I'm sad to say, SimonAtkinson passed away last Tuesday. His name will be familiar to Garden Rail readers as we documented his 1:20 scale Talyllyn railway project. His stunning model of Dolgoch viaduct appears in our February issue.
Simon was a professional modelmaker - he had recently retired as a lecturer in the subject. His past included building one of the iconic space ships from the early episodes of the BBC's Blakes Seven. Specifically, "The London", a prison ship.
The photo shows the model at the Smallspace show a couple of years ago. What it doesn't show is the model as presented to Simon by Matt Irvine a couple of years earlier. I was there, and the box it arrived in rattled! Simon took it away, and extensivly restored it - and "The London" can now be seen in the sci-fi museum in Milton Keynes.
I enjoyed an excellent relationship with Simon. He would regularly send me updated on the his models. When he passed, he was working on the cattle creep, which would have been as amazing as the rest. We also discussed how how he would build the line in his garden, a serious undertaking when you need scale scenery to withstand the Scottish weather!
I'm going to miss our chats. It was nice to feel that someone whose skill levels I can only aspire to, was keen to keep me updated, and talk generally about making stuff.
For more on Simon's work, I recomend a visit to his Facebook page.
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