David Curtis (1932 - 2020)
David was a founder member of the Falmouth Society of Railway Modellers, but more than that he was a valued friend. David first came to the then Falmouth Model Railway Club when we met at the former grammar school in Tregenver Road, Falmouth. He was an active member who involved himself in the club's activities with great enthusiasm. In his working life he was an architect and it was these skills which he applied to his modelling and enabled him to produce some excellent buildings for various layouts through the years. His modelling skills extended well beyond buildings though, as anyone who has seen his layouts at exhibitions will know.
David was a keen London & South Western Railway/Southern Railway enthusiast. His layouts include Curyford and Curringdon in OO gauge and Casterbridge North and Sherton Abbas in EM gauge. EM gauge was David's preferred medium and he was a long time member of the EM Gauge Society, indeed he would have an EMGS stand along side his layouts at exhibitions. Exhibiting layouts with Dave was involving as he had usually worked out a sequence or timetable for operations, but it was always fun and an enjoyable experience. Curyford was featured in Railway Modeller as 'Railway of the Month', something David was particularly proud of.
When the Falmouth Model Railway Club ran its large exhibitions, initially at Trescobeas School and latterly at Truro School, David was only too happy to get involved and readily undertook the role of publicity officer. He would contact local radio stations, newspapers and the railway press, he even arranged for the local ITV station to bring a crew to one of the Three Spires Railex shows in Truro. As the exhibition manager, I found his support invaluable as we spent many hours organising exhibits, traders and demonstration stands on the floorplans. Then on the Friday before the show we would mark out the floor aiming to finish before the first exhibitors arrived, this was always achieved.
When in 2011 the club moved out of its Falmouth premises and away from the town, some ten members decided to form a new club in Falmouth and so the Falmouth Society of Railway Modellers was born. David generously offered to host those early meetings at his home until we found a more suitable venue. Our first layout 'Titfield' was started at David's home. As time progressed we hired the band room at Budock Village Hall and then moved to our current meeting venue at the Athenaeum Club in August 2013. On arrival at our new permanent home, we decided to build a large running layout and the plan that Dave provided is now Smithick Vale. He was keen to see scale length trains running through the countryside and took a great interest in the layout's development. During 2014 we were asked produce a diorama with a World War I theme for a commemorative display in the Town Hall. As it happened we had a small station which had been donated to our society, David's skills were once again utilised in painting the the backscenes and modelling the soldiers on the layout. The train was formed from a mix of society stock and one or two of Dave's models. This exhibit subsequently became our St Budock layout, much of its creation took place at David's home as he built all the new baseboards and legs. He also kept us fed and watered during its progress.
With the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic, David's visits to the club ceased. However he still continued to take an active role, both by producing a large number of trees for Smithick Vale and working on St Budock, which had been relocated to his home. We did however keep in contact by the telephone and socially distanced visits to his front garden during the warm summer days as situation improved. During the past nine years our membership numbers have fluctuated but the society has continued to flourish and grow. As a society we owe a great debt of thanks to David for his inspiration and support, he will be sadly missed.
Below are links to David's layouts featured on the website.