Norman Eagles

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Graeme Eldred - 19 Jun 2004 20:15 GMT

Does anyone recognise or remember that name? Mr Eagles was involved
with The Model Railway Club in the 50s, I believe, and probably
thereafter. What became of him? I'm asking, because I was involved in
the disposal of the estate of a Norman Eagles who died possibly twenty
years ago (perhaps less), and, at the time of his death, was living near
Colchester. The same gentleman, perhaps? The Norman Eagles with whom I
was involved certainly had a railway modelling interest.

The thought has arisen purely because I'm reading Jack Ray's 'Lifetime'
book at the moment, and Norman Eagles is mentioned. Anyone with even a
passing interest in the history of railway modelling, particularly 7mm,
in the UK is recommended to read Jack Ray's book. Absolutely
fascinating. Is Jack Ray still alive? He would be a fair age by now.

Signature

Graeme Eldred

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Gregory Procter - 19 Jun 2004 21:18 GMT

> Does anyone recognise or remember that name? Mr Eagles was involved
> with The Model Railway Club in the 50s, I believe, and probably
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Colchester. The same gentleman, perhaps? The Norman Eagles with whom I
> was involved certainly had a railway modelling interest.

I recently gained a carton of old MRCs (etc) of 1950s-60s vintage and read
through them.
The name Norman Eagles appeared somewhere amongst them - now I'm going to
have to read them all again to find whatever it was!!! =8^O

> The thought has arisen purely because I'm reading Jack Ray's 'Lifetime'
> book at the moment, and Norman Eagles is mentioned. Anyone with even a
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> --
> Graeme Eldred

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Jim Guthrie - 19 Jun 2004 23:14 GMT

Greg,

>I recently gained a carton of old MRCs (etc) of 1950s-60s vintage and read
>through them.
>The name Norman Eagles appeared somewhere amongst them - now I'm going to
>have to read them all again to find whatever it was!!! =8^O

Norman Eagles was well known some years ago for his large clockwork
powered 0 gauge layout called "The Sherwood Section". I think I
remember the layout being featured occasionally in the magazines in
the late 50s and early 60s.

Jim.

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Gregory Procter - 20 Jun 2004 04:03 GMT

> Greg,
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> remember the layout being featured occasionally in the magazines in
> the late 50s and early 60s.

Of course!!! :-)
There were a couple of articles about fitting different proprietry mechanisims
(Hornby, Bassett Lowke etc) into models where they apparently wouldn't fit at
first glance, by way of angling and trimming etc and fitting stub axles -
fascinating ingenuity!

Regards,
Greg.P.

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Ken Parkes - 20 Jun 2004 21:08 GMT

>> Greg,
>>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> Regards,
> Greg.P.

Are you sure about that? I can't recall any such articles. I suspect you
may be confusing Eagles with Drew Donaldson who modelled Irish O gauge
clockwork and was a wizard at re-modelling spring mechanisms (he insisted
they were spring drives, quite rightly). His layout was a similar size to
Eagles and also indoors. His forte was stub axles. Articles appeared in
MRC and Model Railways I think.

Ken.

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Gregory Procter - 20 Jun 2004 21:40 GMT

> >> Greg,
> >>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Are you sure about that?

Not at all :-)

> I can't recall any such articles. I suspect you
> may be confusing Eagles with Drew Donaldson who modelled Irish O gauge
> clockwork and was a wizard at re-modelling spring mechanisms (he insisted
> they were spring drives, quite rightly).

The models I'm thinking of were definitely LMS. Obviously I'll have to devote some
more time to that stack of mags!

> His layout was a similar size to
> Eagles and also indoors. His forte was stub axles. Articles appeared in
> MRC and Model Railways I think.
>
> Ken.

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John Watson - 24 Jun 2004 08:50 GMT

SNIP

> > There were a couple of articles about fitting different proprietry mechanisims
> > (Hornby, Bassett Lowke etc) into models where they apparently wouldn't fit at
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Eagles and also indoors. His forte was stub axles. Articles appeared in
> MRC and Model Railways I think.

Yes I remember reading several articles in Railway Modeller in the 70s about
the Sherwood section. and Norman Eagles. It was a fascinating layout
/concept, one of the main interests of the group being strict timetabled
running.

Regards

John Watson

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Graeme Eldred - 24 Jun 2004 18:42 GMT

>Yes I remember reading several articles in Railway Modeller in the 70s about
>the Sherwood section. and Norman Eagles. It was a fascinating layout
>/concept, one of the main interests of the group being strict timetabled
>running.

Thank you, everyone, who contributed here. Yes, my memory has been
jogged :-)

I would still like to know which part of the country Normal Eagles lived
in, and whether or not he is still alive. Anyone?

Signature

Graeme Eldred

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John Watson - 25 Jun 2004 07:48 GMT

> >Yes I remember reading several articles in Railway Modeller in the 70s about
> >the Sherwood section. and Norman Eagles. It was a fascinating layout
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> I would still like to know which part of the country Normal Eagles lived
> in, and whether or not he is still alive. Anyone?

I think it was the Nottingham area and he died a few years ago.

Regards

John Watson

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Mike Hughes - 25 Jun 2004 10:36 GMT

>>Yes I remember reading several articles in Railway Modeller in the 70s about
>>the Sherwood section. and Norman Eagles. It was a fascinating layout
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>I would still like to know which part of the country Normal Eagles
>lived in, and whether or not he is still alive. Anyone?

I had the great pleasure of going to Norman Eagles home for a running
session on the Sherwood Section.

The house is in Oxfordshire (sorry can't remember exactly where). Norman
died a few years ago.

The layout was housed in a large purpose built building in his garden
and was indeed operated by clockwork O gauge locos. Norman worked for
London Transport in their timetabling department and this showed in his
attention to the detail of the timed running. He had a clock which ran
faster than normal (I think it was 4 times faster) on one wall on the
layout room and all trains were run to this time. Heaven help you if you
were even a little bit late or hadn't wound the clockwork motor up
enough!

Norman was also a member of The Model Railway Club and for many years
ran their demonstration stand (demons) at the club's exhibitions in
Central Hall and Horticultural Halls, which is where I met him.

He was a true gent

Mike

Signature

Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England

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Graeme Eldred - 28 Jun 2004 17:08 GMT

>>I would still like to know which part of the country Normal Eagles
>>lived in, and whether or not he is still alive. Anyone?
>
>The house is in Oxfordshire (sorry can't remember exactly where).
>Norman died a few years ago.

Thanks to both John and Mike. I'm now sure that the Norman Eagles with
whom I had contact wasn't *the* Norman Eagles of Sherwood fame. The
original question provided some fascinating stories though, for which my
thanks.

Signature

Graeme Eldred

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John Ruddy - 19 Jun 2004 22:35 GMT

>Does anyone recognise or remember that name? Mr Eagles was involved
>with The Model Railway Club in the 50s, I believe, and probably
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>in the UK is recommended to read Jack Ray's book. Absolutely
>fascinating. Is Jack Ray still alive? He would be a fair age by now.

Norman Eagles was responsible for the Sherwood section of the LMS,
wasnt he? ISTR that it was a clockwork O guage model of a fictious
part of the LMS based around 'Nottingham Castle' station.

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Yoda - 21 Jun 2004 20:04 GMT

Nottingham Castle......Guess Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham used
this one then??????

LMHO

> >Does anyone recognise or remember that name? Mr Eagles was involved
> >with The Model Railway Club in the 50s, I believe, and probably
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> wasnt he? ISTR that it was a clockwork O guage model of a fictious
> part of the LMS based around 'Nottingham Castle' station.

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Ken Parkes - 19 Jun 2004 23:24 GMT

> Does anyone recognise or remember that name? Mr Eagles was involved
> with The Model Railway Club in the 50s, I believe, and probably
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> in the UK is recommended to read Jack Ray's book. Absolutely
> fascinating. Is Jack Ray still alive? He would be a fair age by now.

Jack Ray is alive and still pursuing model railway matters from his home
in Suffolk.
Norman Eagles was employed by London Transport, I believe, and was an expert at
time-tabling. He had a large indoor railway based on a Nottingham/Trent
story using coarse scale O gauge. His railway was run like the real thing
and developed over fifty years or so. The earliest article by him on his
railway was in Model Railway News in the late 1920s or early 30s. He
gathered a large operating group around him and when he retired they built
a railway room in the grounds or his new house. I heard that it went on
running for some time after his death.

Ken.

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Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 2004

Norman Eagles