No ESNG meeting this weekend, as we were exhibiting at the Erith MRS show.  We took a modular layout billed as the ‘Anglo-German Project’ – a lot of NCI modules linked up to our N-mod ones.  The exhibition was located in deepest Thamesmead – somewhere that I think that I have never risked going before.

We were a little concerned about the short set up time – 2 hours Friday night and 2 hours Saturday morning.  So Friday afternoon we loaded Allan’s van and headed to the show.  Fortunately, we left very early.  We found out that a lorry driver had modified the Dartford Tunnel, and it was closed, resulting in a tail-back of some 8 miles, and gridlock around Dartford.

We took the cross-country route – Westerham, Bromley, Chislehurst, Sidcup and a few other places.  It was, of course, Friday rush hour.  We arrived spot on time at the show – 7:58pm – but it had taken nearly 3 hours to get there.  Having unloaded, we inspected our domain, and worked out where to put the modules to avoid a large potted tree.

Setup went surprisingly well.  Richard had all his modules ready for connection, and we had all our modules set up and connected together.

Getting back home was easier, and we could use the M25, having navigated a roundabout containing all the worst HGV drivers in Europe, I think.  Just over the hour, so not much longer than the usual run at that time of night.

Saturday morning, rose at 6:00am, and a clear run over to Thamesmead meant we arrived just one minute late – 8:01am.  We completed the set up by the time the show opened at 10:00am, and had the first trains on the move.  There was a pause when one of Richard’s modules needed a little TLC with a soldering iron.  We also found that one road of our fiddle yard wasn’t working, but that was a easy work around.  Here are a few of the modules.  My new bridge worked well all weekend – always a relief!

We had plenty of help all day (thanks!) and it was good that Nick Falconer could join us.  He provided his lovely funicular module…..

And also the ‘Rocket’, that generated a lot of comments from the punters.  The motor, by the way, is in the last coach.

Rocket also appeared on banking duties for some reason.

Nick also provided one end loop.

As is often the case, the layout sort of settled down after an hour or so and things generally ran well all day.  There were a few derailments – but less than on a usual club night!

The rest of the show was pretty good, too, and next time I’ll post a few pictures.