Cyril John Freezer (27 June 1924 – 19 May 2009) was an English

railway modeller ''Railway Modeller'' is a monthly British magazine about model railways now published by Peco Publications in Beer, Devon. It has been in publication since 1949 with Vol. 1 No. 1 published as The Railway Modeller, being an Ian Allan Production ...

, writer, and magazine editor. He edited ''

Railway Modeller ''Railway Modeller'' is a monthly British magazine about model railways now published by Peco Publications in Beer, Devon. It has been in publication since 1949 with Vol. 1 No. 1 published as The Railway Modeller, being an Ian Allan Production ...

'' from 1950 to 1978, and ''Model Railways'' from 1978 until 1983. He also wrote many articles for ''

Model Railroader ''Model Railroader'' (''MR'') is an American magazine about the hobby of model railroading. Founded in 1934 by Al C. Kalmbach, it is published monthly by Kalmbach Media of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Commonly found on newsstands and in libraries, it ...

''. Freezer popularised the 'terminus to

fiddle yard A fiddle yard or staging yard is a collection of model railway tracks that are hidden from view and allow trains to be stored and manipulated by the operators. These tracks are used to allow most model railways to be operated in a realistic manner. ...

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of ob ...

', is credited with inventing the "

rabbit warren layout A rabbit warren layout is a model railway layout. A group of designs, more than a single constructed layout, rabbit warrens provide a humorous display of continuously moving trains that appear to pop in and out of tunnels, seemingly randomly. Th ...

", and published many books on model railways, many of which are considered classics in the field.

Biography

Born in

Poplar, London Poplar is a district in East London, England, the administrative centre of the borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End. It is identified as a major district centre in the London Pla ...

, Freezer was educated at

Barking Abbey School Barking Abbey School is a secondary school and specialist sports and humanities college located in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It serves students from the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, and Newham. Years 7 ...

. Training as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

in a dockyard on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, ...

and working for

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

, he started as editor of the ''Railway Modeller'' magazine. The first edition he was responsible for was August–September 1950. He was a prolific designer of model railway layouts and published numerous books of track plans. Perhaps his most famous design was " Minories", a plan for a compact suburban terminus built on a folding baseboard. The layout was based loosely on the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

station at Liverpool Street in London and packed a great deal of operating potential into a modest layout that could easily be built by a relatively inexperienced modeller. Originally published in 1957, innumerable layouts have been built following its simple but elegant design. From 1978 to 1983 he edited the magazine ''Model Railways''. In 2007 the Diesel and Electric Modellers United (DEMU) ran a small layout competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the plan's publication. The competition was to build and exhibit a layout based on the Minories trackplan and was judged by Cyril's son Nick. A number of exceptionally high quality layouts were entered including "Ripper Street", "Minories GN" and "Westonmouth Central". The winner was eventually chosen as "Birmingham Moor Street" by the Scalefour Society WMAG. Freezer died in 19 May 2009, aged 84, in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a n ...

, Hertfordshire, England.

Books

* ''60 Plans for Small Railways'' (1958) * ''Plans for Larger Layouts'' (1960) * ''Railway Modelling'' (1961) * ''Locomotives in Outline: GWR'' (1977) * ''Whizz Kids Model Railways'' (1980) * ''Building Model Railways'' (1982) * ''Great Western Kings'' (1984) * ''V2 class Green Arrows'' (1984) * ''Royal Scot'' (1985) * ''Model Railways on a Budget'' (1987) * ''PSL Book of Model Railway Track Plans'' (1988) * ''PSL Books of Model Railway Wiring'' (1989) * ''Track Plans for Various Locations'' (1989) * ''Modelling the Steam Age Railway'' (1990) * ''Model Railways'' (1980) * ''Model Railway Signalling'' (1991) * ''1001 Model Railway Questions and Answers'' (1992) * ''Model Railway Operation'' (1993) * ''The Model Railway Manual'' (1994) * ''The Garden Railway Manual'' (1995) * ''The Model Railway Design Manual'' (1996) * ''First Steps in Railway Modelling'' (1998)

References

Rail transport modellers 1924 births 2009 deaths People educated at Barking Abbey Grammar School {{UK-writer-stub