John Watson

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
Sadly I have to announce that a close friend and fellow Scale Seven Group member John Watson passed away this week after a battle with illness.
Not all of you will of heard of John but he had a very keen interest in the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, initially building layouts in P4.
His Laxfield P4 layout had the distinction of appearing in the first edition of MRJ #0 followed by Kenton ' A Suffolk Idyll' in MRJ#72. He was quite involved in the P4 scene where he was probably better known not only exhibiting his own layouts but working on and helping run others.
He later moved scale to S7 and built another 'Middy' layout, 'Cratfield', as seen in the photo's below and I think you will agree that his talent shows in his work much of which is scratch built.
He was a very talented member of the the East Anglian Scale Seven Group and many of us learnt a lot from him, his last main feature being the construction of the gardens scene which forms part of the area groups exhibition layout 'Love Lane'.
He will be sorely missed.

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Below, part of the gardens of Love Lane.
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Col.
 
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Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen

Western Thunderer
It was very sad to receive this news. John was a great modeller and a thoroughly good person. I got to know John when we started building Love Lane and really enjoyed working with him. He always offered encouragement and gave me a lot of great advice, the best being I think, 'stop talking about it, just get on and do it'.

We, the East Anglian S 7 Group, will all really miss him.

Tim
 
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adrian

Flying Squad
So sorry to hear about his passing. I didn't know him personally but I do remember vividly the articles in MRJ, they were so evocative. Memories to cherish and my condolences to his family.
 

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
That is sad. I remember meeting John when organising the layouts for IMREX in the early 80s. Such a gentleman.

Tim
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
I remember both the P4 Mid Suffolk layouts. Kenton was at RailWells one year and was one of the finest pieces of 4mm scenic modelling I've seen with a real sense of place and a railway resting gently in the landscape, common to many Light Railways, but rarely executed so well in model form. I hadn't made the connection with the allotments on Lover Lane, or the name of the creator. My condolences to all those here who knew him and, of course, to his family.

Adam
 
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Joe's Garage

Western Thunderer
I too met John through my involvement in Imrex in the 80s, an inspirational modeller who has joined the many in the Big Model Railway Club now, must be a fantastic trainset by now!
Julian
 
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Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
John Watson's S7 layout 'Cratfield', which I mistakenly named Laxfield in my opening post, has fortunately been re-homed by a friend of John's who is also a member of the splinter group of the East Anglian S7 mob.
I'm sure those who were close to John will agree that he would have been very happy to know that it has stayed close to home and will continue to be enjoyed by members and friends of his group.

There is a possibility that it will be on show at the East Anglian S7 Area Group's exhibition at Albury, Hertfordshire in April 2022.
Nothing is definite at present but there will be notification, I don't doubt, in the S7 section of WT if and when any decisions are made.

Col.
 
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