Getting to Stevenage from Redhill requires a circumnavigation of London on the M25, as one town is diametrically opposite to the other.  But the Dartford tunnel crossing had one bore closed on Saturday, so Allan played safe and drove through the centre of London.  Not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and it took us through some of my south London haunts around Brixton, Vauxhall and Victoria.  I even saw a couple of ‘Boris buses’ for the first time, that shows how long it’s been since I drove through the city centre.

Meanwhile, back at the show, the quality layouts kept coming.  Sidmouth is a P4 layout of the London & South Western Railway West Country terminus in British Railways days.  As with Canada Street, I had seen this layout in Model Railway Journal and wanted to see it in the flesh.  Another fine layout modelling the station to scale.  There were about 15 trains per day in this era, so there were gaps in the modelled timetable.  But there was still a lot to look at between trains.  Here an M7 and two coaches enter the station platform:

It is rare to see houses modelled in detail.  The chalet bungalow and detached house in the foreground look even better from the road.  And its also rare to see a ‘stink pipe’ – a vent from the sewers – modelled next to the road in the foreground.  We had one opposite the 1930’s house I grew up in, but I think the cast iron pipe rotted through at its base, and it was hastily removed.

I understand that the gas works site became a garage converting VW Combis into camper vans, and then loaded into CCT’s as shown below.

Another view of the goods yard and station.  The Cha(I)rman looks confused…..

I had seen Chica, Illinois, a small HO Rock Island railroad layout, a few years ago.  It was good to see it back at an exhibition.  Excellent buildings, especially the tangle of power and phone lines.

Again, I had seen Eskmuir before, but placing the layout on a corner allowed this lovely view of the station building, looking down the layout.

Portsea is unusual in being both 3mm scale, TT gauge, and Southern Electric.  The terminus is a sort of expanded ‘Minories.’  Another one for my collection!  Nice modelling of the dockyard, too.

Cariboo River in HO models the Canadian railroads of British Colombia.  Lots of spacious and relaxed scenery, and some interesting buildings.

And a car float at the end of the line.

Finally, today, The End of the Line is a very small (5′ x 3′) O gauge and On2 gauge layout.  Modelling the transfer of coal from an off-scene mining operation, the layout features operating dump trucks to tip coal into the standard gauge wagons or onto the working conveyor and into the radio controlled lorry that drives away.  Fun!