Chris Knight

Like yourself Tony I am of 1946 (baby boomer) vintage and remember the hordes of spotters inhabiting the long platform at B'm'th Central which afforded a good view of the shed. I well recall the day some 60 odd years later when I first saw a WR loco, a dirty 4951 "Pendeford Hall" in black livery plodding through eastbound on a goods - we never called them freight trains in those days - and I was hooked thereafter on ex GW motive power. Something about the big curved nameplate perhaps? I can't really quantify it. However a short while after I was persuaded by a school pal to join the Wessex Railway Society, a somewhat posh name for essentially a spotters club which was run by a local railway guard called Stan Cherrett, a really good bloke. The next organised trip was to Swindon Works and shed, and the first thing I saw after exiting the tunnel under the Bristol main line was an ex works "Castle" on the turntable. Well that was me signed up to the copper capped lovers brigade for ever, and I would defy anybody not to have been stirred by such a wonderful sight. I apologise to the mainly ER fans on Tony's thread for this old spotter regaling you with such talk of the finest of railways !

Stunned to hear this very sad news. Steffan was a truly gifted modeller I first met many years ago when he was exhibiting Aberhafren, a large P4 roundy roundy based on Aberystwyth and his "Maindee East" is rightly regarded as a masterpiece. Last saw him a couple of years ago when he was showing ME at Southampton. RIP Steffan you will be sorely missed.

The Horfield Group will be there showing Bournemouth West led by main constructors Roger Sunderland and Dave Bayman, the layouts second exhibition after its debut at the Swindon Steam Festival last year.

Well the mention of backscenes (or lack of) certainly started a thorough debate to start the New Year ! Whilst admiring the many hand painted and photographic examples that have appeared here and been seen at shows, my own personal preference lies with a lightish blue/grey sky scene fading to the horizon. Tim's views regarding the hiding of fiddle yards and creating a theatrical theme when presenting a layout for public showing mirrors my thoughts exactly and is one which the modelling group I am part of subscribe also. Fiddle yards - to hide or show ? Another debate perhaps ?

My personal 'pet hate' to add to the list Tony is the apparently growing trend to display a layout without a backscene, I have always contended that the eye needs to 'rest' against something behind the main source of interest and also provide a sense of perspective. A happy and prosperous 2018 to yourself, Mo and all of the readers of 'Wright Writes'

As the second test match starts tonight I think cricket is a subject best avoided at present bearing in mind the several Oz contributors to Tony's thread

Thanks Paul,yes must have been a mere SR loco as I managed to misspell the name ! Must have been thinking of 35023's odd "Afrika". I will make sure there are plenty shots of 7911 "Lady Margaret Hall" on the down York eventually posted to further your education somewhat. I must admit this loco was such a regular on this service that I tired of seeing it every evening back in the 1950's. Really enjoyed "Lulworth" at the recent Poole show. Regards,Chris

Many thanks for posting your pics from the Swindon show, this will be my first attempt at attaching a photo online so hope the view of MN No.35022 "Holland Amerika Line" leaving the terminus with the up "Belle".

Totally agree with these sentiments, our group have always viewed the presentation aspect of exhibiting paramount and aim at improving such continually. We always attempted (usually successfully) to close our 55 minute sequence with a final "curtain call" of the Blue Pullman crossing a 12 coach WR choc/cream Mk1 set, and at one time accompanied this with an announcement that we had now arrived in 1961 - the next operating sequence starting in 1955 would follow immediately. We did not persevere with this info to the viewers, although my personal opinion is that as much explanation of what is happening is all to the good. Bearing this in mind we have exhibited our new layout "Bournemouth West" - mostly the work of Roger Sunderland and Dave Bayman - for the first time recently at the Swindon Steam Festival and have been pondering since the best way to convey to spectators what is happening. Unlike Horfield's roundy roundy format, a lot of the stock movements on BW consist of a station pilot, and sometimes the train engine, shuffling stock to/from the storage yard and from one platform to another in order to form a new service. Several comments along the lines of "Oh - he must have gone into the wrong platform" were overheard and the current debate is how to relate to the viewing public what is going on. I suppose the choice is either a number of flipover cards or screens and having seen these at various events over the years I ask the question "is there anything better?". A series of recorded announcements? II think not. Any thoughts bearing in mind the layout is 35ft in length. Chris Knight

Steve, Without wishing to be too pedantic the featured DVD layout is 'NEW Kensal Green' - has been since our last rebuild in 2015, and appeared at Doncaster this February as such! looking forward to seeing it however. Like the line up at Peterborough - sure it will be another good show. Regards, Chris K

Lack of respesct for umpires isn't a new phenomenon Tony, my cricket was played for a team called "Old Franciscans" in the lower Bournemouth Leagues, our captain (indeed the whole team) didn't particularly live up to our holy name. One afternoon especially sticks in the memory when after about 7 of our first 9 wickets had been given out LBW by one of the umps,our captain disappeared into the pavilion and promptly re-appeared holding a lit candle he had obtained (no, nobody knew where) and running to our nemesis in the middle presented it along with a few choice words ! Needless to say we all clubbed together to pay the resultant fine. The spooky thing was we were playing B'm'th Electric Co.!!

Have a safe journey Baz, looking forward to seeing Chapel , the photos on your thread look terrific !

I will lead,hopefully others will follow Paul - a Saint is rising from the dead at Didcot and the King is already in residence !

Never fear, I shall continue to show all unbelievers the light as we make our annual pilgrimage to the shrine that is Swindon. One day the light will dawn.............

Just a reminder that the layout makes its initial exhibition appearance at the Swindon Steam Festival on Sept. 9th/10th. Full details of the other layouts attending are on the Exhibition thread,together with admission prices etc.

Yes, my apologies as a newbie poster Gordon, the Festival is on the 9th/10th of September 2017.

The Horfield Group from Bournemouth will be showing our new layout Bournemouth West for the first time at this event, always a terrific show for modellers but with the added attraction of the GWR Steam Museum included in the admission price. 24 layouts attending (including several others new to the circuit) are listed below. Their is of course trade support also although I have no details at the time of posting. Admission £12, over 65's £9 Children 3-15 £8. 7MM East Midland Test Track Dalry Road Thrift Drift Weatherbury Magna 82G Lough Engine Shed 4MM Chapel-en-le-Frith Cadiford Water Wood Street Broadford 2MM F/S Sykes Yard Callaton Modbury Llangerisech N Gauge The Quarry Todmorden Midland 7MM Broad Gauge Alma Street Quay Chalfont 7MM Narrow Gauge Rumbow Nancledre Scale 7 7MM Ellerton 4MM F/S Bournemouth West Simington Gauge 3 Lee Sidings Something to suit all tastes I would think amongst that selection organised as usual by Ivor the Engine !

I make that around 630 stock items Tony (including loco's), I bet you are glad not to have to set up and remove that lot if you had LB on the road ! We run 46 trains on Horfield and stock items number just over 700 - as I am sure you recall from your days with the WMRC exhibition layouts it is one of the less pleasant aspects of exhibiting. I bet LSGC also has a considerable stock count on their terrific evocation of the GC also,the difference being,of course, the high proportion of kit built items both you and Headstock can boast.

Tony, I think you have answered your own question when quoting the superb stud of loco's and rolling stock built by yourself and members of WMRC to be admired on Stoke S. and Charwelton in particular. Sadly we run modified RTR mostly on Horfield with a small (but growing) selection of kit built stock and you make the point well that you probably (certainly?) wouldn't have been as successful or welcomed on the exhibition circuit with a similar loco stud and rolling stock roster. As I mentioned previously, our concern now is that an even more straightforward layout with the viewers focus more on the stock may not be the way to go? ps The B1 is performing well,thanks

As a member of the "Horfield" group I would say that we have attracted a little criticism during the past few years for the open and simple 4 track main line extending most of the 35ft on view, just the suburban station occupying one end and associated signals.We are currently contemplating a successor utilising the 16 track fiddle yard and the prevailing view amongst the crew leans toward another stretch of 4 track main line. Lazy thinking? Perhaps we are duplicating ourselves but we do love to see a "Castle" with 12 on belting through! We considered Badminton at some length as well as Cholsey and Moulford but the consensus now seems to favour another crack at Sonning Cutting. With much assistance from son Steve and Mike Evans I tried (not very successfully) to model this many years ago with an end to end set up.Not my most wonderful idea. We did take it to a few shows, but to say it kept you on you toes as an operator would be the understatement of the year.I believe one of the team still suffers nightmares. Anyway bearing in mind the posts from "Waverley" and "t-b-g" we would be interested to hear others opinions as the operating potential would be less than "Horfield" as there is no station to provide extra stopping train interest.

Yes David, a smacked bum for our driver of the pannier on the Horfield video section, I think he forgot the signal was "on" and suddenly anchored up! He duly was shown a yellow card.

Thankyou for your kind comment, I am pleased that you both enjoyed our layout. Yes the finale of the sequence depicts the Blue Pullman (full 8 car rake) and the Warship headed express crossing, we used to announce the start and finish of the sequence, but after some micky taking from the rest of the crew this was quietly abandoned. Horfield was originally a 2 platform halt,subsequently rebuilt in 1934 when the track layout was quadrupled funded by the governments Loan Act to provide employment during the 1930's depression. Apart from some minor changes in positioning of signals the scene remained unchanged until closure in 1964, so yes a full set of GWR trains would be very fitting. We definitely won't be doing it however as other projects are in hand !

Hello Tony, This is my first attempt to post online so I am trusting to luck somewhat ! Anyway it was good to catch up with you again at Railex yesterday, I must apologise for us collaring you for loco fitters duties during your leisure timeI - many thanks anyway. Also appreciate the photos of Horfield which I haven't seen before, did you take them at Wigan last November? I must correct you regarding the shots you took during the building phase - we always planned to model the area between the Lockleaze and Bonnington Walk bridges to a scale 35 feet, it was a lack of room when we were housed in the New Forest area that prevented this initially. You are right about the "lack" of a signal box on the layout. Boxes were situated at Ashley Hill and Filton, sadly all gone now along with Horfield station. It was interesting to read the various views of the show and layouts present. We were flattered to receive an invitation to this prestige show, we all thought the standard the other exhibits outstanding with some wonderful modelling evident. As a group we harbour no illusions regarding Horfield. Our stock is predominantly detailed and weathered rtr, with a smattering of kit built locos and rolling stock. The scenic element offers no great modelling challenges being mainly the cutting leading to the station area. However what we try to achieve is offer a 46 train sequence lasting about an hour and provide plenty of action for the paying customers. Looking at the customers who were watching over the weekend (and previous shows) I think we generally supply this demand for a "trainspotters" layout, however I understand we may not be everybodys thing. Constructive criticism should always be welcomed, and I take the point regarding more information about the trains passing through would be useful. It has been mooted amongst the team in the past, we decided the length to cover would be difficult, probably needing three screens minimum. In conclusion I must thank Dave and his team for looking after us so well at what is a super event.