A morning (that turned into most of the day) out to Bexhill with Allan and the Derek’s seemed a good idea.  We had a pleasant run down to the show along the leafy, and mainly secondary, roads.  The Bexhill show was well worth the visit, with plenty of good layouts to view.  I saw several layouts there that I had seen before, but behind barriers.  It was good to be able to inspect them close up.  It was a friendly show, too, and I spent some time chatting to some of the layout owners.  As is sometimes the case, I’ll start with a few of my favourites (that has very little to do with quality!)

I loved Rixworth Green (P4).  Southern Railway with light railway leanings and loosely based on the KESR Bodiam station (note castle on backscene.)  Talking to the owner, I was amused to find that he built the layout and then thought about the scenery for seven (!) years, till it clicked and he finished the little line.

Hallam Town is 2mm fine scale and a Minories.  What is there not to like (at least when they stopped trying to run standard N gauge stock on the line!)

I had seen Plant City (HO) before, but it was good to have a long talk with the owner.  Miami based switching, this is a model of a real location.  It is scale width, but compressed in length – and is still a long layout giving a very open feel and room for plenty of industries – and alligators.

Hastings Tramways (OO) is a small end-to-end shuttle, and very well presented.

Portsea (TT) is a familiar layout, but is always worth a look.  A model of Portsmouth Town and Portsmouth Harbour station, there are lots of excellent EMUs to look at, as well as some very well observed scenery.

A well laid out show in several rooms – and a good seating area for refreshments.  We did have a little excitement there, when Mr Apps had an incident with the brown sauce, that exploded over the front of the serving area.  Never a dull moment at ESNG!

Rest of the photos next time.