Some of the Rolling Stock

indent The railway forms a central part of the story but only has one locomotive, "The Boland Belle".v The engine illustrated unfortunately looks more like a cartoon version of a turn-of-the-century engine than the first steam engine ever made while its train looks suspiciously modern too - so we ignored them.v Then again, one locomotive was hardly enough for an exhibition layout so we decided to set our model some time beyond the period of the adventure story told in the book, at a time when the gnome population had grown and the railway with it.v We therefore had great fun imagining gnome-like versions of "The Rocket", "Locomotion" and other very early engines, each with its own peculiar humourous twist.v The settings however, along with the gnomes and many other aspects of the book, remain faithful to Denys Pitchford Watkins' delightful drawings.v
indent My personal thanks are due to author and artist Denys for providing the inspiration for this (so far) unique model.

indent (Incidentally, you will not find a "customer reference" for this model as it was never sold!v It was built some 30+ years ago, purely as an exhibition model to attract attention in the company's early days - which it did very well - as well as providing both the operators and public with enormous fun in its 7 years on the "exhibition circuit".v The layout itself is long gone but the trains and buildings remain, stored.  We must do another version of it one day!)

Andy McMillan