Peter R. Wickham, known as P.R. Wickham was an author and model maker who was commissioned by publisher Edmund Ward to make models based on the first six engine characters created by Rev. W. Awdry.
Biography[]
Peter R. Wickham was born on 26th October 1922, to his father Henry Herbert Wickham, and mother Ethel Mary Lily Wickham. By 1939, he was living in Leicester and had taken up a career as a commercial artist. He eventually started working in model railways, publishing “A Book of Model Railways” in 1949. In the early 1950’s, he collaborated with the BBC, Wilbert Awdry, and Edmund Ward on several projects involving The Railway Series.
Models[]
OO Rolling Stock for Wilbert Awdry[]
Awdry's first model of James was commissioned from Wickham in 1951; based on a GWSR 403 Class and painted bright red with yellow lining. It was tempermental and only had a one-way motor, and thus was never put into regular service. It was eventually professionally repainted into G&SWR green to represent G&SWR 403 Class No. 403, and is currently at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn, Wales.
Wickham also built Henrietta's model for Awdry, which he completed in 1953. It too, is currently at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Tywyn.
Island of Sodor Relief Map (1952)[]
By 1952, P.R. Wickham made a relief map of the Island of Sodor, commissioned by Edmund Ward for the Rev. W. Awdry. It was displayed in the study at Awdry's house in Stroud until 1997, and is currently on display at the "Awdry Study" at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum.[1]
Models for the BBC'S The Sad Story of Henry (1953)[]
In 1953, P.R. Wickham rebuilt and repainted off-the-shelf 00 scale models for the BBC's The Sad Story of Henry adaptation.
The Locomotive Family (Model Maker Magazine, March 1953)[]
The models were made in 7mm scale and unpowered because of the lack of motors, but they did prove to be a guide for illustrators to work with. They were also designed to resemble C. Reginald Dalby's original illustrations.
The main frames of each loco were cut from 1/16 in. nickel-silver, two "blanks" being soldered together for drilling all holes and shaping to outline. The frames were then bolted together with countersunk 6 B.A. bolts screwed into frame spacers specially turned from brass and threaded internally. Cross-stretchers were then soldered in where needed to carry bogey-pivot, footplate fixings and other attachments. Driving-axle bearings were slotted out downwards and the axles retained in place by keeper strips bolted on below, so that the complete set of driving wheels can be "dropped" as a unit when required. Bogies and pony trucks were bolted and soldered up from strip brass and nickel-silver and are pivoted on the "radial-arm" principle with a weight-bearing spring rubbing on a stretcher approximately above the bogie centre. All superstructures from footplate up were removable. In the earlier models they were fixed down by two bolts in the cab floor and two through the front buffer-beam, but in the last two models the front bolts are dispensed with. The boilers were made by rolling layers of Bristol board on a wood former of suitable diameter. The layers are glued together and each boiler shell consists of three or four layers. When wood "bulkhead" discs have been fitted and the boiler treated with shellac varnish it has great strength and rigidity. Finally, the "faces", which occupy the position where more conventional locomotives habitually keep their smokebox doors, are modelled in "Plastone", a form of Plasticine which hardens when exposed to the air.
References[]
- ↑ The Awdry Collection on Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
External Links[]
- Model Maker Magazine: The Locomotive Family by P.R. Wickham on Pegsean.net
- The Mapping of Sodor on Pegsean.net