MatP

Hi Everybody, The brochures for the Show have just arrived from Solopress - they're a single sheet of A4 printed both sides and folded in half. They will of course be available at the Show, for free, or if possible with a small donation towards the Extension Fund. The leaflets also have full details of the train service on the Lake Railway and the times for the connecting buses. One thing which is being announced on these leaflets - and which we haven't yet announced anywhere else to my knowledge - is that the 2024 Bala Model Show is planned to take place on 21st and 22nd September next year. All best, Mat

Hello everyone, With time's swift chariot driving over my battered corpse (= it's only two weeks or so until the Bala Model Show), I have received details of our last layout - though actually, and I wasn't expecting this, it's two layouts... Llamedos (009) is an ugly, lovely town, as Dylan Thomas might have commented when he wasn't busy making up reversed place-names. This layout was built by the Bala Lake Railway Society’s Heritage Officer, who is also in charge of our historic vehicles and collection of original parts. What may look like rotten bits of splintered timber to some (well, most) people is in fact a priceless resource for accurately building replica and restoring original quarry vehicles (such as the Dinorwic slate wagon I built :) and which Bachmann measured up... But I digress). Squeezed into the back streets of a little town of stone, slate and rusty corrugated iron lies a narrow-gauge terminus. The local railway company is pretty hard-up and presses into service whatever railway vehicles it can get hold of. Llamedos' owner will be bringing two more exhibits: a display of model buildings and a second 009 scale layout, a "micro" named Pointless (for reasons that will be immediately obvious). Pointless is visible at the back of the first picture, on the right hand side. So, once you've been to the 009 50th Anniversary Show, the Redditch Show, the Lichfield Show, the WHR Member's Day, the Blackpool Show and the SVR gala on Saturday 16th, to name but a few, you know where to come on the Sunday!!! Best Wishes, Mat

Hello All, First of all, I have an addition to the roster for the Bala Model Show [Ysgol Godre'r Berwyn / Bala School, 16th and 17th September 2023, 10.00-16.00 both days]. Our friends Marion and the late Walter Turner (of the Porthmadog Model Railway Society) supported the Bala Model Show for many years prior to the Covid hiatus. They often used to bring their very popular Playmobil layout, for young people to operate. This year, Marion will be exhibiting a stall in her husband's memory, featuring some of the layouts which the Turners built together, in Z and T gauges. Marion will also be selling part of their collection, mainly N gauge and G Scale (Playmobil) models. I also have to announce that "Worthington Shed" (7mm standard gauge, minimum-space) is no longer coming to the Show, due to illness and other issues outside of our control. I have emended the earlier post announcing this layout. Best Wishes, Mat P. (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary and Bala Model Show Organiser)

Hi everybody! I have another layout to announce - it's a model of Lapford station in Devon, N Gauge, 1960's BR. If I've got this right, its creators have turned the long straight loop of the real thing into an oval, so as to fit it all on a 4' x 2' board. I think this means that our Show now has 26 layouts (2 of which will be on display as static dioramas). My thanks to all those layout builders and owners who have generously agreed to come and support the Bala Lake Railway and our continuing efforts to extend into Bala Town. Best Wishes, Mat

Hi everybody, At the Show, there will be a number of exhibits in the School Foyer. As well as our two different models of Llangollen in two different gauges, there will also probably be our currently-static diorama 'Bala Town', built by the staff of Model Rail magazine, and my own model of Llangower, the half-way station on the Bala Lake Railway (it does work but I'll probably be busy elsewhere). Definitely on display in the foyer will be the fully-operational 0-9 layout Hafod-y-Parc, which belongs to one of our railway's volunteers. There will also be stands and displays representing the Railway's hoped-for Extension and the Bala Lake Railway Society. Bala Lake Railway members get half-price admission to the Show and also a certain amount of free travel on the Railway. An observant person might calculate that purchasing a full adult membership for a year would more than cover the cost of Show admission and a couple of trips on the Railway... We do hope that people who join the Society will turn into long-term supporters of the Railway! We have nothing against observant persons but must point out that it is a rule of the commercial Bala Lake Railway Company (it actually owns and runs the Railway) that only Society members who have had their applications checked and their membership cards issued are allowed to claim free travel and other privileges. This process usually takes 1-2 weeks. As it is the Company which is kindly sponsoring the Model Show, this means that if you want to reap the rewards of membership at the Model Show weekend, you will need to join the Society in advance and as soon as possible! Please see the Bala Lake Railway website for more information. Best Wishes, Mat P. [Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary, Bala Model Show Organiser, restorer of the Dinorwic slate wagon which Bachmann measured for their forthcoming 009 model, available for weddings and funerals]

Hi All, I am double-checking this to make sure but I believe that the Dinorwic Slate Wagon model is based at least partly on measurements taken from a wagon I (re-) built for the Bala Lake Railway. I have attached below a picture of the prototype under (re-) construction in my garage in Norfolk (mocked-up but not yet bolted together). I brought the solebar timbers back from Wales with me by putting the front seat of my Fabia into 'gangster-lean' mode... The majority of the other timber came from the sawmill at Sandringham. Having built or refurbished all the components, I broke the wagon down into parts and loaded them into a hired van, half an hour before Mr. Johnson announced the first lockdown.... Anyway, the wagon is now at Bala, but is currently waiting for attention to one of its bearings (the one thing which wasn't my job!) so is 'out of service'. Anyway, I can vouch for the prototype being exactly the right size, at least... I did get into trouble for spelling wagon with one 'g', not two, in certain circles. I am willing to be corrected on the rest of this sentence, but as far as I can tell, by the time this type of wagon was introduced at Dinorwic (1880's - ish*), they had standardised on the single-'g' spelling in their English documents. However, some people prefer the Victorian spelling for all slate quarry vehicles, especially those who belong to big railways which, unlike the BLR, can afford a luxurious second 'g', and indeed, insist upon it... [*Before this, Dinorwic seem to have used waggons with dumb buffers, not unlike the Talyllyn type, to carry finished slates - or am I wrong?] Anyway, I'm really sending this just so I can get in yet another shameless plug for the Bala Lake Railway Model Show on 16th and 17th September - sorry! Mat P. (Bala Model Show Organiser, Bala Society Secretary and occasional Restorer of Wagons)

Hi Ben, My 89 will be in original livery - that's because this was the colour scheme it had on the one and only time I saw it on the WCML (passing Crewe on, I think, a depot open day). My local station in the 80's was Lichfield TV but I never saw it go through there. I guess it stayed further north, most of the time. I'd love to build a model of LTV in c.1990 based on an alternative universe in which the 89's entered fleet service, but I think I'll need a bigger shed... All the best, Mat

Hi everyone! The absolutely super WCML layout 'Weaver Hill', which is appearing at the Bala Show, is currently featuring in the August 2023 issue of BRM. (I haven't asked its owners yet but I'm hoping they'll let me run my Class 89 on it, assuming it arrives in time. Otherwise said loco is going to get a bit bored creeping up and down my 1930's GWR shunting plank, coupled to a generator van...). All the best, Mat (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary / Bala Model Show Organiser)

Hi All, Firstly, I can now announce another trader for the Bala Model Show on September 16th and 17th: Enwin's Models. This company is based in the Wirral: they produce 3D-printed detailing parts and kits, from tiny but essential items up to complete locomotive body kits. They also supply laser-cut wood kits and ready-to-run models. Please see their website at: https://enwinsmodels.co.uk Secondly, the Bala Lake Railway Society's 'Port Dinorwic Layout Officer' (not me) has made another modification to the layout, to allow human-powered shunting to take place. Suggestions for how to animate a 4mm figure are welcome - I will pass them on. I suggested the shunting person should be fitted with a jet pack, meaning that he wouldn't have to move his legs, but my suggestion was rejected. Video footage is here: I realise that I've been drip-feeding announcements into this thread. It was not as part of a sinister scheme to keep the Bala Model Show near the top of the RM Web Exhibitions page (honest) but just as confirmations came in. However, as the roster is now more or less complete, it now seems like a good time to put up a complete list of the exhibits and traders - with the usual proviso that it is subject to last-minute changes of fortune. Layouts (in no particular order): Drws-y-Nant (2mm Finescale, GWR, 16 feet x 7 feet) Gorsaf Maes-y-Gof (0-16.5, fictional South Wales line, 4 feet x 2 feet) Boulder Falls (N Gauge, USA preserved line, 2 feet 6 in by 1 foot 3 in) Weaver Hill (00 Gauge: WCML present-day,19 feet by 9 feet) Worthington Shed (0 Gauge, industrial, 3 feet 8 inches by 16 inches) Llangollen (N Gauge, preservation era, 6 feet by 3 feet) 34th and Vine (H0, dockyard, 12 feet 3 inches by 2 feet) Pentre (16mm Scale, live steam, 26 feet by 18 feet) Millhouses (N Gauge, 1960's northern main line, 9 feet x 2 feet) Beaumont Ville (00 Gauge, GWR terminus, 18 feet x 1 feet 3 inches to 2 feet) Sandy Lane (0-9 narrow gauge and 0 Scale Standard Gauge, industrial: 8 feet x 2 feet) Mikesbiltom and Fredby Depot (00 Gauge, main line plus depot, contemporary era, 24 feet x 5 feet) Pentrefelin (TT3, Central Wales Line, BR steam and diesel, 12 feet x 6 feet) Chwarel Cwm Bach (00-9 Gauge, fictional slate quarry, 2 feet 8 inches x 2 feet 8 inches) Llangollen to Corwen (00 Gauge, preservation era, 12 feet x 3 feet) Talybont (0-16.5, slate quarry to exchange sidings railway, 34 feet x 12 feet) Porth Penrhyn (009 and 00, model of the Penrhyn Railway's harbour, 16 feet x 2 feet) Llanfarthyn (N Gauge, Cambrian Coast 1970's, 6 feet x 2 feet) Port Dinorwic (009 and 00 Gauge, model of the Dinorwic / Padarn Railway's harbour, 3 feet x 1 foot 6 inches) Tony’s Forest (0-9 narrow gauge, estate railway, 11 feet by 2 feet 3 inches) Live Steam Modular Layout (16mm scale, 29 feet 6 inches by 19 feet 6 inches) I also have two more NG layouts (one in 009, one in 0-9) for which I am awaiting details. The former is still under construction, by a BLR member; the latter is a micro-layout which is going to go on the BLR Society Stall. Trade and Society Stands: Sawyer Models North Western Models Andrew McDougal 0-16.5 Models All Components MPB Model Supplies Enwin’s 3D Models (plus one yet to confirm) Bala Lake Railway Society Maid Marian Locomotive Fund There will also be special extra trains on the Bala Lake Railway, with a connecting vintage bus. For more information on the Show, please see https://bala-lake-railway.co.uk/events/model-show/ Regards, Mat (just back from doing things to an ex-Llangollen Thompson Brake 3rd at the NNR / Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary / Bala Model Show Organiser)

Hello All, Port Dinorwic has now been converted to continuous-run (not by me!): please see below for a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnguReiAsIw&feature=youtu.be All best, Mat P.

Thanks, Ade - hope you enjoy it. Now that I'm back from a trip to collect some bits of ex-Trecwn rail to build some 600mm gauge track in my garage, as you do, I have another layout announcement. There will be a second 16mm scale, narrow-gauge, live-steam layout at the Bala Model Show 2023 (in addition to 'Pentre', mentioned above). It's a modular layout comprising lots of different scenes, and there should be enough of these modules to produce a layout approximately 9m x 6m or, if you prefer to avoid John-Wilkins-based measuring systems, 29'6" x 19'6". With the special permission of the modular group leader, it's going to be located in the cafeteria, in an area not normally used for tables. This was the only place big enough to accommodate it but not already spoken for. I asked the operators for special permission because the cafeteria will be operating, selling hot and cold food. This does at least mean that there will also be plenty of seating available for people who want to watch a few live-steam-hauled trains going by, even if they don't fancy anything from the menu. At the same time, as the locos will all be gas-fired, there won't be any strong methylated spirit or coal smells which might put people off their luncheons. The precise nature of the modules is to be confirmed: the following photo is of a typical module which may or may not actually be part of the final 'melange'. Best Wishes, Mat P. (Chief BLR Model Show Minion)

Hi there! I am pleased to announce another layout for our modelling Septemberfest: "Tony’s Forest" in 0-9 narrow gauge. The layout is 11 feet by 2 feet 3 inches and depicts an estate railway. Originally built in the 1890's for harvesting timber, so the fictional history of this layout tells us, the railway has just about made it into the 1950's, mainly by being too small for any of the authorities to realise it exists, but who knows how much longer it can survive? 'Tony's Forest' was built by a member of Gloucester Model Railway Club (and the 7mm Narrow Gauge Modelling Association). The track is hand-built with PECO rail on copper-clad sleepers. All of the rolling stock is kit-built or heavily modified from RTR models (for instance, the coaches are re-built Bachmann 0n30 tramcars) and fitted with Greenwich automatic couplings. The locomotives have specially-designed gearboxes to allow them to potter slowly about without disturbing the wildlife. For more information, please see: https://www.robinslayouts.co.uk/tonys-forest/ Best Wishes, Mat P. (Bala Model Show Organiser and Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary, and sometimes the other way round)

Here's a picture of a Bachmann Holy War at Port Dinorwic. This is the layout built by Kathy Millatt, featured on the Hornby TV series and now owned by the Bala Lake Railway Society. It's due to make its exhibition debut at the Bala Model Show on September 16th - 17th. Of course, this is a model of HW in preserved condition and we could really do with a Dinorwic Port Class... but she still looks pretty fine. All best, Mat P. (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary and Bala Model Show Organiser) https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/176115-bala-model-show-september-16th-17th-2023/

Hi, Here are a couple of pictures of Port Dinorwic for you. Alas, we don't have a Dinorwic Port Class Hunslet to go on it, but George B hopefully gives you an idea... Best Wishes, Mat

Hello! The model of Port Dinorwic by Kathy Millatt, one of the features in this series, will be exhibited for the first time at the Bala Model Show in September. For more information, please see the most recent post on our exhibition 'thread': https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/176115-bala-model-show-september-16th-17th-2023/ Best Wishes, Mat P.

Hi All, I would like to announce another layout that's going to appear at this year's Bala Model Show (16th and 17th September 2023). The layout is a 4mm scale model of Port Dinorwic - the harbour at the western end of the Padarn Railway, where slates from Dinorwic Quarry were trans-shipped. It was built by well-known professional modelmaker Kathy Millatt and featured in the second series of 'Hornby - A Model World' on the Yesterday Channel. We originally tried to persuade Kathy to come to the Bala Show, but she had too many other commitments. We therefore did what any sensible people would do in such circumstances and bought the layout. Thanks to a very generous donation, it will ultimately go on display in our Heritage Centre at Llanuwchllyn. But it will have its first public showing at the 2023 Bala Model Show. And if all goes to plan, it will be exhibited alongside a model of Porth Penrhyn (the Penrhyn Quarry harbour equivalent), also in 4mm scale. For more information about the layout, and some pictures, please go to: https://bala-lake-railway.co.uk/events/model-show/ And for some video footage of the Port Dinorwic layout, please see: https://youtu.be/o_Kx85Epkg8 or https://uktvplay.co.uk/shows/Hornby-a-model-world/series-2/episode-1/6318019620112 [We hope that a successful 2023 Bala Model Show will help us to raise money to resubmit our planning application to the Snowdonia National Park Authority, to extend the railway into Bala Town, after our first attempt failed. The resubmission itself is free, as long as we do it within a year of the first hearing, but (amongst other costs) many of the necessary environmental studies have an expiry date and will need to be done again]. Regards, Mat P (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary and Bala Model Show Organiser)

Good (?) Morning All, You may have heard that the planning meeting yesterday for the Bala Lake Railway Extension didn't go well from our point of view. Julian Birley, director of the Lake Railway Trust, has issued a statement, which can be accessed by a link below. I don't think this thread should digress onto matters not directly connected with the Bala Model Show (16th-17th September 2023), so I will move on swiftly and announce a new layout for said Show. You may have seen in a previous message that the owner of the Cambrian Coast, N gauge layout 'Sandside' had to pull out of the Show, and we wish him very well. We are now pleased to be able to announce that another Cambrian Coast, N gauge layout will be coming: Llanfarthyn, which is set in the 1970's. The station buildings are faithful replicas of those that are or were at Talsarnau (the station on the other side of the Traeth Mawr estuary from Portmeirion that you can see in the background when Number 6 is trying to escape by boat), based on the owner-builder's own surveys. Several other buildings on the layout are models of real buildings from the region. This layout's "twist" is that due to flooding on the Conwy Valley line being even worse than in reality and Barmouth Bridge being a bit better than it actually was in the 70's, several Conwy Valley line traffics have been diverted to run on the Coast, such as explosives traffic for Cookes' and Trawsfynydd nuclear material. For more pictures and some video of the layout, please visit: https://www.martinsrailways.uk/llanfarthyn-n-gauge I have five more stands for the Show waiting in the wings and we will hopefully be able to make further positive announcements very soon... Best Wishes, Mat P. (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary and Bala Model Show Organiser) The Bala Lake Railway.docx

Good Morning All, I hope you will forgive me for a quick post which is to do with the Bala Lake Railway rather than the Bala Model Show... Please have a look at the following web page for a news update from the BLR regarding the Extension into Bala Town. The Snowdonia National Park Authority planning permission meeting for the project is on 19th April and things are not looking good... https://bala-lake-railway.co.uk/2023/04/13/estyniad-y-bala/ If you have views on this matter, may I humbly ask you to contribute a message to the SNPA using the method described on the above web page? Please though, let's keep this particular RM Web thread purely about Model Show topics, if possible. Thanks. Kind Regards, Mat P. (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary and Bala Model Show Organiser)

Good Afternoon, I have another trader to add to the Show list - MPB Models from Droitwich Spa. This company, apart from other things, retails large scale and live steam models. They also sell new and secondhand models in 2mm, 4mm and 7mm scales, narrow and standard gauge, and a wide range of equipment and accessories. https://www.mpb-model-supplies.co.uk/ I would like to express my thanks to MPB Models and indeed to all of the traders who have signed up so far - especially as the list of companies I have contacted so far is, how can I put this, well onto its second roll of parchment. I still have a few enquiries out there. But I would also like to thank all those companies who can't come in 2023 or for the foreseeable but who have asked us to keep in touch, have helped us by displaying flyers or giving us advice or who have simply wished us well. (By the way, the precise date for the 2024 Show isn't set - it will be in September sometime and for next year, availability of traders will be checked before we make a decision...) Best Wishes to All, Mat

Hello All, I have a couple of layout notices for you today. Firstly, making a return to our show by popular demand, is Mikesbiltom and Fredby Depot. I don't have any pictures for you just yet, but this 00 Gauge layout is 24 feet x 5 feet and continuous run. It features depot operations and intensive main line train services, set in a fictitious location in the present-day North West of England. Locos take it in turns on the main circuit before popping back to the depot for a wash and brush up. The second layout is called 'Pentrefelin'. It is built to TT3 scale, standard gauge, and set in Central Wales in about 1960. Ex-GWR and ex-LMS steam locos are featured alongside new BR diesels. The station has a single platform and the goods loop and sidings for coal and agricultural produce show what is really keeping the place open - for the time being... Vintage TT3 items and modern kits supply the rolling stock. Oh, and whilst I'm here I hope nobody will mind me saying that the Bala Lake Railway will be open from 1st April and that there will be several special events in that first month, including, if all goes to plan, the return to steam of both 'Alice' and 'Holy War'. Regards, Mat (Bala Lake Railway Society Secretary / Bala Model Show Organiser)

Good Morning All, The Show flyers are being printed. Nothing else to report today! Mat

Hi Colin, Thanks for your interest. If you could send me an email at modelshow@bala-lake-railway.co.uk, I will add you to the contacts list for when we start recruiting for 2024. We haven't decided the precise dates for the September 2024 Show yet - it will probably depend on how our shift forward by a week in 2023 works out in terms of ticket sales, and what our regular traders have booked next year. All best, Mat P.

Good Afternoon Folks, I am very pleased to announce that "All Components" will be coming to the Show. This firm sells and manufactures electrical and electronic equipment for model railways, such as their own range of controllers, as well as selling tools, scenic materials and all sorts of other useful things for building a layout. Additionally, they specialise in Gauge 1 modelling and will have models and accessories in that scale for sale. Please see their website at: https://allcomponentsltd.co.uk/ Mat P.

Good morning! I have another two layout announcements for the Bala Show. The first is 'Porth Penrhyn' in 009 and 00. This layout has been acquired by one of our members and a small team is working to get it fully operable. It might have a limited functionality at the Show but we all felt it was definitely worth inviting as it is quite something to behold. It's a model of the harbour end of the Penrhyn Quarry main line so a perfect place for a Bachmann 'Linda' or 'Charles' to be seen. Currently it's about 12'x2' and one of the main jobs is to build a new fiddle yard, which will probably take it to about 16'. The second layout is a model of the Llangollen Railway in 00 gauge. It has been cleverly compressed so as to fit into a remarkably small space (the layout is 12' x 3' and double-sided). Several stations from the Llangollen Railway, including the new terminus at Corwen, are featured. The layout is designed partly so that younger visitors to the Show can get involved in operating it. Video footage of the layout is available by clicking on this link and fast-forwarding to 19 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFugJZ9Ijzg&t=1357s The particularly observant reader will have noticed that we also have an N gauge model of Llangollen station coming to the Show. I don't know how common it is to have two models of the same station in two different scales at the same event... Please be assured that I have checked with experts in quantum physics to make sure that no universe-destroying paradoxes will result from these two layouts being exhibited together. Best Wishes (especially if there's heavy snow where you are), Mat P.

Hello All, I have another fine layout to announce, but before I do that, I should say that the Bala Model Show will be open from 10.00 to 16.00 on both Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September 2023. I will add such a note to the top message in this thread as well. The next layout to join our portfolio, by kind permission of the Edinburgh and Lothians MRC, is called Tal-y-Bont. It is to 0-16.5 scale and will be exhibited in its largest permutation: 34' x 12'. It is being exhibited in Wales for the first time. Tal-y-Bont depicts a fictitious Welsh railway linking a slate quarry to a main line station, via an intermediate stop where the quarry engines hand over their trains to larger ones. At the far end of the line, there are exchange sidings with the standard gauge. Many of the buildings on the layout are models of actual Welsh prototypes. More information, pictures and video footage are available by going to: http://www.elmrc.org.uk/talybont.php We will also put some pictures up on the Bala Show's own website, as soon as we can: https://bala-lake-railway.co.uk/events/model-show/ I have three more layouts which are fully or almost fully booked, which will be announced over the next few days. On the basis of layout offers we have received so far, we will almost certainly match or exceed last year's layout tally (21). However, we would very much appreciate some more trade enquiries (and if you own a model business within a parsec or two of Bala, and you haven't had a private message from me already, you probably will be getting one soon!). Best Wishes, Mat