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Moving on….

Robin Gay’s Wantage in P4 is a scale representation of that quirky prototype.  The real thing was tiny and the Wantage Tramway terminated in the middle of a load of buildings.  The layout has taken a lot of research, and many of these buildings were demolished over 50 years ago.  So the layout is incomplete, but still worth a good look.

The Uckfield club’s Lower Shalford in O gauge is set somewhere south west of Guildford.  A fairly typical branch line terminal (of BLT), but there is plenty of fine detailed modelling to be seen.

They seem to try and get an S scale layout to the Uckfield show most years.  Paul Greene’s Blakey Rigg is based on a real branch up on the North Yorkshire Moors.  S scale is very tempting for the scratch builder – like 2mm finescale, the gauge society can supply a lot of useful parts to get you going, and a lot of oversized OO parts can be adapted.

Into the side room, and Paul Ash’s Hembourne in EM.  A simple four point BLT cameo, but full of good modelling and running very smoothly when I saw it.  Much as I don’t really like the GWR, I do have a soft spot for those earlier, non-pannier, saddle tanks.

Next to Hembourne was Nick Salzman’s Lananta Quay.  Take a deep breath…..  Mixed gauge GWR, 7′ broad and standard.  Built in 3mm finescale (14.2mm and 21mm gauges.)  And some peculiar broad gauge stock to run.  Plus some well modelled sandbanks/mudflats including a cormorant.  What isn’t there to like on this little cameo?

Upstairs, Sandford & Banwell was a large, continuous run, P4 layout loosely set in North Somerset.

It was good to see Gordon and Maggie Gravett chatting about their new lockdown project – more French metre gauge.  It it’s as good as Pempoul, it will be spectacular.

I’d seen Michael Campbell’s Loctern Quay in OO9 before.  Some very good town and harbour modelling to be admired here.

Another show favourite of mine was Old Parrock.  Paul Rhodes cameo in OO is, he admits, more about the watermill and mill cottage.  The buildings are beautifully done, but the whole railway is full of interesting detail.  And it has a Terrier…..

Finally, Underpass.  I saw Robert Strachan’s little HO switching layout at the Seaboard Southern show, and the concept of a small yard under an expressway was worth a second look.

So that’s Uckfield for 2022.  An excellent morning out, and I look forward to seeing what wonders they come up with in 2023.  One thing I know is that I won’t be invited – my layouts are just not good enough.

Time for the Uckfield show weekend.  Once again a very good show.  A good number of layouts that were new to me, no dross at all, and a wide range of prototypes and scales.  For me, Uckfield is an essential visit – much better than many of the larger shows, as the standard of layouts and modelling is so much higher.

Plus one must add that it’s a pretty drive across Ashdown Forest to Uckfield, and that the Civic Centre cafe does an excellent breakfast or bacon roll.  This year I had another bonus of good company – Allan picked up Mr Apps and myself on the way south, and we met up with Simon there.

The show was a little larger this year, taking a couple of rooms upstairs in the building.  This allowed for a little more trade and some modelling demonstrations.  It seems a good move, providing they still make a profit.  So on to the layouts, presented more or less in the order I visited them.

Blackmoor, by Ian Lampkin is a new OO9 model of this station on the old Lynton & Barnstable Railway, in Southern days. One of my favourite lines – I build some L&B stock in my teenage years, that didn’t work very well.  There wasn’t the trade support now seen from Peco and Heljan.  I love the photo backscene of the real backdrop to the station.

Abergynolwyn, by Tim Tincknell, models the end of the Talyllyn Railway in its early years.  It is to a scale of 5.5mm/ft, on 12mm track.  This combination was popular before N gauge and OO9 became reliable and easier to model.  I recall GEM producing a wide range of whitemetal kits for the line.  It’s good to see this use of the scale (though I suspect people have been using it all along, but not showing their layouts at exhibitions.)  A simple track plan and accurately contoured scenery captures the rather basic nature of the line and is very good to view.

Sewel is another narrow gauge layout, this time in the larger scale of O-16.5.  It models a ficticious narrow gauge line serving a brewery, that has a passing resemblance to Harveys in Lewes.

And into the main hall.  Drws-y-Nant is Nigel Ashton’s new 2mm finescale layout.  A follow-up to his Llangerisech (a terminus), this through station is closely based on a GWR station between Bala and Dolgellau.  The layout still needs a few details, but it’s already good to look at.  Notable are the working road vehicles and level crossing gates, and also the strange piece of pointwork at one end of the station – it’s an offset scissor crossing (so I’m told.)  Also of interest is the baseboard construction.  The boards themselves rest on long folding beams supported by trestles.  The beams are adjustable in height by a clever wedge system.  A hint of all this can be seen in one of the photos below.

Next door, Jerry & Kim Clifford were representing the 2mm Association, and showing off Bath Shed, part of his 2mm home layout.  There were some fine scratch built locos on show.

In contrast, the rather larger Cox Lumber Company modelled American logging railways in On30.  The detail on the structures, with individual roof shingles and suchlike was impressive.  To me, it avoided the rather ‘twee’ appearance of some US narrow gauge layouts.

N gauge was represented by John Wilshaw’s Upton Lacey, somewhere in the Cotswolds in BR days.  I’d seen this layout a few years ago, still under construction, and it’s made a lot of progress.  I liked the scratch built station building – an impressive building for a significant terminus.

One of my show favourites was Peter Goss’ Copper Wort in OO.  It represents the brewing industry in Burton-on-Trent in its heyday of the early 1900’s.  I love the hexagonal shape, the complex industrial trackwork, lots of little tank engines, the weathered goods stock and all that detail (mainly barrels.)

More next time.