Crawley MRC Show (Pic Heavy)

Dad and I made another model railway related trip, this time to Crawley Model Railway clubs show held in Horsham. This is a lovely little local show, with good trade support and some really high quality layouts.

Layout 1: 0 gauge, 1943, Stodmarsh. A nice WW2 layout with lots of Dad army stuff going on.


Layout 2: S4 Scale. Bodmin. A super accurate scale model, really nicely presented.


Layout 3: 4mm, Treporro. A really good minimum space layout. A tiny space used but no compromise on quality.


Layout 4: 2mm, Post-war, Siege Street. A nice unusual tram layout


Layout 5: OO gauge, 1950-60, Sutton. A good, well presented layout.


Layout 6: OO gauge (fine scale), 1950-60, Wellbridge. A typical oval layout, but with some nice scenery, especially the viaduct.


Layout 7: O gauge, East Dean. A good looking layout, presented in an unusual format, in that it was end to end, but curved through 90 degrees around you, so you could stand and see the whole layout in one glance and follow locos along the line.


Layout 8: O-16.5 Gauge, Bridport Town. A lovely little narrow gauge layout with beautiful scenery and rilling stock and lots of little details and still managed to get a decent amount of running going on.


Layout 9: OO gauge, Lulworth Camp. A nice layout with a military twist.

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.

Crawley Model Railway Show

After the sheer size of Salute on Saturday, on Sunday I went to Crawley model railways clubs annual show with Dad. I started out with model trains and still love them, especially the scenery, which might go some way to explaining my obsession with nice scenery for my wargaming. Below are some pictures of some of the more choice layouts

Above: O gauge layout, lovely rolling terrain,
Below: Super detailed 2mm finescale layout

Above and Below: Santa Barbara layout. I don't usually like American layout, but this was incredibly well researched and modelled. They had videos taken at the actual station and you could easily spot there the photographer was standing when looking at the layout.

Above:O gauge and narrow gauge layout. Again wonderful terrain.
Below: A German engine shed. I really like the look of the black locos with the red running gear the Germans have.

Above: An O gauge modern layout. Full of lights, sounds and even diesel smoke effect.