East London Finescale Group
The ELFs are these days far from being young, spritly and few now live in East London. Our past members or associates included:
We were a very loosely formed group of railway modellers. Very lose, as there was no meeting place, no regular meetings, formal constitution or membership fees. The layouts in our possession are kept in private houses or sheds and may from time to time made a public appearance.
By no means all members model in one gauge or standard but our original meeting point was a single layout - Eastwell. This was (and still is) a 4mm scale EM gauge layout. In its wake followed Eastwell Ironstone Company, Eastwell Station and then Coleorton No.2 and then Newton Gate.
The surviving members are pursuing their own projects as the group gradually faded away although the survivors are still friends we meet occasionally usually at exhibitions. Privately owned layouts of members include:-
These are also EM gauge layouts.
Following the death of Alan Browning pressures, including work, made it impossible to meet all requests for public appearances.
Alan Austin is now primarily pursuing his own long term model layout project in a village in Norfolk.
Membership
It may be possible to resurrect the ELFs with new blood reviving the layouts. Although new associate members would be a useful we cannot offer a great deal other than our experiences, and comaradarie. It helps to be a bit looney and be interested in the LMSR and or quarry railways. But it is by no means essential as our blue era diesel followers will vouch, the common bond is more the will to produce closer to prototype models including working steam engines and a railway like service than any particular prototype.
The Formation of the ELFs
It was formed as a reaction to the restrictive polices used by a club on layout development funding and invitations to exhibitions during the 1980's. Formed from a group of EM guage modellers, the group arranged three public exhibitions in the Redbridge area of East London during that time. However because of work pressures some members drifted away, some to other parts of the country and then the "glue" which held the group together - Alan Browning - died aged 39 from a myocardial infarction (a massively decayed heart). As a result surviving members carried on gradually fading away as a modelling group but remaining, albeit distant, friends.
The major work of the ELFs was to build a layout called Eastwell - although it was originally called "Sherdington" which was exhibited around 6 times a year between 1974 and 1986. An offshoot known as "mini-Eastwell" but officially called "Eastwell Ironstone Company" was created from one part of the "Eastwell" layout in answer to the ever expanding nature of the "Eastwell" layout and its consequent demand on exhibition resources. Mini-Eastwell was exhibited more widely than "Eastwell" following its move from East London to Herefordshire in the later 1980's and itself grew to become a large layout. It was dominated by small industrial diesels and the use of the blue era British Railways motive power for main line running whereas the original Eastwell was set in the 1930's using LMS steam motive power.
While a third stage of expansion of Eastwell was being produced, the station model, devoid of Ropeway Sidings was exhibited a number of times up to 2001. Stage three of the Eastwell expansion was never completed as this co-incided with the group leaving the club and consequently having no space to work on the model. In fact parts of stage three were used for Eastwell Iron Works expansion and Ropeway Sidings was canabalised for the same development and one baseboard - known as "the Foundry" finished up at the Cottesmore/Rutland museum before moving into a bedroom to slowly decay.
Both Eastwell Station and Eastwell Ironstone Company layouts still exist, mothballed, but neither have been exhibited for some years. Some surviving group members have developed their own small layouts which have been exhibited whilst a few have moved on to other hobbys.