Brian Guilmant

[Julian Evison]

It is with great sadness that we have to tell you that Brian Guilmant died this morning 24th July 2020 in a hospice local to his home in Wimborne. Very many people in narrow gauge modelling will have met Brian in the course of his 40 year involvement in our hobby, being the founder and chief driver of the 009 Society second hand sales organisation; we have benefited immensely from his dedication and knowledge. He was also a stalwart member of the Wessex Narrow Gauge Modellers, hosting regular meetings and, in recent years, organising the Colehill exhibition.

Under current circumstances the funeral will necessarily be a private affair, but our thoughts are with Muriel his wife and their daughter Lizzie. They have asked that their privacy be respected, so please do not contact them by phone.

Thank you Brian, our old friend, for all you have done for 009 modelling and 009 modellers - few have equalled your immense contribution.

A full obituary will appear in due course.

Julian Evison
Chairman, 009 Society

[Hobby]

RIP Brian, a good friend.

[Alan Feldon]

A great shame . I have known him for many years ,always smiling and a true gentleman .
Whether at Winchester  or Expong it was always great to see him  , complete with apron  and a smile on his face .
The sales were not only a great help to members but also a source of revenue for the society and without him would not have been the size it is now.
You will be missed Brian -one of the best
Alan Feldon member no 0009

[Graeme Dunbar]

I am very sorry to hear the sad news.  Though I met Brian only once in person at the Convention he was always very patient and helpful with my enquiries about sales over the phone.

[clayliner]

Sad news indeed, but also sadly awaited for quite a while.

Since I joined the Society Sales Team a few years ago Brian had become a significant part of my life and my weekly routine. When it came to things 009 no-one knew their value better than him, but his value to the Society over so many years was truly inestimable.

There was only one Brian!

David.

[Julian Evison]

Thank you very much your replies. I'll compile them for Muriel so she and the family get an impression of the high regard in which he was held.

Regards, Julian

[JulienW]

Slightly late to the party as I've been away from the computer today and only just picked up the news.

Whilst not unexpected news it has still come as a shock, as Brian has been a constant in my model railway hobby for probably the last 40 years - essentially my career in this Society...

[Hugh Norwood]

I was sorry to hear this. Brain was always a gentleman and supportive of beginners. He will be sadly missed.

[Steve Facknell]

Whilst a recent member, I was always welcomed by Brian and Muriel. My last memory of Brian was sitting with him pricing up some of his collection and his philosophical approach was a lasting inspiration. I am so grateful that to me he was a friend.
RIP Brian
Steve

[Mick House]

A sad sad loss, I echo all of the comments left for Brian. I had seen Brian at a number of shows around the south of England and casually chatted at the sales stand, he always had time to chat and give good advice, and this was before 2010. The first real contact with Brian was over the phone in the middle of 2010, when he with the 009 society helped organise the first exhibition in Cornwall. He came on his own with the sales stand down to Cornwall on Friday 25th March 2011 for the Saturday show, it got me to get to know Brian a bit better and just realise his commitment to the 009 society and narrow gauge modelling.
RIP Brian.
Mick 

[009bernard]

I only spoke to Brian once on the phone  But had many Emails on second hand sales, he was very knowledgeable  in his repliers and very helpful. I know that he will be sadly missed by the 009 Society and its members.
RIP Brian
   Bernard Curnow.

[B.Meldon]

I was greatly saddened when the news of Brian's passing reached me.
I have known Brian through contact via the society for 40 years. I have lost count of the items he has sourced for me over the years and the surplus items he sold for me all via the society sales. With these I always relied on his pricing of the items I sold rather than my own judgment, often placing a price on my creations far higher than I would have done, yet they all sold quickly.
In person he was a true gentleman always happy to stop for a chat even at the busiest of events.
The way he nurtured and improved the 009 Society sales service from its humble origins to the well-oiled, well organised, and highly profitable part of the society that benefits us all has helped to attract countless members to join the society. For many years and to many members Brian was the face of the society.  Going forward the best legacy he could have will be the continued success of the society sales.
The one regret I have regarding Brian is not being able to visit his very fine 009 layout before it was dismantled a few years ago.
Our thoughts are with his family and close friends at this time, but along with no doubt a great many others in the 009 Society, I will miss you Brian.
RIP.

[MickT]

Brian's posting above has reminded me that there have been a couple or so of references to Brian's layout  - The Imperial Western Railway, so I am prompted to highlight it here for the benefit of those who never saw it at his home, or who may not be aware of it.

Brian was always a fan of the large colonial style of 009 modelling and over the years he both made some very nice models and compiled a very large collection of locomotives and stock in this genre, many of the models being scratchbuilt by experts in the hobby. His main modelling interest however was always with the scenic side of things, so combined with large colonial style stock and a love of scenic modelling on a grand scale, then the magnum opus of Brian's modelling interests emerged in an extremely impressive layout in his attic that was around 30ft long by 14 ft wide with the facilities to provide a continuous run for "testing purposes" of course. As with many grand schemes it was always a work in progress and was never completed. I remember some years ago Brian describing to me his plans for a fairly large harbour for example, that never did see the light of day. But the parts of the Imperial Western Railway that did get completed were grand in the extreme - a huge loco depot to display around 30 or so of his very large collection, a mountain scenic section over 12 feet long and a grand town scene.

The layout was featured in 009 News December 2013 and as I was very fortunate to have been invited by Brian to take the photos that appeared in this article, I also put a collection of 50 or so images on my blog. So for those that may be interested in having a visit to Brian's own layout, here's the link to my record of my own visit to the Imperial Western Railway, back in 2013. The layout was dismantled 4 or 5 years ago, and the attic became headquarters of the 009 Society Sales department after it was moved from Brian's garage, and was where the Thursday team met to deal with all the mail order operation every week until Brian became too ill to continue.

Mick

When you arrive at the blog via the link below, scroll down through the intro blurb to the photo and click on the link below it to access the album. When the thumbnails appear, click on the first one, top left, and this will then open up and you can navigate your way through the album by pressing the right arrow on your keyboard. However, due to the way that Google mucked up anything that was produced for the blog using Picasaweb, which they replaced with a supposedly improved Google Images facility, the blogs, including this one which were made using Picasaweb, do not automatically show the full captions to each image, which can initially be accessed by clicking on the "i" button top right. Unfortunately you have to then close the caption in order to move on to the next image, (thanks very much Google!).

To get round this inconvenience at least partially, click on the little box top right of your window, next to the "X" (don't click on this as it closes the program!), to get a full screen display. You can then see all of the caption if it is relatively short, underneath the image, and you can still navigate to the next image with the right arrow key on your keyboard. If the caption ends with a ............., then it has not displayed the full caption and you can then see this by using the "i" button.

Sorry for the extended waffle on this. One of the reasons I had to stop doing  my regular blog albums was because Google had made it so difficult to use!

http://micksrovingreporter.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-visit-to-brian-guilmants-imperial.html

[kebo66]

Thank you Mick for showing us this. I met Brian only once when he brought the sales stand up to the North East for the Tyne Tees Open Day. We spoke at length and it was as though he had known me for years. A true 'gentleman'. RIP Brian.
Regards, Keith Bowen

[clayliner]

The way he nurtured and improved the 009 Society sales service from its humble origins to the well-oiled, well organised, and highly profitable part of the society that benefits us all has helped to attract countless members to join the society.

I was thinking particularly about this today. Especially in years past, when 009 items were harder to source than maybe they are today, the Sales and Recycling Service [to give it its full title] brought 009 within much easier reach of many modellers who might have otherwise been deterred from the gauge/scale. Since Brian was always the driving force - and force is an appropriate word in this context - behind the Sales operation he made a major contribution to growing the membership of the Society (and hence ensuring its vitality), quite possibly greater than any other single person. So we all have reason to be grateful to him for this, even if we never actually bought anything from Sales ourselves.

Just as a footnote to Mick's post about the IWR, the remnant which survived in Brian's garage became the Southern Division of the IWR, and featured in the November 2017 issue of the 009 News.

David.