Farnham & District MRC Show at Aldershot 11+12 October 2014

[jbe]

Farnham & Distict MRC is proud to present its 40th Anniversary Show at Aldershot on 11th and 12th October. We will have 20 layouts and 25+ traders at this well-established event.

The address is Connaught Leisure Centre, Tongham Road, Aldershot, GU12 4AS

Opening times

Saturday 11th October 10.00-17.00
Sunday, 12th October 2014 10.00-16.30
 

Prices: Adult £5.00

Seniors (over 65) £4.00

Child £2.00

Family (2 adults and up to 4 children) £13.00

 

The following layouts are expected to be at our 2014 exhibition:

• 8 Dollar Canyon (HO) Set in the US 1960s-70s, with mainly Southern Pacific and Milwaukee Road stock. It has been being built since about 2005, in the times allowed between other projects, so progress has been gradual, but most buildings and scenery are now complete. Different view-points around the full 360 Degree complete circuit: station, industrial, tunnels and of course the amazing canyon itself give a different dimension depending on where you stand.
• Armathwaite (N) is a station on the Settle to Carlisle line, 10 miles south of Carlisle, perched up on the fells above the village, castle, and river. The period modelled is 1955-63 when the goods yard was still in use. Trains are mostly LMR stock with the occasional LNER train running through.
• Banbury (N) is on the busy cross country line between Birmingham and Didcot, and also has a connection to the Chiltern Railways line to Marylebone. It is modelled close to the present time. Control is DCC with ipods and iphones as controllers, connected via a wireless router and PC to the DCC command station.
• Cirencester M&SWJR (P4) This is the station that lies on the Midland and South Western Junction Railway running between Andover and Andoversford, not to be confused with the GWR terminus on the other side of the town. Running through a mainly rural area local traffic did not become significant but as a through line it developed an important use during wartime and for military manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. The line is modelled around 1919 which justifies a variety of stock from other companies as well as the MSWJR itself and extra unusual movements.
• Charlieville (N) The layout was built mainly for our grandson Charlie when he visits. It depicts a small plains Mid-West town in the 50s and 60s. It now runs a tourist heritage line. Stock is old style American steam plus a Santa Fe Super Chief express.
• Cornwallis Yard (EM) The work of the late Bob Haskins, Cornwallis Yard represents a fictional section of the GWR’s Millbay branch in Plymouth circa 1935. The branch was famous for providing a railhead for Trans-Atlantic liner traffic from New York, with the GWR providing boat trains between Plymouth and London Paddington. On the upper level is part of Millbay Road Station and Cornwallis Yard goods depot. The lower level (known as Bulwark Sidings) includes a small engine shed and a couple of carriage sidings. A working wagon hoist provides access between the upper and lower levels for a wagon works.
• Freshwater (2mm FS) is a model of the station on the Isle of Wight, opened in 1888 and closed in 1953. The layout is based on the OS map, with no compression required. When stock is fully built it will run in as in the 1940s, but at present almost anything may appear! The scenery is mostly complete but with some gaps such as the station building.
• Kayreuth (N) is a (fictional) large town in Germany, mainly a dormitory town for neighbouring industrial cities but it does have some light industry. The period is around the beginning of the 21st century. It has a four track main line and 3 branch lines, but the weekend depicted is unusual because there is a closure on the main line for bridge replacement, so the main line trains are either being diverted away from Kayreuth or along the branch line that crosses the river Lippe on a 3 span girder bridge before passing through the Kayreuth exhibition centre.
• Hemyock (S7) was the terminus of the short Culm Valley Light Railway that joined the Bristol and Exeter main line, and the former home of the St Ivel dairy processing plant where the butter-spreads ‘St Ivel Gold’ and ‘Utterly-Butterly’ were produced before being moved to a factory in the north of England. It closed to passenger and goods in the mid 60s but remained open for milk tank trains to the dairy until 1975.
• is loosely based on the London Underground depot London Road on the Bakerloo Line, although stock from other lines can be seen. The depot is host to a small British Rail Traction Maintenance depot and a busy freight yard with a variety of locomotives and stock. Loosely based between 1980 and 2000. The layout comes alive at twilight…
• Lambourn (2mm FS) was the terminus of the Lambourn Valley Railway branch line, which opened in 1896, running the 12 miles from the terminus to the connection at Newbury. The line was taken over by the GWR in 1905 and run by them until the line closed in the 1960’s. Lambourn is best known as a horse racing centre, with many stables. The model was first exhibited in 1988, but has recently been renovated.
• Llangerisech (2mm FS) is based on the north side of the Lleyn peninsular on the west Wales coast. The area was targeted in the early days of railway building as an alternative to Holyhead as a port to Ireland, but never had a railway built in reality. We have taken buildings from the Cambrian system along with locos and rolling stock that were actually used on the Cambrian coast. The layout was conceived as based in the 1930s with mainly scratch built stock, but we have also developed other stock sets from the 1960s, 1970s and 2000s.
• Meacham (N) is based on an imaginary small Derbyshire town. It features a through station, a branch line, a goods yard and a factory siding. Behind the scenes there is a large fiddle yard, ensuring that trains can be kept running at all times. Originally built to reflect the last days of steam the varied collection of stock and interests of members has meant that we have tried to design it so that it would not be out of place in any period from the 50s to the early 90s.
• The Quarry (N) When Charlie (aged 10) heard that the engines “Bill and Ben” were being produced he asked if we could make a layout for them. The resulting layout uses a mixture of Liddle End mine buildings, an old Faller crushing plant, and scratch built and other buildings. It took about 4 weeks to make. The locos are Fischer, part of their “Take-N-Play” Thomas range, motorised by converting them to fit on various chassis.
• represents a Norwegian secondary line in the 1980’s. Due to high maintenance costs the line has been truncated beyond this point and the traffic is timber and general goods with a light passenger service. Locomotives and freight stock are typical of the period with a mix of first generation diesels wood-bodied freight stock. Please feel free to ask the operators any questions regarding the building of Svanda or Norwegian railways in general.
• Tucking Mill (2mm FS) is the terminus of Jerry’s fictitious North Somerset Light Railway. It is situated next to the mill which gives the layout and viaduct its name and adjacent to the Somerset Coal Canal whose traffic it takes. As well as Fullers earth from the mill traffic includes timber from the heavily wooded surrounding valleys, much of which would be sent up the line as pit props and high quality cut limestone for building work from the quarries up on Combe Down which had originally come down, via a tramway, to a wharf by the canal but now goes out by rail.
• Warren Lane (OO)is a modern freightliner terminal set in East Anglia between 1995 and 2009. Stand and watch as inter-modal trains arrive from all parts of the UK with shipping containers from across the globe. Locomotives are shunted and changed while the two working gantry cranes quickly load and unload the wagons providing plenty of constant movement. Behind the cranes, a stretch of busy mainline equipped with over-head centenary sees a regular variety of high-speed passing passenger and freight services.
• Weydon Road (O) is our club O gauge exhibition layout. It was started in 2003 and is now as near to completion as any layout ever is. The setting is a fictitious location somewhere on the border of the GWR and SR around Wiltshire. It is a busy through junction featuring a double track main line, branch line, goods yard and relief lines. This year we will be running it in the 1950s with BR liveried stock.
• Whiteleaf Tramway (G) is a small section of a much larger layout, and demonstrates how G scale might look in an outdoor setting of a typical garden. This configuration shows how the range of G scale models can be used to represent an urban tramway and is particularly suitable where space is limited. Some of the trams are battery radio controlled, providing a further dimension to operating the service.
• Wickwar (N) is a small town on the important secondary line built in 1845 between Bristol and Gloucester; modelled as it was around 1955 before the goods yard and station closed in the 60s. This will be the first time it has been exhibited in a more or less complete state. Features of its construction are use of Styrofoam for baseboards, and for the scenery covered with a layer of Sculptamould. Each track can operate on DC or DCC, selected when the layout is set-up. The movement of trains in the fiddle yard is automated using MERG’s Train-On-Track detectors which work with both DC and DCC. The Faller moving vehicle system (internal rechargeable battery) is used for buses and lorries on the road along the layout front and under the eastern rail bridge

Traders and railway societies invited to the exhibition are:

• 2MM Scale Association. The association promotes modelling at the scale of 2mm:1ft, the finescale equivalent of N Gauge. Recently they have introduced Easitrac flexible track and drop in wheelsets for converting many N Gauge diesel locomotives.
• A & B Models. Buying and selling good quality model railway items locally for 30 years.
• A.A.R. Models. Die-cast in N to O gauges from Base Toys, BT Models, Cararama, Schuco, Classix, Corgi, Oxford and EFE.
• Branchlines. Complete Loco Kits, loco chassis kits, detailing kits, and parts; motors, gearbox kits, flywheels, drive shafts, bearings, and wheels.
• Carriage and Wagon Models. Custom made locomotives Bulleid, Hornby limited edition. Wagons exclusive to Carriage and Wagon Models by Dapol. Small selection of O and N gauge plus HO. Continental books and badges. Skaledale.
• Country Park Models. (Formely Richard’s Spares) Model railway spares for all leading makers. New and second hand items always available. Wanted – Model railway spares, single items of rolling stock or complete collections.
•  
• Elite Baseboards. Quality products for the modeling, architectural and display fields. Baseboard range manufactured from high quality birch ply and services offering layout design, track laying and wiring for DC or DCC control systems.
• G & W Railways. Roger Gaskin and Ian Watts established G&W Railways in 1998. Specialising in second hand model railways with a wide range and varied stock for both ‘OO’ and ‘N’ gauge enthusiasts.
• Gramodels. Unique range of hand crafted resin kits of military vehicles, buildings, warflats, tanks & wagons for war and peace.
• Hedgerow Scenics. Flexible grass mats, bespoke hedges, products ongoing. Demonstrations throughout the day. New unkempt grass, weed scenics and rubberized horsehair as featured in model railway magazines.
• JBs Model World. Supplier of adaptable rolling stock storage solutions for HO/OO and N gauges.

• Kernow Model Rail Centre. We stock a large range of models in all scales. Limited editions and mail order are specialities of ours.
• Len Bunning Books. Dealer in bus, railway and tram books. I buy collections of secondhand books, hardware and most forms of transport memorabilia.
• Masterpiece Figures (formerly Falcon Figures) produce quality figures for 4mm, 7mm and On30 scales, specialising in crews for specific OO loco’s including West Country, BR Standards, Q1, Lord Nelson, B17, Midland Compound, Terrier, Jinty, A4, Tornado, Britannia, Black 5 and GWR.
• Medway Queen Preservation Society. The Medway Queen paddle steamer was built 1924, served during WW2, and sank by accident in 1970. The society is dedicated to restoring the raised ship and eventually operating her.
• Model Railway Developments. Conversions for 4mm scale (00, EM, and P4 standards) and a range of Edwardian Figures in 4mm scale.
• Model Railway Electronics makers of the Modelec colour light and semaphore signal control system. The system is modular and can be built up to run any number of signals.
• Paul’s Trains. Mail order stockist of the full range of Hornby, Bachmann, Dapol and Graham Farish. Scenery by Woodland Scenics and Heki.(Formerly Modern Models)
• Plus Daughters. A small family business specialising in N Gauge items for the British, American, Continental and Japanese modeller. We can supply most things from cats to locomotives.
• Robbie’s Rolling Stock. Private owner wagons and transfers in both OO and N scales. Commissions undertaken for special wagons.
• Ron Lines. Ron Lines have a good selection of quality pre-owned model railways, a selection of which will be on our stand today. We have a shop in Southampton which caters for New as well as Pre-owned.
• RTCS. Britain’s leading organisation for people interested in railways past, future and present, and publishers of many railway books.
• Rural Railways. Specialists in detailing parts, kits and accessories in both 4mm (OO) and 2mm (N) scales with over 20 years of trading at exhibitions.
• Squires. Modelling and Craft Tools, Materials and Electronic Components
• Sunningwell Command Control. DCC specialists stocking Digitrax, Soundtraxx, North Coast Engineering, TCS, and CML.
• Videolines. Producers and suppliers of Continental, Overseas and UK archive and modern image transport productions, jigsaw puzzles, T-Towels, replica railway enamelled signs and ancillary items.
• Weston Models. Produce a range of hand made modern image model buildings in N gauge and OO gauge. You will not find buildings like these in shops.

We hope to see you there.

 

Julian

[charliepetty]

PLEASE NOTE:

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances DCKits/DEVideos will NOT be at the show in a few weeks time.   Sorry to all, but I cannot be there.   Charlie

[jbe]

PLEASE NOTE:

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances DCKits/DEVideos will NOT be at the show in a few weeks time.   Sorry to all, but I cannot be there.   Charlie

 

Charlie,

 

Thanks - I've updated my original post.

 

Julian

[jbe]

All prepared for tomorrow! Lots of signs up in the area, so people should be able to find us.

 

Julian

[station cat]

Very enjoyable show (and it is well sign-posted). Lots of nice layouts (my vote for most appealing went to Kayreuth) and a decent variety of trade. The Danish pastries were good too. My only whinge is the parking - there was quite a queue to get into the main carpark only to be told to turn round and head to the overflow.

[The Stationmaster]

Yes, the car parking was a bit of a pain (although the shuttle 'bus from the overflow car park was excellent).  The big problem was having to go into the school grounds and turn then thread your way back along roads with parking on both sides with vehicles still coming the other way - an earlier 'diversion point' would have been very helpful especially as the car park marshals seemed to be in radio contact with each other.

 

But the show itself, once you were in, was excellent and well up to the usual standard delivered by the Farnham club.  (but they didn't seem to have RMweb listed on their 'how did you hear about this show' checklist).

[jbe]

SM/SC,

 

Thanks for the postiive comments on the show and feedback on the parking problem. I will raise with the team tomorrow morning, along with broadening the 'how did you hear the show' options.

 

Numbers today were up on last year (which was already good), so thanks to everybody who came and ahopefully tomorrow will be successful too.

 

Julian

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Well, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day at the show today, helping out on Banbury and still having the chance to have a look around...

 

As usual for the shows I attend, below are a few snaps...I believe this time I have managed to catch all of the layouts...if not, my apologies.

 

In alphabetical order.

 

8 Dollar Canyon

 

Armathwaite

 

Banbury

 

Charlieville

 

Cirencester 

 

Cornwallis Yard

 

Freshwater

 

Kayreuth

 

Lambeth

 

Lambourne

 

Llangerisech

 

Meacham

 

Svanda

 

The Quarry

 

Tucking Mill

 

Warren Lane

 

Weydon Road

 

Whiteleaf Tramway

 

Wickwar

[AndyB]

Just like to add my thanks to the organisers and those in the background doing a great job on the catering. Well done, Hart Lions!

 

As others have mentioned an earlier divert for the parking would have been helpful but it is only a minor point and shouldn't be seen as a criticism for what was a really enjoyable show.

I'm guessing that the rain may have necessitated the exclusion of the usual parking round the back on the field. Wise move if that was the reason!

 

I can't put a name to my favourite layout as there were so many that were enjoyable; all in all a well balanced choice.

Nice selection of traders as well.

 

All in all a very friendly and enjoyable show. 

[The Stationmaster]

Just like to add my thanks to the organisers and those in the background doing a great job on the catering. Well done, Hart Lions!

 

As others have mentioned an earlier divert for the parking would have been helpful but it is only a minor point and shouldn't be seen as a criticism for what was a really enjoyable show.

I'm guessing that the rain may have necessitated the exclusion of the usual parking round the back on the field. Wise move if that was the reason!

 

I can't put a name to my favourite layout as there were so many that were enjoyable; all in all a well balanced choice.

Nice selection of traders as well.

 

All in all a very friendly and enjoyable show. 

In fact, and very sensibly I agree, I noticed that the field was taped off - presumably to stop folk driving onto it.

 

The layout vote was interesting in that it was for the most appealing layout - not for the best or whatever other way you care to classify it.  Hence I voted on the question and would probably have given a different answer for 'best' or 'most interesting'.  It's all in the question

[kintbury jon]

Got back earlier from the show.  I've been after a few spare bits for some of the items that i've purchased for the layout we are making at my school.  Spotting that 'Richards Spares' was going to be there, it gave me an excuse to go.  

 

An enjoyable show, for me I like to see good trade support and I feel that they had it as well as some great layouts.  I must mention the chaps behind the Farnham MRC sales stand.  Having picked up a couple of wagons from the stall for the forthcoming layout, one of the chaps offered me a discount for a number of items that will be great for the kids to use.  

 

jbe, if you could pass on my thanks, I am very grateful.

[roundhouse]

As superb show and we well looked after.

 

Just wish that I had more time to have a good look at the layouts.

 

Ian

[PenrithBeacon]

I went and thought it was an excellent show. I can understand why folk had a problem with the car parking on Saturday as the tennis court is an issue if it's full. Only one way in and the same way out! Putting that to one side, a good show, enjoyed it.

 

Regards

[jbe]

Thanks to everybody who has taken the time to comment both with their appreciation and with their suggestions for improvement. We have just had our post-show wrap up and direct feedback also highlighted the car parking and signage are things that we need to review to make better. We took note of yesterday's feedback and today attempted to intercept drivers earlier to divert them when the need arose. We think we get a number of things right, but constructive ideas for improvement are very welcome.

 

Overall the show would appear to have been a success. The numbers for 2013 were good, but this year 10-15% more people came through the door (the range is because it depends how you count), which was very pleasing indeed. Our expenses were higher, but we still have a nice surplus to invest in future club layouts, such as Wickwar and East London which were shown in uncompleted states so people can see what we do and hopefully join in.

 

The 'Most Appealing Layout' was a close thing with many layout getting a lot of votes - in the end It was won by 'Lambeth Road'. (We choose 'most appealing' because we want people to tell us what they enjoy the most.)

 

I will pass on the messages received (and Jon's comment on the second hand stall is very welcome as we weren't sure how that would go).

 

Thanks to all who exhibited, traded or visited. Without you it doesn't mean much!

 

Julian

[queensquare]

An excellent weekends exhibiting Tucking Mill and a very enjoyable show. We were very well looked after by the host club, the social with a beer immediately after close of play on the saturday is a particularly nice touch.

 

My only negative comment regards the collecting of exhibitors badges at the end of the show. Mine was taken from me within moments of the show closing. I challenged this arguing that we should only hand in our passes when we were packed and ready to go so that only those authorised to be there, were there. I was told in no uncertain terms (ie. quite rudely) that, 'we collect now', and that there were stewards on the door anyway. Well I reluctantly gave up my pass and then came and went for the next twenty minutes or so with armfuls of expensive stuff. In all that time I never saw a single steward on the door of the gym, not that he/she could have identified me as a bona fide exhibitor as I had no pass. Poor form.

 

Otherwise, as I said, a cracking weekend.

 

Jerry 

[dasatcopthorne]

Thank you to the Farnham crew for a very enjoyable weekend.

 

Good show and pleased you increased your visitor numbers.

 

8 Dollar Canyon guys.

Carshalton & Sutton MRC

www.csmrc.co.uk

[jbe]

Thanks for the continued comments both about what you liked and what you didn't. The timing of collecting of badges is something we should look at, but there is never a place for rudeness - apologies.

 

Julian

[roundhouse]

The person collecting the badges was very polite. It's common at shows to do this, be it right or wrong.

 

We do keep a look out for our valuables and do our best to make sure they get loaded first or one of our team stands by them which is fine if there are a few of you but much harder if there isn't.

[queensquare]

The person collecting the badges was very polite. It's common at shows to do this, be it right or wrong.

 

We do keep a look out for our valuables and do our best to make sure they get loaded first or one of our team stands by them which is fine if there are a few of you but much harder if there isn't.

 

Its very much wrong, basic common sense tells you this. The whole point of having an exhibitors badge is that you can be identified from the general public, the chaos on break down is when that sort of ID is needed most. All the better shows we do use this policy of either keeping your badge until you are ready to depart or at some, like Railex Aylesbury, there is a separate break down pass. Just before leaving the show one of the other club members who was stewarding in the sports hall returned from having had to turf out a reluctant father and son who were wandering around in the middle of the layouts breaking down. They were identified as they had no badges - thankfully they were simply curious rather than light fingered. 

The person collecting the badges probably didn't come across as rude to you as you didn't challenge them. I really can't see the desperate need to collect paper badges with 'Farnham 2014' on them - its not as though they can be used again!! 

 

Jerry

[jbe]

Indeed this was a cock up on our part. We normally collect as people leave having completed their break down, but the instruction was not sufficiently clear to all our stewards. Once more, my apologies.

 

Julian

[queensquare]

Indeed this was a cock up on our part. We normally collect as people leave having completed their break down, but the instruction was not sufficiently clear to all our stewards. Once more, my apologies.

 

Julian

 

Many thanks Julian.

Apologies if I came across as an old grump but, having been at a couple of shows in the last year or so where stuff has gone for a walk - one was a Slaters Gauge one Kirtley Kit in its box where the tea leaf simply picked it up and walked out with it unchallenged - I do feel any precautions we can take are worthwhile.

 

As I said, in every other aspect we had a great weekend and would like to thank the host club for all their hard work.

 

Jerry