33rd Uckfield Model Railway Exhibition - 21st & 22nd October 2017

[Castlefinn]

So's Valencia Harbour,Andy.

[Giles]

We got there fine, to be greeted by a very welcome cup of tea.

Set up and ready to roll.

 

Looks like it's going to be an extremely good show.

[Tricky]

Superb. Great to meet Gary, Giles and Gordon. And DLT whose name strangely doesn't begin with a G...very impressive stuff. Well done. Back next year without a doubt.

[robertcwp]

We got there fine, to be greeted by a very welcome cup of tea.

Set up and ready to roll.

 

Bacon roll?

[88D]

First visit to this show— it’s off my beaten track. But well worth the visit: great modelling, trade and refreshments. Parking was the only (minor) inconvenience. Very friendly show, both punters and exhibitors.

[Tricky]

First visit to this show— it’s off my beaten track. But well worth the visit: great modelling, trade and refreshments. Parking was the only (minor) inconvenience. Very friendly show, both punters and exhibitors.

I wouldn't say parking was inconvenient - it's the only place I know with a large free car park.

[BlueLightning]

Superb. Great to meet Gary, Giles and Gordon. And DLT whose name strangely doesn't begin with a G...very impressive stuff. Well done. Back next year without a doubt.

 

Good to meet you too! And I get to go back and enjoy it all again tomorrow!!

 

Gary

[greatcoleswoodhalt]

Great exhibition with a nice variation of layouts; Arun Quay and Surrey Arms particularly stood-out for me, but needless to say all very impressive!

[ColinW]

Had a good time at the show yesterday.  The standard of the layouts was extremely high and I managed to get everything that I wanted.  Well done to Adrian and the Uckfield club, looking forward to next year's show.

 

Colin

[Redkiterail]

Had a enjoyable day at the show my first time going, layouts all were of a high standard and some clever designs were on display Arun Warft and Tanners Wharft had interesting ways of presentation, six quarters very atmospheric. I hope it was a good turnout for Uckfield MRC, my pictures are below and video of Bridport Town to follow later. Full size pictures are on my flick account

[chrisf]

A report from a first time visitor.

 

The venue is about five minutes from the railway station and easy to find provided that no-one has fiddled with the signs tied to lampposts.  Even then it was not hard.   I arrived just after 10.30, half an hour after opening time, and there was a queue.  Patrons moving between the main hall and one of the side rooms sometimes get in its way but it can get much worse elsewhere.   In the main hall the place was bustling.  The Dart Castings stand was impossible to avoid, no bad thing as I spotted a new item which will help with an imminent project!  To grips, then, with the rest of the show and the handy guide which I found well laid out and a vital navigation aid.  With it came a voting paper.  This is where the fun started.  The layouts were of such a high standard that I found it very difficult to reduce my shortlist off eight to three - this, please note, from one who is notoriously hard to please.

 

I do not know how deliberate this was, if at all, but I noticed some common themes among the layouts.  Some were simple-looking shunting planks, but with traps for the unwary, adding just a little more interest for the viewer at the possible cost of freshly ground teeth for the operator.  I took at once to Tarring Neville [OO] and its cement related theme, created by Andy Jones of Hurstmonceux fame, once Noddy of this parish.  There is a lot in a small space but without being crowded or cluttered and its busy Terrier looked quite at home. Another Terrier was to be found on Arun Quay, the eagerly awaited new 7mm layout by Gordon and Maggie Gravett and showing their landscaping prowess to superb effect alongside the shunting into and out of deceptively accessible sidings.  My copy of MRJ258 is eagerly awaited so that I can read all about it at leisure after the preview.  More shunting was to be found on Giles Favell's 7mm Denton Brook, spacious in appearance supplemented by a narrow gauge feeder and radio controlled lorries.

 

Another theme, less prominent but nonetheless noticeable, was bleakness.  Andy Cundick's portrayal of Valencia Harbour [OO-21], once the most westerly station in Europe, is as good an image of out-in-the-sticks Ireland as it gets.  With so little in the way of buildings, clutter is not an option and one could almost shiver at the rough hewn rocks abutting the off-stage mighty ocean.  The remoteness of the setting was brought out by the faithful portrayal of the ramshackle stock tottering in and out of the yard.  A little less remote but still bleak was Six Quarters [OO] by Oly Turner, depicting an outpost of the NCB in Cumbria populated by assorted coal wagons and debatably serviceable locos of wide ranging parentage.  The backscene evokes superbly the sort of high altitude terrain where cloud meets land with little room for sky: think Cwmbargoed without the sheep.  Oly and his long-standing modelling partner Chris Matthews publish a blog which is highly readable.  Look for OTCM.

 

Oh heavens, what else?  Sidmouth in P4 by Richard Harper, already a favourite.  Trowland in S by Trevor Nunn, a very plausible M&GN might-have-been, compact with added Barry Slip.  Lighterman's Yard, 2mm finescale on a viaduct with bygone Bermondsey below and one heck of a backscene.  Surrey Arms in EM by Stephen Hannington, another fringe of centre Southern terminus reminiscent [to me at least] of Holborn Viaduct but not so decrepit.  Ropley by Tom Everitt, nominally in N but using 2mmFS track components to good effect.  A good selection of trade and booksellers and demonstrators was rounded off by more than half-decent catering where the availability of sausages, beans and chips suddenly relegated my home-made ham sandwiches to the journey home.

 

It is hard to imagine a better selection of high quality layouts in one place.  I tore myself away after four and a half busy hours only because the train service is hourly.  Well done to all concerned.

 

Chris

 

EDIT: with no collusion whatsoever I see that Sam Redkiterail has ably captured on memory card many of the exhibits that I have praised and more besides

Edited October 22, 2017 by chrisf

[dasatcopthorne]

Well.

 

Anothher great show at Uckfield.

 

Here as a small selection of my favourite shots.

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[C.A.T.Ford]

Oh Boy! a feast of interest in layouts supported by an ideal balance of traders. My advice is to award the Exhibition  manager with a bottle of wine and to buy another to toast the teams health. Quality in spades backed up by a friendly team helping the exhibition visitors around the show.

 

Cat

[EmporiaSub]

Thanks for that, I shall try to get there on the Sunday.

Regards

To which we all duly did and found it busy until about lunch time......

[robertcwp]

My first visit to this show and I thought it was one of the best I have been to for a very long time. The overall quality was very high.

[Regularity]

Trowland in S by Trevor Nunn, a very plausible M&GN might-have-been, compact with added Barry Slip.

 

It isn’t a Barry slip. It is two opposing turnouts very close together, but the points of the turnouts are not “inside” each other, i.e. if you take the turnout route, you do not traverse the crossing vee of the other turnout.

 

Really enjoyable weekend, though, and it was good to catch up with many friends, too.

 

Edit: here is a photo of the Barry slip on Surrey Arms:

 

 

I don’t have a photo to hand of the arrangement on Trowland, but you can see the one I designed and built on the S gauge layout which became Llanfair on this page: http://www.s-scale.org.uk/gallery11.htm

Edit: looking at the other photos on that page, it was taken after John had rebuilt the track.

Trowland’s trackplan is a mirror image of the original part of Llanfair, although there was no conscious copying. There are simply only so many ways to arrange five turnouts in a restricted space!

Edited October 22, 2017 by Regularity

[TomE]

I'd just like to say a huge thanks to Adrian and the rest of the exhibition team for their hospitality over the weekend, in particular the two club members who stood in for this lone operator allowing me to sample the excellent catering!

 

Thank's also to those who stopped by for a chat, it was good to put a few faces to names. 

 

The one downside of having your own layout there is that you don't really get the opportunity to see enough of the others, but I felt Ligtherman's Yard was a well deserved winner of the exhibitors vote, with some truly stunning details in the town scene for 2mm FS. 

 

Anyone who has never been to the Uckfield show should make a point to do so. All of the layouts were of exceptional quality and a great selection of scales. A really fantastic show, and I hope that Ropley can return some day in 'finished' form! 

 

Tom. 

[Regularity]

Having seen photos of Ropley, but not having paid much attention to the captions (shame on me!) I was astonished to see that is N gauge. The finesse of the detail is incredible.

[298]

I'd echo all of the positive comments regarding the show, other organisers take note! This also seemed to have spread to the visitors at the show who added to the cheery atmosphere, some of whom saying they had never been to an exhibition before but were very impressed.

 

Many thanks to the Uckfield MRC members for their assistance during unloading and loading, and for bringing us drinks and biscuits throughout the show, Adrian for inviting Wiley in the first place and maintaining the show's reputation, and to my first time volunteer operators Mike and Dan who did an excellent job despite being new to the distractions of Traction modelling. After a quick getaway and the usual M25 shenanigans I managed to arrive home in time for the Kids bedtime and more traffic in the form of the GP on +1.

[Greengiant]

A very good show.

For those who were not there around 4pm on Sunday when the Vistors vote result was announced it was:

 

1st Denton Brook

2nd Arun Quay

3rd Bridport

 

Martin

[PenrithBeacon]

To which we all duly did and found it busy until about lunch time......

Regrettably I wasn't able to go after all. A family Sunday lunch had been arranged to which I was directed in the nicest possible way. Good to meet all four grandchildren though, I don't get that at Uckfield!

 

Perhaps next year

 

Regards

[woodenhead]

That looks like it's been a tremendous show, pity I was so far away from it.

 

Lightermans Yard - isn't based on an Iain Rice design is it any chance, would love to see that one.

 

Found a link to it, http://2mmkeag.blogspot.co.uk/  and it is based on Canonsgate by Iain.

Edited October 23, 2017 by woodenhead

[cornelius]

I don't get to the Uckfield show very often as I'm usually stacked getting ready for Expo Narrow Gauge (normally 1-2 weeks later, next weekend in this case) but I'm glad I made the effort this time as the selection of layouts was superb. Unexpected highlights beyond the "headline" layouts were Six Quarters and Tarring Neville, and it was also nice to be handed the controller on Bridport Town for a while - thanks David!

[Truin]

As one of Gary's fellow directors can I say thank you to everyone, exhibitors, traders and visitors who have made this year one of our best and for your very positive feedback, glad you enjoyed it. Can I also thank those club members, including Gary, who helped me with setting out the electrics, crawling around the floor where my currently temporary restricted mobility didn't allow me to go. I am pleased to have been involved with the show for the last 10 or so years and the camaraderie shown by all the exhibitors and traders is a light shining in the gloom of the current world, if only everyone was a model railway enthusiast it would be a better place!  

 

Truin (aka PeterG)

Edited October 24, 2017 by Truin

[DLT]

I must take the opportunity to say what a marvelous weekend we had at Uckfield, it was the first time there for me (and I hope it won't be the last!)

Bridport performed very well,and seemed to be much admired. 

Overall all I thought it was an excellent show from all points of view; with a stunning selection of layouts, many of which I was seeing for the first time.

The show certainly lived up to its reputation as very well organised, with high quality catering.  I hate to think how much tea we got through!

Thanks very much to Adrian, his organising team, and the whole club for making us very welcome.

It was good to meet so many forum members, and thanks very much to everyone who helped out with the operating, I hope you weren't put off narrow gauge!

All the best,

Dave.