Tom was a ‘Meccano Boy’. He grew up in Cambridge where his father was a Librarian at Cambridge University. They used to go to East Anglia on holiday, and in 1925 age 5 he rode on the 3ft gauge light railway to Southwold. Sadly, when they returned in 1929 the railway had closed down, but this early influence gave Tom a lifelong interest in obscure railways. He also loved traction engines. They used to plough the fields near where he grew up - which is now the Cambridge Science Park.
Tom went from the Perse prep school to the Cambridge High School for Boys and in 1937 joined the Post Office Telecommunications department as a youth in training. He joined the Navy in 1943, ending up as an anti submarine warfare officer on a submarine depot ship. After the War he started his degree studies - 3 nights a week for seven years and in 1950 joined the Ministry of Transport and Civil aviation as a Telecommunications specialist. During his career he became a Chartered electrical engineer and ended up as the civilian equivalent of an RAF Group captain in the Civil Aviation Authority. The job involved travel to Africa and the Far East and naturally this included going and looking at steam locos still being used round the world.
Tom’s office was based in London, and one of the first things he did in his new house was to build a shed in which he did model engineering. He became involved with the North London Society of Model Engineers and later the Harrow and Wembley Society and the SMEE. His first live steam loco was a 2½ inch gauge Princess Royal, and in the 1960’s started to make a 3½ inch gauge ‘Coffee Pot’ loco. He also acquired a 5 inch gauge ‘Butch’.
Tom retired from the CAA in 1979 and then spent a few happy years doing a technical job at Marconi Space and Defence at Stanmore before moving to Williton to spend more time with his lathe and garden.
Tom’s connections with West Somerset go back to when his Auntie Daisy first bought Sunnyside in the 1950’s and he used to spend holidays watching Esparto grass being transhipped to the railway at Watchet. On retirement he took over Auntie’s house, modernised it, and built an extension and a new workshop. He joined the Taunton Model Engineers and developed his skill at making hot air engines which were shown at numerous exhibitions. Sadly these were stolen about 3 years ago.
As well as the model engineering, Tom also got involved in providing technical support to talking newspapers and one of his great delights was Probus. Naturally, being in earshot of the West Somerset Railway was also a great pleasure. He continued through the 1990’s with great vigour and enthusiasm, supporting his wife Margo with her craft works and choral activities.
Parkinson’s disease symptoms were diagnosed when Tom was 86, and over the last three years he approached this infirmity with dignity, though this was sometimes difficult. He was able to rationalise this with telling us that ‘he had an electrical problem’ and some of the outcomes of these are just uproariously funny. In November 2008 Tom and Margo moved into a nursing home in Taunton, where he died.
Tom’s had a long and active retirement, enjoying the company of other engineers - both model and retired professional engineers. His two sons Colin and Malcolm are both chartered engineers and they have taken over his remaining models and workshop.