Although the N-Club convention and modular layout dominates the train section of the Stuttgart show, there are always some other self contained layouts to look at.

There are usually one or two modular HO layouts on display.  This one featured a railway bridge spanning a floor-deep gorge.

Apart from ESNG, the UK was represented by this little two-level shunting layout (sorry, Pauline, I forgot what it was called).  But as you know, gentle reader, I always like railways on brick viaducts.

There were several small and scenic layouts on display, including this delightful French harbour scene.  It’s a continuous layout, perhaps only 4′ long, with the main line weaving its way through the dockside.

This Norwegian layout was slightly larger, but it’s an unusual country to model, and the combination of mountains and sea made for dramatic scenery in a small space.

A single-track N-mod system has some excellent scenic work.  I love the water wheel and sluice gate – the picture is much larger than the real thing.

And of course, apart from the displays of trains, boats and planes, for the civil engineer there were the radio-controlled muck shifting models.  I’m told that psychologists say that civil engineers are generally well balanced people due to the fact that they never leave their childhood sandpits.  How you account for Mr Bean, Yasser Arafat and Osama Bin Laden (all civil engineers by training), I don’t know….