Charlie Insley's 009 Trains, 1998 to 2008

In an 009 News in 2008, fellow 009 Society member and modelling colleague, Dr Charles Insley, described me as "Society basher-in-chief" in an article describing how he had evolved my own railcar kitbashing style to produce his own articulated railcar based on a Dapol Park Royal 00 scale railbus kit. Whilst I take this as a great compliment, I regard being described thus by Charles as being akin to a comparison between the Dorset Amateur (me) and the European Champions (Charles) leagues, so in order to give a correct perspective to the very prolific, imaginative and skilled output of what must be one of the, if not the, most active modelmakers in the world of 009 narrow gauge modelling I have put together a collection of photos that I have taken at model railway exhibitions over the years of just some of Charles' many items of 009 rolling stock.

I first met Charles and Elizabeth Insley in 1998 at an 009 Society members day in St Helens and since then have accumulated a hefty collection of photographs of their several layouts that I have taken at various narrow gauge model railway events.

This gallery acts as something of a tribute to Charlie's superb skill at model railway stock building from assembling and detailing kits through adapting kits and "kitbashes" to models that have totally scratchbuilt bodies. This gallery merely scratches the surface; I have generally only covered locomotives and railcars, and even then my photos do not come close to covering the whole of Charlie's collection. In addition to the 009 models featured here, there are also an impressive number of models of Irish 3ft gauge prototypes modelled in 3mm scale (TTn3).

Generally I have attempted to provide just one photo of each model that I have managed to photograph, however there are some duplications which I have retained as they show different angles to a subject or may feature a locomotive with different rolling stock etc.

I hope you enjoy this selection and if you are an 009 modeller that you may find more than a little in the area of good ideas and inspiration for your own modelling.

Click Here to see the Photo Album for this Report