Bees Hill Models came into being after 35 years of modelling in N gauge. My modelling obsessions having always been around the Woodhead line having been brought up just a stones throw away from Gorton Works; coupled with a fascination with the Railway Technical Centre (RTC) at Derby and its workings, with a desire to bring these memories back to life.
I first ventured into CAD drawing in around 2012; and, after some persuasion and assistance from a friend, created the Drewry Railcar “O.L.I.V.E” (Overhead Line Inspection Vehicle) which was used on the Great Eastern and Woodhead railways. Whilst I was successful in this endeavour, I soon fell out of love with CAD drawing because I just didn’t like the software I was using at this time.
In 2020 my wife then bought me an FDM extrusion 3d printer which rekindled my interest; I started experimenting with new software and after following some tutorials, I got to grips with the basics. I started making Gantry’s for my layout, and I am still thinking of ways to bring these to fellow modellers, but as almost every gantry is bespoke for its location, too many variations exist for this to be completed easily.
The following year, my wife followed this up with a resin printer; the Elegoo Mars Pro. This was quite quickly followed by Carl White starting his excellent tutorials on YouTube on how to use the Fusion360 software. This is what was needed to teach me how to do what I knew I wanted to do.
Many years ago I tried to follow Andy Stephney’s guide on how to make an APT in N gauge, I wanted the APT-P Trailer Rake, which consisted of a DTS-TS-TBF and Test Service Car 9. Once I had the confidence I wanted to set out to recreate this train; and so I have. Following this I have now started to look at the humble BR Mk1 coach and other vehicles too.
My aim is to produce models that are not currently available elsewhere that I would like to model, because, why not?
All that having been said, I hope other modellers get as much pleasure and enjoyment out of my creations as I do.