are very good at it!”
The shows raise money by charging a fee to trade stands and money raised is ploughed back into the clubs’ activities, funding club layouts and projects. “We seem to be thriving – we had 600 visitors through the door at Maidenhead!” Alan said. Reading itself doesn’t have a model railway club – enthusiasts like Alan travel to Maidenhead for the weekly meetings, but there are plenty of clubs organising exhibitions not too far afield.
Alan, who works for London Underground organising rosters, has long lived in Caversham and Reading. When we met, he was completing his latest layout of platforms at Aberystwyth railway station, circa 1970, when the Vale of Rheidol narrow-gauge line moved into the former Carmarthen line platform, after that line closed in 1964. His layout, complete with his representation of the platforms, canopy and signal box includes a mainline diesel unit and narrow-gauge rolling stock, which he made from scratch then painted up, was recently unveiled at the Maidenhead club’s summer exhibition, and will get further outings at exhibitions during 2027.