BigAndy

Hi VanBasher, We have around 14 trade stands attending, many of whom sell new/nearly new or second hand Locos and stock in all scales and gauges. Our own club members stand will be selling its usual array of members stock, who are either switching scales or downsizing their collection. Regarding the Bus timetable, have you tried the club website recently? It should be on there to view for everyone. As Exhibition Manager I look forward to welcoming you to our show. cheers Andy

We are now just over only a month away from our 51st Annual Exhibition. I am pleased to be able to share the following with you: Venue: Tytherington High School, Manchester Road, Macclesfield. SK10 2EE Saturday 20th April - 10am to 5pm Sunday 21st April - 10am to 4,30pm Adults - £9; accompanied children FREE All major credit cards accepted. Free Parking and level access. Free Vintage Bus linking Macclesfield Railway Station and ANY recognised Bus stop on the route to the venue. 22 Quality Layouts in all the major scales and eras 14 Traders including a large Squires Models stand. FULL DETAILS OF OUR SHOW AND TIMETABLE FOR THE BUS CAN BE FOUND HERE: www.macclesfieldmrg.org.uk

Cheese and Bacon Oatcakes 🤪😛........just keep that Dave Wheelton away from the cafeteria until I've managed to put me order in........... Looking forward to supporting this very worthy cause by displaying some of my 'Glasgow Queen Street (EM)' stock that have already been completed for the layout which is still very much under construction - however, evidence of wiring is now making itself seen underneath the boards, so it is progressing!! cheers Andy

Many thanks for all your replies guys - very useful that. cheers Andy

Hello all. I'm throwing this out to the extremely knowledgeable guys and girls out there. I'm after individual running numbers, for any MK3 sleepers that were painted up in the NEW Caledonian livery ( as worn by the Mk5's ) before they were taken off the service and replaced by the MK5's. Thank you all in advance cheers Andy

The first show held in 2022 was brilliant with excellent layouts, this next show should be even better - you won't find a more pleasant place to hold a model railway exhibition than in Buxton's Pavillion Gardens. Looking forward to it. cheers Andy

It is now with very great excitement that I can confirm the following detains for our 50th GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY exhibition: Location: Tytherington High School Manchester Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire. SK10 2EE Opening times: Saturday 25th March 2023 - 10.00am to 5.00pm Sunday 26th March 2023 - 10.00am to 4.30pm Admission price: Adults £9 - children up to 16 FREE ( child has to be accompanied by a paying adult ). All major cards taken on the door as payment as well as cash. There will be the usual Big Red Bus - vintage Routemaster, which will provide FREE transport from opposite Macclesfield Railway Station - more details further down, leaving on the hour and then every half hour, then any recognised bus stop along the route ( including the Town Centre ) to the exhibition venue. Macclesfield station is served by Northern, Cross Country and Avanti West Coast services on a very frequent basis. We will also be having ( weather permitting ) a selection of vintage cars on display in the car park directly outside the exhibition entrance. Also in attendance will be a vintage Fire Engine to admire. Help celebrate both our 50th Exhibition and the "coming of age" (At 21) of the renowned P4 North Wales Diesel layout, 'MOSTYN'. This famous and celebrated layout has not been seen in the North of England for approximately 7 years, so Macclesfield Model Railway Group are extremely proud to have the Barrowmore group in atendance to help celebrate Mostyn's birthday. There will be the usual wide range of quality exhibits, well supported by a wide variety of traders. Also, don't forget the excellent food, everything from a snack to Sunday lunch, where you can relax and let the children play with the complimentary wooden BRIO trainset or/and also the 'Have a go at Driving' Thomas the Tank engine layout. Layouts booked to attend: BAMPTON - Circular 4mm OO 1950's BR, presented by Chris Hewitt BLACKBROOK HALT - 4mm OO 1960's, presented by Gary Hinson CARROWBEG - 4mm OO 1980's to Present Irish practice, presented by Ian Mulroy CATSFIELD - 4mm OO BR 1950's Steam, presented by Nick Pallette ( Stafford MRC ) DEADMANS LANE - 4mm OO 2017/present Day, presented by Mick Bryan DUNSFOLD ROAD - 4mm 1980's Southern Region OO, presented by Steve Saxby ( Neepsend MRG ) GLENTIES - Oon3 Irish Narrow Gauge, presented by Alastair Knox HELSTON? - 4mm OO BR 1953 - 1963, presented by Dave Howsam HERMANNSWEG - 3.5mm East German 1980's HO, presented by Bill Roberts ( New layout to the circuit ) LYMEBROOK YARD - 2mm 1970'S/80'S N Gauge, presented by Steve Farmer MAESOG - OO9 Welsh Narrow Gauge, presented by Charles Insley MOSTYN - 4mm North Wales 1970's 18.83 P4, presented by the Barrowmore Model Railway Group NAIRN ROAD - 4mm OO Diesel depot 1980's, presented by Kevin Pugh PARROT HALL - 4mm 1980's OO, presented by Kevin Pearson ( Barrow-in-Furness Model Railway Club ) STOKE DOYLE HALT - 009 4mm scale, presented by Mark Branson Further layouts are due to appear and details will be added once confirmation of attendance has been received. Traders booked to attend: ABC Model Railways Book Law Publications EBMA laser cut desk tidy's and modelling displays High Lane Model Railways JS Models Leigh Models & Hobbies MMRG Members Sales North Western Models Powerbond Glue Richards Spares S.M.T.F Model shop Squires Model & Craft Tools Sweets of Yesteryear The Junction Box Totem Signs ** There is ample free parking at the venue, however, Macclesfield MRG are expecting high attendance and it may well be wise to find a side street to park for free and then catch the complimentary vintage Routemaster from any recognised Bus Stop nearby. The Routemaster will depart from opposite Macclesfield Railway Station on Waters Green ( outside J J Cookson Peugeot dealership ), then procede upwards along Queen Victoria Street, turn left down Mill Street to Park Green traffic lights. It will then turn right into Park Street up to the next roundabout, turn right onto Churchill Way and travel all the way to the last roundabout, where it will turn right onto Hibel Road and procede down to the next traffic lights where it will then turn left onto Manchester Road and then to Tytherington High School a short distance away.

Hello all. Apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong place, but after having a look around this Parish, I couldnt really find anywhere else suitable. So in essence, I'm after asking the knowledgable folk on here, where I can get hold of various detailing bits for 2mm Diesel Locos. I know Shawplan and one or two others do a very limited of 2mm stuff, but I'm after things like Screw Link couplings, ETH bufferbeam and nose end fittings for 47's etc etc and any other detailing bits I can avail myself with. Many thanks in advance Andy

Just a little bit of useful info for those driving to the exhibition this weekend. There's loads and loads of free roadside parking, hidden a just a short walk from the venue. Situated in the back streets on the opposite side of the A53 St John's Road - ( which runs along the rear of the venue ) - is Park Road. It's a long and wide circular type avenue, with loads of space and you can access it either from the Whaley Bridge Road or from St John's Road. Once you've parked up, at the bottom end of Park Road ( Directly opposite Heathfield Gardens ), is what's now a short and cut off bit of Park Road, that doubles as a footpath. If you walk down this little piece of terminated road, you will find yourself directly opposite the corner of the park entrance to the Pavillion, on St John's Road - so it's absolutely ideal, with no restrictions on time and won't cost you a penny in parking. I always park there when I go to the toy fairs in the Pavilion Gardens and have never had any problems finding a space. It is literally just a few minutes walk from where you park up, to getting into the exhibition venue. It's one of those hidden little gems, that's well worth sharing! So I hope to see you all there, as I'm abusing more plastic for the weekend and demonstrating more EM Gauge modelling for our forthcoming 4mm Exhibition layout 'Glasgow Queen St'. Come and sit down for a chat and find out how the layout and stock is progressing. Cheers Andy

Absolutely superb venue this and I'm very much looking forward to exhibiting there with my demo stand. Come and say hello if you're coming along - looks like a very good selection of layouts and traders attending. cheers Andy

We are now just a few weeks away from the Macclesfield exhibition. If I say so myself, there are some beautiful examples of modelling that will be on show. Attached is a photo of Gary Hinson's magnificent 'Blackbrook Halt'. I will attach further taster photos of other layouts attending over the next few weeks. cheers Andy

I would just like to add, that the Macclesfield Club's shop has recently taken control of a very, VERY large collection of 4mm Stock. The vast majority of this stock has never even been out of its box, never mind run. As it is classed as second hand though, we are going to be selling this collection off at EXTREMELY good prices! We have a plethora of 4mm Steam Locos ( Bachmann, Hornby etc etc ), Diesel Locos ( Bachmann, Hornby, Dapol, Heljan ), Coaches and Wagons that you just have to see to believe - spanning the eras of between 1960's to the 1990's. Its worth the admission fee alone to be able to see this collection ( which wouldnt disgrace a fair size Model Shop - and I am not joking ) If you want to bag a bargain, you'll need to get in there as we're kind of expecting something similar to the Bachmann Seconds Scrum on the morning of each day at Warley - seriously, there's that much of it to be had. We dont know yet if we'll have enough room for it all at the show, but the full collection can be seen in the Catalogue that Mike, our Club Shop proprietor, has put together and will be available to be perused over at our Clubrooms. If anyone wants to come up to our clubrooms at any point to see this catalogue, just let us know before hand to ensure there's a copy for you to look at. cheers Andy

Hello all. As we're well into January now and February is knocking hard at the door, I thought i'd share this years Poster and Bus Timetable. The Bus us FREE from anywhere you choose to get on. You can park anywhere in Macclesfieldd you like and then hop on the Bus at any recognised stop - so long as its along the route the Bus takes of course....... So here you are then, the poster and Bus timetable. cheers Andy

Just going to throw my thoughts into the mix here. I am assuming ( and to quote David Brent "To assume is going to make an Ass out of You and Me" ) that Heljan are going to use the same CAD drawings regardless of scale. Ok. So if you get the CAD drawing wong, then the larger the scale you produce that 3D model in, the larger those flaws become apparent. So we have a 7mm 47 which has many, many, many problems with it appearance wise and then a 4mm 47 that is going to have those exact same issues........only smaller, obviously. So those that have already identified the now known F ups with the 7mm version, are going to look for them in the 4mm model.........and find them obviously. You don't have to be a 47 expert to see that the Heljan model, either in 4mm or 7mm has problems. HOWEVER! If you're happy with those issues and want to spend your hard earned on them, happy days, I'm not going to tell you otherwise, who would I be to do that? The problem for those that DO mind, is that there currently is no RTR alternative in 7mm, which is where Heljan have cornered the market. Personally, I'm very surprised that Bachmann haven't joined the race for the 7mm market - maybe they're now waiting in the wings, along with maybe Dapol, Accurascale and one or two others, for the O gaugers to buy the existing Heljan products, then in the next two years or so will come into the game and batter Heljan all over the shop with newer and better models............its happened before in 4mm, so it could well happen in 7mm............ Heljan had form as long as your arm for producing pups in 4mm.......till they started to ignore the 4mm market and concentrate on the 7mm one instead. Anyway, those are my own thoughts and not intended in any way to be divisive or anything else - just thought I'd share them all with you. Peace out and have a Happy Modelling New Year Andy

I can only fully apologise Phil, I'm personally not involved with the running of our website, but I shall report back to the relevant parties and get it sorted. Thanks for pointing it out. cheers Andy

I can now bring you further details regarding the Macclesfield Exhibition in March of 2022: Venue: Tytherington High School, Manchester Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire. SK10 2EE When: 26th and 27th March 2022 Times: 10am to 5pm Saturday 26th 10am to 4.30pm Sunday 27th Price: Adults £8.00, Accompanied Children (u 16) *FREE* (maximum of two children per adult) ** Please note, for the first time this year, we will be accepting card payments on the door AS WELL as Cash for entrance to the show ** Venue is wheelchair friendly and all on one level, bar the stage in one hall, but can be accessed by request via a steward. The venue has Free Parking and there will be the Usual 'Big Red Vintage Bus' running from Macclesfield Railway Station ( Station has frequent Pendolino and Northern Services ) and various pick ups along the route to the venue, at regular intervals - this bus is free to use! One of the worst kept secrets on the Exhibition Circuit is our Canteen area, where you can rest weary bones and take advantage of the fantastic array of hot and cold food available, both days. For more information: https://www.macclesfieldmrg.org.uk Email: queries@macclesfieldmrg.org.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macclesfieldmrg Layouts attending: Bewdley - OO gauge GWR/Western Region 1958-69 by Graham Heald and Chris Manners. Blackbrook Halt - OO gauge Micro by Gary Hinson Bucks Lane *NEW* - large OO gauge, 1960's BR Steam by Mark Towers Calstock's Halton Quay - 7mm Narrow Gauge by Chris Peacock Derwenthorpe - *NEW* OO gauge end to end by Phil Mason Franklin Falls NH - American HO, Ray O'Neill's latest beauty and new to the circuit Foxhampton - OO gauge end to end, Modern Diesels and Units by Hugh Williams Furka Oberalp - Swiss Metre gauge, 8ft tall and has to be seen to be believed! by Ian Edwards Great White River Navigation, Extraction and Steam Packet Company - On30 but 1/48th Scale to represent 30" Narrow Gauge by Raven Miniatures. Gresty Lane - 3mm, BR mid 60's to early 70's by Jim Barry and Dave Wheelton Headingly - N gauge roundy, roundy 1955-60 by Ian Morris Hillport Goods - *NEW* 7mm O gauge, late 70's/early 80's by Steve Farmer Jennings Wharf - 7mm Micro by Keith Hayward Loch Dour - OO gauge 70's/80's BR Diesels by Kev Pearson St Ettienne-en-Caux - French 009 by Charles Insley Tan-Yr-Alt - 009 Welsh Narrow gauge practice Tony's Forrest - O14 7mm Narrow gauge by Robin Edwards Zeedijk - *NEW* Dutch HO gauge, large roundy, roundy by Phil Colton Traders: Junction Box, J S Models, North Western Models, JAVmar ( New to the circuit and offering a Respray/Detailing and Weathering service along with Digital Artwork), Squires Tools, SMTF (New and Second hand stock ), ABC Models, Country Park Models, High Lane Models, EBMA ( lasercut desk tidies and storage options ), Leigh Models Demonstrators: James Venables - 4mm Diesel Detailing/conversions, Mark Henshaw - 2mm projects and a board from his latest creation. This list is not exhaustive and may be subject to change between now and the exhibition. Please check regularly! cheers Andy

Hello all, Time is marching on and Christmas is nearly upon us (where did that go?) and subsequently, the New Year. Therefore, I'm now presenting the first information for our Annual show that everyone knows so well. Venue: Tytherington High School, Manchester Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire. SK10 2EE When: 26th and 27th March 2022 Times: 10am to 5pm Saturday 26th 10am to 4.30pm Sunday 27th Venue is wheelchair friendly and all on one level, bar the stage in one hall, but can be accessed by request via a steward. The venue has Free Parking and there will be the Usual 'Big Red Vintage Bus' running from Macclesfield Railway Station ( Station has frequent Pendolino and Northern Services ) and various pick ups along the route to the venue, at regular intervals - this bus is free to use! One of the worst kept secrets on the Exhibition Circuit is our Canteen area, where you can rest weary bones and take advntage of the fantastic array of hot and cold food available, both days. Full details of layouts and Traders attending will follow soon, but there will be the usual wide range of Trade support and 18 layouts ( a very good number considering we are a provincial show ) cheers for now Andy

I've also just fallen across this thread - I thought noone else knew where Dyffryn is!! I have a memory of being probably around the 9 years of age mark, and me Mum and Dad took me on holiday to a caravan at Dyffryn Ardudwy. Anyway, I can remember being a bit ill after the long car journey from sunny Cheshire - in the back of my Dad's Hillman Imp ( no wonder I was ill ) and going for a wander up to the top of the campsite and being extremely susrprised to find a railway running passed. Whether it was the same evening or later in the holiday, but I recall my Dad saying that The Royal Train was due through and going up onto the platform with him. This is why I think it was 1977 - most likely HRH doing the rounds by train for her Silver Jubilee. Unless my memory is completely shot, which it could be, I seem to remember the Royal being hauled by a pair of bulled up 31's with the Finsbury Park bodyside white stripe, yellow painted axlebox covers, white walled wheels - the works. Anyone got any photos, or is my memory really playing me up? So that's my abiding memory of Dyffryn Ardudwy! Be nice if you got the mojo back for building it at some point. cheers Andy

You shouldn't have asked him what he has to show us Bill........could be something you then can't unsee Looks like you two are in the same position as me with the Joueff Mk3's.........I've got a shedload - all boxed, that I've been wondering what to do with. Bought 'em all before deciding on the Oxford Mk3 as a starting point for me rafts Maybe we should all gang up on some innocent minion and convince them that Joueff Mk3a's are the future.........

Looking forward to his immensely Pete, as always. If anyone is undecided, make a date in yer diary for this - it is WELL worth attending! cheers Andy

Evening Laura, Whilst I generally agree with you that using photos to gauge a shade of colour is not a good idea, due to the problems you outlined above, I have found that Precision and Railmatch got their Executive Light Grey's absolutely bob on, whilst Bachmann also got it virtually right - ( not enough difference between them and Precision/Railmatch for it to be a concern )......which is important for Modellers to know. If you're re-spraying a Loco or following on with some weathering, you must get the initial application of colour totally correct, otherwise any weathering you do over it will not look right. The reason I can say with some clarity that Precision et al got it right, is for the very simple reason, that when I volunteered in The Crewe Diesel Group to bring 47 712 back to life in ScotRail colours, T & R Williamson were chosen as the 'go to' manufacturer for specialist Railway Paint. They've been supplying the rail industry from......well, pretty much from when Railways first began. They know what they're talking about and certainly know their onions after supplying BR for all those years. Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that when the paint arrived for the 12" to the Foot scale 712, I took the opportunity to test their shades of paint against leading brands and manufacturers. This is why I now know Precision are called Precision - coz they got it nailed when comparing their colours to the Warning Panel Yellow/Rail Black/Executive Dark Grey/Executive Light Grey/Rail Red and Rail White as supplied by T & R Williamson. Same applies for Railmatch. Whilst talking about companies getting it right, Steve at Railtec Transfers is also bang on the money with his colours too. Some of the manufacturers on the other hand, as you state above Laura are wildly out with their renderings of the various greys........ If you want to get the paintwork correct on yer models and then the weathering to look correct, you MUST choose the correct paints from the right model paint manufacturers! I really hate to bang the drum here, but it's why Oxford Rail got it so disasterously wrong on both their Exec Dark Grey and Exec Light Grey for their Inter-City liveried Mk3's and then the ScotRail version after that - not enough research into the correct colours. It matters not one jot whether a colour looks right to a photo or from 10,000ft up an a dark, foggy night, or start bleating that that they painted it to the results of their 'market research' - it's plain and simply wrong - their choice of the two grey's are nowhere near Bachmann, Precision or Railmatch, which is why I'm so confident in what I'm saying. The moral of the story here is to conduct your research, some of which Laura has handily listed above. But if you want definitive proof as to who got what colour is 'right', you won't go far wrong with choosing Precision or Railmatch in model form. Fox Transfers also provide a rather handy 'paint guide' at the bottom of their website and list the correct Railmatch numbers, so you know what you're buying is the right and proper shade. If you don't believe me, hold a bottle of Precision or Railmatch paint against an Oxford Rail MK3 and then a Bachmann MK2F - you'll see what I mean! cheers Andy

Having been howled down in the past for rainsing concerns and highlighting issues, I'm wary of making any comments again, so I won't. The only point I'm going to raise (again), is that when starting the CAD's for a Loco and then the process of getting it to an EP, why not just get it right? For those that aren't too fussed about the overall look of something and are just happy that a new model is being produced, then those customers will be happy whether the Loco is 90% there or 100% there. However, if it's the other way around and for those of us who ARE concerned with it being spot on, then it matters greatly that something is only 90%. Surely, from a business and economic sense, Heljan would get another 10% of sales to the modeller who wants 100% and wont buy if it's at 90%! Does that not make sense? Or is it simply a case of, to reach that extra 10% from 90%, the effort outweighs the sales they will achieve? From where I'm sitting, it seems as though a project is deemed 'good enough' by the manufacturer when it reaches that magical 90% there, thus ensuring the aforementioned 90% will buy it. I just don't see why modellers with the quest for perfection should be let down. Let's face it, we aren't talking a couple of rivets out of place, which seems to be the gripe of the 90% who see the rest of us as 'nit pickers'. We're talking about pretty fundamental shape problems and window misplacement amongst many things - that is not being picky! If you ordered a Steak at a Restaurant and they brought out a Chicken breast instead, would you send it back? It's still food right? Close enough and it will fill you up, correct? Anyway, Heljan will deliver what they want to, regardless of what the likes of me say about it. I've learned that too over the years. cheers Andy