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andyram

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  1. andyram

    Stafford

    By andyram,

    I had been looking forward to today's Stafford show for the last few weeks as it would be my first show visit of 2012. This would be my 4th visit in as many years and I knew that there would be plenty of high quality layouts to see and lots of trade stands to tempt me to part with my hard earned cash.
    I was a bit worried by the snow forecast for the day, but relieved that it hadn't appeared when I left this morning.
     
    As someone who is building my first solo project at home I was hoping to get some ideas for my Skaleby layout and also pick up a few supplies to help with my next scenic project. Unfortunately I was not able to pick up the dry stone wall pieces I wanted for my station scene.
    I did trawl the stalls looking for bargains and whilst one or two items tempted me there was nothing which caused me to put my hand in my pocket.
     
    As a subscriber and regular reader of the Hornby Magazine, I always look out for those layouts that have appeared in its pages. I hope that these shows give me a chance to see some of these layouts "in the flesh". Today I enjoyed seeing "Dagnell End", a brilliant Southern region layout set in the London suburbs. The scenery on this is excellent. The station and track is set amongst several levels of scenery giving a real urban feel. The scratch built buildings are superb and I loved the touch of having glass walls on the half relief buildings at the front of the layout. The detail in the church was excellent, and the cinema foyer was very effective too. This layout also features a working underground section. The last time I saw this it was working very frequently, but in the time I was stood there today no trains moved.
    Another Hornby magazine layout was "Bash Street" which is set in 1959 and was making its last visit to an English show. This was the first time I had seen this layout and I was very impressed. It certainly caught the grime of a city location very well. Just a shame that this is the one and only time I will get to see it.
    The Hornby magazine's own layout "Berrybridge" was in attendance. This is a fairly simple layout compared to the other two mentioned, featuring a station, single road engine shed, goods yard and little in the way of non railway scenery. It is still a very nice model however and it was nice to see the trains running through the station on this occasion. The last time I saw Berrybridge was at the Bachmann event at Wirksworth when space meant that there were no fiddle yards and the model was used as a shunting layout. It certainly looked much better in its full exhibition set up.Perhaps a more scenic back scene would have improved things further. Easy for me to say though!
    There were a few other layouts in attendance which I had seen in the past. The shelf layout based on Cromer is small, but effective. I am not normally a fan of modern image layouts, but this one has kept me entertained at two previous shows. The operators did throw a steam special into the mix today. One modern image layout that really did catch my eye was St Giles. This Western region, Rail Blue era layout, had a constant flow of trains which is always important for maintaing a crowd. The scenics were good too with lots of detail packed into their busy street scene. There was even an Inspector Morse jag parked with a police van outside the pub. These extra touches always raise a smile.
    The Stafford society's own layout, New Haden Colliery, was there again. This is another one I have seen in the Hornby magazine. I like this one as there is always something happening with plenty of little tank engines shunting coal wagons, trains arriving and departing and passenger trains passing on the line at the front. The pit buildings are very well detailed too. When I first saw this layout it had a large back board. This, I think, made it difficult for the operators. Maybe that is why it has been removed. Now you can see everyone moving around behind as there is no back board at all. It does spoil the illusion somewhat.
    Talking of spoiling the illusion....surely someone on one particular layout should have noticed that on shed they had two standard 4's, BOTH numbered 75029!!!! That really is poor in my book!
     
    The best layout for me was EM gauge "Alkham". This branch line terminus station was set in rolling countryside scenery with beautifully modelled buildings and was brilliantly lit. Trains ran at realistic speeds without stalling. I could have watched it for hours and would still have found new things. Excellent!
     
    I should mention the Soar Valley Clubs layout "Dorehill St.Stevens". It claimed to be new although I am sure that I have seen bits of it before. It was huge!! Lots of trains and very entertaining.
     
    I really did enjoy the Stafford show. My only regret is that the snow started about 1pm, and I did rush the last hall in order to get away before the weather worsened.
  2. andyram

    Severn Valley Railway

    By andyram,

    I thought some of you may be interested in some of the pictures taken during my visit to the SVR today. 4 engines in steam with on loan Pannier Tank 3650 in service alongside the 2-8-0 number 2857 and Ivatt 4 number 43106. The fourth engine was the Bulleid "Sir Keith Park" which made a light engine run from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster. It is seen here at Highley.


     
    According to the railway's website it will run on the rear of the first Bridgnorth departure tomorrow top and tailing with 2857.
     

    2857 is seen here arriving at Highley.
     
    The remaining shots show 3650 and 43106 passing the Engine House.

  3. andyram
    I remember visiting a local model railway show a few years ago, I can't remember where, and seeing a young lad displaying his first ever show layout. For someone of probably no more than ten years of age the scenic detail was excellent. I do not remember the name of the layout, but what I do remember is my father's criticism as we walked away. He was less than impressed with the "authenticity" of the trains the lad was running. During our time watching the layout I recall that we saw two trains pass through his station. One was made up of British Railways maroon Mk 1 coaches, hauled by a Regional Railways liveried diesel. The second was made up of "blood and custard" Mk 1's, hauled by a blue and yellow liveried diesel. My dad was less than impressed feeling that this would "never happen!"
     
    After the last ten days or so, I can tell my father that yes it does. I guess this lad was modelling a preserved railway where, let's be fair, anything goes! A recent visit to Peak Rail provided an example of the first of those particular trains. I have not visited for a while, and had never travelled on the newly extended line into Matlock Network Rail station. Sat at Rowsley Station I observed the train of maroon Mk 1's arrive, hauled by a Regional Railways liveried class diesel loco. At the rear an Austerity 0-6-0 in pseudo J94 livery followed quietly. The train was top and tailed with steam and diesel traction. The reason? The extension into the network rail station has taken away the line's run round loop. The old "Matlock Riverside" station retains this facility for services in January and February, but the network rail station has no run round facility.
    It seems a strange decision to me. Why extend a line a few hundred yards, but then have to use two locos and therefore double the fuel on services. Surely that does not make financial sense? Maybe I was just feeling sore as this meant my train was only steam hauled one way.
     
    The following week I visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where Sir Nigel Gresley was in steam. I hope you enjoy some of the shots I have taken of this wonderful loco.

    Arriving at Levisham

    Arriving at Pickering

    Departing Grosmont.
     
    Now after travelling behind the A4 from Levisham - Pickering and back to Grosmont, we broke our journey in order to take the above picture and visit the loco sheds. Sadly, the following departure was made up of blood and custard mk 1's and a blue and yellow liveried class 37 diesel! Gutted!! The 1 in 49 "Goathland bank" is not quite as appealing when all you can hear is a lawn mower growling in front and smell the stench of diesel oil and blue smoke!
    Now I appreciate that a lot of people are fans of diesel locomotives. I have enjoyed many excellent modern image layouts at exhibitions, and I liked this lad's particular layout even with the diesel models, but I am not a fan of the real thing and when I visit a steam railway I expect to travel behind steam so this turn of events was very disappointing, especially when the same locomotive took charge of my second Grosmont - Levisham journey later in the week.
    It seems that the diesels are gradually becoming more common on our heritage lines. Are we seeing dieselisation all over again?? Last weekend I visited the GCR where half of the departures for the day were diesel hauled. A "period" notice in the waiting room at Loughborough stated that due to the "current modernisation the following departures will be hauled by modern diesels". Following this I drove to the model railway exhibition at the GCR's Nottingham site. All trains here were diesel hauled!! I didn't travel on either line! Today's midweek GCR services saw 3 / 6 trains diesel hauled again! At least my daughter and I managed to get some steam hauled miles in today. I reckon, against the odds, I have managed over 100 steam hauled miles during the last 3 weeks. But I'd better watch out for those diesels.
    Hang on...what is that entering my Skaleby West station this evening....

     
    It seems that I can't escape the curse of the diesels. Even my model railway has succumbed!
     
    I'd better finish with a steam shot!!!

  4. andyram

    Allestree, Derby

    By andyram,

    A second weekend in February, and a second model railway show! After visiting Stafford last week I found myself at the Allestree "Trains Day" today. This show takes place annually at the church hall in Allestree, Derby. I believe it is run to raise funds for the church whose hall it uses.
    A large model railway show with lots of impressive layouts and various trade stands this isn't. With no more than 12 exhibitors this had a more intimate and family feel than the large show at Stafford. In fact it took me just 20 minutes from entering to have seen every stall. Had I not stayed for a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich from the refreshment window and not made three circuits of the room I would never have made my visit last an hour.
    I had hoped to find some scenic items amongst the trade stands as I need a few things for my next scenic project on my Skaleby layout. Sadly I was to be out of luck. Most stands featured a good mix of new and second hand Hornby and Bachmann locos and rolling stock and some items of Lima, Hornby Dublo and Triang, but featured little in the way of scenic items. The only such stock available was from "Derby Trees" who were selling their range of HO gauge trees from a stand alongside the "Famous Trains" charity. This is a group who are trying to construct a large OO gauge model railway in a building inside the city's Markeaton Park.
     
    The lack of scenery seemed to spread to the layouts within the show. There was an ecletic mix of layouts, most of which fell into the "train set" category. These featured a series of ovals with trains travelling around continuously, never leaving view, with a few storage sidings for spare stock. The big attraction was that the layouts featured models from the past and some manufacturers and ranges long consigned to history.
    One layout featured a display of Triang Hornby with an A4 and an 8F travelling around in opposite directions hauling passenger and freight sets respectively. The only loco on display was an 08 shunter parked in the sidings at the rear. The scenery consisted of a few buildings and a little scatter material with no variation in height, no hill or enbankment in sight!
    Another exhibitor displayed a collection of old tinplate clockwork Hornby 0 gauge, whilst another had an impressive collection of working Lone Star. Three circuits of track featured British and American outline models hurtling around at breakneck speed.
    There was also a small N gauge display of two circuits stuck to a green baise board and a large working display of Triang Battle Space. The only out and back layout was an "L" shaped Thomas model. Trains arrived from the fiddle yard to a large station area complete with engine shed and goods yard. Whilst the buildings were all present no other scenic work had taken place and it did look like the buildings and track had been placed onto the table at the start of the day. There was no run round facility so trains pulled stock one way and propelled it the other.
     
    As a modeller who visits shows to admire others work, view spectacular models and gain ideas and inspiration for my own layout - this show did not provide anything for me. But for those who like to view the models from yesteryear it was perfect. The constant movement of trains also provided plenty of entertainment for the children who are not going to be interested by constant shunting and interventions from the great hand in the sky. Maybe this show will act to inspire these youngsters to be the modellers of tomorrow. There was certainly a decent crowd of youngsters enjoying the action.
     
    What the show did do for me however, was to plant a little seed of an idea in my head. If this was run as a fundraiser for the church, perhaps I could convince my headteacher to allow me to run a similar event in our school hall. Maybe that would provide an ideal event for my school's latest fundraising drive. Now there is an idea!!
  5. andyram

    Ruddington 2013

    By andyram,

    A free Saturday gave me the chance to visit the Ruddington show today. This show, like the Midland Rail-ex at Butterley, spreads its exhibits around several buildings on the Nottingham Heritage Centre site. The main exhibition takes place inside the loco shed, with the layouts and traders tucked inbetween the various items of rolling stock. Space is certainly limited. Inside the shed there were 4 traders and 7 layouts. The best of these was the 0 gauge "Camden" shed model which I saw at the Derby show earlier in the year. This is a superb model and displays a large collection of wonderfully detailed Midland Region stock. I wish I had space for an 0 gauge model, especially the "Duchess" class models seen below on the turntable.


    Even larger than this was the G scale display which featured a variety of American stock, complete with sound and smoke! This layout also featured a Isle of Man loco and a Bachmann "Thomas". Perhaps, considering my daughter's interest in the little blue engine, I could get away with purchasing one as an excuse for a garden railway!
    A large American modular layout dominated the middle of the shed. Impressive in size, but not my interest, so I skipped past this one. Near to this was a young lad with a display of Lego trains - good to see younger children involved in exhibiting.
    A tram layout depicted a film studios, complete with a model of a Lancaster Bomber. My mother would have appreciated this, she has a real interest in WW2 aircraft and the Lanc in particular.


     
    Other layouts in the main shed were the N gauge models "Derwent Valley" and "Sumwhere Valley" both featured a constant stream of passing trains.
     
    Beyond the main shed the other areas were rather difficult to find. There was little signage and the "show guide" (printed A4 sheets) didn't provide a map. The visitors centre is very small, but featured one well stocked trade stand and two further layouts. It was good to catch up with Malcolm Hughes again as he displayed his collection of clockwork Hornby. Next to him was the modern image "Meadow Lane TMD" which is another impressive small space layout.
    The final building was at the far end of the site near to the station for the impressive miniture railways. The building contained one demonstration and two layouts from the Gresley and Wychnor group. I do enjoy watching the excellent "Glen Roy" and the operators are always friendly.
     
    That is 11 layouts in total - slightly less than the 12 advertised visitors. The site does have four layouts of its own which are present all year round. The 0 gauge Millhouse Lane is superbly detailed, but is outshone for me by the large 00 gauge model which depicts Ruddington Station in the latter days of steam. These are well worth seeing.
     
    In all the show was enjoyable, although I will suggest that better signage would improve things ensuring visitors do not miss anything. Perhaps the show could also expand into one of the other sheds - the road transport building for instance as this would allow a better range of layouts to be included. The only 00 gauge steam era layout was "Ruddington"
     
    The highlight for me was the use of steam on the line to Loughborough Junction. This was the first time I had seen steam used on such services during a model railway weekend. I had never previously travelled the full length of the line so this made my visit worthwhile too. I would also recommend the bottled Good Owld 63 ale which was on sale in the buffet carriage.

  6. andyram

    Trowell 2016

    By andyram,

    Last week I had an enjoyable visit to the Sileby model railway show. Due to a busy working week I have been unable to find time to write a blog entry for that particular event. Today saw me head to the Ilkeston Woodside Railway Club's annual exhibition which takes place at nearby Trowell.
    The show is always a small and friendly event that attracts a decent crowd. Today's event was no different as the hall was very busy when I arrived shortly after the 10am opening time, and remained busy throughout my visit. The hall is not the biggest venue and so it can get a bit cramped at times. That said it was never uncomfortable (unlike some parts of last week's Sileby show).
    On entering the hall, visitors were greeted by David Westwood's N gauge layout "Marsh Chipping". This is a wonderful model of the Western region in the 1960's. There was plenty of passing trains to hold the attention of young and old.
    N gauge seemed to dominate the main floor with Marsh Chipping one of 4 N gauge models amongst the 6 main floor exhibits. The other three were all more modern image with Dave Harrison's "Glenellen Castle" making its exhibition debut. This was a stunning depiction of BR blue diesels in Scotland, with a well modelled castle scene, superb river bridge and plenty of flashing lights amongst the motor vehicles on display. It was a stunning model and attracted plenty of favourable comments.
    Next to Glenellen Castle was Stephen Sims' model of "Loughborough Derby Road". This layout is a "might have been" depiction of how the former LNWR branch from Coalville to Loughborough may have looked had it survived into the modern era. Those who travel into the town via the A6 will recognise "The Station" public house which is well modelled in its appropriate location. This is another excellent layout and has been out and about a lot on the show circuit over the last few years. It appeared at Sileby only last week and was a visitor to our own Weston event two years ago.
    The final N gauge model was another modern image one. "Barton Hill" was a much smaller layout and depicted a Rail Express servicing depot alongside a small portion of passing main line. There were some nice effects on here, especially the attempt to use card pictures built up in a decoupage style to create a 3D back scene in such a small space.
    The remaining two layouts in the main hall were both 00 gauge. One of these, Annesley Woodhouse, also fell into the modern image category. This depicted a Robin Hood line station and was also making its exhibition debut.
    There was more modern image in the form of 00 gauge "Elveden Road". This featured a modern servicing facility and was situated in the small side room.
    Steam era modellers had not been forgotten. In addition to "Marsh Chipping" there was "Ashbrook Dale" which was based on the LMS in 1930' Derbyshire. This is another layout that has appeared at many local shows in recent years. Each time I see it the scenics seem to have been further improved. Now the whole layout has been enhanced with its own lighting rig. The lack of lighting has hampered the model due to some unfortunate locations at some previous shows.
    The pick of the steam era layouts was "Ripley", built by another club member. This is a very nice model indeed and another that has developed a lot since its exhibition debut last year. The model was located on the stage, which seemed to be a better organised display than last year. There were less exhibits on the stage and this gave much more room to move around. Last year things were just too cramped.
    There was a diverse number of traders with stalls selling scenic items and electricals. The societies own members stand had a good and varied stock of second hand stuff and seemed to be doing a good trade. Regular model traders were Malcs Models and Brickyard Models. Sadly only the latter stocked any new items so the variety of new r-t-r was very limited. Usually you expect to be able to buy new items from Malcs Models too, but today their stall seemed to resemble a car boot sale with various rummage boxes of second hand carriages etc. This was my only disappointment from what was another superb show. As I mentioned previously, it is always very friendly and I bumped into many familiar faces and ended up spending much more time at the show than I intended.
     
    And so to finish - here are my "light hearted" awards.
     
    BEST IN SHOW:
    Glenellen Castle - a truly stunning model.
     
    BEST MODEL
    Jim Read's card Y7 model on the "Moxley" 0 gauge layout.
     
    Finally here are some pictures from the show:
    (starting with two shots of Glenellen Castle, followed by Annesley Woodhouse, Ashbrook Dale, Marsh Chipping and Ripley)
  7. andyram

    Foxfield

    By andyram,

    And so the school summer holidays are finally here, and whilst many parents are dreading the next six weeks, this particular teaching parent is relishing the time to spend it with wife, new daughter and also on some serious model railway work. For me there is my home layout, Skaleby, to continue with and also my show layout, Skaleby West. Lots to do. On top of this I always try to make the most of the summer break and visit as many preserved railways as I can, and get in as many steam hauled miles as possible.
    It may not be strictly a model railway theme, but I thought some people out there may find an interest in the photos taken during my trips out. Some may provide some modelling inspiration - you never know!
     
    This weekend I began my summer of steam with a trip to the Foxfield Steam gala. It has been four years since my one and only previous visit. I was a little disappointed by the line on that occasion, but not this time. The line put on an excellent show with seven engines in steam, six of them taking turns on the passenger and freight services and the Dubs Crane Tank 4101 on duty at Foxfield Colliery.
    The railway put on a free bus service from Caverswall Road to the colliery site and, having missed the first train of the day, I made use of this. I was delighted to see areas opened up for photographers with signs into the nearby fields and the footpath to Dilhorne Park station clearly signed. Makes a change from some lines!
    Whilst at the colliery I photographed the vintage well tank "Bellerophon" which was paired with the little 0-4-0 Bagnall No.2. The first picture shows the pair at the colliery, whilst the next two are shots of the first freight of the day to ascend the 1 in 19 Foxfield Bank. Hope you like them! The Bagnall was a "cop" for me. Yes I do actually have a small preserved steam loco spotters book. I am that sad! During the weekend I also "copped" the visiting "Ugly" and resident "Lewisham No.2"

     
    The railway followed the usual gala routine of swapping engines at all stations. The passenger train loco would bring the freight back down the bank, whilst the freight engines would take the passenger train back from Dilhorne Park to Caverswall Road where they would be swapped again. The Bagnall and the Well tank relieved the Austerity "Whiston" for my first passenger run. Whiston is seen here at Dilhorne Park after I had safely navigated the muddy footpath!!


     
    I managed to get a few rides in during the day, and successfully managed to be hauled by all locos except Whiston, seen above leaving Dilhorne Park, and the Dubs which was not on passenger duty. Mind you I was a bit gutted to miss its impromptu ascent of the bank with a brake van moments after I had left the location from which I took the picture below!

    This picture shows Lewisham No.2 and Austerity "Wimblebury".
     
    With several of my trips being on trains from Dilhorne Park, and therefore downhill, I didn't really get too many decent runs. The best was behind the Bagnall and Bellerophon on a train from Caverswall Road later in the day. They did make some nice noise on some of the steeper sections of the passenger line.
    Star guest was the "Ugly" class so I suppose I had better include a shot of that. Not a great pic, but I never seemed to catch it at a decent location. Would have loved to have seen that go up Foxfield Bank. Sadly I was rather limited with time and only had four hours there. I did enjoy it, and would recommend a visit to next year's gala. In such a small space of time I still got a few pictures, and covered 12 and a half miles behind steam. Oh and the colliery did give me a fledgling idea for an extension to Skaleby West in the future.

     
    So there it is. Like I said, not especially a model railway entry, but I hope the pictures at least provide some interest.
     
    Peak Rail next I think!
  8. andyram

    Challenge Anneka!

    By andyram,

    RMWeb uses of a certain age will probably remember a television programme by the name of "Challenge Anneka." Anneka Rice, fresh from leaving Treasure Hunt, squeezed her then shapely rear end back into a jumpsuit to race around the country. Instead of looking for clues she attempted to help different good causes by attempting to complete projects in a seemingly impossible time.
    This week I felt like I was facing a similar impossible task. The model railway show is now just a few days away and Skaleby West still needed a lot of work. That gap remained as I turned the calendar over to the month of November. I knew that time was running out and I needed to get the job done. The early days of half term had been blighted by household chores and a baby daughter who would not sleep. The half made kit of the good's shed was still on the desk, gradually falling apart. But time was running out and any hope of starting from scratch seemed to be out of the question.
    On the Thursday of half term I set myself the task of filling the gap and finishing the job. I set to work at 1pm, with a target of finishing the job by the time my wife arrived home at 9pm. This really was a "Challenge Anneka" moment.
     
    1.00pm. I set to work repairing the good's shed kit and adding some interior detail. I added some "goods" to the interior including some barrels and sacks.

     
    2.00pm. I test fitted the building into the gap. A cork base was laid to raise the building's height to the correct level for the track. Cork was also laid behind the good's siding as I had to extend the siding slightly in order for a wagon to reach the unloading platform.

     
    3.00pm. I cut polystyrene blocks to the height of the unloading platform and glued these on both sides of the building to provide a larger platform. Rolled up pieces of newspaper were then glued around the rear of the sidings and across the front to form the base for a small embankment.

     
    4.00pm. Plaster bandage was laid over the top of the polystyrene and the newspaper. I used some Metcalfe stone sheets to form the platform edges.

     
    5.00pm. The building was removed from the layout and the bandage was then painted in brown poster paint to provide a base for scenic work. This was left to dry.

     
    7.00pm. A layer of hanging basket liner was then glued over the top of the dry poster paint. This was covered in a generous amount of Noch static grass. A thin layer of Noch rock compound was mixed and then brushed over the platform area to represent a concrete base.

     
    8.00pm I then attempted to finish building the kit. I cut and added the roof and guttering. This did not work well at all. I now realise the card I used was far too thin. It just absorbed the glue, became soggy and would not fit together at all. When I finally placed the building back onto the layout I have to admit my heart sank. It looked awful! The print was fading, the building would not stand straight, the walls sagged and the roof would not stay attached to the walls. It looked a wreck. I decided to try and develop the scene to make the building look like it was supposed to be run down. I added plenty of lichen and scenic flock materials to try and represent an overgrown and run down good's building. This was the finished effect. I am sure you will agree that it looks dreadful. By now my 9pm deadline had been reached so I had to admit that I had failed in my challenge.

     
    But what to do?
    The show was just over a week away and I was not sure what time I had to put things right. It gave me a few sleepless moments that night. I still had to tackle the additional detail for the rest of the layout and complete the fiddle yard. But I could not leave it like that.
     
    The following day after a night in the pub had been cancelled I embarked on a scratch building project. I used the kit as a template and then cut new walls from a sheet of Metcalfe stone. Glued onto some thicker card I gradually built a replacement shed. This took me a couple of hours. It is not great, but after some detailing I think it looks a little better. I still need to finish and attach the roof.

     
    Until next time...
  9. andyram

    Stafford 2016

    By andyram,

    After a busy weekend I have finally managed to settle down to pen / type my thoughts about this year's Stafford Show. After missing last year's event I was very much looking forward to this year's show. Firstly I have to say it did not disappoint. Once again it featured three large halls of layouts in various gauges and a multitude of trade stands. All of this for £9.00 admission - representing very good value in my opinion, especially when combined with free parking and a free bus service to and from the station.
    We all know the issues the venue has with car parking and there is little the show organisers can do about this. With another large event on at the same time it was always going to put a strain on the car park, which was hampered by some very wet and boggy areas.
     
    Arriving at 10.45 we did not have to queue outside in the rain which was a blessing. Once inside we visited hall 3 first to beat the crush in the opening room. It also gave us a chance to view the club stand. Nothing to tempt me there though.
    There were some great layouts in this hall including Crimson Road and the O gauge shunting layouts Pinkpurse Yard and Chard's Creamery. The stand out layouts in this hall were two larger O gauge layouts, 82G is a fantastic MPD and featured some lovely steam locomotive models - the pick being the Jubilee (can't beat those wonderful locos in my opinion).
    Broom Junction was another superb O gauge model with a procession of passing London Midland trains. The only slight criticism would be that the operators seemed more intent on moving a small video camera around the scenic section to film passing trains. Ok, I know it is their layout and they can do with it what they like, but wouldn't it be better to do such filming before or after the show - it does spoil the illusion somewhat when the big hand from the sky appears to pick up or dump a camera onto the layout!
    Another layout that caught my eye was the Warley club's N gauge offering "The Ridgeacre branch". This managed to fit an entire operating branch line into a very small space. It was also good to see the layout owner hand over the controller to a youngster who was viewing the action. Great credit to him for that!
     
    In the middle hall there were more great layouts. For me one of the picks of the show was the Scottish based layout "Crinan". As someone who is building a coastal / quayside layout it provided great inspiration. The extended section featuring the river and rail over bridge was superb. The water was especially realistic. This layout almost won my best in show award - but was pipped by some in the first hall.
     
    Hall 1 featured Grantham which has moved on so much since I last viewed it. The GWR layout "Much Murkle" was a brilliant layout, and well lit too. Stackton Tressel provided a more urban scene with plenty of passing trains. It looked great, but a few unfinished areas did detract a little from the view - I think the owners are in the process of installing signals and the connections for these were in clear view.
    Without doubt Old Elms Road was the best layout for action. Not only was there a procession of passing Southern and Western region trains, but there was a large operating roadway too. The scenics were superb too and it kept my attention the longest. However the highlight of the show for me was "Freshwater". As someone who loves the Isle of Wight and its railways it was always going to be a favourite of mine. Yes it is undergoing renovation and needs more work, but its operation is a real tribute to the late Fred Shilton. Congratulations must go to the Stafford Railway Circle for their work on this layout. It does capture the feel of the island lines.
     
    All in all a brilliant show. I purchased a few bits from Langley Models for my developing Skaleby Quay layout and a Metcalfe platform kit for the same project. It was great to see the Oxford Rail Adams Radial on sale and I was very tempted - but resisted...just!
     
    Congrats to the organisers - I really enjoyed the event. It is definitely one of the best of the year.
     
    So here are my "light-hearted awards"
     
    BEST LAYOUT:
    1 FRESHWATER - as a fan of the Isle of Wight railways it had to be this.
    2 OLD ELMS ROAD - constant action and thoroughly entertaining. Was probably the best in show but for my I-O-W bias!
    3 CRINAN - a layout that has provided great inspiration for me.
     
    BEST MODEL:
    The O gauge model of a Jubilee on 82G.
     
    And the worst:
    Shunting manoeuvres on one layout. A train suddenly changing direction without any pause always spoils an illusion in my book. One O gauge layout in hall 2 did this constantly.
     
    The moment to make you smile!
    The operator of the "Ridgeacre Branch" handing over the controller to a young viewer and teaching him how to operate the trains. Good on him - it probably made the lad's day.
     
    And finally:
    Great to catch up with so many faces. I have tried to post some pictures on this blog but my laptop does not seem to be playing. I have noticed four have uploaded I will add some more tomorrow.
  10. andyram

    Butterley 2013

    By andyram,

    This year was the third year of Butterley's Midland Rail-ex event. I have been fortunate enough to visit the last two shows and was very much looking forward to this year's event. I had read a one or two concerned comments from people on RMWeb, with these worried about parking and signage at the event. I wondered whether these would be an issue this year.
    Arriving at Butterley shortly after 9am on Sunday parking was certainly not a problem. There was plenty of space in the car park, and there were plenty of stewards to direct you to a space to ensure that they got as many cars in as possible. With an overflow car park available too there seemed plenty of space available and I heard no complaints during the day.
    The queue had been dealt with quickly and there was no delay at the booking hall when paying the entrance fee. On the platform the staff kept us all informed about the various loco movements and arrangements for the train services to the exhibition site at Swanwick Junction. At Butterley the station buffet and gift shop were both open as was the AMRS building all of which provided things to do whilst waiting for the train.
    The first train left on time at 9.30am and deposited us all at Swanwick soon after. With the show due to start at 10am I was surprised that we were allowed access to the event some 20 minutes early. Whilst this meant no hanging about it, it did lead to some exhibitors not being ready. In the station building the Bachmann Collectors Club stall was unmanned and covered over with a sheet. The "Glen Roy" layout was all set up, but was also unmanned. A similar situation was found in the Diesel shed where one layout was also not operating and two trade stands were unmanned with one still covered over.
    This certainly is not a good start to the day. I do not blame the exhibitors for this as the event was advertised to start at 10am and so I guess they were all working to this time. But surely there is a security issue to have unmanned trade stands and layouts when the general public are allowed to enter. We all know that there are the odd "light-fingered" individuals who sometimes attend such events.
    It is clear that the organisors have not quite got the start of the day sorted yet. The same thing happened two years ago, whilst last year the first train was excessively delayed to "kill time". In my opinion if the event is due to start at 10am then the first train should take that into account and should not arrive at Swanwick until this time. Perhaps the first train should be timetabled later, or if the need is to move people from Butterley quickly perhaps the first train could pass through Swanwick, run to Riddings and stop on the return!
     
    That criticism aside I thought the show was excellent once again with a good range of trade stands and layouts. The buildings were well sign-posted and the map in the show guide was very clear. I think the organisors had listened to concerns from those less mobile vistors who felt that there was too much walking to do. As a result there were no exhibits in the West Shed this year, with the nearer Stationary Engine building used instead- although these exhibits were upstairs.
    Amongst the highlights of the show for me was the excellent "North Bridge". This small layout is crammed full of detail right down to the litter in the track bed and the detailed building interiors. The sound fitted locos add to the effect. I have seen this layout many a time before and never fail to be impressed. Other excellent models included "Poole in Wharfedale" complete with the moving vehicles on the road, the Ilkeston group's superb "Kimberley" layout filled out the chapel building very well. I do hope people managed to find this model.
    Iron Mould Lane is a fine model of an iron and steel works. Lots of detail and sound here too. My young daughter certainly recognised what it was trying to achieve, pointing and shouting "hot, hot" as one of the blue liveried Austerity tanks shunted a torpedo wagon. I think she recognised this vehicle from a steel works model seen at DEMU Showcase earlier in the year. What a memory for a 20 month old!!
    I did get back to see "Glen Roy" being operated later in the day. This is a very good model with lots of operational interest in a small space.
     
    The theme for the full size railway was stated as "shunters". Sadly this was a bit of a let down with the advertised display of shunting engines not being present. The small Peckett tank "Whitehead" was involved in some shunting during the day and made some light engine runs up the Codnor branch. Not really enough for it to be classed as "theme" though. At least the service trains catered for all though with both sets "top and tailed" by steam and diesel. Sadly I missed any steam haulage as having been diesel hauled by a class 47?? in the morning I had the same loco on the return as it relieved the Jinty for it to be coaled and watered. Never mind!
     
    All in all another great show and congratulations to all of the organising team. I am already looking forward to the 2014 event.
  11. andyram

    The Longest Day

    By andyram,

    According to my diary the “longest day” is the summer solstice in June when we have more daylight than on any other day. For me the longest day was, without doubt, Saturday 10th November, the date of the Weston-on-Trent model railway show.
    The show has been nine months in the planning, and the subject of many a blog entry here on RMWeb. Now the day has been and gone. And what a day it proved to be!
     
    It all started the night before as I began to pack up Skaleby West for transportation. The layout has never been out to a show before and so this was a learning experience. I really did not know how much stock I would need. I filled a single Bachmann stock box with freight vans and wagons, and another with locomotives. I do have a vast collection of locos and so it was a tough choice to decide what to take. I decided that I wanted to take as many factory weathered locos as I could, and that I wanted to run with a Midland Region feel. After a lot of decisions I settled on a collection that featured Fairburn tank 42267, Standard 4 tank 80120, Standard 4 75065, Black 5 44762 and unweathered Ivatt tank 41324 which I “borrowed” from the working fleet on Skaleby, my permenant home layout. I also added unweathered Midland 3F 43474 and Jinty 47279 to a bag of stock to act as spares.
     
    Things did not start well. As I loaded up the stock box I managed to drop my milk tanker on the floor, snapping the coupling off. Gutted! The wagon has never been operated and will now need repairing before I can use it. Not the start I wanted – and it was the first of several mishaps.
     
    On the morning of the show I was up at 5am. After a fairly relaxed breakfast I began the task of loading up the car. Having never done this before it took a while. The task was made more difficult by the need to do the loading up in the dark, and as quietly as possible to avoid waking my wife and daughter. Thankfully I was able to complete the job in time to get to school for just after the 7am opening up time. I was rather surprised to find a stallholder sat on the doorstep. It seemed the caretaker had opened up and then disappeared. After sorting the stall holder out I began to unload Skaleby West. Sadly the journey had taken its toll. Some of the trees had shed their leaves, part of the station fencing had fallen over and two station lamps had become detached.
     
    The next couple of hours passed by in a blur as I set about erecting the layout and repairing the damage, in-between directing exhibitors and stall holders to their “pitch”. Things did seem to be settling down until one of the other staff members, Chris, came though to tell me that the gas boiler wasn’t working in the kitchen. I’m not quite sure whether that was before or after she had contrived to lock herself in the staff toilet! She did have quite an eventful morning!!
     
    A few frantic phone calls for help and we did get the boiler relit so we could fire up the ovens ready for the lunch run and also begin supplying the thirsty with valuable teas and coffees. I left them to it and raced around distributing lunch and exhibitor passes, ensuring the show guides and voting forms were ready at the front door. Then someone asked the question…where are the toilets? Whoops. Forgot to put up the signs! I hadn’t actually made them! A quick bit of delegating and that was sorted!!
     
    After a quick intake of breath it was back to the classroom to finish erecting Skaleby West. By now there was about an hour until opening. The stock was placed on the layout; the controller connected up and……NOTHING! The whole layout was dead! I set about cleaning the track. Still nothing! I tried substituting the controller. No good! More track cleaning, more controller testing. Still nothing!! The Famous Trains group who were setting up next to me almost saw a grown man cry. After all this work, surely I wasn’t going to have to leave the layout as a static exhibit! I had been looking forward to running it! Off went the power at the plug, the connections taken apart and then reconnected. The power turned back on and……..IT WORKED!!! The relief!! I then ran a couple of test trains before heading off around the school to see how everyone else was getting on. This was about the only time that I got to see some of the exhibits. Whilst I had seen some of the layouts at other events there were a few, exhibited by other RMWeb users, that I had only seen in photographs. I have to admit that I was pretty pleased. All the layouts looked great.
     
    At 10.30am I checked that everyone was ready and we opened the doors. It was a little disheartening to see only a handful of people in queue. I suddenly feared that there was a risk of an embarrassing failure on our hands. Thankfully the show started to fill up during the first hour, and there was a steady stream of people throughout the day. Spending the day operating Skaleby West, it was great to meet some friendly people including some who had been following this blog. A big thanks to all of those people who gave feedback. I knew we would not get it right first time. Clearly the road signs were not clear enough, and many felt that we could have charged a little bit more for the food and the tickets. I thank people for their comments. It was great to hear so many positive comments too. I hear that people were impressed with the quality and number of layouts on show. So a big thanks to all of the exhibitors. Here are some shots from the day.

    Irton Road

    Ilkeston's Thomas layout.

    Chris Trafford's "Board Lane"

    Alan Cheadle's "Friarsgate".

    Two shots of the impressive N gauge layout "Guy's Cuttings".

    Summat Colliery

    Busy times at Summat Colliery

    Malcolm Hughes' Suitcase Layout.

    Ken Jones and his Waterfall Junction layout.

    Belper Modular Layout

    A Layout in a T.V!!

    Famous Trains' Darley Green layout.

    Rolleston on Dove

    A busy tiime at Skaleby West
     
    So then, nine months ago I did not have a clue how to organise an exhibition. I didn’t even know if I would get any layouts, let alone enough to fill a show. RMWeb has been a great help. I would like to thank all of the users who offered their advice and to those who brought their layouts a very special thank you. Without you there would have been no show. What a great website this is!
     
    Nine months ago I had never really considered building an exhibition layout. But Skaleby West has been developed during this time and made its debut at the show. Admittedly it was not finished but I hope it passed muster! After its early niggles it ran fairly well. There were a few stalling issues and the Standard 4 tank derailed constantly as it crossed the points at the start of the fiddle yard. The loco had never been run before and it was with sadness that I had to take it out of service. This did allow the Jinty to step in and it ran impeccably all day. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed operating the layout for the public. This may be its one and only exhibition outing but I do intend to finish it. I will add the extra detail, wire the points and plan some kind of box to transport the scenic section safely should it ever venture out again. I will also complete the fiddle yard as the track was just loosely laid for the Weston show. You never know when it may be needed again….
     
    Well actually it could be next year!
     
    The show certainly can be considered a success. We made just under £700 profit for the school which helped us to reach our £5,000 target for the year. 8/10 people who left the show apparently said “see you next year” and I believe there were other positive comments. So it looks certain that the show will happen again next year…date to be confirmed. I feel quite relieved that we were successful and quite proud as well. But I would like to thank all those who made the show a success. All of the staff worked tirelessly in the kitchen, all the layout owners and traders who supported us. Also a big thanks to all who visited for your support and comments. I hope we will see you next year!
     
    Finally I would like to congratulate David Rae whose layout, Irton Road, won the best in show prize after the votes were counted.
  12. andyram

    Stafford 2013

    By andyram,

    And so it begins! The Stafford exhibition begins my model railway show expeditions for this year. Stafford is always one of my favourite events and I have been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now. It always promises to be a big event with three halls packed full of impressive layouts and trade stands.In many ways it did not disappoint again this year. There were many large and impressive layouts to view. Just a shame my digital camera has decided to have a mood and won't let me download my images from the day.
     
    Having arrived, just after 10.30, my father and I spent a good 5 hours looking around the halls. Amongst the exhibits were some old favourites. These included "Romley Midland" which features a regular procession of trains to and from its small terminus station as well as trains from the colliery branch. This enters the line from a fiddle yard at the rear of the layout. There is always plenty to see. The scenics are excellent, although everything does seem a little too clean and perhaps the layout would benefit from more weathered stock - just a personal opinion though. The layout was up for sale and I am sure it will give its new owner many hours of pleasure.
    Poole in Wharfedale is another layout I have seen before. It featured at the Derby show last year. This is a lovely through station on a Yorkshire line with a wonderful scenic station, regular traffic and the added action of a working road way across the rear which adds to the scene. This was one of my favourite layouts in the show. Well done to Tim Couling and Harvey Whitmore for an excellent model.
    Another familiar model was Mike Kelly's B.R blue era OO gauge layout - "Everbury". I have seen three layouts built by Mike - Cromer, North Bridge and Everbury. All are excellent. He has great skill in adding little cameos and set pieces to the scenics to keep you interested - and there is always a train moving too. I tried to get Mike to bring a layout to my Weston on Trent show last year. Sadly he was away. Maybe I will have better luck this time around! Despite not being a diesel fan - I liked Everbury and spent quite a while watching the action.
     
    Everbury did seem to be part of a theme running through the Stafford show this year. One criticism I have of the event is that it seemed to be "top heavy" with diesel layouts. Not being a diesel fan this was disappointing, but I am sure that the modern image fans had a great day.
    Now I do enjoy some modern image / diesel layouts and I admired some of the many such layouts on show. Grange over Sands was another excellent model. Lots of detail was packed into this N gauge model, and my father was able to vouch for the authenticity of parts of the layout. The search and rescue helicopter "hovering" over the coast was a nice touch, as was the camera hidden away in a diesel which transmitted images of passing trains to an adjacent screen.
    Loch Tat was another excellent N gauge diesel model. I have seen it several times and it always brings memories of my honeymoon in Scotland a couple of years ago. The Loch itself is beautifully modelled, and the boat is very similar to one I photographed on Loch Linnhe during my stay. This layout won the best in show award. Congratulations to Adrian Lambourne.
     
    Of the "steam era" layouts I enjoyed the North of England line in N gauge. This featured in a recent issue of the Hornby magazine so it was great to see it in the flesh. Lots of scenic detail and set pieces in this layout too!
    The Lancashire and Yorkshire based "Calderwood" was another finely detailed model. This was also seen at Derby last year. I was pleased to see a lot more action taking place on the layout this time around and it was much more enjoyable to view as a result.
    Another excellent layout was the narrow gauge based "That Damn Railway". This depicted the building of a dam in Wales around the turn of the last century. There was a massive dam wall, with working cranes on the top, a narrow gauge line which zig zagged up the hill and lots of action on the steep gradients. The scenics were superb, with an excellent depiction of the worker's village. In my opinion this was the pick of the show.
     
    Two other layouts stood out for me. Firstly St George's Quay. This O gauge model was extremely detailed and included a working depiction of the coal being loaded into the waiting boats.
    Secondly was the "Somewhere in Belgium" model. Ted McElroy's shunting layout had lots of First World War detail. Now many people turn their noses up at shunting layouts, especially the "shunting puzzle" type. Here the operator worked to sequence five of the wagons onto the number 1 road in the order given on printed cards. I have tried something similar on parts of my home based layout and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Whilst watching the operator I was trying to second guess his moves.... I reckon I may have solved the puzzle quicker than he did...but then again, maybe not!
     
    All in all an excellent day out. I managed to pick up some Langley models stuff for my own exhibition layout. I can't wait for the chance to add them to Skaleby West later this week.
    Well done to all who organised the Stafford 2013 event. I did enjoy it. Can we have a few more steam, and less diesel layouts next year though!
  13. andyram
    With preparation for the impending birth of our first child, I have had precious little modelling time. But I did find some time to work on the small engine shed area. The track was laid on a cork base rather than on the Gaugemaster foam ballast as before. I want to hand ballast this area with a darker tone of scatter material to represent the ash, coal and general shed area dirt.
    I used rolled up newspaper, covered in a layer of plaster bandage to create some small contours to the ground in order to seperate the area from the main running line. I have purchased a small coaling stage to stand outside the engine shed. My 0-4-0 Hornby collector club loco has been posed in this area for the first of today's pictures.

     
    This weekend I have been using the layout to test a couple of locos ahead of selling them on EBay. The railway has been quite busy. Here a Bachmann J72, number 69022 passes the signal box with a van train.

     
    One of the favourite locos in my collection is the Bachmann Standard 3 tank. Here it stands in Skaleby station with a three coach train of Eastern Region mark one's. This shot shows the progress made in the station area so far.

  14. andyram

    Midland Railex

    By andyram,

    This is another show I have been looking forward to. I visited the first Midland Railex show last year and thoroughly enjoyed it with the chance to ride on the full sized trains as well as seeing the model ones aswell.
     
    This year the model railway show did not disappoint. There were lots of excellent layouts, many seen in the modelling press in recent months. Derek Gelsthorpe's "Idle Way" is a superb shunting layout in such a small space. I had seen this featured in its original form in the book "Layouts in Small Spaces" which I purchased at the beginning of the year. Set on a 4ft x 1ft baseboard it helped inspire my own similar sized layout which remains under construction at present.
    The expanded version of this layout was seen in a recent issue of Hornby magazine and it was nice to see it in the flesh and to chat to its owner.
     
    Another excellent layout was the Cambrian Coast inspired Rhyd-y-Clafdy. This was also featured in a recent issue of the Hornby magazine and is truely superb. A lovely, spacious layout with rolling fields and authentic trains. I could have watched it for hours.
     
    The show also featured a few layouts I had seen before. This included the exceptional O gauge "Hospital Gates". I always see something new amongst the detailed scenery. Another superb O gauge model was "St Marnock Shed" which featured smoke and sound fitted models. The Jubilee model was particularly impressive.
    In 00 gauge there was "Skip Hill". A model based on the Cromford and High Peak Line. I had to admire the skill of the operators as they worked the mineral wagons up and down the severe gradients. The scenery included a wonderfully detailed wharf and a moving water crane arm.
     
    There really was plenty to see spread across several buildings around the Swanick Junction site. It was great to meet people from this very website, including Andy. There was also plenty of trade stands, selling a range of goods. Sadly the scenic elements I had been looking for, including some Gaugemaster hedging was not available and the Bachmann "returns" stand was looking rather bare. I guess the latter had rather been picked over on the Saturday. I did manage to pick up a nice weathered loco from "Grimy Times". The Fairburn tank will provide perfect branch line motive power for Skaleby West when it attends its first show at the end of the year.
     
    The show was excellent and I really did enjoy it. My only critcism would be directed at the Midland Railway Centre itself. I do feel that they were not as well organised as they could have been on some occasions. The first train was advertised as being 9.30, but it did not arrive into Butterley platform until about 9.55am. This proceeded to travel onto the causeway towards Hammersmith first, before returning to Butterley for a second stop prior to travelling to Swanick. I guess this may have been to "kill time" prior to the show's 10am start time and avoid the events of last year when the first train arrived at Swanick at 9.35 and deposited visitors well before show exhibitors had even finished setting up! Fair enough if this was the reason, but why advertise the first train at 9.30???
    The second criticism I have of them was with the advertised "Real Ale Bar". This was not very well signposted, not easy to find and featured only ONE cask real ale!
     
    The show also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the class 47 diesel. Now, as anyone who has read my "summer of steam" blog will know, I am not a diesel fan. For those that are however, the railway did put on a display of a number of class 47's. There were several full sized versions on display, and three in service on one of the trains. There was a large display of 00 gauge model 47's and the Swanick Junction model railway also featured such locos operating.
    Sadly, as a steam fan, the only loco in operation on the service trains was the Caprotti 5 number 73129 which was top and tailing with a class 20. Oh dear!
     
    Whilst I did not get any steam mileage in. I did enjoy the show, and apart from a couple of criticism I really could not fault the day. I hope that this event runs again next year and would recommend it to anyone.
  15. andyram
    The need to get leaflets out to promote our own show at Weston has sent me off to some events this year which I would not normally have attended. As someone whose railway interest is very much preserved steam (with my model railways falling into the same category), a pure diesel and electric event is not one which would normally interest me. That does not mean I have anything against those who model these forms of railway - everyone is entitled to their own opinion and their own interest! I just prefer steam!
     
    I had intended to visit yesterday - but a sleepless night with my daughter and a few household chores put paid to that. Sadly that meant I could not get any leaftlets into the first day of the show. At least I got there today, laid a few out in various locations, and saw a few being carried around during the day, so my visit will prove worthwhile in that respect - especially if these people turn up in November!
     
    As regards the show itself I have to say it was excellent. I never expected to enjoy a diesel and electric show as much as I did. There was a good range of layouts and traders spread amongst the four rooms. Everything was easy to find thanks to a colour coded map in the show guide. Without doubt this is the best show guide I have seen for quite some time - full colour with a full page dedicated to almost every layout, illustrated by plenty of pictures. My congratulations to whoever produced this, it really is superb - and it was free too!
     
    I had seen some of the layouts at other shows. I have viewed Loch Tat on several previous occasions. I do like this N gauge model. The superbly modelled loch scene, complete with fishing boat, always takes me back to my honeymoon in the Highlands a few years ago. Also bringing back memories of those two weeks in Fort William and Inverness were the models "Rannoch Moor" and "Dalmally".
    Dalmally has a track layout which is based on Killin Junction. The Killin - Loch Tay branch is one I hope to model in the future, having bought a book on the line from a book shop in Fort William. It is nice to see a modern take on one of these stations.
    Rannoch Moor is a lovely depiction on the West Highland line. I loved the curving viaduct at one end. The trains services gave a good impression of those which can be seen in Scotland today. I did raise a smile at the charter train set stored at the back of the fiddle yard, complete with a steam interloper in the form of a Hornby "Black 5". Interestingly it had disappeared when I returned to the layout a second time. Had someone really been asked to remove it????
     
    The Hornby demonstration stand also had some steam interlopers. The models of "Duke of Gloucester" look very impressive. That is definitely one for a future shopping list. The DCC sound display was interesting and my daughter was certainly captivated when Simon Kohler set one of the sound fitted steam locos going on a rolling road! She was leaning forward wondering where the noise was coming from. Mind you, it did seem to upset a couple of other punters to hear a "steamy" at the DEMU show. Thanks Simon!!
    Returning to non-steam issues though. The new Sentinel shunter looks fantastic and did spark ideas for a modern shunting puzzle layout. I bet I am not the only one to be impressed enough with this model to think along those lines!
     
    I've mentioned my daughter a couple of times. At 18 months old she has already attended more than 10 events during her short life and she certainly enjoys them. We had only been inside a couple of minutes when she got excited by the steady stream of trains on the large 00 gauge layout - "Coppell". She was craning her neck over the security barriers to view an oncoming train shouting "Here it is" to the amusement of those nearby. But her favourite layout, and mine too, was "Rhydwyn Fawr". Set in a steel works this 7mm O gauge model featured in a recent issue of Railway Modeller. It looked good in the article, but it is even better in the flesh. The freelance industrial engines were busy moving the various stock around the different levels. The appropriate sounds and lights gave a great impression of a working steel mill. So much so that my daughter pointed to the large building and proclaimed it to be "hot, hot!". A brilliant layout, I could have watched it all day and so could my daughter. She dragged me back to it three times and moaned when I took her away.
     
    So to finish off. I may not have an interest in diesel and electric modelling - but this event was very enjoyable and well organised. I will certainly be back next year.
  16. andyram

    Summer's over!

    By andyram,

    As I get stuck into planning for the new school year the summer really is over for me. It is back to the constant slog of planning lessons, preparing resources, attending meetings and dealing with all kinds of hassles. Yes I really do love my job!
     
    And with the end of summer comes an end to my extended modelling time. One final fling last week saw more progress made on Skaleby West. Using some Gaugemaster materials I created a small rock face on the nearside of the embankment. This was then covered with some lichen material and hanging basket liner to represent plants and grass. Some rocks were glued at the foot of the embankment to represent a small rock fall. I then added the Woodland Scenics cinders to the baseboard to fill the gap between the bottom of the embankment and the start of the track ballast.
     
    I was still not happy with the final effect of the hanging basket liner for the embankment grass, and decided this needed some more texture. Some Gaugemaster scenic scatter was sprinkled on over the top and then a layer of static grass was roughly added on top of this. This seemed to make things look a little better. The static grass was also applied at the rear of the platform, and along the top of a small embankment which had been built a few weeks ago on the right hand side of the layout, leading from the platform to the fiddle yard entrance on this side of the board. Things really have started to take shape, and I have added a few more factory built trees to the scene.

    A view of the embankment scene following the addition of the additional scatter materials.
    Next I turned my attention to the front of the baseboard. I had planned for a signal box and a small coal merchant’s scene in this area. I played around with a few buildings until I was happy with the final effect. I then cut cork bases for the buildings, glued these down and covered them with a layer of plaster bandage which was painted grey when dry. More cinder scatter was then glued around the coal staithes and the grounded wagon body which will act as the coal merchant. This all looks a bit too clean at the moment so I may tackle some weathering once all of the other jobs are done.

    A general view of the front area of the board is seen in the first picture, with a close up of the coal merchants yard in the second shot.
    The signal box is the Skaledale “Magna” model, purchased this week. I had test fitted the old Skaledale “Goathland” signal box in this location, which I had bought a few years ago, but this did not seem to look quite right.
     
    So things have moved on so here is a bit of a before and after comparison.

     
    The Show
    I continue to work on the advertising. There were leaflets present on a trade stand during the Midland Rail-ex show and other traders have had their leaflet supplies restocked. I have also contacted a couple of model magazines about having the show included in their diary pages.
    During the Midland Rail-ex show I spoke to a couple of layout owners and may have secured a couple more layouts for the show. One has confirmed, the other is still to get back to me. I am also awaiting replies from a couple of trade stands who may offer something different should they agree to attend.
    Recently I have also received some more details from exhibitors for the show guide. I had better get back onto this soon.
     
    Until next time….
  17. andyram
    Me and my big mouth!
     
    My South Derbyshire school is celebrating its 5th anniversary in its new building this year. As part of the celebrations we have set up a fundraising drive in order to pay off our remaining share of the cost of the new build. The headteacher had asked for fundraising ideas.
    I have run many a quiz night for the school over the last few years and I am sure I will be doing another one before the summer. But apparantly we need more events. Well I said it didn't I? I made the suggestion of holding a small model railway show in our building to help with the fundraising. Of course I expected the women in the school, who all have no railway interest, to laugh it off and tell the token male in the school to not be so silly.
     
    Right???
     
    Wrong!!!!!
     
    The headteacher thought it was an excellent idea, and now I found myself responsible for organising it! Oh and she wants it this year as well!!!
     
    What was I thinking???
     
    Now at present the date is to be finalised. The three favoured dates are Saturday 8th September, Saturday 13th October and Saturday 10th November. Not sure which one it will be yet, but expect this to be decided in the near future. I am just checking dates of other local shows in order to avoid any clashes.
    I do have two traders who have promised to attend the event whatever the date. Once I know the actual date I will be approaching a few more.
     
    But its layouts I need. I need help here!!!! I need small exhibition layouts whose owners are prepared to help out a stressed fellow modeller and attend. As this is a new show I am looking for local people as we can't be paying out loads on expenses. Can anyone help???
     
    Oh...and if that wasn't enough! If my big mouth had not got me in enough trouble, I then heard myself saying that I would display a layout of my own. It looks like my developing home layout, Skaleby, is going to have a little brother!!!! I think I'm going to be going for the old classic of an ex-GWR branch terminus. More on this as I make, what will have to be rapid, progress.
     
    Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  18. andyram

    Nottingham 2016

    By andyram,

    After a couple of false starts I made it to the Nottingham show just before mid-day. This year the event has returned to the Harvey Haddon Sports Centre meaning that the show is back to being all in one room, rather than spread out around many rooms in a school. I had thought that this change would make the show extremely crowded as there was less room for the crowd to be dispersed. Certainly my previous experience of shows at Harvey Haddon have been like this, with large crowds in front of the layouts. However this year's show was nothing like that. The hall seemed very quiet. Whether this was down to the generous walkways between the layouts or a lower attendance is debateable. I do hope that, over the weekend, the organisers attract a decent crowd because the show deserves to succeed. The event had a good mix of layouts that were well grouped together. The pick of these were in the modern image area with the much travelled "Farkham" probably being the stand out model with the way part of the line is glimpsed through the tower blocks placed at the front of the scene. A nice little Del Boy and Rodney cameo scene included too.
    Loughborough Midland, London Road and Towcester were also good examples of 00 gauge diesel era. I liked the lighting on Towcester and the long stretch of raised embankment that ran alongside the fields at one end of the layout. This looked extremely realistic.
    In N gauge "Neely" was another impressive modern image layout with very interesting lighting. I was so glad to see it operating well on my second visit as it was fairly static for the whole of my first visit to the model.
    Static layouts did seem to be a bit of a feature during the early part of my visit. The part built 0 gauge layout "Lancaster Green Ayre" never seemed to have anything running on any of my visits. Perhaps I just appeared at the wrong time. The 00 gauge LMS era layout "Ilkeston" also seemed to be pretty quiet in terms of traffic. They did seem to have some running issues, with only the trams at one end of the layout actually running well. I think I am a jinx on this layout as it often seems to run badly when I am there. I hope that they fixed these problems as it is a very good layout indeed.
    There were plenty of other highlights. The procession of trains on the 0 gauge circular layout "Scout Green" made impressive viewing. The passing A4 on the Pullmans and the crimson Jubilee being the stand out models. As a steam era modeller I found "Coton Sidings" of interest. This has two shunting levels in an urban setting. The Western region was well represented by "Farringdon". This layout represents the changeover period from GWR to BR and makes a good job of placing the railway in the scene.
    I enjoyed seeing the narrow gauge layout, "Low Tor". The appearance of the Bachmann model of "Skarloey" in original form, and another which had been converted to Talyllyn. This is a very nice model, and it was nice to see one for the first time.
     
    There were so many good layouts that I cannot mention them all. I did visit the foreign layout section, but as its not my area of interest it was only a brief visit. There was a good mix of trade with plenty of new and specialist items for sale. I went with a shopping list and, sadly, found nothing from it. I did come away with some items including the new Hornby catalogue which is much smaller, and cheaper, than previous years.
     
    Sadly I did not take my camera as the trip was rather last minute. Just one IPhone shot shown below of the Del Boy and Rodney cameo.
     
    BEST LAYOUT
    1. Farkham - impressive the way the railway picks its way through the scenic section. Great cameos.
    2. Towcester - well lit, nice scenic section capped off with sound fitted locomotives.
    3. Faringdon - had to have a steam era layout in there somewhere!
     
    BEST MODEL
    0 gauge Jubilee on Scout Green.
     

    THINGS TO MAKE YOU SMILE.
    Bachmann "Talyllyn" and Skarloey on Low Tor (2 of my favourite locos from my childhood....yes I want one!)
    Del and Rodney cameo on "Farkham"
  19. andyram

    Nottingham 2013

    By andyram,

    Ok, it was not at Harvey Haddon and the show was spread out over a number of locations. Ok, if you hadn't purchased a show guide you may have struggled to find everything, and ok there may have been parking problems. But Nottingham 2013 was a great show and great credit should go to those who organised the event in a relatively short space of time. It is not their fault the previous venue was unavailable, and it was not their fault that the weather caused some of the parking problems. (I remember a Stafford show where many cars had to be towed off the car park!!).
     
    Some people do not like change, clearly!
     
    Now the reason I am labouring the point is that, on Saturday, I observed a visitor verbally abusing one of the stewards in an aggressive manner about the above issues. It was disgraceful behaviour. If the gentleman in question reads this I hope he is totally ashamed of himself. Ok, he may not have been happy over some elements, and he is entitled to his opinion. But there are ways and means of making your point and that was not the correct way!
     
    This was the first show at the new venue and I am sure it has been a learning curve for the organisers and they will learn the lessons of this for future shows. But they are on the right track. There were plenty of signs and stewards to direct visitors to the different parts of the event. Maybe a free map with your ticket would help - after all the Mansfield show does this! The catering was good, and the entry fee slightly cheaper. And there was a good range of exhibits, well organised and logically grouped together.
    Highlights for me was the gigantic model of Leicester South which depicted the Great Central Railway. The large goods facility, complete with working wagon turntables was superb. Other excellent layouts were Sutton, Thurston, Borchester and Yarborough. All were excellent large layouts.
    I had been looking forward to seeing Gamston Bank. Sadly, like others who have commented, it seemed to be having a few technical problems whilst I was stood there. I did not get to see too much action. The layout was still an impressive model!
     
    The show had a few hidden gems including the Scottish region layout - Dalmally. This B.R blue era model depicted a modified model of a real station on the Glasgow to Oban line. Its track layout taking inspiration from such locations as Killin Junction. I have developed an interest in the Killin branch after reading articles and books on the line to Loch Tay. Seeing this model was very interesting..maybe a model of Killin Junction could be a long term personal project. Now there is a thought!
    Another little gem was the N gauge modern image model of Stoney Lane Depot. Such detail packed into a relatively small space. Superb!
    And what a shock. Here is me - a self confessed steam modeller praising modern image layouts. They must have been that good!!
     
    There is always the odd model built in a strange place. The "Shoerack Shuttle" was located in a room which I almost missed. This was built in an Ikea shoerack and showed what could be done when space is very limited. Another excellent model.
     
    Overall a great show. And a good starting point at this new venue. I believe that the show will be there for another two years at least and I am sure the organisers will learn lessons from it. But was a great show. Well done to all concerned.
  20. andyram
    My half term break has allowed me to make more progress with the scenics and also to run some trains. In my earlier post I outlined how I had built the embankments and cuttings around the road over bridge at the "Pickering end" of the station scene. Beyond the road bridge the line is due to enter a further short cutting before entering the fiddle yard through a tunnel.
    The embankments for the cutting at the rear of the layout will hide a hidden siding which will add extra storage space to the fiddle yard. It is this area that I have turned my attention to.
     
    Starting the hidden sidings and tunnel cutting.
    The top of this embankment will feature one or two country cottages, one of which is the Skaledale "Yew Tree" cottage as I feel it fits in with the Yorkshire Moors element of the layout. I started by gluing down further polysterene blocks to act as a base, ensuring the blocks are large enough to fit the cottage on top. The hidden siding track was then laid up to the polysterene.
    In time this siding will be hidden underneath the cutting so strips of foam board were cut and glued either side of the siding. Eventually a "roof" will be built above these foamboard sides to fully enclose the siding, and the cutting detail will be added on top.
    The progress so far can be seen in these photographs:

    In this picture you can see the siding, complete with foam board sides. You may be able to see the location of Yew Tree Cottage too.

    The second picture gives an overview of the fiddle yard area. The coal drop scenic break can be seen at the front of the picture. In front of this will be the main engine shed scene. You will see how limited the fiddle yard space is hence the need for the hidden siding!
     
    Running trains
    Half term has also allowed me to spend some time running trains. My Hornby Railroad Jinty, pictured in an earlier entry has taken a bit of a break this week. Train services have been worked by a Hornby A1x "Terrier" numbered 32636 and an ex Great Western Auto Coach giving things a branch line feel.
    I have included a picture of the combination, taken in front of the previously completed Darnholm embankment.

  21. andyram
    Today saw the first day of the Gresley and Wychnor Model Railway Group's two day Easter show. This is more of a club open day than a full scale exhibition as it takes place in the club's own premises. That being said the club have certainly maximised their space to produce a decent event and a visit is well recommended.
    Since my last visit the premises seem to have been extended with a new room, "The Sir Nigel Gresley Room" now open at the front of the venue. In here there were two layouts. Burdale Colliery was a work in progress 0 gauge model in the early stages of development. A sound fitted Pannier tank drew admiring glances from many, including my 4 year old daughter.
    The other layout in this room was "Swad Lane". This modern image 00 gauge model depicts a privately owned maintenance depot to the rear with a passenger branch at the front. This model also used sound fitted stock.
    Also in this room there was one trade stand, carrying a good range of stock. RMWeb member Andy Peters was also providing a weathering demonstration, offering to weather stock for a donation. I was pretty annoyed that I forgot to pick up my models when I left home this morning.
     
    In the main room there was one of the stand out models. The club is home to the impressive 0 gauge Wychnor-on-Trent layout. This has featured in many railway magazines. It is a huge model that begins with a terminus station, runs along one wall before curving around the end of the room to a through station. Trains then disappear into a fiddle yard behind an impressive loco shed scene. There are many other scenes including a brewery (currently being rebuilt), goods yard and a second loco shed. There was an impressive array of stock on view.
    In the centre of the main room were a few tables and chairs for visitors to sit and enjoy snacks and drinks from the kitchen. My daughter and I enjoyed a light dinner whilst observing a procession of trains on the layout. Highlight for me was a superb green liveried "Jubilee" (see picture below).
     
    Upstairs there was the second large layout. "Coopers Dale and Marston" is an impressive 00 gauge model. There is always something running on here either passing through the station on the lower level or passing behind the roof tops on the upper track. On the other side there is a superb viaduct scene. Organisers had carefully place some seats at this viewing point and it was nice to sit and watch the trains pass over this impressive structure. One IPhone snap (below) shows a Crosti 9F at this location.
    I could have sat here for quite some time, but my daughter had other ideas. Sadly she soon decided the attraction of Easter eggs at home was a better option and wanted to head for home. As a result I only got the briefest of views of the other layouts on the upper floor. These included a developing N gauge GWR model, "Princetown", a Thomas 00 gauge layout, a developing Scottish based 0 gauge model called "Dornock", a narrow gauge layout and a 00 gauge shunting layout called "Windmill Road". In addition there was also another demonstration in the upstairs room.
    There was certainly lots to see and the club is blessed with a host of impressive layouts. There is even a large G scale model near the entrance. I would certainly recommend a visit. The members are friendly. I met so many familiar faces who all wanted to stop and chat and I was made to feel very welcome. I could have stayed a lot longer than I did. My daughter was also greeted warmly. She was given a small chocolate egg with her dinner and was offered a sweet lollipop as she left. Certainly the club have the right idea for attracting the next generation.
     
    All in all - a great event, very enjoyable - possibly my favourite of the year so far.
    Here are a couple of pictures.
  22. andyram

    Mixed feelings

    By andyram,

    I think the title of this entry fairly sums up my feelings towards the fourth Weston on Trent Model Railway Exhibition. Throughout the show's short history this year's event has been the hardest to organise. A plethora of layout withdrawals throughout the year resulted in the exhibit list having to be redrawn time and time again. In the months prior to the show we lost both Tom's Shed and Poundland due to the illness of their owners. We also lost Myrton because it had been double booked and an un-named shunting layout due to its owner's work pattern changing. All of these were understandable and unavoidable reasons for withdrawing. Added to these were the loss of three regular traders.
    I had just started to think I had covered these when I heard of Frank Collins' illness resulting in the withdrawal of "Steam on the Cambrian" in the week leading up to the show. No complaints there either and I am pleased to hear Frank is out of hospital and recovering at home. Hopefully we will see him next year.
    Then there was the layout that withdrew on Thursday night - don't get me started on that one! I have lost a lot of respect for that particular gentleman.
    The preparation of Skaleby West for its outing at the show was also fraught with problems. Scenic items never turned up on time and the signal box, purchased from EBay, was sent to my old house because I had forgotten to change my details.
     
    With so many issues it was no wonder I was feeling a little sick with nerves when I awoke at 5am on the Saturday morning. I skipped breakfast, loaded the car, and was on the road within 45 minutes. This year I had delegated most of the road signs to the school caretaker so there were less for me to do on the way. As a result I was able to open the school by 6.30am and had Skaleby West unloaded and in-situ before the official 7am opening up time.
    Still the problems arose. As I went to open the side gate that leads to the back entrance to the main hall I realised I no longer had a key. The school secretary had borrowed it a few months ago when hers broke. I only use mine once a year so no wonder I forgot! A frantic search and mad few minutes trying various keys finally got the padlock undone. Surely that was the end of the problems. No! Clearly the caretaker had been lax on his gardening duties. The gateway was blocked by several low lying branches from a nearby tree. So my next task was some ad-hoc branch trimming.
    At least it was all done for just after 7am when the kitchen staff started to arrive. They brought news that some of the signs were not yet up. Maybe that explained why no one else was there! In the last three years I have had people waiting on the doorstep for me. This year nothing! It was a nervy half hour before people started to arrive. At least they brought news that the signs were finally up!
    Skaleby West was the next to cause problems. During the set up I had to re-glue the cottage, garden roller, platform detail and remove some tree foliage which had been lost during the drive to the school. Then as I took the controller out of the bag I found it had lost its wires - and I had left the screw drivers at home. Thanks to Kev Hughes (Up the Line) for the loan of his tools. Once reconnected the extension lead blew a fuse so a replacement was sourced from school stock. This was not helping the stress levels!
     
    From then on things did seem to go smoothly. Everyone turned up and were set up on time, with only one layout in the corridor cutting it fine. There were one or two mumblings about our insistence that all cars were moved to an off-site car park before the doors opened, but all responded to the request eventually.
    My layout set up was made easier thanks to the offer of help from RMWeb member Andy Sharpe (leopard) who came along before the doors opened. He was a real help and cleaned the track and stocked the layout whilst I distributed lunch passes etc. He then insisted on paying his entry fee (I told him not to!) and went off to look around the show, heading off without having an operating turn - we must sort that next year!!
     
    I did manage to have a brief walk around before the doors opened. I must admit I started to feel a lot better. The layouts looked great. After the ups and downs of the week there were 20 layouts - helped by the very late addition, Werrington Road. The owner contacted me on Friday night to offer to come and cover for the lost layouts. I am very appreciative of this.
    Down at the entrance hall the raffle was well stocked with plenty of prizes, aided by Denise Hughes (wife of exhibitor Malcolm) who donated two large bags of prizes and a gift for my three year old daughter. The support and kindness of so many people really did take the stress away.
     
    As for the show itself - it flew by. We were busy in the morning, slackened off at lunch, with a brief revival in the afternoon. We sold out of bacon cobs, lunches and raffle tickets. I hear the ladies on the door developed a raffle ticket sales pitch which would not have been out of place on an episode of The Apprentice. I knew we must have done well by the steady stream of staff handing over piles of cash to "look after". At one point I had £500 in my back pocket - but I did not consider running away - honest!
    As I operated Skaleby West I was busy with so many people coming to say hello and have a chat. It was great. There were many kind words about the show which was nice to hear. The traders all seemed to do well too.
     
    In the end we raised £1050 for stocking the school library. This is our best total ever. And so, despite my initial concerns and worries, I can say that it has definitely been worthwhile. I feel very satisfied. But of course it would not be possible without all the staff who worked so tirelessly all day, the exhibitors and traders who supported us this year - some exhibitors even handed back their expenses at the end of the day which was unexpected. Thanks go to all who played their part - I am so appreciative.
     
    And so to next year - SATURDAY 12TH NOVEMBER 2016.
  23. andyram

    More Skaleby pictures

    By andyram,

    I was very pleased with how many people read my first blog entry yesterday. A big thanks to those people who commented. For the member who wanted more pics I am happy to oblige.
     
    Yesterday I described how I had started building my layout, based loosely on the preserved station at Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors. One of the first scenic areas I have completed is the embankment which carries the footpath towards the location of Darnholm.
    Here are a couple of pictures of the completed the structure.

    This first picture gives an overview of the embankment, complete with trees and footpath. As you can see, some of the stone scatter material wasn't stuck down well enough onto the footpath and it has started to come off revealing the grey paint underneath (see bottom of the picture). I will have to repair this at a later date.
     

    This second picture gives a low level view of the embankment and footpath taken from the bottom of the enbankment.
     
    More developments
    Being a teacher the progress with Skaleby seems to go in "fits and starts". During term time the workload often prevents me from doing any scenic work, although I do find time to run the occasional train. But during the holidays things seem to move much quicker. The baseboards were only completed back in March. The track layout was experimented with during the Easter period before it was finally pinned down during the June half term. The "Darnholm embankment" was completed during the summer break along with the bases for the station buildings.
    As this week is my half term things are moving forward once again. I have turned my attention to the "Pickering" end of the layout where trains will leave the station under a road over bridge. The bridge has been placed "in-situ" and the embankments for the associated cutting has now been started. As before I built up the area using the polysterene blocks from Skaledale buildings. These were glued down before screwed up newspaper was added on top to create a basic shape ( as seen in this picture).

     
    I once again cut out strips of cardboard and stuck this on top of the newspaper to provide a firm base for the road. The whole structure was then covered with plaster bandage.

     
    I also added a cardboard base to the top of the enbankment for the pub which will stand here and overlook the station. I have placed the pub in the correct position for this shot. The building is the Skaledale "Mason's Arms".

     
    This whole area has now been left to dry. You may notice that on one side of the bridge the embankment has a "recess built in" (where the paintbrush is on an earlier shot!). This will house the signal box and a lamp hut. For those of you who know Goathland station you will realise that this is the wrong side. At the real location a water tower sits here. Sadly, space prevented me from placing the signal box in its true position on the near side of the line. Had I tried to put it there I would have had a very short platform or no goods yard, and both were important to me.
    Also I do not like the ground level signal box at Goathland, nor its associated Hornby model. I have therefore used major artistic license and moved the signal box location, and changed the style of the box too. The box I will use is actually Bachmann's model of Highley signal box from the Severn Valley Railway. Ok, ok I know it is not right for the area, but like I said previously...it is my layout so I will choose what I like! Besides as Skaleby is on a fictional preserved line I could easily invent a story to suggest that the original North Eastern box has been demolished!!! Anyway I like the Bachmann model and had to use it somewhere!

    I have placed the Bachmann box in its location for this shot which was taken of a Hornby West Country (Clovelly) whilst on test prior to be placed on EBay. Not sure why I bought this model. I think I had some spare cash and my local model shop was having a sale!
     
    Anyway moving on! With the bridge cuttings drying what is next?? I still have a few half term days left and I am sure there will be a bit of modelling time to be found amongst the decorating of the baby's room! So what are my plans?
    My next projects will be:
    * Permenantly pinning down the track in the fiddle yard.
    * Build a hidden storage siding to expand storage space in the fiddle yard.
    * Paint the cuttings in brown base paint.
    * Begin to add scenery to the rear of the far platform.
     
    Oh and I still need to connect up the track to the main engine shed scene and add scenery around the single road shed too. Watch this space!
  24. andyram

    Stafford 2014

    By andyram,

    The first weekend of February has produced my first model railway exhibition visit of the new year. I have been looking forward to the Stafford event all week as it is one of my favourite events of the whole year. It guarentees three large halls of exhibits with a host of large and impressive layouts to enjoy and plenty of trade to try and part me from my cash. Once again it did not disappoint. The show was excellent!
     
    My dad and I arrived at around 10.20, just twenty minutes after opening, and were greeted by a rather large queue. Clearly the show remains popular. Credit goes to the organisers who managed to keep the queue moving and, despite the numbers, we were in the hall in just over five minutes. Very impressive.
     
    At £9.00 per person the show is not cheap, but is definitely well worth the money. The show guide, at £1.00, was excellent value and, I think, cheaper than last year. The guide remains a good read and reference for the exhibits on show. Ok, Kenton, not too many track plans - but not everyone needs them!!
     
    This year the show featured a number of micro layouts in the "Sandylands" suite, providing plenty of inspiration to those with limited spaces. The pick of these models was "Ingleton Sidings" which is only 4ft x 1ft in size and is displayed on an ironing board. This takes the form of a shunting puzzle with a short headshunt and three sidings. The wagons are displayed on cards and then the cards were shuffled and five selected to form the train. The challenge is to shunt the wagons, in the short space, to achieve the sequence shown on the card. These layouts often received mixed reviews, but they are fascinating to watch. Set in a brewery sidings there was plenty of detail packed into the limited space with the additional touch of a video screen showing a live feed from a small camera hidden in a crate on the layout. This excellent model always seemed to attract the crowds.
     
    There were several layouts I had seen before including the N gauge "Melton Mowbray North" which aims to accurately represent the station and surrounding area. This is a superb model with key features including the "Home Ales" sign on the overbridge. The modern image "New Bryford" was on display. This is another excellent model with plenty of "yellow" on show. Peter Cullen's "Mannin the Middle" which represents the Isle of Man railways is an interesting circular shape.
     
    Scanning through the layout list before the show there were some layouts I was looking forward to see. The Hornby Magazine's "St Stephen's Road" has recently returned to the exhibtion circuit. It features an unusual triangular baseboard layout with Western and Southern region lines. The model did not disappoint with a number of sound fitted locos. The sound fitted and weathered Bachmann "Dukedog" was superb as was the sound and smoke fitted Spamcan. The highlight was the sound fitted model of City of Truro which looked a picture as it appeared, majestically, from the fiddle yard.
    BRM's "Black Country Blues" attracted a large crowd throughout the day and entertained with a procession of slow moving blue diesel hauled freight trains. The layout was superbly lit and the scenics were offset by a fantastic photographic backscene, one of the best I have ever seen!
     
    There are always models which have the "wow" factor. At Stafford that was definitely "Gresley Beat" which provided a constant flow of LNER action amongst fantastic scenery. This included a 70 odd wagon freight, hauled by an 0-6-0! A brilliant model and well deserving of the large crowds which gathered throughout the day. Mind you this did not stop the "picky" merchants having a moan. A gentleman next to me, loudly, bemoaned the lack of crews in many of the A4's, whilst my Dad criticised it for falling foul of his "pet hate". He hates bridges which go nowhere. Those bridges that end abruptly at the front of the baseboard always draw his (not mine) criticism. Even my own layout does not escape this! At times it was a little embarrassing to listen to my dad and the aforementioned gentleman "pick flies" out of such a superb model. For me it was the best in show!
     
    Mind you there was one or two layouts which did draw my criticism. The excellent N gauge model "Dentdale" did impress me. This excellent Settle and Carlisle model featured a couple of superb viaducts set in brilliant scenery. Sadly it was let down a little by the use of of two 8F's, both numbered 48773, within moments of each other. That is a cardinal sin in my opinion!
     
    Stafford does often suffer from the weather with heavy rain and snow causing trouble in past years. This year the recent rain did leave the car park very muddy. We were lucky to find a space on the hard standing and, therefore, had no problems. My father in law was not so lucky and got stuck in the mud!!!
     
    All in all an excellent show. Congratulations to all of the organisers. Here are my "awards" for the event. Remember these are only my humble opinion!!!
     
    Top layouts (the ones which kept me coming back for more)
    3rd: St Stephens Road: Plenty of sound fitted locomotives set in lovely off the shelf scenery.
    2nd: Inglenook Sidings: An enjoyable shunting puzzle in a limited space, with the opportunity for the public to have a go.
     
    1st: Gresley Beat: No contest! Plenty of scale length trains with lots of LNER action. Superb!
     
    Best scenic item
    Runner Up: The viaducts on "Dentdale",
     
    Winner: The photographic backscene and lighting on "Black Country Blues" - just excellent.
     
    Best model loco
    It could have been any of the sound fitted locos on "St Stephens Road" with the Dukedog and Spamcan being strong contenders. For me the pick was the sound fitted "City of Truo". It looked and sounded superb.
     
    And finally - the not so good.
     
    Runner Up: The doubling up of 8F 48773 on "Dentdale",
     
    Winner: I am not going to name the layout. All I will say is one model featured a card built model of a "cafe". This was falling apart, with the card roof clearly very bent. The colouring on the model looked like it had been done by one of my less able 6 year old pupils!!
     
    A great show though, thoroughly enjoyed it!!!
  25. andyram
    On Saturday I enjoyed an all too brief visit to the Great Central Railway's winter gala. What a spectacle. A constant stream of trains on the double track main line section with a good mix of passenger, freight and TPO workings. Gorgeous sunshine and snow lying on the ground made for great photographic conditions. I am sure those who are lucky enough to have a lineside pass enjoyed the show, especially those who positioned themselves around Swithland Sidings. Here trains were looped for others to overtake and, in the case of the TPO, were terminated here. I certainly enjoyed watching the Swithland action whilst sat in the looped DMU. Just a shame a couple of grumpy old men behind me didn't stop complaining throughout the time we were stationary. According to them the DMU was looped due to late running and the timetable was well behind. Shame they hadn't read their timetable booklet as the train was actually running on time and the stop at Swithland was planned!
     
    The GCR put out a number of locos on the day - star of the show was the blue King 6023 "King Edward II", looking immaculate. It was joined by visiting GWR 2-8-0 3802. From the home fleet there was:
    King Arthur 777 "Sir Lamiel"
    Standard 2 78019
    Ivatt 2 46521
    Red 8F 48624
    Jinty 47406
    N2 1744
     
    That is 8 steam locos and a DMU. A pretty good show!
     
    Just a shame I couldn't stop long. But here are some pictures from the day.

    Ivatt 2 46521 waits on the Mountsorrel Branch.

    Red liveried 8F 48624 waits to depart Loughborough Central with a short freight.

    The King at Quorn.

    6023 departs Quorn.
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