Page 12 - July August 2017

Here for the first time I saw what Martin had achieved in N scale. Even then he was in to kit bashing, an N scale B&O Q4b from an Atlas/Rivarossi 2-8-2 and a NYC K3 Pacific from the same stable’s USRA 4-6-2. Eventually I decided to model the B&O and it seems shortly after his first visit to me Martin ‘saw the light’ and also switched scales and gauges. He chose the C&O. During this period both our wives fell pregnant our first children being born on August the 2nd and 3rd 1974 respectively. There were joint family outings where the girls talked babies and we just talked. This friendship lasted through sev- eral conventions. During this period Martin had not only painted my Bowsers but done locos for one or two others. He would ring me and talk about the latest models he had been brought. I well remember him having to completely re-build the chassis of a Balboa Sierra 2-6-6-2. Success- fully of course.
Doctor Boyask, though he never used the term, was a Bachelor of Dental Surgery, played piano and guitar and was an accomplished painter in oils and acrylics.
His efforts showing the way with regard to the production of “Roundhouse” we all know about. It was Martin who took it from the Roneo’d efforts of Steve Park and turned it into a thoroughly professional looking magazine the envy of many other NMRA Regions around the world.
Martin joined the NMRA around 1974. He stepped in to fill the role of Treasurer between October 1981 and October 1983. In May 1983 whilst continuing as Treasurer he also became “Temporary Editor”. This was probably the longest held “temporary” officer the Region has ever had - until April 2017 – 34 years.
“You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”
Rod Welch and John Firth
The 70s and 80s really were another time and place but they show the origins of how we are now. The Conven- tion in October moved around the country rather more in those days than now and its Banquet was a more formal, “dressy” event rather than the “smart casual” of today. In summer we had a meeting, usually an outdoor visit to a place of railway interest; Crich Tramway Museum,
Didcot and Pendon were some I recall. The Half Yearly Business Meeting was held as part of the spring event, usually at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Finally, in the depths of winter weather, in pre-motorway and early BR Diesel days, we had a meeting in London. However the primary reason for the success of this day was the ability to make a major diversion to Bernie Victor’s shop in Chapel Market, Islington. This was a miniscule plot, a wedge of real estate a short walk from Kings Cross station. In the crush of bodies of out-of town members it was possible to buy some of the things adver- tised in the American model magazines. It was at one of these events where I probably met new member Martin.
All our events in those days were put together by mem- bers word of mouth at previous meetings, black Whitehall phones featured occasionally. Hand-written letters were the norm, or possibly just typed on a sit-up-and-beg Rem- ington. Reports to National NMRA required “top copy and two”. A response for a letter sent by Air Mail normally took three weeks, longer if research was required.
In the early 1980s Roundhouse magazine was still produced monthly in quarto format. It needed collating, stapling, enveloping and posting etc. Until then “cut and paste” was an expression known only to “scrap bookers” but was a dodge being used by savvy computer enthusi- asts of the time. Martin was such a one, he saw the pos- sibilities and was eager to improve the whole process. So he and Linda invited me to their home for the weekend and we put together a mock-up magazine. In the capa-
Personally I think his greatest achievement was a new Sunset B&O B16 4-6-0 which I bought mid seventies. This loco would not pull, Martin discovered that the ‘so called ‘torque arm’ motor mounting was in fact pulling
the rear drivers completely off the track, it was to all intents and purposes a 4-4-0 with all the weight over the centre drivers. Martin re-built the drive train and turned
it into a superb performer. He did the same with two of Derek Frow’s Milwaukee Road 2-6-2s with their vertically mounted motors! He did however meet his nemesis with a Bi Polar which despite all his best efforts, re-motoring, re-gearing, re-weighting, would not pull the proverbial skin off the rice pudding. He felt balance in a brass steam loco was everything. If it balanced in the centre of the the drivers it would pull. But we haven’t yet touched on his other skills.
Martin operating Rod Welch’s B&O layout in mid 1970
12 ROUNDHOUSE - August 2017