Harking back to a bygone era, and a place he remembers exploring when he was a boy, George Murray got his hands dirty modelling this highly detailed industrial layout.

Words: Chris Gadsby

Artwork: Andrew Mackintosh

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Photography: Chris Nevard

“ What makes this layout great? ‘Dalmarnock Industrial’ offers a ‘warts and all’ portrayal of what life would have been like in this area. It’s grimy, the air is polluted, and it feels like somewhere you wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time. You can almost smell the air. ”

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As a powerhouse of the industrial revolution, it is no surprise that many cities in the United Kingdom grew exponentially during the 19th Century. Glasgow was one such city. At the start of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837, just a quarter of a million people lived in the city, but by the end, there were three times that number. The cotton industry employed nearly a third of the workforce at the height of demand. Then, diversification came. Shipbuilding boomed thanks to nearby supplies of coal and iron ore. Locomotive production did as well.

Fast forward to the 1950s, and a young George Murray is growing up a few miles south of BR’s Eastfield locomotive shed. George would regularly risk life and limb to get a closer look at the railway and local industries. These memories would stay with him his whole life, and would eventually be immortalised in 1:76 scale.