History of the Edinburgh & Lothians MRC's P. D. Hancock Collection

In March 2012 a number of books, previously belonging to PD, were donated to the E&LMRC by his friend Lee Marsh. Whilst browsing through this collection the then Hon. Chairman came upon a photograph of Craig Castle in the 1990 Railway Modeller 'Famous Layouts Special No.2' and realised he had seen it in the home of a deceased friend who had died only a few months after PD himself had passed away. At the time it was thought this might be the only remaining part of the 4mm Craigshire and the C&MR so the executors were approached to ascertain if it might be possible to purchase it. In the event it was possible to acquire not just Craig Castle, but also one of the lead models used to depict Lord Craig, the Craig Storage Co. warehouse, three buildings from Harbour Street Craig, seven OO gauge locomotives and a few wagons. So the P. D. Hancock Collection was born. A few months later another part of Craigshire, namely the Dundreich station board, was donated to the club and more was to follow! PD bequeathed to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society [R&ERPS] his 7mm loft and SM32 garden railways. When the R&ERPS began to catalogue their inheritance they realised that some 4mm artefacts had somehow become intermixed with the 7mm and SM32 items. This really was not surprising as some of the 4mm items had found a home on the 7mm Craigshire – see the 'Return to Craig' article in the November 2001 Railway Modeller. The R&ERPS very generously donated their 4mm artefacts to the E&LMRC.

The club now had a problem. The problem was a lack of suitable storage space, however, a solution was provided when the Hon. Chairman prevailed upon Malcolm MacLeod to store all of the PDH material his home so in the autumn of 2012 he became the custodian of the E&LMRC P D Hancock Collection.

The Collection

Since 2012 the Collection has continued to expand with further generous donations and some acquisitions and now includes: -

  1. 'Dundreich' from the 3rd version of Craigshire and the Craig & Mertonford Light Railway. [This incorporates parts from earlier versions of Craigshire.]
  2. Craig Castle, Lord Craig and over 100 model figures.
  3. Many of the buildings from Harbour Street, Craig including, for example, the Alhambra theatre, the Craig Storage Co. warehouse, the arched retaining wall and ramp which separated Harbour Street from the harbour, Craig narrow gauge harbour station baseboard and building and the gallows turntable from the standard gauge engine shed at Craig.
  4. Ten 4mm / OO standard gauge locomotives and eleven 4mm / OO standard gauge wagons.
  5. The first tram, No.7.
  6. Five C&MR locomotives, five C&MR coaches and twenty four C&MR wagons.
  7. The Craig and Mertonford Light Railway charter.
  8. A 10 drawer cabinet filled with small items such as signals, horse drawn carts, numerous small scenic items, old mechanisms, spare parts etc.
  9. Numerous black and white photographs and colour transparencies of the CMR taken by PD between 1950 and 1980.
  10. Books and papers from PD's own collection.
  11. Copies of both editions of the Peco published book 'Narrow Gauge Adventure'
  12. Copies or scans of all[?] of PD's known magazine articles have been obtained and catalogued.
  13. Most of the buildings from the 7mm Craigshire.
  14. The layout built by Paul Willets which was purchased by PD and which accompanied PD when he moved to a care home towards the end of his life.

Hand in hand with the conservation work on the artefacts in the Collection cataloguing and research has been undertaken and collated into a number of private research reports :–

Unfortunately, for copyright reasons, these reports, with the exception of the the 'Index', cannot be made available for public viewing.

  • An Index to the Published Works of P D Hancock. [Index to all known works by PD and all known references to, and articles on, Craigshire since 1987]
  • The P D Hancock Collection.
  • Philip David Hancock 1928 – 2011.
  • The Craig & Mertonford Light Railway Locomotives and Railcars.
  • The Craig & Mertonford Light Railway Passenger Coaches.
  • The Craig & Mertonford Light Railway Goods Wagons.
  • The Standard Gauge Locomotives of Craigshire.
  • The Standard Gauge Rolling Stock of Craigshire.
  • The Tramcars of The Craig and District Electric Traction Co.
  • Whatever Happened to Craigshire and The Craig & Mertonford Light Railway and Other Articles. [Collection of articles on Craigshire since 1987]
  • The Dundreich Alterations Album.
  • The Architecture of Craigshire. [In preparation]
  • Who's Who in P D Hancock's Craigshire.

The foregoing is but a brief summary of what is contained in the Collection.
Any requests for additional information should be addressed to the Custodian of the Collection via the E&LMRC secretary