ESNG’s next exhibition will be a return to the 17th Reigate Scouts Lego and model show. Not many trains, but nice and local, so good local publicity. And above all, another chance to impress young people with N gauge modelling, rather than antique anorak wearers.
I was going to visit the Folkstone or Fareham shows today, but a heavy cold meant a slow start to the day. So I watched the rugby World Cup, then slipped over to Oddfellows’ Hall, Dorking (what an appropriate location for a model railway exhibition) for the main Dorking MRC show of the year.
Bridlington Quay (O) – minimum space and completely scratch built.
Strathmore LIP – a very creditable model from 15 year old enthusiast (with a little help from dad.)
Oakworth: the Railway Children (OO). The model of the film of the book. And an accurate picture of Oakworth station during the filming. I failed to spot Jenny Agutter, though.
Holly Bank Grove (OO finescale). A fictitious running shed situated near York, with a great selection of steam and diesel.
Ian Redman’s layout in a gun case. It’s amazing what will go round a 6″ radius curve.
The Vine Line (OO) was on its first outing in extended form.
Another running shed, Eastbridge (OO), this time in southern England on the Brighton mainline. The layout is similar to Redhill. I love the Brighton Atlantic on the turntable. This was going to be my first scratch built locomotive. Predictably it was a failure.
Always good to see the Milroy’s and Ferrocarril San Maria Gandia (HO and HO9). One of this lovely layout’s last outings as it is being retired later in the year.
Dorking West (N). Not much moving as I went past due to a slight DCC hiccup. The adjacent layout was also running on wi-fi control, and the locomotives had the same numbered addresses – so the operator on one layout moved the locomotive on the other. They had sorted it all out by the time I left!
Birch Coombe (OO). Cromptons by the sea side.
As usual, a small but interesting show, and well worth a look and a chance to have a chat with a number of old friends.
Good to see 11 members running trains last night, including the Cha(I)rman, who had escaped from the dairy. Good job too, as I had forgotten to bring some milk with me, and the members would have got twitchy without their cups of tea.
Peter had brought his new module along, so we had a larger than usual layout set up.
The module is making good progress….
But there were a few wiring issues – or did the members opt for a game of Twister?
The usual selection of Paul’s bullets on the outside track.
We thought that Simon had won the lottery – a gold locomotive? Well, almost, it was brass, but still quite pricey.
LNER splendour…..
We ended the evening with a good chat about the new fiddle yard, and Mr Apps has been commissioned to go and build the baseboards.
Just returned from a rather windy and wet weekend in Wales (how about that for alliteration?) Worst disruption on the roads, though, was following a large flock of sheep up a single track road. So just a couple of links today….
Duncan sent me this tiny model a while back with the comments:
Jon, don’t know if you’ve seen this… surely the smallest working model railway! Duncan
I replied….
Wonderful! Bit of a challenge for Ian Redman and his mini layouts. But I could get a bit bored with operating it…. Jon
And Duncan had the final word….
It’s a bit more limited operationally than Minories, but imagine how easy it is to setup at a show! Duncan
And in contrast, here’s an interview (in German) of a recent N Club International meet. Those who have been to Stuttgart with ESNG will recognise some characters in the interviews, and there are some excellent modules later on in the clip.
There seem to be a lot of pictures of this show. Although it wasn’t the largest, I think there was more to see as there were a lot of small layouts.
I’d seen Abbey Street (S) before, but it was well worth another view. An East Anglian city secondary terminus in the 1950’s, there are lots of fine details, such as modelling the undercroft arches below the station. Built by Jas Millham, a strong proponent of ‘TT’ for many years, but he moved up to ‘S’ in his later years and his eyes couldn’t cope any more. Always good to see a legend of the hobby operating his layout in person!
Industrial buildings and granaries reminded me of visiting East Dereham in my youth. Another neat touch is the half-goods shed on the baseboard edge (right foreground).
A Buckjumper tank shunts the yard.
Still in East Anglia, Nene Wharf (OO) is set in the Cambridgeshire fens.
The Lochty Branch (O) is a similar goods only terminus, but set in Fife. Built by Ian Futers, another of my hobby heroes and the master of the small layout with few points. (Well, relatively small – it is ‘O’ gauge.)
Never say you haven’t got room for a layout. Duncrievie Fuelling Point (EM) is both tiny and pointless – in the sense of having no points, but all tracks are accessed by a sector plate. An effective way to show off your favourite locomotives.
Wood’s Wharf (O) models a canal rail interchange.
Cheffley has some beautiful buildings, but I was unconvinced by the 2-BEL unit in the station bay!
Roseland Bay (N) models a run-down East Coast seaside resort.
Weslo Steel (EM) is a small steel terminal somewhere in West London.
And finally, Allenton (HO), somewhere in the US cotton belt. The owner was offering train driving and switching experience for junior modellers.
Shelvington (P4) is set in the Hampshire/Surrey borders. This section of line has seen better days…
But around the corner there is a fine selection of SR DEMU’s, and a relatively modern BR terminus.
Fen End Pit (16mm narrow gauge) is a sand an gravel pit set near Ely in the Fens. Apart from the charming rolling stock, the sand really gets moved down the line.
First by this working Ruston dragline….
Then along the line….
To be tipped onto this working conveyor and rotating grader. Neat modelling and good entertainment.
Oh Guano (On16.5) must be unique! Who models the conveyance of bat sh*t? But this is based on a real industry near Cairns, Queensland. Great fun! I am glad that I didn’t know about this when we visited Cairns, as I doubt whether I could have persuaded Maxine that a visit was a good holiday option. The guano was made of instant coffee granules. No wonder instant coffee tastes so bad….
Bedford Road (O) is a small yard and traction depot in the East Midlands in the late-1980’s. A chance to admire those large diesels.
Loch Tar (N) is somewhere in the West Highlands. Some nice scenery, though I though the location was near Loch Ness, with that geological fault between the two baseboards, that rather spoils the picture?
And finally today, a quiet moment at Georgmas Junction (OO). The operators were having a little electrical problem as I passed by…..
I had thought that I was away this weekend, but a recent check with my diary and Maxine’s diary showed that I’d got the date wrong – it’s next weekend. Must be an age thing. Despite a hectic week, I thought that I’d take in an exhibition.
Sean was at Cranleigh – with flyers. Derek was going to the West Sussex open day – too early for me as I was getting my flu jab. Seaboard Southern NMRA show was appealing – but Simon was delivering NGSE flyers there. So I opted for a trip north of the river to the Mid Essex show in Shenfield. An easy run there, M25 and a little bit of the A12. Coming home was a bit slower, but it was worth the trek.
One traffic problem on the M25 was a blonde young lady driving a red sports car at 55mph in the 3rd lane – well, it was Essex!
Plenty of good things on show, including a couple of favourite layouts. A new one to me was Aldwych Underground (OO). A well presented diorama of the wartime scenes above ground and the underground line underneath.
On the surface, recent bomb damage from tonight’s raid is evident….
Underground, there is still a train service, though much of Aldwych station was used as a shelter and also to store artefacts from the British Museum.
And most cleverly, there are two portholes in the facia. In one, we see repairs to the sewers under way…
And in the other, they are defusing a little present from Mr. Hitler!
A favourite layout of mine is Kyle of Lochalsh (2mm finescale.) A micro layout that captures the character of the Scottish prototype. I like the fiddle yard traverser design, with sketches of the original concept displayed over the trains.
One reason for visiting the show was Tower Pier (EM). I don’t think that I have seen this layout in the flesh before, though I have seen pictures on the internet. Tower Pier is located somewhere near the Tower of London, and receives passenger services from the LNER and third rail electric services from the ex-Southern lines. There’s also a small yard for interchange with the London Docks nearby. The slightly raised goods yard added to the basic ‘Minories’ design gives this little layout a lot of character.
And it has a full level frame and bell instrument to control services into the station.
Finally for today, Botterill Street Yard (O) is a neat wagon works, or loco stabling point.
Sound advice seen on the London Underground. Mind you, a potato would be an improvement over some of our club members…..
My youngest had given Maxine and I a Christmas present of an evening out at a comedy club. Not quite our thing, and I was delighted to discover that we could swap it for something else. A small cash adjustment got us a visit for two to the Shard – and it was then a matter of finding a free day with good weather. And Friday was perfect – not a cloud in the sky.
The river has changed a lot from my pre-university days, when I was checking for empty buildings and zero water rate for the then Metropolitan Water Board. The Thames is still wonderful around London Bridge and Tower Bridge, but it is rather gentrified. Great views of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast, and it was just possible to see the Thames Barrier downstream, between two buildings in Docklands, and in the very far distance the towers of the QE2 Dartford bridge crossing.
The Post Office tower, the Wembley arch, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben (under repair), various London parks and the like were easy spots. As were the Crystal Palace TV towers and central Croydon. We spent some time looking southwest, as below, over our old Walworth and Kennington haunts. We picked out Aylesbury Estate (home to Maxine for a number of years), St Marks where we were married, Kings College Hospital where all three of our children entered the world, and a lot of other local roads.
But I must admit I enjoyed the railway views. Here we have the lines looking southeast from London Bridge. In the distance the old SECR lines down to my childhood haunts of Bromley and the like go straight on, whilst the old LBSCR lines to Norwood, Croydon, and our present home of Redhill turn to the right. Mind you, the SECR also got to Redhill….
The new London Bridge station viewed from the 72nd floor…
The Thames, and the lines to Cannon Street, Blackfriars (Thameslink) and Charing Cross.
How many stations can you see from the Shard? I make it 8:
I tried to find Victoria and Liverpool Street, but though I could identify nearby buildings, these two major stations were tucked behind other buildings.
We were going to get back on the train up to Charing Cross, and then head for Chinatown and a late lunch, but it occurred to me that Borough Market was much closer (underneath the Cannon Street triangle in the photos above), and I hadn’t been there for years. So we browsed around the stalls, and ended up with some large flat rice noodles (my favourite) and chicken, prawn and hot chilli, chicken laksa and rice, goats milk ice cream, and a cortado coffee for me.
Lots of fun browsing the food stalls and then making a final choice. But the railway and the Shard were never far away.
OK, so it’s a cliché – but six buses on the bridge?
And how do you advertise burgers on your stall opposite the vegan one?
We finished the day with a look at the Golden Hind replica, and dropped into Southwark Cathedral, all a stones throw from the station. (Mind you, you could throw a stone a long way from the top of the Shard.)
All in all, a grand day out!
No photographs this evening – I forgot to take my phone to the meeting (or rather, my better half had borrowed it to make some free phone calls!)
But we had a good meeting, with 10 members present, including two making a special visit to gladden the Treasurer’s heart and pay their overdue subscriptions. Mostly long Japanese and American trains on the move, plus a few short UK consists.
We did have some useful conversations, including a new fiddle yard for the club, and ideas for the catering for NGSE 2020.
From RMWeb – I identified with this!!!!
There followed the usual process, so well described in Dr Mindbender’s insightful ”Coping with Failure in Railway Modelling: The Four Phases of Modeller’s Recovery” (Wild Swan, 2019)
Moving from phase 1 to 4 can take hours or years, depending on circumstances. I have projects in the cupboard that seem permanently stuck at phase 2 (resentment)!
Oh how true!!
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