esngblog

Last look at the Stevenage show today.  As usual these days, there were a few layouts of locomotive sheds and stabling points on show.  It must be that we all own too many locomotives!  Leeman Street in P4 models the sidings at one end of York MPD, with the station roof prominent on the backscene.  There are only two points and a turntable on the layout.

This layout wasn’t in the exhibition guide, and must have been a late stand-in.  Not complete, but an interesting model of an ex-LMS MPD in British Railways days.  And with some attractive steam locomotives on display.

Laramie Engine Terminal again models just part of an MPD.  With O gauge ‘Big Boy’ locomotives to show off, part is probably all one has room for.  No points and just the turntable here, and operation was just the fuelling, watering and turning of the locomotives.  But what a locomotive!

Copenhagen Fields has been around, and being constructed, for over 30 years, but still remains a tour-de-force of 2mm fine scale modelling.  The last (I think) section of the layout is the goods yard, that nears completion below.

The depth of the urban area scenery is achieved by reducing the scale of the buildings as one approaches the backscene.  These are some of the earlier areas of the model, and it is noticeable how some of the grass has faded – but it’s not bad for a mid-summer drought.  Perhaps when the model is finished, a little ‘freshening’ of the older areas is needed.

It’s good to see Trevor Nunn back exhibiting with an ‘S’ gauge layout.  His model of Kings Lynn on the GER was a fine model and Trowland, a tiny and imaginary branch terminus on the M&GN looks just as good.  The layout plan bears some similarity to Iain Rice’s ‘Buttley Mills’ layout.

Moving on to a couple of industrial layouts.  The Southern Cross Preservation Trust, a 2′ diameter 009 layout, shows what once can do in no space at all.  Not much operation on a pizza layout, but masses of detail.

Finally, Smeerdijk, an HO layout set in Holland.  There couldn’t have been much left in the scrap box having completed the layout, but you can look at this industrial landscape for ages.

So that’s the Chiltern show blogged through.  Apologies to the other fine layouts that I haven’t described, but these were the ones that caught my eye.  We’ll leave with this notice on one stand.  Definitely non-PC, but I like it!

Getting to Stevenage from Redhill requires a circumnavigation of London on the M25, as one town is diametrically opposite to the other.  But the Dartford tunnel crossing had one bore closed on Saturday, so Allan played safe and drove through the centre of London.  Not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and it took us through some of my south London haunts around Brixton, Vauxhall and Victoria.  I even saw a couple of ‘Boris buses’ for the first time, that shows how long it’s been since I drove through the city centre.

Meanwhile, back at the show, the quality layouts kept coming.  Sidmouth is a P4 layout of the London & South Western Railway West Country terminus in British Railways days.  As with Canada Street, I had seen this layout in Model Railway Journal and wanted to see it in the flesh.  Another fine layout modelling the station to scale.  There were about 15 trains per day in this era, so there were gaps in the modelled timetable.  But there was still a lot to look at between trains.  Here an M7 and two coaches enter the station platform:

It is rare to see houses modelled in detail.  The chalet bungalow and detached house in the foreground look even better from the road.  And its also rare to see a ‘stink pipe’ – a vent from the sewers – modelled next to the road in the foreground.  We had one opposite the 1930’s house I grew up in, but I think the cast iron pipe rotted through at its base, and it was hastily removed.

I understand that the gas works site became a garage converting VW Combis into camper vans, and then loaded into CCT’s as shown below.

Another view of the goods yard and station.  The Cha(I)rman looks confused…..

I had seen Chica, Illinois, a small HO Rock Island railroad layout, a few years ago.  It was good to see it back at an exhibition.  Excellent buildings, especially the tangle of power and phone lines.

Again, I had seen Eskmuir before, but placing the layout on a corner allowed this lovely view of the station building, looking down the layout.

Portsea is unusual in being both 3mm scale, TT gauge, and Southern Electric.  The terminus is a sort of expanded ‘Minories.’  Another one for my collection!  Nice modelling of the dockyard, too.

Cariboo River in HO models the Canadian railroads of British Colombia.  Lots of spacious and relaxed scenery, and some interesting buildings.

And a car float at the end of the line.

Finally, today, The End of the Line is a very small (5′ x 3′) O gauge and On2 gauge layout.  Modelling the transfer of coal from an off-scene mining operation, the layout features operating dump trucks to tip coal into the standard gauge wagons or onto the working conveyor and into the radio controlled lorry that drives away.  Fun!

Last Sunday, Allan, Derek and I paid a visit to the Chiltern Model Railway Exhibition at their new venue in Stevenage.  I saw the list of layouts on display and thought I would really like to go.  So I phoned our pastor on Saturday evening, and asked if I was needed for church on Sunday morning.  I got the reply, “You’re indispensable, but have fun.”  Unfortunately Saturday night, most of his family went down with the lurgi, so neither of us were at church on Sunday.  However, it was such a good show, so no regrets.

There have been a few negative comments around the forums about the show, especially the time it took to get in.  We could see that they were still working out the logistics for using the new building, so no complaints there, and on the Sunday morning, we got in quickly enough.  Once inside, the gangways were nice and wide, so no scrums around layouts, the layouts were excellent, and there was plenty of trade.

My only comments would be that (1) there was a lack of N gauge, though I go to shows to see good modelling, not just N gauge layouts (and I understand that the second N gauge layout had to pull out due to family illness), and (2) as with Bognor the bacon rolls had run out AGAIN.

Three layouts I’ll feature today were probably my favourites, and all on the theme of exchange sidings.  Our American cousins seem to understand the potential of exchange sidings better than we do, perhaps as they were so common as goods stock was moved between different railroads.  But they do offer a lot of shunting in a small space.

First layout was Canada Street in EM, exchange sidings for a dock.  Beautiful modelling thoughout, especially the buildings, as I hope these photographs show.  Looking down the layout, note the detail in the foreground, of a running storm drain, and floating debris.

The dock buildings themselves are superb, especially the signs painted on the brickwork.  These used to be so common – you can still see one from the train on a gable end just outside Redhill station.

Perhaps my only possible criticism is that I have never seen a white Transit van that clean – perhaps it’s brand new?

It’s difficult to tell that this building and half-sunk barge is a model.

Moving up to O gauge, Netherdown Sidings represented a set of exchange sidings on the trans-Pennine Woodhead line in its final days.  It featured full overhead catenary and EM2 electric locos (one hiding behind the signal box here.)  It was pleasant just to watch the shunters shuffle wagons around in the yard.

Finally today, there’s Black Country Blues, again in EM.  I saw this layout at Alexandra Palace a couple of years back, and it looks just as good a second time around.  Blue diesels haul a variety of scruffy looking goods stock around at walking pace.  A few tired industrial buildings flank the tracks along with some unhealthy inner city greenery.  The scenery is spacious and uncluttered.  Perhaps the best feature of the layout is the one piece photographic backdrop of Birmingham.  Another top class layout, that just inspires one to do better.

Next post, I’ll describe some more layouts….