John Dornom, 1950-2022

John Dornom's model of Swindon A-Shop makes a suberb display piece for GWR/WR Masterpiece models

“Regular visitors to this website will be familiar with the Swindon A-Shop diorama that has made such a superb backdrop for photography of so many Masterpiece models,” writes Adrian Knowles. “It is one of the outstanding creations of John Dornom, an unassuming but highly talented 0 Gauge modeller who very sadly passed away in August.

“John grew up in a railway family and his father was a top link driver at Laira, a shed which inspired several of John’s remarkable models. I first met him in 2004 at his home in Plymouth when Martyn Welch, who had just completed weathering a ‘517’ 0-4-2T arranged for me to go and photograph it inside John’s model of Laira roundhouse. Typically generous with his time and modest about his achievements, John spent the best part of a day assisting me to get the best possible shots, operating the amazing smoke effects to fill the shed with a highly realistic haze.

“Later, Michael Brooks – the founder of Masterpiece Models – purchased John’s Swindon A-Shop model and I regularly photographed MM models on the Swindon diorama – the perfect GWR backdrop for engines in ex-works condition. Upon Michael’s passing in 2019 the Swindon diorama was acquired by John Borkowski who had owned the Masterpiece Models business since 2015, thus maintaining its availability for photography and occasional appearances at exhibitions. It has since appeared in a great many photographs taken for this website.

“John Dornom will be much missed but his work will live on. We have plans to do even more with the Swindon scene in the future.”

Laira roundhouse modelled by John Dornom, hosting a chocolate-liveried '517' 0-4-2T built by Tony Reynalds.