Visited the Farnham club show last weekend.  It’s an easy 40 minute drive from home over the Hog’s Back, and they always put together a good show.  This year they had some fun and games when a full sized boxing ring appeared in the gymnasium, messing up all the planning to date.  The layouts at the show were slightly different from the programme and the list on the club website.  (A couple of layouts I’d hoped to see were missing.)  Who’d be an exhibition manager?

There was plenty of ‘N’ gauge at the show (not that I don’t enjoy the other layouts.)  Pride of place must go to James Street.  This gigantic layout is in the American basement style – stations and track everywhere, but it’s so big that it doesn’t look cluttered, but like the prototype crammed into an urban area.  I think that the success of the layout is due to the consistent standard of modelling throughout.  The scenery and buildings have a uniform ‘style’ on all four sides of the layout, and I especially enjoyed the large factory and works buildings and the port area.

The layout ran very well – obviously everything was carefully tested for derailments and uncoupling.  It’s interesting that there is no fiddle yard.  There are enough stations, carriage sidings and goods yards to hold all the stock visibly on the layout.  Just like the real thing…..

I’d seen South Walton before, but Australian prototype layouts are (unfortunately) not that common, and it’s a lovely little layout.  It represents a small town station on the single track northern main line of the New South Wales Government Railways.  The scenery is typical of New South Wales, including the timber buildings, the hotel with drunks outside, lots of sheep, and kangaroos, emus and koalas (I didn’t spot the koalas.)

I’d seen Melton Mowbray (North) at TINGS but this quality layout was well worth another look.  Unfortunately, I arrived (and probably caused) multiple derailments, so I moved on before creating further mayhem…

Mike Le Marie has sold on his large Settle & Carlisle layout, replacing it with a smaller Scottish layout, that is easier to take to shows.  But the scenery is still wild!  Kinlochlaggen could be anywhere in highland Scotland, with the typical limited freight facilities.

And to finish today, here’s a helping of pizza….

The rest of the layouts, in the larger scales, will appear in the next blog.