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Mansfield

andyram

Entry posted by andyram

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I must have a very understanding wife! Five shows in five weekends! Mind you I am taking her out for a meal this evening in return for today's "pass out" to the Mansfield show!

 

I have never been to this event before and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The venue was a bit hard to find, not knowing Mansfield very well and I did drive past it once. Never mind! I got there in the end.

The show is on two floors in lots of different rooms in the St Peter's Church Centre. It is a bit like a rabbit warren with lots of different places to find, but the show map made things nice and clear. Some great layouts too. It was nice to see "Hatton Parkway" which I remember from a series of articles in the Hornby Magazine. I am not a modern image fan, but I did enjoy seeing this particular layout. I have also seen St Minions in a magazine recently and it was also nice to see this layout "in the flesh". It shows just how much you can realistically pack into a small space. The display space was even smaller than "Board Lane", the ironing board shunting layout which I saw for a second weekend in a row. I am looking forward to welcoming "Board Lane" to our show in November - just a pity I ran out of time and didn't get to speak to the owner of St Minions.

The two stand out layouts for me were the O gauge "Tummel VIII". I saw this at the Nottingham show last year and loved it. The layout is a lovely model of a Scottish branch terminus and depicts it very well - the "protesting cows" were a rather amusing addition!

Avyn-a-Llyin is the second stand out layout of the show. This narrow gauge layout had lots to see. The scenics were fantastic with a beautiful wooden pier on one corner of the layout. Superb.

I don't usually pay a lot of attention to Thomas layouts. But the N gauge one on show here was using the Hornby Railmaster control system. This is the first time I have seen it used and it looks fantastic.

 

Unlike the other shows I have visited recently I did actually end up spending money on some scenic items as work gathers pace on my Skaleby West show layout. I picked up some ballast, a Gaugemaster backscene and a couple of Skaledale tunnel portals for each end of the layout. I did hang an admiring glance over the newly released Heljan "Railbus". There was no price on this so I hate to think how much it would have set me back. Although not a diesel fan, I have ridden on one of these at the North Norfolk Railway and thought one would add something different to my smaller layout. Maybe next time then!

 

The show did seem to have a really friendly atmosphere. It was great to chat to so many people. Some were quite interested in attending my school's show too which is encouraging. More on that in my next show blog!

Oh and the bacon sandwiches were nice too - biggest I've had so far!

 

Now 5 / 5 - don't think there is a local show next week. But its Nottingham the following weekend so I think I will need to save money until then!

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The show did seem to have a really friendly atmosphere. It was great to chat to so many people. Some were quite interested in attending my school's show too which is encouraging. More on that in my next show blog!

Oh and the bacon sandwiches were nice too - biggest I've had so far!

 

 

KInda sums up what we are trying to achieve at Mansfield. Thanks for your kind comments, great to speak again and I'm sure we can help get your school show off and running :)

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Andy Bailey

Andyram,

Glad you liked Avyn-A-Llyin. Not doing bad for a 23 year old layout. The whole basis of the layout when built was for plenty of scenincs which'll appeal to the general public that come round the shows. As the layout is getting a bit tired I'm slowly revamping it and the next item is to redo all of the grass and sort the damn board joints out.

Regards

 

Andy

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andyram

KInda sums up what we are trying to achieve at Mansfield. Thanks for your kind comments, great to speak again and I'm sure we can help get your school show off and running :)

 

I certainly enjoyed the show. It was great to see, and speak to so many friendly faces. I'll certainly be visiting again next year. All help with school show welcome!

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andyram

Andyram,Glad you liked Avyn-A-Llyin. Not doing bad for a 23 year old layout. The whole basis of the layout when built was for plenty of scenincs which'll appeal to the general public that come round the shows. As the layout is getting a bit tired I'm slowly revamping it and the next item is to redo all of the grass and sort the damn board joints out.RegardsAndy

 

It's a great layout and I would never have known it was 23 years old. That pier is superb!

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