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Barry and his wife Ann captured in a highly appropriate setting in 2013
Barry Lane who died early in September 2024 was invited to join the LMS Society in 1980 at the behest of Noel Coates who now takes up the story:
Although he was a good friend of mine he was known to many of the then existing members, his skills as a modeller and researcher acknowledged and his induction was, to say the least, unanimous. He wasn't always active throughout his time with us, and the LMS wasn't his greatest love but he understood fully the influence of events during 1923-48 on the former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and the contribution it made for researchers and modellers wanting to 'get things right' for their chosen period.
I suppose it must have been late 1964 or early 1965 when we first met, possibly at an exhibition in Harrogate in early Autumn 1964. I'd just passed my driving test so doing a show there was possible – 60 years on your memory plays tricks with a then casual meeting. Next chance would have been the AGM in Bradford then the Manchester Show in mid December, where I'd joined the previous year. In those days Barry lived in Skipton and was just getting in to 2mm because you could create a better/larger 'scene'. I used to borrow the odd 'train' of wagons for display at exhibitions as a contrast to my 4mm ones and show the detail you could get in that smallest size.
He was full of knowledge and enthusiasm and clearly a great scratchbuilder then. His family was growing, eventually three boys, and he moved house in the early 70s to Sutton in Craven as well as changing to 7mm in which he worked for many years. It was his determination to make any model the most accurate it could be so careful research was the starting point. As a commercial artist he had the drawing skills and the patience to get things right.
He took over editorship of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society Newsletter and, as we approached issue 100 in 1977, he suggested that it be commemorated as a small booklet with illustrated articles. He had the contacts for printers, he'd do the layout, all we had to do was supply the words. Looking through the booklet there's no article by him though several different L&Y aficionados contributed but his 'hand' is on it. Barry's production skills were exceptional – research, drawings (many especially done), use of photographs he'd collected (as well as from other collections) and booklet appearance brought success.
After his joining the LMS Society he was quickly approached by David Jenkinson and others to help out with the development of new magazines and periodicals and he made sure they were the best of their class.
Among his other interests was American 'Blue Grass' music and he was an accomplished guitarist, one of his few 'big' holidays was to Nashville to celebrate this section of Country Music with others. Across the later 1990s his interests changed a little and he moved away to help others with book publishing. In the back of his mind was the definitive book about L&Y locomotives with Carriages to follow. The former arrived in 2010 with more detail than anyone could imagine (his colouring of high quality Victorian photographs was far better than today's computerisation), much of it from the modellers' aspect. The latter, alas, was never completed.
After a spell with Garden railways where he worked with David Jenkinson directly, he opted for Gauge 3 where his attention to detail could show exactly what the L&Y had created but history has lost. He still had an affinity with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society and would sometimes appear at larger organised events to do a talk, display his efforts or generally support.
In late 2023 he suffered a particularly debilitating stroke and had to suspend almost all railway activity. There was some recovery but he died a year later at the age of 84 with over 70 years success in the railway hobby.
Michael Blakemoor, publisher and editor of Backtrack notes that Barry was a long-time associate and supporter of Backtrack adding "Barry was a fount of knowledge on the locomotives of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and a frequent contributor to the LYR Society's journal and later Backtrack. He was one of David Jenkinson's 'back room boys' in the early years of Backtrack and later associate editor of Modellers' Backtrack, Barry also being a skilled modelmaker of LYR engines. Away from railways, he was a keen fan of American 'Blue Grass' music, visiting the States to experience the genre in its natural territory, and he was no mean guitarist of that music in his own right. With a professional background in commercial graphics, Barry's design talents were put to good use in a number of Atlantic and Pendragon books, not least in the 'colouring' of mono photographs to adorn book covers. It was a pleasure to encourage him to finally fulfil his long-planned ambition to complete his definitive book on The Locomotives of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and the publication of that by Pendragon in 2010 was a most satisfying achievement all round. Such knowledge will be greatly missed."
Richard Foster contributed the photo of Barry and his wife Ann and also two photos exemplifing Barry's modelling skills commenting on what on amazing modeller Barry was even prior to today's materials and techniques.
Site contents Copyright © LMS Society, 2026
June 5th, 2026
Site contents Copyright © LMS Society, 2026