esngblog

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.