George Iliffe Stokes

To many in the railway modelling world, especially those with a leaning toward scenic realism, the name George Iliffe Stokes is quietly revered. He wasn’t prolific in the public eye, nor particularly commercially minded, but his influence runs deep. His work made a powerful argument, perhaps for the first time, that model railways could be artistic, atmospheric, and rooted in a convincing sense of place. For anyone serious about realistic scenery, Stokes is an essential study.

A Painter Turned Modeller

Born in 1900 in Birmingham, Stokes came from a wealthy but unsympathetic family and was dispatched to Canada to pursue what his father dismissed as a Bohemian life. It was there he studied art, worked as a lumberjack, learned to fly, and met his first wife, known as Bootsie. She was a descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody, a colourful connection that suited George’s equally unconventional personality. Their marriage was short-lived, and she eventually returned to North America, taking with her a considerable part of George’s inheritance.

Back in England, George continued to paint and eventually took up a post at the BBC as a recording engineer. It was in the Cotswolds that he met Doris Baker, a young Land Girl, during the Second World War. Despite the age difference, they married and remained partners for life. Doris would later become deeply involved in his modelling work, helping with everything from scenic planting to the laying of individual bricks on 4mm buildings.

Before picking up a scalpel or brush for a model, George was a watercolourist with a keen eye for light, form, and composition. That painter’s sensibility would go on to define his scenic work. Unlike many modellers who build track plans and then scenery around them, Stokes started with the landscape. The railway was cut into it where it made sense. As far as George was concerned, the environment came first, just as it does in real life.

Ravensbourne and Beyond

His best-known layout, Ravensbourne, was an extensive 4mm scale project featuring Georgian terraces, inner-city alleys, and an atmospheric estuary scene. It stood out from anything else of the period, not for its technical cleverness but for the way it felt. The lighting, textures, and architectural rhythm had more in common with a landscape painting than a traditional layout.

His working method was meticulous but imaginative. He used wire rope — unwound aircraft control cable — to make scale trees, a technique he and Doris pioneered. Bricks and tiles were laid individually using cut-up watercolour paper. Colours were muted and layered with a painter’s touch. Nothing jarred. Nothing shouted. It just looked right.

A row of his back-street townhouses, shown in Model Railway Journal No. 0, illustrates this perfectly: cracked windows, flashing around chimney stacks, and weather-stained render. These details are simple, but they reflect time spent closely observing the real thing. Not just copying photographs, but understanding what gives a place its character.

Attitude and Materials

He was also refreshingly no-nonsense about materials. Buildings in Miniature, his slim but dense book, encouraged readers to use whatever worked: soap boxes, scrap card, bits of packaging. Precision mattered, but so did accessibility. His work showed that stunning results were possible with basic tools and a sharp eye. Over time, the book has taken on cult status among scenic modellers, widely quoted, hard to find, and treasured by those who recognise its quiet influence.

George and Doris Stokes were also among the first to lay individual bricks and tiles in 4mm scale. Now common among finescale modellers, these techniques were once considered obsessive. Their success came not from novelty, but from observation and care.

Despite his background, Stokes was not precious. He could be scathing about poor colour sense or lazy shortcuts, but he was generous with time and advice. He welcomed young modellers into his cluttered Cotswold cottage, always with tea, cats, and occasionally robust homemade wine.

His wife Doris was instrumental in his later work, particularly their garden railway. While George had a painter’s eye, Doris had a plantswoman’s hand. Their outdoor layouts had a life and texture all their own, complete with viaducts, cuttings, and the smell of meths-fired steam.

Photographs of his countryside scenes capture what someone described as a “dream of peace and rural tranquillity.” This was not romanticism. It was an honest attempt to recreate the lived experience of real landscapes, with all their calm, imperfection, and balance.

A Model of Influence

What made Stokes inspirational was not just the quality of his work. It was his way of seeing. He taught modellers to look properly: at buildings, at landscapes, at the way things connect. He was not interested in pastiche or novelty. He believed in mood, in context, in making the scene speak for itself. His scenes often remind me of the paintings of Edward Hopper, not in subject matter, but in atmosphere. There is a stillness, a clarity of light, and a quiet sense of realism that both artists shared.

His buildings weren’t stand-alone pieces. They belonged to the ground they stood on. He didn’t do stand-out showpieces. He aimed for unity and balance. You could pan a camera through a Stokes layout and feel like you were walking through it. In some of his street scenes, even the dirt felt placed with intent.

Though much of his physical work is lost, either sold, stolen, or discarded, his influence lingers in countless layouts and in modellers who’ve adopted his painter’s view of the world.

Decades after his most active modelling years, Stokes’s buildings and trees continue to strike a chord with modellers. Very few people can get so much soul into a model building. His winter scenes and estuary views, in particular, remain etched in the memories of those lucky enough to have seen them in print or in person.

A gallery of George Iliffe Stokes’s modelling work is available on Malcolm Mitchell’s website. Malcolm was a friend and protégé of Stokes, and his site presents a valuable visual record of George’s scenic modelling. Most of the content is photographic, showing buildings, trees, and scenes from layouts such as Ravensbourne, alongside a handful of personal photos of George himself.

More Information

Notes

  • Railway Modeller – August 1958
  • Railway Modeller – November 1958
  • Model Railway News – November 1962
  • Model Railway Constructor – February 1970
  • Model Railway Constructor – March 1970
  • Model Railway Constructor – April 1970
  • Model Railway Constructor – May 1970
  • Model Railway Constructor – June 1970
  • Model Railway Constructor – Septmber 1970 (6)
  • Model Railway Constructor – November 1970 (7)
  • Model Railway Constructor – (8)
  • Model Railway Constructor – May 1971 (9)
  • Model Railway Constructor – September 1971 (10)
  • Model Railway Constructor – October 1972 (11)
  • Railway Modeller – March 1978