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And a final selection from the show.  There were quite a few layouts that I didn’t capture, but I think that I caught all the interesting ones, and for good measure those worth a quick look.

Bocksley Town (N) is a sort of box file layout, but the individual modules are multiples of boxes.

Luke Robert’s Out West (ON30) does what it says on the can and is a cameo of the Colorado narrow gauge.  I don’t really like US narrow gauge wild west layouts (or logging layouts – I sympathize with the trees too much.)  But this little line is compact and neat with a rather fine backscene.

Lambourn (OO) is a model of an atypical GWR branch terminus – it had a lot of race horse traffic.  My picture shows how difficult it can be to hide baseboard joints.  There’s a rather nice 2mm finescale version of this station doing the rounds, too.

Bletchinghurst (OO) seems to be at every show I go to at the moment….

As does Frittenden Road (O). 

Trinity Dock Street Bridge (OO) is yet another familiar line.  I’m never sure about this one.  There’s some lovely modelling and some interesting stock there, but although it’s “grim up north” I’m not sure that Hull was really quite that dreary.  I really feel that a touch of blue in the sky here and there would transform things and the colour would set off the rest of the scene.  (But of course, it’s not my railway.)

St Mellion (OO) had this attractive quayside and steam coaster.  Perhaps it’s all too clean, but I do tend towards an ideal world for my scenery!  (Wot, no fish heads?)

Lenham (OO)

A tidy model of the Wantage Tramway in finescale 3mm (14.2mm gauge).

Ebsworth Street (OO).  Some interesting PW vehicles here.

Queen Charlotte Dock (O).  They’ve made a lot of progress since I last saw this interesting layout, but the soldering iron (and its operator) seemed to be in the same place as last time.

And last but not least, the fascinating Fen End Pit (16mm scale, 32mm gauge.)  A fun little layout, only last in these posts as it had one of the highest stand numbers!!!

And as a bonus, here’s a photo from RMWeb taken from the burger van queue.  Looking closely, bottom right, you can see the ESNG chairman drinking his tea, and even my left arm…. 

So that’s Chatham 2024.  Will I go next year?  Certainly if there is company.  The new exhibition team did a good job, and I’m sure they’ll do even better next year.  I see from RMWeb that they are already investigating bigger and better catering vans!

Having looked at my photographs again in writing these posts, I realised that there were some very good layouts there, and perhaps I have been a little harsh in my comments.  Or perhaps not?  It’s all a matter of personal tastes and interests, I guess.  For many people, a show with lots and lots of layouts, and even better, lots and lots of traders is just wonderful.  I think that I’d be happy with something half the size!

Here we go again with a third set of layouts from the Chatham show…

First, Northport Quay, David Holman’s cameo layout set in County Mayo.  7mm/ft, and real 5’3″ gauge – with handbuilt track to 36.75mm.  Good scratchbuilding, and that crane moves along the quay under its own steam.  Of course the advantage of a prototype like this is that you have to build it yourself, and there’s no worry that someone will make a RTR model just as you finish building yours.

Martin Coombs, The Yard is 7mm scale with standard and narrow gauge, a working radio-controlled gantry crane and lorries.  I was amused by the ‘fiddleyard’ for lorries, used to turn them round for the next trip around the layout.

Something different, with Villefranche-la-Chapelle (HO).  A French shunting yard and adjacent town.

K Street Yard, also in HO, is the American equivalent switching yard.

Chris Bassett’s Hobbs Hill (OO) is a small Southern Region somewhere in Devon.  I liked the operating level crossing gates, and the sound effects from the ice cream van parked next to the crossing.  Lots of good scenic modelling on the layout.

Braughing & Standon (N) is Paul Dunn’s model of part of the ex-GER Buntingford branch.  Buntingford itself is an ideal large branch terminus to model, too.  Lots of lovely scenic work here, showing the train in the landscape – N gauge at its best.

I like Holmshurst, a cameo light railway in O.  If you got into conversation with Ian Burford, the builder told you all about the lovely buildings along the high street backscene, most of which had been businesses run by various relations!

And finally for today (one more to come), there’s Minories (GN) in EM.  Or rather, Not-Minories.  The original EM gauge layout was the correct and compact freezer-esque terminus, but has been extended with an enormous continuous run fiddle yard behind.  It makes things easier for the operators and allows a wider variety of trains, but to me completely wrecks the charm of the original.  But, hey, what do I know about it anyway?

Another selection of excellent layouts from Chatham.  First, Westhouses.  John Morgan’s close-to-scale OO layout of this loco depot in 1980 was a new one to me.  Unlike many shed layouts, it is not crammed with track, and operation was leisurely.  I’m not the greatest fan of diesel shed layouts, but I really liked this one.

I’ve seen Ian Forsyth’s Fence Houses NCB (OO) a lot at shows recently, but it’s an interesting industrial line.  I liked the sidings of coal wagons.  Sometimes simple is impressive?

The Epsom & Ewell club’s Hinksey Yard (N) is a model of the ‘virtual quarry’ close to Oxford.  Although it’s 18′ long, a scale model of the site would come to something like 50′.  And I hate to think what it would cost to populate it with auto-ballasters!  This layout has been around for some time, but stands up very well.

 I rather liked Mike Walker’s Helland Wharf (OO).  Based on a real location on the well-known Wenford branch, this is a working diorama with a single points.  Yet it has bags of character.

Hydraulic heaven in O on Jim McGeachy’s Hazelcombe!  Some of the best diesel classes making wonderful models in the ‘senior scale.’ 

Finally for today, Overlord (OO) has grown from a little 12′ layout to its present 38′.  I think the best thing on this labour of love is not the railways but the wonderful and rather large ship models.

The Chatham show was last at the Historic Dockyard some 12 years ago.  Was it really that long since I visited the place?  I visited the show on Saturday along with Messrs Dawes and Atfield and had a pleasant morning out.  Much of the dockyard looks much the same, though they appear to have improved a lot of the tourist attractions.

My impressions of the show back at the Dockyard?  Perhaps mixed, much as in the olden days.  Good:

• The show had lots of layouts, and some excellent ones – about 50 layouts (I didn’t count them.)
• Plenty of trade and a good variety (but annoyingly no speciality bookshop.)
• Well laid out with plenty of room between exhibits – never felt crowded.
• Everyone was friendly, and it was easy to talk to the layout owners.
• Parking was easy and cheap.
• I ran into a number of friends, that always makes for a good visit.

Less good:

• Many, if not most, layouts were familiar from the southern England exhibition circuit.  There were a number of ‘fillers’ and layouts that seem to get into every show at the moment, that were barely worth a look.
• Despite claims that the lighting is better in the shed, it’s still terrible.  Layouts needed their own good lighting, and those without suffered.
• Two catering points wasn’t enough. I queued for an age for a coffee and bacon roll.
• The portable chemical toilets were still habitable on Saturday morning, but I hate to think what they’d be like Sunday afternoon.  (Memories of exhibiting at Gaugemaster…..)   And no water to wash in them isn’t acceptable.

So the show was well worth the visit, but talking to a steward, the Chatham club has had to relearn the venue after a 12 year gap.  I’m sure that some things will be addressed next year.

One to the layouts, now, that will stretch over three or four posts.  I’ll start with the usual few favourites.  Interestingly, these are all layouts that I’ve seen before, but these (to me) were still the pick of the crop.

Graham Muspratt’s Canute Road Quay (OO) is a lovely little slice of Southampton Docks.  Just a shunting puzzle, but a very well detailed one.  I had a good chat with Graham, who works for Kernow Model Rail these days, and he thought that he could pack up the layout and leave before the trade stand next door had cashed up for the show…  Sound on the layout is a module and speaker under the baseboard, giving shunting sounds, plus road traffic, plus seagulls.  Much better for a small layout than having just sound in the engine.

Staying with the Graham’s, Graham Bridge’s Southwark Bridge continues to delight me as it’s railways as I remember them – south London on a viaduct.

Next, Terry Tew’s Rossiter Rise (OO).  Another familiar layout, but he always seemed to have added a few more details between shows.  I would have loved to have been on the platform with that variety of stock passing through!

Ray Taylor and Anna Bass’ Ambleton Vale is again familiar but always worth a good look.  I was amused by Anna explaining to a small boy, with nose pressed against Perspex, exactly why the loco had to run round the train – “Otherwise it would hit your nose.”

I’ve seen Mark Pretious’ Merstone (OO) a good number of times, but it’s Isle of Wight and a lovely model, so I have no reason not to include it here!

And it had one of those lovely IOW 2-4-0T locomotives running.  Another tick….

Express Daisy Sidings (EM) shows how attractive a small ‘Inglenook’ style layout can be.

And finally for today, Ballyconnell Road (3mm scale, 15.75mm gauge.)  What isn’t there to like?  A circular layout built to the correct Irish 5’3″ broad gauge.  None of this TT120 rubbish!  I would love to have an N gauge layout like this, with a central operating position, but I thing that I just don’t have room.

I recently had contact with the nephew of our oldest church member, who passed away 18 months ago.  Ian lives in Australia and turned out to be a modeller (but not N gauge.)  I sent him a few shots of an ESNG meeting, and he sent me the following account of his modelling exploits.

Hi Jon,

Thanks for sending these photos, great to see. This is a large layout for N gauge but I see you can run full length trains which is great.

My first model railway in Australia was an OO layout in the garden. I was warned that the track wouldn’t last in the sun. I had the occasional track buckle, just like the real thing, but ants on the line caused a terrible adhesion problem and squashed ants were hard to clean off the loco wheels! It was the baseboards, just a few inches off the ground, that eventually gave in to the sun and it has since been dismantled.

We suffer from a lot of reliability problems (cat hairs especially) but are yet to experience the squashed ant issue.  Mind you, in Oz I’d be worried about spiders and snakes on the track, too…

I’ve now got two model railways indoors. An OO model of Ashburton in Devon, almost complete:

And an O gauge model of Kings Cross stabling point under construction:

Both look excellent.