I am indebted to Stewart Hine for his fascinating article in the August 1978 edition of “Model Railways”. entitled “Artwork for Etching”. which explained the principle of laying down resist images on both sides of a sheet of metal in order to etch from both sides simultaneously , the result being to eventually break through and form cut-out shapes. Fired with enthusiasm, I applied this principle to nameplates and designed the “CGW Nameplates” range for the 4mm scale market from 1980, eventually selling out to Richard Tebbutt , who now trades as International Models, back in 1993. as I wanted to work in 7mm scale.
I spent the following year travelling around the country visiting most public venues where preserved nameplates were on display, taking brass rubbings of more than forty of the most commonly used alphabets- Letraset were clearly not around when the early Railway Companies put their drawing offices to work designing their distinctive plates, which made my task a lot more challenging! I am most grateful to the many private Collectors of railwayana who have allowed me, over the years, to access their treasured original plates, in order to take rubbings, measurements and photographs in my efforts to obtain as near perfection as possible with my 7mm scale plates. This has led to friendships going back over twenty years in many cases.
From 1993 until 2003 I was content to make 7mm scale loco plates only to Special Order for a handful of discerning loco builders. You don’t get much more discerning than Tony Reynalds of Bristol, but I must single out Bob Merry of Birmingham, who now trades as Footplate Models, for being responsible for organizing numerous commissions for himself and his friends throughout this period. Several of Bob’s fine kit and scratchbuilt locos are illustrated on this website, and permission to photograph and publish them is appreciated. I think it was another of my old clients, Pete Waterman, who suggested in 2003 that I should make my plates available to all modellers. As I had just started to computerize my artwork, I accepted the challenge, and after burning the midnight oil solidly for the next two years, the Severn Mill Nameplates’ range was successfully launched on an unsuspecting public at the 2005 Telford Show. Having managed to avoid computers all my life, it wasn’t easy to come to terms with this modern technology, but I’ve finally come to accept that it is perfectly logical to hit the “Start” key when you want to turn the thing off- or am I just kidding myself ?
By keeping advertising to a minimum, I’ve been able to concentrate on research and design in recent years, and the results of masses of new additions to the Range have now been added to the relevant pages of this website. Whilst certain Sections are now virtually completely covered, there are of course others where more can be done to make this large Range even more comprehensive. My aim is to do further research, and make more additions, but not at the expense of neglecting the personal service to all of my clients, for which I am noted.
The economic situation is beginning to cause problems for model railway manufacturers. However, I intend to hold the prices of stock sets at 2005 levels at least until the end of 2008. The cost of getting new batches of plates into production is going through the roof, however, and without raising my fees for designing sets to Special Order, the only solution is to wait until I have amassed sufficient Special Orders to justify closing off a batch and getting it processed. This will mean that new batches will take longer to fill up and complete. Whether this will seriously affect you will depend on whether a batch is nearing completion when your own Special Order arrives on my desk. Time it right, and you could find your Special Order completed in a week or so; miss a batch, and you could have to wait for three months or more. You will be advised of the position when you ask for my quote, but as many technical things can cause delays that are out of my personal control, I never give a firm delivery date – I could be slower, or even quicker at delivery !
In setting out the available sets in the Range, I have tried to make this website as customer-friendly as possible by including gratuitous pieces of information. If your particular model needs a slightly different set of plates to those listed, please ask for what you want, and I shall do my best to oblige, provided the plates are designed and etched. Sets of plates are available for most classes for which there is a kit or ready-to-run model on the market, but I have also indulged myself by designing a selection of Great Central Railway sets for the pre-Grouping modeller, and which are listed here for the first time. My interest in the Great Central stems from seeing Peter Denny’s fine Buckingham Branch layout on more than one occasion at the Central Hall, Westminster back in the early 1950s. There is also a reasonable selection of LB&SCR cabside oval numberplates listed, again for the first time. I regret that their relative worksplates are not available- although I shall endeavour to find the time to prepare the artwork next year.
The Southern Railway section contains a goodly selection of cabside oval numberplates, covering the various patterns manufactured by the three Works, Ashford, Brighton and Eastleigh. It will be seen that I have deliberately avoided the first series of “B”- prefixed plates with either a “5” or an “8” – this is because I have still not been able to find a clear broadside-on photo of a plate with either of these numerals on. If someone out there has a suitable photo, or better still, one of the preserved plates, I would much appreciate their help in enabling me to add these numerals to my data base, and make a further batch of plates with these numerals included. It should be explained that the numerals used on the “B”- prefixed ovals cast at Brighton and carried from 1923 – 1930 were quite different from those of Ashford and Eastleigh, and I am not prepared to guess at what they might have looked like !
My West Country and Battle of Britain sets are particularly effective with their shields/plaques being designed in two layers for a coloured digital photo to be sandwiched between the layers. These coloured centres are included at no extra cost where I have been able to obtain the necessary photograph, but for those of you who are railwayana collectors, and who have one of these attractive items, please be kind enough to send me a broadside-on colour print , free of any flash reflections etc- but please advise which one you have before sending it, in case I’ve just obtained a print elsewhere. If you are unable to photograph your own plaque/crest, please allow me to visit you to take my own digital photograph. You only have to ask any of the top collectors to confirm my complete discretion and confidentiality.
In the Great Western section on Absorbed Locomotives, there is a good selection of GWR sets for ex-Welsh standard gauge locos. I would have liked to do some of their distinctive cabside oval numberplates, such as those of the Taff Vale Railway; the Barry Railway, and the Cambrian Railways, but whilst I was able to locate many suitable photos in the reference library at the NRM at York over ten years ago, these are currently inaccessible, so this project will have to wait . Again, if any of you can lend suitable broadside-on photos, this will speed up their design and manufacture.
I hope you will find plenty to interest you in the lists of available sets, and I shall be pleased to quote for the manufacture of unlisted sets as Special Orders.
Good Modelling to you all ! Chris Watford – Walcott, Lincoln – August 2008