Friday, 5 September 2014
16 August 2014, Ice Cream, Jelly and Trains in Sussex
A gathering of guests invited by Chris Ford and
Nigel Hill to play and talk trains, and to consume jelly & ice cream took
place at a secret location in Mid-Sussex on the 16th August.
Although I’ve been invited before, this was the first time I had managed to get
to this exclusive gathering. The “invite conditions” are that you have to bring
a layout or something to show and I must admit I was not sure how my table of
009 stock would be received, however everyone either approved or were too
polite to indicate otherwise. Hurrah! The company was outstanding as was the
quality of the items brought along to show, and the hospitality of the hosts:
Chris, Nigel, Karen and Mrs Ford senior, who all worked ceaselessly all day
replenishing the food and the teapot was fantastic. A splendid party indeed and
huge thanks for the invitation!
Sunday, 31 August 2014
29 June 2014, East Midlands Group, 009 Society Members Day, Portland College nr Mansfield
So, the excellent Oxfordshire NGM members day came to a
close and those of us in it for the duration all packed up and headed 130 miles
north, to Mansfield
in Nottinghamshire. This was the first full scale members day for the East
Midlands Group and they had found a good venue thanks to the generosity of
Portland College Principal (and East Midlands Group member!) Dr Mark Dale. No
less than 21 layouts and several static displays as well as 009 Society sales,
A1 models, Fourdees and Andrew Neale providing trade support. It was another
splendid day and I for one am very glad that I made the decision to travel a
long way from home and pay out for petrol and a hotel bed in order to attend -
well worth it and again much appreciation to the hosting Group for a very
enjoyable event indeed.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
28 June 2014, Oxfordshire NG Railway Modellers Open Day, Steventon
The first of 2 narrow gauge
modelling events this weekend saw the “009 Society Road Show” making tracks
to Steventon, near Abingdon, for the 2nd biennial open day organised
by Richard Holder and fellow members of the Oxfordshire NG Railway Modellers. A
splendid location, including a cricket match on the green outside the hall and
absolutely outstanding hospitality and organisation by the Group inside the
hall! There were14 top quality layouts,
a good selection of traders plus a very well stocked 009 Society sales stand
and excellent 5 star refreshments. It was a super day, spent in friendly
company and just the right start to a full weekend of modelling excellence! All
too soon, it was time to pack up the sales stock, Rod Allcock’s Corris layout
and A1 Models, all appearing at both events, and a number of 009 Society
members headed north towards the Sunday event at Mansfield .
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
17 May 2014, SWING, Bognor Regis
"Small Wonderful Industrial and Narrow Gauge",
which is quite a mouthful but actually very descriptive of what this little
event is all about. Organised by the South Downs Group of the 7mm Narrow Gauge
Association, I expected the event to be awash with 7mm NG and nothing much
else, but I was very wrong as actually there were only about half the layouts
in the 7mm NGA own favoured scale range, the other half containing five 3½/4mm
plus one each Sn2 and BIG 7/8" scale layouts as well as a 5/7¼" dual
gauge steam powered kiddy ride outside on the lawn. Overall it was a splendid,
informal and friendly day, in the best tradition of members days and it was
very well attended by narrow gauge enthusiasts, some of whom had travelled considerable
distances to join in. This was the 6th annual SWING event but my
first, I certainly don’t intend it to be my last!
Monday, 14 April 2014
05 April 2014, Narrow Gauge South, Sparsholt College, Winchester
PART 1
For the 12th biennial NGS at Sparsholt College,
near Winchester, Alan Rolfe and the hosting Wessex NG Modellers put on another
fantastic day that once again proved to be a challenge to get round everything
as well as fit in the 009 Society AGM within the available time! 27 layouts
plus a further 3 on trade and society stands, amongst a total of 54 stands,
there was a feast of top quality layouts and modelling on display, all set in
the friendly atmosphere that this do is renowned for. Another overload of
shutter clicking from me to the extent that, once again I have had to split my
report into 2 instalments in order to provide what I hope is a fair
representation of everything that there was to see on the day – I’ve even had
to omit the traditional food photos this time (except for one!). I hope you
enjoy the selection I have chosen!
PART 2
Part 2 continues in the same room that we completed Part 1
in, where we had just looked at a splendid American 0n30 layout. Immediately
opposite was another American narrow gauge layout, this time in HOn30,
providing a good contrast and comparison for anyone still confused about size
and scale nomenclature! Still only about half way through our tour of the
diverse and entertaining selection of narrow gauge layouts that Exhibition
Manager Alan Rolfe had invited from near and far, like many others who
attended, I found it quite a challenge to get round everything allowing
sufficient time to enjoy all that I saw, and like others reported, I very
nearly missed out on a couple of rooms, but, having double checked the show
programme, I am as confident as I can be that I got at least a glimpse of every
layout present !
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
15 February 2014, Narrow Gauge South West, Shepton Mallet
For the 22nd Small & Delightful Group's wonderful day
out at Shepton Mallet, some 25% of those who normally attend looked at their
atlases and worked out that as Shepton Mallet is in Somerset , it must be under 6ft of water, so must
be too dangerous to attend. For the other 75% who know enough about geography
to know that the flooded Somerset Levels are to the WEST of Glastonbury
and Shepton is several miles to the EAST, then they had a bit more room to walk
around the halls and enjoy the 25 layouts and loads of traders and societies
present in what in many minds is the biggest, best and friendliest annual
narrow gauge modelling event of them all. Unfortunately I got called back home
on urgent matters at around lunchtime, but I still managed to get some photos of
just about everything so here is my record of what was another fantastic trip
to Somerset.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
26 January 2014, Beds & Bucks NG Modellers Members Open Day, Barton Le Clay
Barton Le Clay seems to get better
every year! This time, the 9th annual open day that Mark Howe and the Beds
& Bucks NG Modellers have put on, there were 16 layouts in a variety of
scales and despite the bad weather, over 200 people were present in the village
hall making it a very snug and friendly event indeed. The 5 star catering team
were hard at it all day providing a never ending queue with fried sausage baps
and loads of other super goodies whilst Brian Guilmant and his 009 Society sales
team were under siege in an adjoining room as usual. This open day has filled
the gap for a narrow gauge modelling event that is accessible from all 4 points
of the compass that was left when Chilterns NG stopped some years ago and has
become one of the top NG specialist events in the calendar. Well Done Indeed Everyone!
Monday, 31 March 2014
11 January 2014, SWOONS Members Open Day, Ilton, Somerset
Another extremely wet and windy start to the year as Brian Guilmant
and myself loaded flares and lifejackets into the 009 Society Salesmobile and
set forth into the waterworld that parts of Somerset had become. Our destination, Ilton,
is very near the flooded Somerset Levels and at times the A303 heading west
from Yeovil was a bit like a causeway across a giant lake but we navigated a
dry route and got there safely, as did a good number of narrow gauge
enthusiasts, ready to enjoy the 8th South West Group 009 Society Members
Open Day. Once again Matt and Maria Cicquel came up from the Devon Railway
Centre and provided 5 star beverages and food including some splendid hot
“oggies” whilst everyone enjoyed the usual informal, relaxed and friendly
gathering amidst an entertaining variety of models provided by the host group
and friends. Well done to all the SWOONS team for an excellent event.
Sunday, 30 March 2014
A Visit to Tim Sanderson's Elmgate and Thatcham Light Railway
A long time ago Tim Sanderson
invited me to visit his home in Haywards Heath and take some photos of the
Elmgate & Thatcham. Eventually the opportunity arose in September 2013 and
just 2 weeks after my photo session at Brian Guilmant’s home, I found myself
visiting Tim at last. I have been an admirer of Tim’s innovative and
imaginative modelling since I first read about his “Jintybash” locomotives in
Railway Modeller January 2000 and subsequent articles on converted TT goods
vehicles and Meridian Ashover coach modifications in the July 2001 and August
2002 issues respectively. This is a
portable layout built for exhibitions and operation and is a complete contrast
to Brian’s Imperial Western in the previous report. As I couldn’t publish
results of my photo session at the time, I thought it appropriate to put it in
here as a fitting finale to my 2013 outings with the camera. I hope you agree!
Saturday, 29 March 2014
A Visit To Brian Guilmant's Imperial Western Railway
I mentioned in the report on the
Member’s Morning on 14 December 2014 (the previous report in this blog) that,
in addition to organising a mini-exhibition in his local community hall, Brian
Guilmant had also invited visitors to see the fantastic narrow gauge empire
that he has been building in his 30ft x 14ft converted attic. As can be
appreciated I’m sure, taking photos of a home layout visit with a number of
people present can be “challenging”, so I thought it entirely appropriate to
cheat a little here and insert a record of a special invitation that I had from
Brian 3 months earlier, in September, to take a set of photos of the layout
which he used some of in his article that was published in 009 News issue for
December 2013. Here then is my own guided tour of the world that exists in
Brian’s Attic!
Friday, 28 March 2014
14 December 2013, 009 Society and Wessex NGM Members Morning, Colehill, Wimborne
Following the success of the Members Morning in Colehill in 2012, Brian Guilmant, hired the Colehill community hall a hundred yards from his home and organised another one for 2013, to the same recipe as the previous year: a selection of invited layouts, complete with the 009 Society sales stand, bacon rolls for breakfast and soup and rolls for lunch, a visit to Brian’s fantastic narrow gauge empire in his attic and for the Wessex NG Modellers members and invited guests, their own Group Christmas Meeting in the afternoon. Another very successful day, if exhausting for the organiser! Lots of people made the journey, some travelling considerable distances. I had to leave at lunchtime, but everyone that I spoke to during the morning told me that they thought it was a splendid little do and a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning!
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
26 October 2013, Expo NG, Swanley
Expong time again! Just 4 weeks after the 009 Society 40th Anniversary Convention, I was half expecting ExpoNG to be a bit of an anticlimax, but I was very much mistaken. The day was much the same formula as normal – 65 stands with 18 of them being layouts, but supplemented by another half dozen or so within the society and trade stands, plus 5 more entries for the Dave Brewer Challenge. I thought that the layouts this year were of particularly top quality with some really stunning examples of modelmaking across the spectrum and in a variety of scales. In fact, my shutter finger was so busy trying to keep up with constant stream of superb photo subjects that I found myself in front of, that I have had to split this photo report into 2 parts in order to try to give a worthwhile impression of the day as a whole.
Many people describe ExpoNG as “a trade show with some layouts” which is rather unkind, but there are a larger proportion of trade and society stands present at this event than one normally finds at the other “national” narrow gauge model shows, Therefore I thought it appropriate in order to present a valid impression of what a day at ExpoNG is like, to include a reasonably wide selection of photos of the trade and association stands with some of the people who provide these specialised services to the hobby in addition to the normal layout photos. Obviously I did not have the time to include every one, but I have tried to be as fair as possible and to include some of the regular attenders that don’t normally get a mention in these post-show reports. Part 1 therefore is rather heavy on people and trade stands, but there are also some super layouts included!
As usual, no stars awarded to the White Oak Leisure Centre for the catering but all deserved accolades to the bakery shop in Swanley Village High Street where it is always packed by 8am on the morning of ExpoNG by those “in the know” about where the good food is! ExpoNG 2013 celebrated 3 anniversaries – 30 years of ExpoNG, 45 years of the hosting Greenwich & District NG Railway Society and 40 years of Meridian Models. It was a very pleasant day amongst a large number of like-minded narrow gauge fans. Much appreciation to Hazel Brewer and all the Greenwich Society members for their hard work.
Part 2 continues with more layouts and models, with a wealth of top quality modelling still to be seen. Although producing this photo album with nearly 180 photos and captions to be added, is quite hard work, and very time consuming, I have really enjoyed the task of selecting and arranging the album and I hope that you enjoy it equally. The most difficult task for me was in having to decide which photos NOT to include in order to keep the size of the reports down to a relatively manageable size! I look forward to meeting some of you at future events and I do hope to continue to be able to produce these photo reports particularly so that those who are unable to attend either through distance, health, or personal circumstances may be able to attend “virtually” via my photos.
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
27-29 September 2013. 009 Society 40th Anniversary Convention, Kegworth
2 years ago Brian Guilmant
started to plan his vision for the 009 Society to host a weekend convention to
mark the 40th anniversary of the Society in 2013. A suitable
centrally located venue was found at the Best Western Premier Yew Lodge Hotel
and Conference Centre in Kegworth, 2 miles from the East Midlands
Airport
Originally it was planned to
invite a maximum of 8 layouts, due to space restrictions and having to pack the
room up for the Saturday dinner. However, when the number of booking
applications resulted in the whole hotel being given over exclusively to the
Society, the invited layouts grew to 21, some staying the whole weekend and
some just for Saturday. Sunday morning was declared as “open house, bring
anything you want” and another 15 layouts, ranging in size from Michael
Campbell’s trophy winning shoebox layout Southon Yard to Roger Bugg’s 10ft x
10ft home based layout depicting the whole of the Talyllyn Railway just “turned
up”. Added to all that was a continuous round of both planned and ad hoc
clinics covering many aspects of railway modelling running from Friday evening
through to Sunday lunchtime with breaks only for sleep, food and the Saturday
dinner night! Specialist Traders and 009 Society Sales were in operation until
11pm on the Friday and on both Saturday and Sunday were up and running from 8
in the morning. All this for a £5 weekend convention fee! You don’t get that at
Warley!
I tried my best to take photos
covering as much of the weekend activities as I could. This was indeed a
mammoth challenge and I failed quite miserably with some of the Saturday only
layouts as by the time I got to the room where they were late on Saturday
afternoon, they were all packing up the room ready for the grand dinner night,
but I did manage to get at least one photo of all layouts present – I think!
Sincere apologies to any that were missed – must try harder next time – 45th
or 50th anniversary? Some people would like it to happen every year
now they’ve been to one!
Because of the mammoth size of
this event and some really special photo opportunities arising, which you will
see in the photos, I have had to split this into instalments. Simply click on
the links shown in the usual way to be taken to the different photo album
instalments. If you didn’t attend, I
hope this provides a reasonably comprehensive illustrated record of what was a
fantastic 48 hour event. If you did attend, I hope it gives you a souvenir and
hopefully a reminder of what went on – although I am certain that many will
have seen a lot of aspects that I didn’t!
Part 1 starts us off with a selection of general
snaps around the different rooms, some people that got trapped in my lens, a
quick tour around some of the many clinics just to get some of the flavour, a
mercifully short selection of murky photos taken during the Saturday evening
grand dinner and the Minitrains competition entries Then as a prelude to the
“main event” ie the models, we at last get to see at least a glimpse of the
Saturday layouts and some of the models and Heritage Collection models in the
display cabinets.
Part 2 concentrates on the layouts that were brought along for the informal and
largely ad hoc Sunday morning session. In some ways this was the best part of
the weekend. Wherever you went there were layouts, from micro to large, that
just sort of “turned up” and were set up basically anywhere there was a
convenient space and a plug. I’m sure there was some furious organisational
paddling going on just beneath the surface but above it everything ran like a
well oiled machine, everyone that I saw was enjoying themselves immensely, new
friends were being made, the sun was shining outside for interludes on the
terrace and all in all, it was about the best Sunday morning I can remember
having anytime, anywhere!
Part 3 includes most of
the layouts that were present for the whole weekend. A superb variety of layout
sizes, styles and vintages ranging from a tiny layout on its first live showing
in the UK
to several iconic layouts that have been regularly exhibited for up to nearly
40 years. Within this box of delights are included a couple of past Railway and
Continental Modeller “Railways of the Month”, a forthcoming one (see the
December 2013 issue of RM out next month!) and a number of highly acclaimed award
winners. A truly splendid cornucopia of 009 modelling excellence indeed!
In the 1950’s there was only one
narrow gauge layout regularly published, the Craig & Mertonford Railway, the
late Philip (PD) Hancock’s masterpiece, that appeared in articles in MRN
initially, from November 1950 and then in RM regularly right through the 1950’s
into the early 60’s and then at irregular intervals right up to February 1993.
Many will have read opening paragraphs to layout descriptions that listed PDH
and the CMR as their inspiration to take up ng modelling.
Most of the original CMR was
broken up but one part, Dundreich, survived and Malcolm MacLeod, with the
support of the Edinburgh & Lothians MRC that now owns it, has painstakingly
worked to restore it and managed to borrow much of the surviving CMR NG stock
from the current owner, Lee Marsh just for the Convention. Dundreich at the
Convention was a very special event indeed. For me, it was by far the
highlight.of what was already a very special event.
Well, that has been my impressions of what was a truly memorable weekend. I hope that the 4 parts of my report have provided a reasonable record illustrating the atmosphere of the event and the variety of models and layouts that were there to be seen and enjoyed. We must all do it again sometime - but perhaps not every weekend or even every month!
Friday, 23 August 2013
10 August 2013, Wiltshire Group 009 Society Members Day and MOMING 13, Pewsey
The 009 Society Wiltshire Group’s 14th Biennial
Members Day has been and gone and if you missed it, you’ll have to wait another
2 years for the next one! Approximately 200 (including participants) people did
make their way to Pewsey and once again, it was a really splendid day out with
9 representatives from specialist traders and narrow gauge model societies; and
no less than 20 layouts including 7 participating in Christopher Payne’s 9th MOMING gathering, the 5th
time they have joined with the 009 Society at Pewsey. If traders are prepared to
travel from Scotland and Manchester , as well as Birmingham and the West Country to spend
Saturday in a village hall in rural Wiltshire, then there must be something
special about it mustn’t there? Huge appreciation to Andy Cundick and the
Wiltshire Group team plus Christopher Payne once again for their considerable efforts. Looking forward
to Pewsey 15, 2015 already!
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
01 June 2013, South West 009 Society Group (SWOONS) at the Exeter Model Railway Exhibition
A space in the diary, Exeter MRX with the traditional SWOONS
heavy presence and, a realisation that it is 3 years since I last got to this
excellent show! No excuses then and on a fine Saturday morning I duly arrived
in Exeter to find a bevy of 009 layouts and a publicity stand camped just
inside the entrance, so that everyone who came to the show just had to be
educated about the 009 Society before passing on into the less exciting world
of standard gauge layouts – although to be fair, some of them were very good!
The only negative point of an otherwise excellent day was that the entrance
hall has a very large dark green skylight, causing everything to be bathed in a
ghastly turquoise coloured glow! My first 2 unedited photos show what I was
faced with – certainly a photographic challenge, which I struggled to overcome!
Thursday, 2 May 2013
20 April 2013, 009 Society AGM and Members Day, Rainford, St Helens
This was my third 009 Society AGM trip to Rainford,
Merseyside and for various reasons I have not yet managed a night’s sleep
beforehand, this year being no exception!. I dropped my son off at Heathrow at
9pm the previous night, got snarled up on the M6 around Birmingham and arrived
in the car park at Rainford at 2am where I proceeded to doss down in the car –
well worth the discomfort and sleep loss as at least I was in early and got 2
cups of tea with my bacon toastie! Thanks to the ladies and 5 stars already
awarded before we even got to the scrumptious cakes! Superbly organised by Stan
Williams and Merseyside & SW Lancs colleagues, an excellent show was opened
by Pete Waterman, a great selection of layouts and a host of friendly modellers
present. I hope you enjoy my photo impressions of the day!
Monday, 1 April 2013
16 March 2013, Sussex Downs 009 Group Open Day, Haywards Heath
The Sussex Downs Group laid on their 4th
biennial open day in the 4th location that we have visited for the event in and
around Haywards Heath - and I think this was the best of the four so far both
for event and location! A very professionally organised event that attracted
around 100 members and guest visitors and featured 12 layouts, mainly in 009
with trade support from Narrow Planet, Meridian Models, Rodney Stenning and the
009 Society Sales, Star of the show was the celebration of Evaleight, the group
layout's 35th birthday with a joining of the all the sections amounting to a
50ft plus layout, which I make no apology for devoting nearly half of my photos
to. Very impressive indeed! I had a great day in Sussex
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
16 February 2013, Narrow Gauge South West, Shepton Mallet
3rd Saturday in
February, easterly wind and chill factor makes it seem freezing, but the sun is
shining brightly – must be NG South West! The annual Small & Delightful
“do” at Shepton Mallet is a reminder that winter is nearly over and it is time
for a big get together, enjoy some super modelling, enjoy the friendly company
of like-minded boys and girls and eat lots of cake! Once again, Howard Martin
and his team of “jolly helpers” put turkey farming, tractors and cider drinking
to one side and pulled together to provide a memorable day out in Somerset for
the nearly 600 paying visitors who joined the 100 or so already inside who were
participating one way or another. I very much enjoyed the day, I always do, and
everyone I spoke to shared the same opinion. It was, in short, a fantastic,
friendly, informal and hugely inspiring experience.
Friday, 15 February 2013
27 January 2013, Beds & Bucks NG Modellers Open Day, Barton Le Clay
For the 8th Beds & Bucks NG Modellers open
day at Barton Le Clay, just north of Luton, Mark Howe and his colleagues pulled
out all the stops to create a real mega-fest of narrow gauge modelling with a
total of no less than 18 layouts large and small plus another 4 in a pizza
layout display. 22 layouts in total, a
good representation from specialist traders, the 009 Society members sales and
of course, splendid refreshments provided by the 4 very hard working ladies who
persevered cheerfully throughout the day keeping everyone fed and watered. 5
stars plus golden mustard spoon for the catering!
A splendid turnout of some 185 paying visitors joined the 50
or so who were participating or posing and once again, top grade
congratulations to the Beds and Bucks team for laying on what everyone agreed
was their best one yet!
12 January 2013, SWOONS Members Open Day, Ilton, Somerset
Another start to another year as Brian Ellsmore and myself
splashed our way to the village of Ilton in Somerset
with a van full of the 009 Society sales stock for the SWOONS (South West group
009 Society) and their 7th Members Open Day. Is it a year since the last one?
Doesn’t time fly! A splendid way to kick the new year into life despite the
weather as around 100 enthusiasts converged on this very wet rural location,
some travelling considerable distances to be there. Matt and Maria Cicquel
provided 5 star beverages and food including some splendid hot “oggies” whilst
everyone enjoyed the usual informal, relaxed and friendly gathering amidst some
superb layouts and models. All who attended agreed a very big “well done” to
the SWOONS team for another truly excellent day.
Friday, 11 January 2013
08 December 2012, 009 Society Members Morning, Colehill, Dorset
The 009 Society’s hard working sales officer, Brian
Guilmant, was hosting the annual Wessex NGM Christmas meeting, buffet and quiz
this year and decided to hire the Colehill community hall a hundred yards from
his home and add a Society Member's Morning, complete with the sales stand to
make a full day of it. Tucked away in Dorset the location may have been but it
didn't stop some 75 members turning up, some travelling from as far as Yorkshire
and a big contingent came from the West Midlands .
Everyone that I spoke to agreed that it was a splendid little do overall, super
food courtesy of the Wessex ladies and professionally organised as ever by
Brian and team. A very much better way to spend a pre-Christmas Saturday
morning than fighting for survival in the shops!
27 October 2012, Expo Narrow Gauge, Swanley
I wasn’t sure what to expect at Expong this
year. Pre-publicity indicated that it was going to be another large “do” with
around 70 stands, but with just a few layouts scattered amongst all the trade
and society tables. Pre-show pessimism was blown to the 4 winds however with 11
pizza layouts present for the Dave Brewer Challenge and Christopher Payne’s
annual “MOMING” (Modelling the Minimum Gauge) gathering of mainly Gn15, G9 and
09 layouts joining forces in the main hall with the dozen or so “normal” narrow
gauge layouts in a variety of scales to make a very good all round feast of top
quality model variety and once again an extremely enjoyable day amongst a large
number of fellow-afflicted narrow gauge modelling enthusiasts. Well deserved
accolades to Hazel Brewer and all in the Greenwich NG Society for their hard
work laying on and organising another good’un!
Thursday, 1 November 2012
06 October 2012, M5/M50 NG Modellers Open Day, Corse & Staunton, Gloucestershire
Another early start, this time heading towards Corse and Staunton in rural Gloucestershire where the M5/M50 NG Modellers, with support from a number of members of the West Midlands Group, had laid on an excellent variety of goodies to make the journey very worthwhile for the considerable numbers who attended.
With the layouts supplemented by the full sales stands from both the 009 Society and the 7mm NGA, plus a number of traders and preservation societies, a super lucky dip lottery from Shirley Harper; and Jane and Janet with almost all the Webb family in support providing 5 star refreshments throughout the day from bacon butties at breakfast through to ploughman’s lunch with non stop cakes in between - what more needs to be said, it was a great day out in the customary friendly and informal style.
Here's a selection of photos which I hope covers most of what there was to see.
With the layouts supplemented by the full sales stands from both the 009 Society and the 7mm NGA, plus a number of traders and preservation societies, a super lucky dip lottery from Shirley Harper; and Jane and Janet with almost all the Webb family in support providing 5 star refreshments throughout the day from bacon butties at breakfast through to ploughman’s lunch with non stop cakes in between - what more needs to be said, it was a great day out in the customary friendly and informal style.
Here's a selection of photos which I hope covers most of what there was to see.
Monday, 15 October 2012
29 September 2012 - Small & Delightful Railway Group Open Day, Compton Dundon near Street
The Small & Delightful Railway Group, who organise NG
Southwest at Shepton Mallet, held their own biennial open day at Compton Dundon
village hall, near Street in Somerset
on 29 September. Unfortunately this time round, attendance was affected by the
group having a new location, which was not widely publicised, and their
own website published the event as being the weekend before! Added to
this, a couple of layouts dropped out just the day before, so those hardy
exhibition chasers that did manage to find the show had rather thin pickings.
On the plus side however, both the 7mm NGA and 009 Society sales
were present in full and some real bargains were able to be identified
without jostling amongst crowds, the day was the expected informal and friendly
gathering - and the Victoria Cream Sponge cake baked by the Glastonbury
Lions ladies was probably the nicest I have ever sampled!
Friday, 31 August 2012
18 August 2012, Narrow Gauge Midlands, Water Orton
Up early and on the road north again, this time to Water Orton and the West Midlands Group biennial members day ably organised by Jane Thompson Webb (5 Star Catering) and Julien Webb (everything else) with fellow West Midlands group worthies for another friendly, informal and enjoyable day amidst like minded narrow gauge modelling enthusiasts. 9 x 009, one HOe, one 00n3 and a 4mm scale 4ft 1½in tram layout along with superb trade support from CWR Models, RT Models and Worsley Works plus artist Angela Baker with some very nicely painted backscenes and of course the 009 Society sales stand with volunteers who once again came considerable distances to contribute to a great day out in the Midlands. Plus of course Jane’s superb refreshment service and a surprise to delight all followers of pioneering narrow gauge modelling (see the photos below!). Great stuff, looking forward to the next one already!
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
30 June 2012, Oxfordshire NG Railway Modellers Members Open Day, Steventon
Despite the downpours, floods and pestilence this summer,
Richard Holder and his fellow Oxfordshire NG Railway Modellers were
granted fine weather for their first group open day and nearly 250
participants, supporters and visitors were rewarded with a super event that was
well worth the considerable organisation and efforts committed towards it. 14
top quality layouts, 13 being in 009, with between them, 4 featured in Railway
Modeller, 3 trophies and a further AGM Certificate of Commendation, ensuring
that the description of "top quality" really was accurate. This
Members Day really did tick all the boxes in terms of all that is best about
this type of do - friendly, informal, great fun, splendid refreshments
available all day, and a great venue - very suitable for future events, which
we all hope will be considered for a repeat by the host Group!
Saturday, 28 April 2012
14 April 2012, NG South, Sparsholt College, Winchester
It is incorrectly assumed by many that, because the biennial NG South, at Sparsholt College, near Winchester
Saturday, 31 March 2012
24 March 2012, Cornish NG Expo, Threemilestone near Truro
To Kernow and The West! As 009 Society Sales Officer Brian Guilmant was unable to travel to the Cornish NG Expo at Threemilestone near Truro
10 March 2012, Narrow Gauge North, Rawdon, Leeds
To The North! Despite living in Yorkshire for many years of my earlier life, I never got to NG North, so this year I thought that it was high time that I made another trip beyond the Watford Gap from my home in Dorset . I duly set off into the pre-dawn gloom very early on Saturday 10 March, and arrived in what is regarded by southern softies as "the frozen north" in Leeds some 5 hours later to find sunshine, lots of cheerful people and lots of trains, even if some of the people were difficult to understand! A very good day out, good to renew acquaintances with friends that I don't often get the opportunity to meet face to face as it were and well worth the expense and long hours to get there and back. Must do it again next year! There were around 20 layouts in the show, which is supported by all the major societies, so obviously there were also a wide range of scales represented in the layouts, plus a 7¼” gauge passenger carrying line set up by the 7¼ Society along one of the corridors!
Friday, 16 March 2012
3-4 March 2012, Strabane at the Romsey Model Railway Exhibition
On Sunday 4th March I had a “2 hour window” in the morning so decided to visit the Romsey Model Railway Exhibition, organised by the local railway modellers society. This is a fairly small show, normally about a dozen layouts, of a variety of scales and types and always good quality. This year there were 3 narrow gauge layouts: Feltwell Road in 009 from Stuart Reeve and sons, John Thorne with his 009 Purbeck and Andy Cundick with his 00n3 work in progress: Strabane. I have photographed Purbeck and Feltwell Road several times before so as time was tight, I concentrated on Strabane, as it is a while since I last saw the layout and the work has progressed a great deal since then. So this short report is entirely for County Donegal Railways fans! More of Andy’s superb Irish models are in the Donegal and Bradford-on-Avon reports from 2009.
One of Andy Cundick’s information notices at the front of the layout states that Strabane is “the fourth in my trilogy ofCounty Donegal Donegal Town Londonderry on the Swilly line to Buncrana and Burtonport.
Photos of Strabane, showing just how far this ambitious layout has progressed since its first outing can be seen in my reports from: Narrow Gauge South West 2009 and Narrow Gauge South 2010. And there’s more to come! So far Andy has modelled just the northern end of the narrow gauge part of Strabane station, as far as the footbridge, for those that are familiar with the location. He intends to add a further 8ft beyond the bridge, and was also telling me of tentative plans to extend the width of the station boards to show at least part of the Great Northern Railway (Ireland 
One of Andy Cundick’s information notices at the front of the layout states that Strabane is “the fourth in my trilogy of
Photos of Strabane, showing just how far this ambitious layout has progressed since its first outing can be seen in my reports from: Narrow Gauge South West 2009 and Narrow Gauge South 2010. And there’s more to come! So far Andy has modelled just the northern end of the narrow gauge part of Strabane station, as far as the footbridge, for those that are familiar with the location. He intends to add a further 8ft beyond the bridge, and was also telling me of tentative plans to extend the width of the station boards to show at least part of the Great Northern Railway (
Sunday, 4 March 2012
18 February 2012, Narrow Gauge South West, Shepton Mallet
This year's "Small & Delightful" NG South West on 18th February was most definitely NOT small as to celebrate the 20th NGSW, it had been decided to make it a really BIG one and with 51 layouts counted, not including society demo layouts etc, it most certainly was that! Despite some very late trade stand cancellations and only discovering that several of the planned rooms were no longer available the night before the show, the organising team still managed to put on what was almost certainly the biggest NG specialist one day show we've ever seen, and in many people's opinion's including my own it was one of the best as well. With over 50 layouts, there can only be a brief glimpse of each one, but I have tried hard to include at least one photo of every layout and something of the flavour of NGSW as well!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
22 January 2012, Beds & Bucks NG Modellers Members Open Day, Barton Le Clay
The 7th annual Beds & Bucks NG Modellers open day was another very successful event for Mark Howe and his colleagues with no less than 14 layouts present, several traders attending, 009 Society sales kept busy all day; and catering manager Terri Howe reported no less than 150 sausage bap kits constructed and then consumed – as well as a host of other super eats. It was an easy decision for the travelling culinary assessor to award not only 5 stars but the rare honour of golden frying pan as well………………
It was good to again see junior narrow gauge modellers being actively encouraged and all in all I experienced a very friendly, informal and inspiring day out that made the 300 mile round trip for me well worth the expense and time. Once again, congratulations are in order to the Beds & Bucks NG modellers for their hard work in laying on a splendid event.
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