Blasts from the Past: Model Railways

I doubt it will come as much surprise that one of the most beloved items in the school archive – beloved by pupils that is – is the model of the ‘King’s–Wimbledon’ locomotive engine. For those who don’t know, the ‘King’s–Wimbledon’, no 931, was one of a series of passenger locomotives, first introduced by Southern Railway in 1930, named after public schools and thus known as the ‘Schools’ class. These new locomotives were the most powerful engines of their type in Europe, able to move 400-ton trains at a start-stop average speed of 55mph.

The ‘King’s–Wimbledon’ was unveiled to pupils and staff from King’s at Wimbledon station in February 1935. A scale model of the locomotive was presented to the Head master by Gilbert Szlumper, Assistant General Manager of the Southern Railway, who happened to be a former King’s pupil. We are very fortunate to still have the original model in the school archive, as well as another model whose origins are unknown – to me at least. A brass nameplate, presented to the school by British Railways after the engines were removed from service in the early 1960s, and a replica number plate (donated by former pupil Derek Brough (OK 1934)) are on permanent display. The model itself, however, is brought out only occasionally. This week, the fact that it was sitting in the archive definitely upped the number of pupils who dropped in!

King’s pupils (especially the ones in red blazers!) are often as enthusiastic as they are imaginative. They like to think big. Why just look at the model when we could install track throughout the corridor and rooms surrounding the archive and have model engines ‘steaming’ along on a continuous loop?  This jogged a memory. I was sure I had read somewhere about a model railway society at the school.

Leafing through past school magazines, there were many references to the Railway Society (it appears to have been established in 1958). This group organised lectures, went on trips to see railways, and screened railway-related films. They also appear to have put on an annual Commemoration Day exhibit, part of which was a working layout (sometimes in a traditional 3–rail format, sometimes not). The account of the 1968 Commemoration Day display proved to be particularly exciting:

‘There was at first some division within the Society as to whether our running display should be two or three rail, so it was unanimously decided to have both systems represented. The two–rail layout was made up from Triang Super–4 track work and included a through station and a quarry module, both of which were excellently constructed by R.S. Lacey. The three–rail layout was mainly Hornby Dublo, which was a joy to see again after an absence from the Society’s exhibition for a couple of years or so. There were numerous photographs, tickets, posters and wagon plates on display, as well as a model of Morden South station (pre-electrification days), some ‘O’ gauge wagons and a working model of the Southern Railway Schools Class “King’s–Wimbledon.”’ 

Could this be the second ‘King’s–Wimbledon’ model in the school archive?

Reading the magazines, it also became clear that there had been a separate Model Railway Society, run as a Monday Afternoon Activity in ‘the loft by Mrs. Greystoke’s room’ (surely one of the earliest women teachers in the senior school?). After the mid–1970s, however, references to railways – model or otherwise – in the school magazines are few and far between. In 1986, ‘building model railways’ is listed as one of the Monday Afternoon Activities on offer. After this, the trail goes cold. I am yet to discover what happened to the track, model engines, signal boxes, etc., that once lived up in the loft.

Were you a member of the Railway of Model Railway Society? Do you have any photographs, posters or other related material? As ever, please do get in touch if you have stories to share: I can be contacted via email at archive@kcs.org.uk.

Dr Lucy Inglis | School Archivist