SMRC Annual Exhibition

Saturday 9th November 2019

Annual model railway exhibition presented by the Solihull Model Railway Circle at St Marys Church Hall and 3rd Solihull St, Mary Scout Hall (B92 8PN) - 15 minutes from J6, M42. Opening Times: 10:00am – 4:30pm. Admission Prices: Adults £3.00, Seniors £2.50, Children £2.00 and Family (2+2) £8.00.

11 Working layouts (N, HO, OO, O and On16.5 Gauge) are invited plus trade and society support. Wheelchair friendly access, free parking with light refreshments available.

 Buses to Hobs Moat road 71E, 72, 72A. Buses that stop at Wheatsheaf, A45, Coventry Road: 60, X1, X2. Bus Information: Available from Network West Midlands: 0871 200 22 33.

Layouts:

1. Avonbridge
7mm Scale, O Gauge
Solihull Model Railway Circle

This Layout is A 30 Feet by 13 Feet, Three-Track, Continuous Run With Station and Storage Loops. Early in 2013, We Widened Two of the Front Boards to Provide Some Space to Allow For Shunting.
The Boards Are Made from 9mm Exterior Plywood With Some Aluminium Box-Section Bracing and Steel Box-Section Legs With Rubber Door-Stops As Feet. Peco Code 124 Bullhead Track is Laid to A Minimum Radius of 6 Feet. Points Are Operated from the Main Panel Using Hammant and Morgan Motors.
The Buildings Are based on Local Midland Railway Prototypes and Therefore the Layout Represents A Busy Mr Branch Line Somewhere in the Midlands, Although the Stock Run is from A Variety of Companies and Eras to Suit Our Varying Interests. Most Buildings Are Scratch-Built from A Combination of Plastikard and Wood. The Main Station Building is A Model of Northfield and the Small Shelter on the Opposite Platform is from Moseley. The Signal Box is Modelled on Luffenham, With Marton Junction's Coal Bunker. A Scratch-Built Scale Model of the Goods Shed at Eckington on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway is at One End of the Station and Future Developments Will Probably Include A Footbridge Between the Platforms, Back Scenes and Possibly A Small Engine Shed.
At One End is the Road-Over-Rail Bridge at Ripple, Near Tewkesbury and at the Other End A Section of the 1816 Edstone Canal Viaduct from Bearley, Near Stratford Upon Avon.
People and Accessories Are from Various Manufacturers, Including Peco and Preiser.

2. Cherwell
4mm Scale, OO Gauge
Solihull Model Railway Circle

A Scenic OO Gauge, 26 Feet 6 Inches by 10 Feet 6 Inches, Four-Track Mainline With an Integral Branch Line. It Features Working Automatic Signals and Has Largely Scratch Built Buildings With A Local Theme, E.g.: the Manor House, the Mason's Arms, the George Hotel and the Fat Cat Café from Solihull; King's Heath Library; Tyseley Station; and Water Orton Station. The Layout Was Built Mainly to Display Scale Length Mainline Trains, Those Being Run Reflecting the Varying Interests of the Membership. Trains Run Are Usually British Outline, But Can Come from Any Part of the UK Mainland and from Any Date Between About 1900 and the Present Day. If You Look Carefully You Can See Pigeons Roosting Under the Station Bridge, Foxes Using the Track Bed As A Shortcut and One Fox Eyeing Lambs, Gulls Eggs and the Shepherd on the Upper Pasture, Cats Watching Building Work in the Arch from the Platform and Gulls Above the Sea and on the Cliffs With A Lonely Cormorant.

3. A Scottish Branch
4mm Scale, OO Gauge
Solihull Model Railway Circle

A New End-To-End Branch Line Club Layout based on Scottish Practice, Displayed Here Partly Built to Give an Insight Into Layout Construction. It is 16 Feet Long and Just Over 2 Feet Wide and We Are Using SMP Code 75 Bullhead Plain Track and Handmade Marcway Points. It Has Been Constructed to Run With Either DCC Or Traditional Control. There is A Terminus Station at One End and A Hidden 'Fiddle' Yard With A Traverser at the Other, With A Scenic Section in Between. A Major Part of the Concept is the Use of Very Deep Baseboards, With the Railway Running Through the Middle, Allowing Greater Depths and Heights of Scenery For A More Interesting Appearance. The Major Architectural Feature is the Curved Viaduct based on Killiecrankie.

4. Grange Aggregates
2mm Scale, N Gauge
Solihull N Gauge MRG

Grange Aggregates Started Up Many Years Ago. The Canal Was Cut in Order to Transport the Stone Out Instead of Using Horses and Wagons. The Narrow Gauge Railway Was Then Laid to Take Stone to the Crushing Plant. Steam Engines Were Introduced on the Narrow Gauge in the 1800s. When the Main Line Railway Was Built, the Loops and Sidings to the Quarry Were Also Put In. All These Forms of Taking the Stone Out Are Still Very Much in Evidence, With Stone Going Out by Canal, Road Or Main Line Railway. If You Have Any Questions Please Ask the Operators.

5. Ashbridge
4mm Scale, OO Gauge
Mark Miller

Ashbridge is A Small Branch Line Terminus Station Somewhere in the South West of London.
Services Comprise of an Emu Service from London Termini on the Southern Region and A Dmu Service from Reading and Paddington on the Western Region
Various Freights Can be Seen Running Around at Ashbridge Due to the Terminus Being the Only Place on the Single Line Where They Can Do so to Return Back North, Along With Mod Traffic to the Loading Bay at Ashbridge Station.

6. Portobello Road TMD
7mm Scale, O Gauge
Paul Challenor

Portobello Road is A Fictional BR Era Layout. The Layout is Built, Set to A Scale of 7mm Or O Gauge. Controlled by DDC NCE Power Cab. With Sound from "Legomanbiff" and "Digitrains". The Layout Measures 8 Foot x 18 Inches. The Track is Peco, With Hand Built Points That Are Operated Manually Using Push Rod from Front and Back Using the Blue Point Switching Gear. The Lighting For the Layout is A Strip of Led's For Its Illumination. Locos Are Heljan and Dapol With A Repaint on the Class 08 Shunter. Locos Are Detailed With Air Brush Weathering.
The Brick Arches Buildings Are Skytrex (Modified) Along With Scratch Built Engine Shed That Has Been Scaled Up from the "Bachmann" OO Gauge Single Track Diesel Locomotive Servicing Shed. I Have Also Scaled Up the Heavy Lifting Crane That Was an OO Gauge "Ratio Kit". Vehicles Are from the Oxford Range, Once Again With Air Brush Weathering.

7. Salinas Valley
3.5mm Scale, HO Gauge
John Baggaley

Salinas Valley is A Small Us Switching Layout, With Relatively Modern Rail Served Industries. It is Assumed to be Situated on the Outskirts of A City. The Design is based on the 'Inglenook' Style With an Additional 'Kickback' Siding to A Small Chemical Distribution Depot Served by Tank Cars from A Number of Suppliers. The Rear Siding and the Main Tracks Are Worked from A Small Sector Plate Fiddle Yard.
One of the Industries is A Scrap Dealer and Stocks of Shredded Material Can be Seen Ready For Dispatch. The Other Main Business is A Small Railcar Repair Works Which is Intended For Railcars Needing A Bit More Than Minor Repairs to be Transferred from A Nearby Yard.
Finally There is the Long Track at the Rear is Primarily Intended to Hold Railcars Awaiting Space at One Or Other of the Industries. It Can Also Serve As A 'Team Track' Where Local Hauliers Can Collect Or Deliver Items That Require Railrpad Haulage .
It is Constructed on A Purpose Built Baseboard of Well Braced Thin Plywood With Integral Lighting. The Trackwork is Peco Code 75 Trackwork With the Turnouts (Points) Operated by Rods from the Rear. The Scenics Are from A Variety of Sources, Mostly Modified European and Walthers Kits. Locos Are from Bachmann, Atlas, Walthers and Broadway, With A Couple of Trackmobiles from Factory Direct Trains, Rolling Stock is from Various Us Manufacturers. All Stock is Fitted With Kadee Couplers, Mainly #5s and #148s. It is DCC Controlled Using an NCE Powercab and the Locomotives Have A Variety of Decoders Installed.

8. New Level Mill
7mm Scale, O Gauge
Mike Bragg

New Level, Now There's A Name to Conjure With. Well No, Abracadabra is A Name to Conjure With, But at Least As A Name New Level Has A Certain Ring to It. So, Questions, What's It All About, Why Such A Name, What and Where is It?
I Like Building Layouts Simply Because My Enjoyment Comes from the Journey, Rather Than the Finished Article. Well I Always Start at the Beginning and Finish at the End. Otherwise the Middle Becomes the Beginning and the End May Not End There. Or Something Like That. New Level is Yet Another Earl of Dudley based Layout and Yes, Another Piece of Bunkum. As This Will be the 12th Layout in A Series of Black Country Themed Layouts, It Has As Usual My Trademark Massaged History and Geographical Manipulation. The Layout is A Snapshot of Part of Round Oak Steel Works Brierley Hill

9. Rumbow Edge
7mm Scale, on 16.5 Narrow Gauge
Warley Model Railway Club

A Narrow Gauge Preserved Line in A Large Abandoned Quarry. The Line Runs Through Different Areas of the Quarry Including Some of the Underground Workings. The Part Shown is the Least Accessible Area and Was Used Between 1939 and 1942 For the Storage of Museum Valuables, at Which Time Track Was Laid Into the Underground Galleries. The Quarry Never Returned to Full Production and Was Abandoned. Later It Was Taken Over by A Mining and Quarrying Heritage Society That Has Re-Laid Track and Opened Parts of the Quarry As A Museum.
The Society Also Owns an Eclectic Collection of Machinery, Locomotives and Stock That Requires Varied Degrees of Attention from Time to Time. The Hidden Nature of the Area Shown Was Found to be the Ideal Secure Area For Their Service and Repair, Whilst the Line Passing This Area Gives Access to Some of the Galleries Open to Public View. The Society Has Laid A Passing Loop Giving A Convenient Place For Trains to Pass Or Await Access to the Galleries.
It is Gala Day so You May See Passenger Trains For Visitors, Demonstration Goods and Work Trains As Well As Movement in the Service Area.
Control is DCC Using the NCE System. The Circular Design Allows Something to Run Whilst We Chat to Visitors, Or so We Can Just Relax and Watch the Trains Go By. Two Dead End Lines Leave Near the Centre of the Back Scene to Provide Short Sidings That, With the Out of View Mainline, Form the Fiddle Yard.

10. Arley
4mm Scale, OO Gauge
Birmingham MRC

The Layout Was Originally Constructed by West Bromwich Model Railway Club, from Whom We Acquired the Layout A Few Years Ago.
It Can be Operated As A Separate Stand-Alone Layout Or Joined to the Club's Other Severn Valley Railway based OO Gauge Layout - Highley. This Enables A Variety of Options, in Either an L-Shape Configuration Or One Very Long Straight.
Operation Using Club Members Own Stock, Following Severn Valley's Own Standard Practice. Mainly Steam With Some Diesel, in Other Words " Just Like the Real Thing!"