Born in Wellington, Les Downey had a strong interest in models from an early age with his first job at a model aircraft supply company. Seeking a more serious interest he joined Whites Aviation Ltd, working with the Leo White photographic collection (now held in the Walsh Memorial Library). He obtained an airframe apprenticeship with Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL) based at Hobsonville which led to a twelve-month course at the RNZAF Technical Training School where he worked on Tiger Moths, Harvards and Mosquitos. TEAL at the time were using Short Sandringham and Solent flying boats (one of which “Aranui” is at MOTAT) and Les had the opportunity to extend his apprenticeship to work on these. During this time Les became interested in aircraft photography and started an Auckland branch of an aircraft interest group with the desire to eventually build his own ultralight aircraft. On his meagre apprenticeship wage building an aircraft was out of the question, so he settled on modelling aircraft instead.
Passing the rail yard daily on his way to and from work he became fascinated with the movement of trains on their tracks and decided to try his hand at modelling them. Needing detail to build a realistic model of the NZ Railway of the 1950’s era Les started photographing all parts of the railway, his collection included not just trains but the infrastructure, lineside features, buildings, locomotive and rolling stock details. He became interested in the history of the railway, collecting documents and other information - an invaluable record to be known as the “Les Downey Collection” made available to the Walsh Memorial Library.
His interest in heritage transport attracted him to activities at MOTAT and by 1970 he had joined the Museum as a volunteer for the Rail section. He was also employed by the Museum between April 1978 and June 1980 as Sylvia Park Off-site Stores Supervisor, Weekend Duty Supervisor and Special Projects Supervisor. Les was involved in the development of the rail yard at MOTAT 1 and preparation for the arrival of the Waitakere station building and several steam locomotives (Ab832, Ww491, J1236 and K900). Les was also responsible for the assembly of a group of fellow railway modellers who designed and built the North Island Main Trunk railway model in the basement of the band rotunda which opened in 1980.
Les’s proposal to move the operations side of Rail to MOTAT 2 was successful and the Western Springs Railway was officially opened by the then Minister of Railways George Gair in December 1982, thanks to Les’s perseverance. Les was made Life Member of the MOTAT Society in 1988.
Due to health problems, Les and his wife Diane emigrated with family to the warmer, drier climate of Queensland in 1994. Les passed away peacefully at his home in Brisbane on the 15 September 2023 after a long and painful illness. Remembered fondly, he is sadly missed.
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