25 years in the making

The men embarked on the venture when Mr Read, then living in Bakers Wood, Denham, became a patient of Mr Sales at Mount Vernon Hospital. The surgeon, who had always been fascinated by steam engines, discovered when he made a home visit to tend to a dressing that Mr Read shared the same interest, and had a workshop.
They sent off for the castings of a model they had seen advertised in the magazine Engineering in Miniature, and embarked on a project which was to take them 3,000 hours to complete, and was to require the spending of thousands of pounds on lathes and milling machines.
Mr Read, 78, said: "It's been a real labour of love. Perfection is what you aim for, and you need almost the patience of Jobe to do a job like this. But we've never had a cross word. It's very relaxing, with the radio on."
A total of 528 steam lorries were made in England from 1917. Used by industrialists to pull loads of up to six tons, they were powered by steam created by the heating of water in a boiler with a coal fire under the cab. They were manned by a fireman and a highly skilled driver, whose difficult job it was to control the speed and the brakes.
The models work in exactly the same way as the originals, albeit with smaller grade Welsh steam coal, and which are capable of 20 mph.
Mr Sales, 72, said he had mixed emotions on finally finishing the job. "I feel proud and I'm absolutely delighted with the result. It's all about problem solving and aiming for perfection, but it's also been about the company. Now we will have to think of something else to do."
The project almost came to a halt for around 17 years Mr Read and his wife Midge moved to Spain, but started again when, after his children left home and he retired he was able to make frequent trips back Buckinghamshire.
The two models joined hundreds of others on show last weekend at the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition in Lemington Spa.