Page 25 - March April 2015

Obituary – PETER ROBIN MITCHELL 1936–2015
I first met Peter at Benson around 25 years ago we have been friends ever since. Peter was a clever man – he had gone to school at Haberdashers and became a chartered surveyor working in the Civil Service. Always a railway enthusiast, his knowledge of world railways was amazing. This was reflected in his library on railways from all around the world. He was a lifelong member of the NMRA and the Manchester Model Railway Society, where he edited The Link for many years as well as planning the conversion of the old chapel which became their club’s headquarters. He was also a member of many pre- grouping railway societies.
His modelling passion was for railways that worked like a railway should work – he was an excellent model railway planner. For around the past 40 years he had modelled the AT&SF in both N gauge and later HO. His passion in HO was for locos that ran well and looked right. He would rebuild brass locos aided and abetted by his old friend David Pritchard. He liked to model a particular loco, so tender swops were regularly done and whatever number the loco had, Peter had a photo of it in the condition he had modelled it.
Peter enjoyed the smaller AT&SF locos and had a fleet of 2-8-0s, 2-8-2s and the small Santa Fe 2-10-2s. Later he acquired a small fleet of Missouri Pacific locos that he ran in interchange with the Santa Fe. He was a very good painter with both an airbrush and a paintbrush – patience he certainly had. He also had a love
of British O gauge. His other hobby was gardening, which he possibly loved more than his railway.
His wife Barbara was the love of his life. When she died of cancer 10 years ago it was like a light had gone out in his world – he missed her very much. He leaves three daughters, Wendy, Sarah and Sherianne, and several grandchildren.
We had a Tuesday night group held at Peter’s home. He had designed a double-deck layout that from the outset was designed to run as a proper railroad. This was built and run by Peter (he was an excellent track layer) with the help of the Tuesday night group which included NMRA members Peter Makin, Adrian Thornber, John Pearson, Richard Smith, myself and, before he went to Canada, that fine modeller Dave Gunn. Other modellers were always dropping by and everyone was made welcome.
Peter developed cancer some years ago. He seemed to have beaten it but then he developed cancer of the oesophagus, which he fought, but it spread to his stomach and lungs. He passed away on 26 January 2015. His funeral took place at Altrincham Crematorium on 9 February and was attended by many friends from all over the country. He was a good friend to many people and will be sorely missed by his family and friends. His strong Christian faith gave him strength through the death of his beloved wife Barbara and battle against cancer. Goodbye old friend, we will miss you.
Paul Doggett (with some help from fellow AT&SF modeller Rod Welch)
Mike Arnold
Special Interest Groups (Sigs)
Some of you received the following message in an e-mail from me recently, so apologies to you for reiterating it to a wider audience here. I have mentioned SIGs in Roundhouse and BRe- news before, but I now would like to see what interest there is in forming some for the benefit of all British Region members. I would like Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to play a more prom- inent role in the lives of British Region members. I think you can all help to achieve that. It is a part of many of our lives that we derive such fun from, and thus I want to be able to publicise that more to encourage wider participation and thus increase the enjoyment both of our hobby and from membership of the NMRA. I should like to do this in two possible ways – there may be more:
• list all known SIGs (or what could be called SIGs) in the annual Members Directory with an outline of what they do and who to contact; and
• submit regular features to Roundhouse (and BRe-news where more appropriate) for publication on news, reports, develop- ments, events etc within that SIG.
I am a member of two SIGs formally recognised by the NMRA, OPSIG (Operations SIG) and LDSIG (Layout Design SIG). We have a number of members of both those SIGs within the membership of this Region. We have groups, some based around Yahoo, in Operations and HO Module Development, N scale and On30, all of whom talk to each other to varying degrees, either through round robin e-mails, web-based discussion groups or just coming together occasionally. Some just have a common inter- est and could be formed into a SIG without too much effort.
I should like to formalise these more by treating them as a regular part of Region activity. They do not, however, need to be formal – they are what they are and I have no wish to tinker with that or suggest anything more formal, beyond each SIG having a co-ordinator who can be the point of contact and report etc to Roundhouse (can be two different people if that helps). The Region secretary will maintain a list of all SIGs and they will be listed, with appropriate links, on the Region website.
A SIG for these purposes might be described as follows:
“SIGs (Special Interest Groups)
A SIG is an independent, not-for-profit, membership group organised to provide a forum for the exchange and collection of
railroad prototype and/or model railroad information about specific topics. It differs from other NMRA groups as generally the SIG has no geographical boundary and as such is not associated with a particular Division of NMRA BR.
“A SIG should have a coordinator (who is an NMRA member) who can provide an annual report to the BOD for the Directory and maintain up-to-date contact details and reports etc in Roundhouse and on the Region website. The Region Secretary will maintain an up-to-date list of SIGs.
“The SIG does not need to be for NMRA members only, but membership should be encouraged. It should be noted, however, that if any funding is sought from Region, NMRA membership must satisfy the requirements for a ‘Recognised Group’ (currently 80%). The same applies if participation in the Chilterns MRA discounted insurance arrangements is sought.”
I sent the e-mail to those members whom I understand are inter- ested or involved in any one or more of the following activities that I believe can benefit from being recognised as a British Region SIG:
• Operations
• Layout Design
• HO Scale Modular Development
• N Scale Modular Development
• On30
• Narrow Gauge (other than On30)
• Logging Railroads
• Railroad Prototype Modelling (RPM)
Some of the above are more established as a group; others less so or even non-existent as such today. That does not mean to say that they cannot be taken a stage further to increase popularity, participation and mutual enjoyment. I would welcome any and all feedback and perhaps even some volunteers to act as co- ordinator; I would not ask if I did not feel this was worthwhile. I would be happy to put any member in touch with those I have e-mailed – just let me know your interests. It IS all about sharing know-how.
I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
E-mail: president@nmrabr.org.uk
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