BRIAN HOBBS
The following page is devoted to one of our founding members who passed away at the age of 88 on 24th June 2024. A wonderful man who was loved by all and was a very keen railway modeller.
Brians Story
Barnhill MRC was founded in 1982 in a house in Yate near Bristol along the side of Barnhill Quarry, 'Hence the name'. An advert in the local newsletter for the area had been placed asking for help in building a model railway and forming a club. Brian and a few more people applied, however after the first meeting, only Brian remained and at that time Brian was new to the Hobby and didn't know anything about model railways. Brian though was very enthusiastic & interested in having a go, and that was Brian. He would have a go at anything to do with model railways, and when asked would just say "leave it with me, I’ll have a go". You always knew that whatever he was asked to produce he would do it, and it was always of good quality. Whether it was, N, 00 or 0. everything was always more than you would expect.
Brian was always there to help and attended hundreds of shows with us up and down the country and abroad as far as Utrecht. Our wives would also travel with us sometime which would add to the enjoyment of our travels.
To say we had fun times is an understatement. We are a group of likeminded friends who all enjoy the hobby
but also enjoyed the friendship and laughter it brought.
I say laughter because Brian had a few mishaps here and there whilst operating the layout? He was well known for pushing buttons on the panel controlling the layout which were not his to push. The result of this led to many a derailment and Brian laughing and denying he had pushed any buttons, but we knew he had.
At an exhibition one day we had just come back to relieve Brian and John who had been operating Kingsfield at a show and asked how it had gone and was advised they had no problems, and off they went to lunch. Whilst I was operating the layout I noticed a buffer lying next to the track at a junction. On their return I asked them again and could they explain the buffer, to which Brian started laughing uncontrollable followed by John who then explained they had a collision on the junction. I still don’t know who was to blame, but it was funny.
We will really miss Brian, as the last founding member, a great modeller and more importantly as a great friend.
We hope he has already started the AMR club.
God rest Brian
View Gallery
Below are a few Pictures of Brian throughout the years
There will be more added as they become available but for now here is Brian doing his stuff
