London Festival of Railway Modelling (Pic Heavy)

My Dad and I made our (almost) annual trip to the London Festival of Railway Modelling at the beautiful Alexander Palace. Long before I was a wargamer I made model railways with my Dad and I still have a love for Steam Locomotives and stunning scenery. I always enjoy these days (and not just for some Father-Son time) as they are usually very inspirational and you can pick up all sorts of ideas and useful bits of terrain.

This year I picked up some flock and tiny trees for the 1/600th ACW Naval, some palm trees for Africa and some HoN3 track (which is 12mm gauge) and so exactly right for 15mm. I took a bunch of photos and will let then talk for themselves with a short commentary om the layout so you know what you are looking at.

Layout 1: O gauge, 1920's, Helmthwaite and Chapel Lane. A superb industrial building

Layout 2: Unknown European layout. Not normally my thing, but the overhead lines were an amazing piece of modelling.

Layout 3: P4 Gauge, 1883, Burntisland. A magnificent layout and probably one of the best in the show. I was mostly taken by the ships and see effect, but the whole layout was an accurate recreation, wit a great accompanying display showing shots of the actual location that you could easily match to the layout.


Layout 4: O gauge, 1900-1910 Milwall goods and Arnold lane. Picked for the magnificent industrial building, I always really like these as if I ever went back to railway modelling this is what I would like on my layout!


Layout 5: EM Gauge, 1907, Leighton Buzzard. The layout of the late Rev. Peter Denny, one of the pioneers of the hobby, some of this layout dated back to 1947. Other than a few issues with the fiddle yard the layout still runs well.


Layout 6: EM Gauge, 1945-1948, Liverpool Lime Street. Amazingly a private layout rather than a club layout. The work on the main station canopy was particularly noticeable. One to keep an eye on over the next few years as it develops.


Layout 7: S gauge, East Lynn and Nunstnation. Just pretty!


Layout 8: On30 Gauge, 1930s, Purgatory peak (AFAIR). Nice industrial stuff again!


Layout 9: Z gauge, Nevermore. Notable for the fact though there is lots of Z gauge European stuff there is none for British lines, so all the stock and locos is scratch-built.


Layout 10: EM Gauge, 1920's Westcliffe, Dorest. A piece of stunning scenic modelling.


Layout 11: 0-16.5 Gauge, 19 December 1938, Hayesden. I have seen this layout before, but it is so unusual and beautifully done I had to take some pictures.


Layout 12: 0 Gauge, 1950-60, Willowbrook March. A nice little good layout with lots of shunting going on.