Simon Bolton became a modeller as soon as he was old enough to follow the step-by-step guides in his father's railway modelling magazines. He was inspired to start scratch-building after reading stories about wonderful Great Western locomotives, many of which were not available as models in kit form. Moved to build models of his own, he acquired the necessary skills from journals, from railway modelling club members and by trial and error. Now an accomplished modeller, Simon has published articles in the model railway press and society journals, his locomootives have appeared at the Gauge O Guild Annual Exhibition, and he has been an active layout operator and skills demonstrator for the Model Railway Club.