Summer of 58, I was 6. My father (when he could) would take me to Ickleford just north of Hitchin. Transport was a seat on the crossbar of his bicycle. Thinly sliced cheese and cucumber sandwiches with orange juice were for lunch. Did I just hear a very young me shout "Streak" or was it my imagination. Many thanks for bringing back the memories.

There is something about the aesthetics of a British layout and this one is up at the top.

You have the most calming voice for narration. It's like seeing a David Attenborough documentary for model railways.

I miss my A5’s, I built two many years ago, I had a couple of spare Triang princesses that were extremely play worn, so after finding the wheelbase to be same as the A5, I embarked on two builds working from Skinley drawings and photos. One was completed, and built to 18.83 standards, one was around 50% complete, and done to OO gauge. I foolishly sent them off into eBay-land at least a decade ago, maybe much longer.

Wonderful - it's so refreshing to see realistic running at realistic speeds.

Excellent video and wonderful layout. Thanks for sharing. Not sure if anyone had already commented, but the tractors look like a Marshall (green) and a Fordson (blue).

Absolutely stunning. I could watch Little Bytham all day.

everything in this video sums up why we love model trains and trains in general, beautiful stuff

Magnificent model railway! Very very quaint and charming. I’m in awe of how many wagons there are on some of the trains, and hearing your description of how smooth everything needs to be running leaves me wondering at the skill and experience needed. All sounds a very strict and orderly, I don’t know if I’d fit in with that level of knowledge. Would be fun to actually see it all for myself though!

Hope we get more running sessions with your narration over it 👍

Just stunning - especially the photography.

It was great to get to run this sequence when I visited, and I know Tony won’t see this, but I can’t wait to come down and see him again. Very beautifully produced!!

Simply wonderful Tony. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. To be able to once again be "very young" and see those things as they were, for a re-living of an early life exposure, a most pleasurable early learning experience. "Not fond of shunting", ...yes. ---This is my idea of a perfect model railroad(way), one scene done to perfection, in execution, detail and atmosphere. I doubt I'll be able to compete my own "one location as a true-to-scale scene" in my remaining years, but this approach is without question is THE truly plausible and far and away the most convincingly realistic method of model railway rendering. A true work of fine art, to be sure. And thank you again for those A4 etched side skirts from a ProScale kit you'd sent to me in San Diego, California a couple of decades ago!

Exquisite models and operation. Very few American modelers achieve this realism. A real "time capsule." Wonderful!

The blue tractor is Fordson E27N (The first Fordon Major) and were manufactured between 1945/6 and 1953 when they were superseded by the more modern looking (with curved tin work ad lighter blue paint) E1A Fordson Major. These were made at Dagenham, but of course would have been moved by rail all over the country. The Green tractor is a Field Marshall, Built by Marshalls of Grantham, and where the tractor that drove the steam traction engines off the Threshing contracts Unfortuetly from the video I can not tell what series it was, by the Series 1 was introduced in 1945, and the Series3 was taken out of production in this colour in 1953, when they became the Series 3A and were painted orange, until the Field Marshall tractor design was withdrawn from manufacture in 1957. Allis Chalmers were Orange tractors. There were several companies along the ECML corridor. At Doncaster you had the International Harvester company where they made Farmall tractors. These are a red colour. I love your layout, makes my efforts (Bungay - which you can find a video of on youtube) looks very amateur. I've had a go at making kits, but I find them very fiddly compared to the machines I'm more used to haha.

Simply magnificent - a work of many talented hands over many years, and it shows.

This is absolutely amazing this layout!

An absolute delight to watch. Such a credit to you Tony. Beautiful layout.

Thank you for showing us this wonderful layout and a truly breathtaking collection of stock. Gorgeous!

Another great collection of train formations Tony! Hats off to you and all who have contributed!

Fabulous presentation Tony, thank you. Will never forget your kindness and hospitality during our brief visit in 2019. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

This is an absolutely stunning layout. Delightful.

The brilliant replication I very much admire and appreciate ~thank you!

Benchmark layout, a credit to your attention to detail and love of the genre. Probably time to write the book, how it was done.

The amount of work put into the building of the rolling stock particularly, is astonishing. And the paintwork is spot on so that I thought, with the low down photography, that this was the real thing-apart from the smoke of course. I particularly like the narration and its detail descriptions. I am not too familiar with the eastern region of BR being a former Manchester trainspotter in the late 50s and early 60s, although we had the occasional visitor, and the train descriptors and destinations etc were painstaking and fascinating. A first class piece of work..

Thank You so much for sharing this on KZfaq. Such a wonderful realistic layout!

Excellent Tony, brought back some wonderful memories of the visits to you and Mo at LB.

World of Railways. Tony, How nice to see a layout operated in a manner that takes one back to the 60's. Electric Pencil, for operating the pointwork. Large control panels with lots of switches. The late Peter Denny used "Flip" timetable cards, on his famous Buckingham layout. The late Ken Beal made extensive use of "Kick Back" siding's on his exhibition layout. I saw his layout at Central Hall, London. Back in the 60's this exhibition was where the circuit started for the year. York, at Easter. The year alway's finished in Manchester in December. For me Little Bytham, was a stroll down memory lane both front and back of the layout, Thank You. Cheers, Chris Perry.

All the best of railway modelling and as good as it gets. So enjoyed watching this video.....even brought back memories of my train spotting days back in the sixties, thank you for showing 😂

a lovely lovely model railway, my word has it progressed since I last it on KZfaq well done Tony.

Just stumbled on this and haven't see a video (or layout) like this before. Strangely hypnotics and relaxing - ASMR for model railway enthusiasts! Thank you!

An incredibly insightful and enjoyable video. Thanks so much Tony and friends!

What an absolute joy to watch. Thank you Tony and all your friends, for producing such an immersive layout.

What a beautiful layout and I'm glad to say you have done a wonderful job off getting most of your signals working. Being a signaller (signal man) myself I'm so happy that some modellers have installed working signals, well done sir.

Lovely Layout! Fantastic scenery!

A truly magnificent layout and a wonderful presentation. Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year. Alan Wright, Langley, British Columbia.

What a beautifully plush layout. The lighting is incredible also

I count myself privileged to have visited Tony & this wonderful layout and very much look forward to returning in the new year.

1958 was a very good summer, weather-wise.

Absolutely beautiful layout a pleasure to see working.

Beautiful layout and an incredible collection!

Absolutely fantastic piece of work.

excellent layout, track, scenery and rolling stock in superb quality.....nicely filmed and commented....a pleasure to watch and yes.....no DCC here either....haha....

What an achievement as its wounderful but what a great time to remember,im glad i seen the late 50,s as a youngster,how did we get to todays world afterwards beats me.

Marvelous, most enjoyable.

Mesmerized. How did Tony scratch build.so much, I would not know where to begin!

The late Frank Dyer, of Borchester fame, would have loved this layout.

Superb work from the doyen of model railways.

Mamma mia che bellezza!!!!!

Thank you for sharing.

Amazingly good layout and the first time I have seen this. You guys have some seriously good moddling skills 👍 Some lovely rolling stock and engines to boot.

As always Tony excellent

Nice layout, and beautiful trains, thank you and Merry Xmas.

"Brilliant", utterly Brilliant :D

Amazing, fantastic!

A great work and beautyfull traffic... Really Nixe

National treasure.

Wonderful video

Your videos are delightful

I admire this railway so much I am building a distillation, through lack of space, for myself. Studdying the track plan I can see that there would be a need to move railed vehicles arround the station but there is no engine shed. Would a shunter come from another station as and when needed. Thanks in anticipation of a brieft reply.

Awesome video !!

Very impressive!

Nice one Tony ❤

A very enjoyable video

Fabulous

Thank you for sharing your wonderful layout, Sir.... Incidentally the first tractor in the train, the one with the tall chimney, is a Field Marshall.

Fantastic layout! I've subscribed!

Thank you for those marvellous moving images from days gone by. I was wondering if the points and crossing work in the images are scratch-built, and what gauge of track? I respect the amount of work gone into this creation. It ultimately belongs in a museum.

Absolutely wonderful! To propel full trains like you do - I couldn't do it in N gauge! And no DCC? (Just goes to show not all of us need it). Cheers Tony and - Merry Christmas!

The Early Morning Up Nottingham to Kings Cross train was known locally as the 'Mark Lane'. Your layout gets better and better. Not a model but a railway in miniture.

Tony hiw are the freight wagons connected in the rakes to ensure clean reverse pushing out like the kick back sidings

Muito bacana, parabéns!

Tony should start a channel himself

".....'Modified Bachmann mark 1s....." - what is it that gets modified?

Great running session. Great layout and trains. One question. My layouts are DC which means that I control the trains. If the whole DCC session is running to a pre set schduled time frame. Where is the fun in that? Doesn't that become just a visual layout rather than a hands on session? Honest question from a non DCC enthusiast. Mon from Monsville Railways

Your fiddle yard track appears to be 16.5.. gauge tho' your P-Way is so nicely ballasted, it appears to be 18mm. (I last saw Minoru, a favourite, in York shed Oct 1964).

I have to complement you on your figures. They are amazingly life-like. I think the usual, clumsy representations kill many otherwise great models

I remember Dringhouses yard. The "control" tower and hump were still in situ until a decade or so ago. Now a housing estate occupied by Taddy Road wannabes.

Great explain - video in 52 min. But @ 38:33 min. The Scotts Goods with LNER A4, thats real ?

are you by any chance andy york? did you abandone that channel

you need ukdepatureboards boards

What an absolute Presentation of how NOT to encourage the younger generation of prospective rail modelers. Full of Look at me !!! When actually you've got nothing compared to the unknown private "Man cave" modelers - Challenge me TONY FOS

My congratulations on one of model railways masterpieces. There is nothing like the love of an owners model railway when success is achieved. I would love to see your thoughts on what makes good running. I model in N mainly on exhibition layouts but now too old and disabled to go out any more. My criteria were...properly laid tracked, correct back to back wheel measurements, all rolling stock to have perfectly square chassis, and correctly fitted couplings all at the correct height and spacings, I use DGs on the end of every rake, all locos and some individual shunting items. All the rest arehook and eye for goods and modified standard couplings on fixed carriage rakes. Have I missed anything and do I do anything badly wrong? Cheers, Bob

Hi Tony Please explain to this yank what 'up' and 'down' trains means..If it's merely northbound and southbound why is it not referred to that way; north/south trains ? You do say 'east and west' so why not then 'left' and 'right' if saying up and down ? Anyway, the only Euro (if England IS even considered Euro !) trains I like ARE Britain's and enjoy yours immensely. Hope you're handling your depression well these days. I am on meds for the same... I know well what it's like when it rears its ugly head..If and when it does Tony, just count all your wonderful blessings and accept the good ! I don't know what you do or did for a living. But in the hobby world you're among thee best; something to be proud of always. M, Los Angeles

This should have been great...when will these guys build a false ceiling with proper lighting rather than bloody tubes...I have yet to see a model that is fully convincing....