The Uckfield show weekend has come around again.  Despite a busy week, I set off south once again to visit a very good show.  A good number of layouts that were new to me, no dross at all, and a wide range of prototypes and scales.  For me, Uckfield is an essential visit – much better than many of the larger shows, as the standard of layouts and modelling is so much higher.

Plus one must add that it’s a pretty drive across Ashdown Forest to Uckfield, even in the rain, and that the Civic Centre cafe does an excellent breakfast.

This year was rather special.  To quote the show guide….

We also have the Iain Rice Extravaganza, a tribute to the well known railway modeller and author who passed away last year. Spread throughout the exhibition, we have five 4mm/ft finescale layouts which were originally constructed by him or in which he was a major contributor. On display will be a selection of Iain’s North Cornwall stock, built for his layout Tregarrick, and various plans and drawings from his publications for your interest.

So we’ll start with the Iain Rice layouts, and I’ve also included the track plans from the show guide.  There was a display of stock from his North Cornwall Mineral railways.

Iain Rice’s Tregarrick layouts from the 1970s and early 80s, based around the fictional world of the North Cornwall Minerals Railway, were ground breaking and hugely influential in many ways. The layouts were populated with a motley collection of scratch-built P4 locomotives largely drawn from Iain’s favourite source, the contractor’s locomotives of Boulton’s sidings. Stock was a similar rag-tag collection of largely scratch-built wagonry built and portrayed in various states of decay. All supported by a wonderful cast of characters, the products of Iain’s imagination which he wrote about regularly, in his inimitable style, for the old Model Railways magazine.

Butley Mills (originally P4, now EM) is a good 40 years old, and is currently being renovated, so nothing was running.  But I was very happy to see one of my favourite layouts.  It captures the atmosphere of an East Anglian freight only branch, served by the occasional short train, and is dominated by the fine mill building and it’s scruffy extension.  These hide the fiddle yard.  It doesn’t have the full Rice cameo layout treatment, but one can see some of his later ideas already in the making.

Hepton Wharf (P4) was originally built at a show over a weekend, and is perhaps the original cameo layout.  It’s a mere 30 years old!  It’s a tiny layout, but the scenic detail and backscene convey a much larger layout.

Trerice is a lovely little China clay works layout somewhere in Cornwall.  As such it can have both a Southern or Great Western air to it.  Best let Iain Rice describe his layout….

This tiny P4 layout depicts a typical set of Cornish ‘pan’ china clay dries and their associated railway facilities as they would have been around 1960. The buildings are all models of originals in the Goss Moor area of Cornwall, and the railway is based on the Wenford Bridge branch near Bodmin. The layout features the two locomotive types most often associated with the Wellford Bridge line, the ex-L&SWR Beattie 2-4-owT and the GWR ‘1366’ class dock tanks. Both these models are largely scratch-built – as are all the structures, which feature hand-scribed and painted stonework. The scenic work incorporates fragments of genuine Delabole slate waste. The china-clay (Kaolin) is also the real thing.

Debenham, Cade’s Green (P4) was Iain’s last ‘home’ layout built as Parkinson’s began to catch up with him.  A group of Iain’s friends have taken on the layout to complete and detail it.  Although not intended for exhibition, it will no doubt make plenty of appearances!  It’s again set somewhere in GER territory.

And finally for today, Longwood Edge (P4), a larger ‘cameo’ layout.  It’s a northern town setting, with railways on two levels and from two companies – the LNWR and the L&YR.  Typical Rice design, with a lot crammed in a small space, but not looking overly cluttered.

An excellent tribute to an inspirational modeller – both in his writing and his actual modelling.  More layouts from Uckfield next time!