eDiecast
from Hattons Model Railways
Est. 1946. Online since 1999

A page such as this would not feel quite right without the introduction of this man. Norman Hatton founded the business way back in 1946, and passed away in late August 2005 at the grand old age of 87. Norman worked nearly full time in the shop right up until his 86th year, sharing his experiences with the younger members of staff and our regular customers

Norman had a razor sharp brain and business sense unfaltering since his younger days! Our picture shows him packing orders in the old shop a few years ago. Whilst modelling the very same shop coat he bought brand new with his coupons for opening day.

Keith Hatton was born in 1959, and died, aged 48, during September 2008. At the time of his death, Keith had been responsible for Hattons emergence as the leading independent retailer, in the sector which we operate in.
He is missed by all the staff and customers who came into contact with him during his reign as the leader of our firm, and it will be some time before we adjust to his loss. We would like to thank all those who have supported us during the difficult time following his death, and appreciate the kind emails and letters of condolence we have re
ceived.
Keith was a unique and dynamic man, who led from the front. His knowledge and experience were undoubted, as was the commitment which he gave to the firm, for over 30 years.

Christine Hatton is the owner and Managing Director of Hattons Model Railways. She has worked for the firm for over 20 years, and many of our customers will have been served and assisted by her.
Following the death of her brother Keith, in 2008, Christine has stepped up to the mantle, to take over the reigns of running the firm. She has a great deal to contend with, given the size of our firm, the number of products we stock (approx 6000), the number of staff we have (57 as of Nov 08), and the number of places where we advertise (16 magazine titles and 4 websites).
Christine is determined for the growth and development of the business to continue in the manner it had done, before the death of her father Norman, and brother Keith. We accept that this will be a difficult task, but are determined that it will provide the best tribute to Norman and Keiths memory.

Peter previously worked for Hattons back in his student days, and since graduating he has come back to work full-time. He is also a member of the Liverpool Harriers and currently holds the track record for the naked 400m sprint at Wavertree stadium , timed at 60.2 seconds (but he was handicapped by about 10 pints and bare feet that don't offer much grip!!). He was also on TV in 2003, when he came last in the 800M in the national championships.

Richard, along with Graeme Hogg and Peter Walsh has helped Christine take over many of the duties that Keith Hatton took responsibility for, prior to his death in September 2008.
He is now responsible for buying of stock and advertising policy, and also the ongoing development of the business.

Graeme Hogg has been working in Hattons since January 2003 and is the man in charge of advert production and various other matters.

We’re glad to have his rough and calloused hands back at the Hattons IT command centre where he deals with complex computer problems with the cold calculated efficiency of the T-1000 from Terminator 2.

Introducing Peter Warburton. Peter is the post-room supervisor. This is who we all come to when we need some questions answered and Peter Walsh is too busy (always). Peter seems to thrive on hard work and always appears to be doing more than one job at one time usually everyone elses. Bearing this in mind there is never a sign of a grumble when we ask him for help. Peter too is a keen athlete but with a gammy leg. Finally a tip for all you fans of the sport of kings. Always back any other Gee Gee than Peters tips!

Julie Jones is our former Export Manager, and now Company Secretary. This lady can deduct 17.5% from anything, 'so' good are her mathematical skills! Julie is a lovely women who is always full of conversation, and is one of Hattons most experienced campaigners, having seen hundreds of thousands of orders despatched to customers all over the world

Here is Simon Rigert-Harden. Simon has been with us since Christmas 2002 when he started part time as a 15 year old schoolboy and showed sufficient maturity to take overall charge of the till and order entry point at weekends and occasional weekdays when still only 17. Known as Rigger to his friends. In 2005 he moved into part of our old shop which had been converted into a flat, but the messiness was left behind as he has now moved up the housing ladder.

Lesley is hideously over qualified to work here. She has two degrees and can break planks of wood with her feet.

Lesley is responsible for finding space for our many new products and she can now bend space with her mind.

Lesley is a keen sports fan and enjoys watching Rugby Union and Formula 1 in particular. Due to Sky’s monopolisation of televised sport Lesley has watch in the Pub which means she can drink anyone in Hattons under the table and onto the floor!

Chris assists our shop customers.He has studied as an electrical engineer, and has returned to work at Hattons.

Alan Brown has powers.

Neil Siner’s season has been blighted by injury so far but he has still transported several tons worth of stock from our other premises to be packed and sent off.

Neil is the Han Solo of Hattons with his battered Millennium Falcon (the Hattons van) he can seen traversing the space between our two other warehouses listening to cool eighties classics.

Truly there is no mission to dangerous for Neil and the van (he made the Kessel run in under twelve parsecs!) Neil fetches the recycled card board making Hattons a truly green company, and he once took all the chairs that were causing the till staff to limp down to the tip.

Strap yourself in, Captain Siner’s about to make the jump to light speed!

Petrol head and motor cycling bad ass Andrew ‘Armageddon’ Jenkinson is in charge of dealing with our returns. If you’re not satisfied Andy will be strapped into his rocket cycle and dispatched with your replacement. If you live in Australia or somewhere nice then please don’t offer him a cup of tea he’s got work to do!

Andy’s interest in machines makes him pretty good at any repairs. He has a workshop which apparently looks quite like Doc Brown’s in ‘Back to the Future’. He probably could make a time machine but he’s paid to fix trains so any other projects are on his own time!

Andy also enjoys going to festivals and gigs (on his rocket cycle).

Karen, better known as Candy, always occupies the front primary desk and is the first friendly face anyone will see as they enter the shop. She is waiting to take your order, and has been rubbing shoulders with the stars, helping to serve a famous 'English pianist, bandleader and television presenter'

If there is anything to know about trains (model or proper ones) that Dave Mylett doesn’t know it isn’t worth knowing.

There is also nothing about trains (model or proper ones) that Dave Mylett will not try and talk to you about! He learned much of this whist working as a spanner on the East lancs railway.

Dave’s passion for trains is matched only by his passion for biscuits.

On weekends Dave enjoys historical re-enactments. He owns a rather smashing Luftwaffe uniform which his mum tells him he looks handsome in.

We all know really that he looks like a hobbit in jack boots!

He is also a member of the East Lancashire Railway Diesel Preservation Society, where he can be found as a trainee 2nd man as well as in the diesel dept restoring the loco's.

John Houghton has been with us since Christmas 2002. He came on work experience and never left. John is a keen Liverpool supporter and can often be seen at Anfield cheering on his team. John is currently working part time in our warehouse and customer service departments, making sure all your parcels are put together correctly while studying an IT course in college.

Joanne is the retro sixties lady who sits on the back till. She holds the record for most marriage proposals by customers (Alan Brown comes a close second!). She has gracefully declined all three hundred of them.

Jo is studying to become a primary school teacher and her cheery nature makes her ideal for the job (or as a presenter on Cbeebies). Joe also works in fashion (Topshop) the word is, she is passing on tips to the Topshop designers by studying the styles of the Hattons staff.

White polo shirts are all the rage for next year folks!

This photo of Paul is a little out of date. Here the dandified Paul is a cross between a musketeer and a Zuton. These days promotion has made Paul a little more serious and focused. He wears sensible shirts (tucked in and everything) and jeans that almost look like they’ve been ironed.

There is a fun side to Paul though, as a true son of St Helens all you have to do is get him to talk about Rugby league or the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and he’ll be bouncing round like a little northern corgi.

Paul is waiting to take your orders now.

Is on a gap year, ready to go Oxford Brooks where he will be studying Astro Physics.

Chris is a keen sports man and enjoys Football, Tennis, Pool and lifting pints of beer to his mouth. Chris is also a big Everton fan and is a regular fixture at Goodison Park where they have the largest selection of pies in the Premier League.

Chris can also be spotted around the night spots of Liverpool ‘living it up’ before his career in science calls.

He enhances the staff in the stock room’s lives by singing them hundreds of different songs from every genre of music conceivable. Sadly he only knows the first line to each but he’s always roughly in tune.

The ever cheerful Hayley helps around the shop and is always smiling. She now works on the tills waiting to take you order in the shop or over the phone.

When the imperilled crew of Apollo 13 uttered the words

‘Houston we have a problem ’

They probably had no idea they in the years to come many of Hatton’s staff would be paraphrasing them.

Hayley is studying computer technology in university which is a constant worry to our IT department due the amount of Hayley relayed computer problems they have!

If you need a job doing, you can always rely on Robbie. He was working so fast today he had to be chased around the stock room in order to grab this rare picture opportunity! Robbies mum had to dig out his birth certificate in order to get him into secondary school, after his Mach 3 went blunt.

Joe joined the Hattons team in the run up to Christmas 2006, and can be found working the tills.His interests include "outdoor persuits" and getting drunk then turning up for work hungover. He recently came 3rd in the British Crossword Championships, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. He also follows his favourite football team Liverpool, when he has the chance to get off work and school

Mark re joined us after a ten year absense to help with a surge in orders over Summer 07. Normally he works in the Merseyside area as a supply teacher. He has just been sent to Carlisle to teach but will be back before Christmas.

John has come to Liverpool from China to study at Liverpool university. He's now volunteered to move down to the UK packing department from picking as hard graft packing parcels is rewarded with higher pay. Here he works part time when he is not busy studying.

The self styled most dangerous man in Hattons due to his worrying collection of medieval weapons. Aside from his ‘proper job’ in Hattons, Rob is an actor, author and stand up comedian although if it wasn’t for Hattons he would probably be signing on in a dirty mack like all the other ‘creative types’.

Rob works as a guide on Tom Sleman’s acclaimed Haunted Liverpool ghost walks and also spends a fair amount time acting and demonstrating in Liverpool’s museums dressed from anything from a Gorilla in a town crier suit to a cheery Victorian.

Rob works in the Hattons warehouse a tolkien-esque cavern that stretches on into eternity. They say that to look directly into the distance will cause a man to go mad.

Watch this space.

Matthew attends Liverpool University and is in his final year. He works in our warehouse picking mail-orders and helping inventory control.

Jessie is one of our fastest packers, but is currently on Maternity leave awaiting the birth of her 1st child.

Laura studies Marketing at university, and is looking forward to a career as a high-powered executive. She currently works part time in our UK despatch department making sure all of your orders are well packed. Lauras best friend Sticky Vicky used to rent a room off Keith, but she has now emigrated to Dubai to dress the hair of Sultans and Sheiks.

Currently in his second year at Liverpool University, Terry studies Urban Regeneration and Human Geography. Terrys main passion is music, both playing and listening, and has been in several bands, winning a local battle-of-the-bands competition and having one of their songs played on our local radio stations - Radio City 96.7 and Radio Merseyside.

Jamie is the nephew of Peter Warburton, and after a spell of working elsewhere has returned to help us pack the parcels. His horse racing tips are well sought after!

Peter has recently joined us to help serve customers in the shop. He is a keen model railwayer and has been since 1961! Prior to working here at Hattons he was a signalman for the East Lancs Railway.

Jonathan studies Sociology and Criminology at the University of Liverpool. When not busy failing at that he enjoys listening to pop-punk, going to gigs, films and playing xbox. He fulfilled a life long ambition afew years back when he met the Chuckle brothers and subsequently appeared in a photo with Barry Chuckle in Nuts magazine.

Lee worked with us back in 2002, and has spent the past few years working as a Personal Trainer and massous (No not that kind! A sports massous). He's working with us helping to put your orders together ready for dispatch. He can regularly be found at Anfield and enjoys going to gigs and going out with his mates in general.

Jake is a student at the local Bluecoats school. He has recently completed his GCSE exams and is looking forward to A Levels in History, Physics, Economics and English (Literature). He plays in a band who have recently had their first gig

Bin has joined us, to help pick and despatch orders

Kevin has joined us to help stay on top of the many mail orders which we receive

When Michael turned 16 recently. His father sent him looking for his first weekend job. He found us round the corner from his local school. The Liverpool Blue Coat, where he is a high achiever amongst many. The only other old boy we currently employ from there is "Simon Rigert Harndon" who was expelled!

Gareth lists his hobbies as including walking, therefore he will gets lots of practise whilst collecting all the items for your orders!