The following obituary was written by his son Richard (Captain, Royal Navy Retired, OBE).

John was born in 1935 near Wokingham, Berkshire, to Hubert and Barbara. He was the eldest of four children. A farmer’s boy, he developed his fascination with railways by watching trains go by at the local level-crossing and signal box. At three years old, he was given his first Hornby 0 gauge trains for Christmas, mostly second-hand. In 1939 the family moved to another farm at Swanley Junction, Kent, which meant more trains, with two railway sidings nearby. The war had started, his father was in the Home Guard and there was the Blitz and Battle of Britain raging overhead, as well as rationing. Importantly for John, his father found some second-hand Hornby Dublo, and they developed a large Dublo scale layout. 

John joined Tonbridge after Bickley Hall Prep School, also in Kent. He enjoyed Tonbridge very much and excelled across all subjects, mainly mathematics and physics and he was a keen runner, rugby player and cyclist. In 1953 he began an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce aero engines in Derby, as farming wasn’t for him! His father was really supportive. After a five-year apprenticeship, John started work at the Rolls-Royce design offices in Derby. He married Susan in 1957. They had two homes in Derby and their three children came along.  His enthusiasm for railways was fuelled by Derby’s London Midland Railway and local exhibitions, and he built a large two-rail layout in the family home.

In 1968, John moved to the Rolls-Royce design offices at Hamilton near Glasgow and he was instrumental in designing the Spey engine; produced in vast numbers and with air and maritime versions. The family settled in a small village called Darvel, south of Glasgow and, of course, Scotland’s railways and their heritage became an inspiration, the south west in particular, with miles of single lines, railways in the hills and to ports such as Stranraer Harbour.  

In 1971, Rolls-Royce was declared bankrupt and John’s skills were rewarded with a commission in the RAF as an engineering officer. After training and a tour at RAF Wyton, near Huntingdon, he moved to the Ministry of Defence. Importantly, his modular railway layout followed him around his RAF appointments, grew rapidly and became scenic with a Scottish theme. He named it the Stranraer and Ayrshire Railway.  

During his 22 years in the RAF he was highly regarded and promoted to the rank of Wing Commander; he was very much a ‘hands-on’ leader, maintaining and repairing all types of RAF aircraft, mainly jets. He loved the friendships, social life, and sense of belonging. As well as Wyton and his early spell at the MoD, postings took him around the country to RAF Abingdon near Oxford, RAF St Athan in South Wales, RAF Linton-on-Ouse north of York, back to the MoD in London, and finally to RAF Upavon in Wiltshire. In 1987 he chose to settle nearby at Warminster and build himself a very large train shed!

In 1993, John retired from the RAF and became a founder member of the Bassett-Lowke Society, building the Society’s exhibition layout, leading events and producing the spares directory. While expanding his railway layout he developed his ‘collection’, making rolling stock, and collecting and restoring Bassett-Lowke items and he regularly exhibited at train shows across the country. With an eye for fun, he populated his layout with black-faced sheep and models that represented his family (sailors, soldiers, airmen, girls riding ponies, Welsh ladies, and schoolgirls sitting on school trucks), and, amusingly, he liked to place and hide penguins throughout the layout, in stations, on trucks, and in guards vans and signal boxes.

In retirement, he took part in the local Rail Users Group and joined the West Wilts 0 Gauge model-railway Group, where he could run model trains with like-minded friends. Other interests took off; he levelled his garden with a single spade to play croquet, which he had previously enjoyed in his Kent days. He especially enjoyed playing with his grandchildren who, predictably, became rather proficient and often won the annual family trophy!

Early in retirement, he also spent a couple of years travelling throughout Wiltshire to catalogue church sundials. An incredible project that gained amazing plaudits with the British Sundial Society, of which he remained a member. He maintained an annual pilgrimage to Scotland too, to travel the railways, especially the West Highland Line, to take a ‘single’ photograph of the Jacobite train and church at Polnish, which he always had framed; he had around 50 framed photographs, almost all exactly the same, just a different locomotive!

John adored and was very proud of his grandchildren. He loved their school speech days, sports days, family birthdays and any other occasion and would frequently wear his Tonbridge blazer. Every Christmas he would treat his grandchildren to a trip on the Santa express at the East Somerset Railway, then a big turkey lunch afterwards for 14 in his front room, tables decorated and with trains down the middle of the table, loaded with sweets and little gifts.  

John had one or two very sad events in his life, one especially being the early passing of Helen at the age of 52, that left a large and very difficult gap. Helen would have been so proud of the relationship that her two children, and nieces, had with Grandfather John; very close, fun and loving.

When it came to train gatherings he ‘lifted the spirits of everyone’, especially with his infectious enthusiasm and encyclopedic knowledge.  For John things had to be right, and, while respectful, he would let you know if they weren’t; locomotives had to have coal in the tender, trains had to run the right way around the track, and brake-end coaches at each end of the train. Screw heads had to be aligned, vertical or horizontal, and shoes highly polished!

Despite deteriorating eyesight, John maintained his zest for life and interest in ‘all things’ through to his passing.  He is already hugely missed by all his family and friends. 

(PS 48-53)