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Next to us was the ‘OO’ modern image Oak Road.  Based on Castle Cary station, the scenery captured the local Shepton Mallet hills very well.  Lots of HST’s running by (but not photographed), and some fine modern diesels.  We commented that Allan’s ‘N’ DB 66 looked very small compared to this ‘OO’ one!

Gas Works in ‘O’ was an impressive shunting layout.  Notable was the fact that the layout made up for its (relatively) short length with plenty of height.  It was mostly operated with grimy LMS locomotives, but this pristine Terrier made regular appearances.  It’s such a lovely livery, the owner couldn’t face weathering it!

Glb Bitterfeld was a small HO layout, really built to display operating modern PW stock.  All the tampers, cranes and other odd pieces of rolling stock had moving parts.

Wentworth Yard had large numbers of LNER locomotives passing through the shed.

Burnham was a fairly standard branch terminus, but set in East Anglia rather than the inevitable GWR territory, and with this lovely coaster model on display.

Ian Milroy was there with his Spanish layout (with a very long name.)

There were other layouts, but these were the ones that caught my eye.  So finally, I was very taken by Mill Falls, ‘HO’ American with some lovely craftsman buildings on display.  Plus lots of detail, such as the manhole covers and litter in one of these photos.

We’re at around 19:30 on the video….

We took a 3×1 modular layout to the Gaugemaster show. This really seems to be an optimum size, easy to transport and set up and large enough to impress at the show. The only drawbacks are the duck-under (crawl under for us oldies) and the lack of space at the centre of the layout. It all worked well, and we kept four trains running for the two days.

As ever, the layout was well received, and we had some good conversations with the punters passing buy. Two persons thought they might visit ESNG, two offered layouts for the NGSE show, and we even sold four wagons. We also spent more money than expected, as there were a few good bargains tucked away in a Gaugemaster storeroom. And I thought that I was saving my pocket money for TINGS….

The rest of the show was of good quality, it was a very friendly time, and Gaugemaster were good hosts. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot in the marquees. The layouts were a little tightly squeezed in, but perhaps my only complaint was the plumbing – portaloos and hand sanitizer is not ideal for a long day on the south coast!

And a quick snippet of the layout in action….

The West Sussex Group were also there, with a small display of Gilly North’s modules.

I was pleased to meet Tim Hills, who is bringing ‘TENAC’ to NGSE next April.  A French SCNF layout is quite rare here in the UK!

And I liked the notice Tim had added to the layout…..

Smallest layout was the ‘Z’ gauge Kenstadt.  Easy to pack up after the show, just fold up and walk…..

A bonus of the Gaugemaster site is the procession of full-sized trains next door in Ford station.  The coast line has several services along it, and the level crossing seems to be closed as often as open (at least it always closes as you approach it.)

Pictures of some of the other layouts next time.