My half term break ended as it began with a visit to a model railway exhibition. Like Sileby last week, the Trowell show packs a lot into a relatively small venue. It is always a good show and this year's was no different. I had been looking forward to the event all week, and it looks like I was not the only one. Throughout the morning the show was packed with a very good crowd.

The show featured three very large layouts. The Ilkeston group's own layout "Kimberley" was on display on the stage. This is an excellent model of the through station in B.R days. The model was making its exhibition debut and it looked fantastic. I was particularly impressed by the detail in the gardens of the buildings near to my vantage point. There was plenty of action and both myself and my 14 month old daughter enjoyed watching the passing trains for quite some time.

Kimberley was in contrast to Westwold. This 00 gauge 1950/60's model was being exhibited by the Caistor MRC. A spectacular model indeed with loads of detail - it was let down by a serious attack of Gremlins. Nothing seemed to be running well, and I never saw a train travel the entire length of the model untroubled. Such a shame and I really felt for the operators it must be terrible and very frustrating when things like that happen.

The third large layout was "Tummel" an O gauge Scottish terminus which I have seen before. This is an excellent model with some lovely cameo scenes. O gauge models look great and I really admired their Standard 4 tank and Scottish Director as they entered the station.

Another Scottish based model was Andy Peters' "Glen Roy" which features digital sound B.R blue diesels. This was also a lovely model and attracted a good crowd.

The show gave me a chance to view Jim Read's "Moxley Heath" O gauge layout. This attended my Weston show last week. Despite being in the same room as Jim on the day I never got a good look at the model. It is amazing how he has managed to fit a working O gauge model in such a small space. It was nice to chat to Jim again and he has even suggested that I would like to attend Weston again this year if he is free. Fingers crossed!

Opposite Jim was John Bottomley's "Torridge" layout. This features in the latest issue of Railway Modeller and depicts a West Country terminus complete with milk depot. This is also a lovely detailed model, with scenics achievable for all. Torridge is booked to attend the Weston 2013 show and I look forward to seeing it there.

One other stand out model was "Tom's Shed" which was built for a recent Hornby Magazine 3ft challenge. What detail. This really depicted a working steam shed very well in such a small space. A real credit to its builders!

There were other exhibits too, all excellent, which made this show another enjoyable event. I did manage to pick up a couple of things for my next modelling project....but that is for another blog!