Inclement weather ensured a good attendance on both days although Sunday is
only a fraction of Saturdays.

The show aims to please just about every collector of toy trains and the
variety of layouts and displays is stunning.

I will try and described the layouts and displays as briefly as possible but
hopefully paint a picture for those unable to attend.

In the entrance lobby we had four layouts, Bachmann were showing off their
latest stock on a layout built by Milton Keynes Model Railway Club and
included a monorail built by Kader which is part of the Bachmann empire.

Alongside was the latest toy train to hit the market, Ernie the Underground
Train. Still in its infancy Bachmann have already produced a Track mat and
platforms together with Ernie. These trains are similar in appearance and
style to Tomy and use grey plastic track. The public were able to operate
this set.

Opposite was Nick Gillman with a merry band of helpers operating his c1958
Tri-ang Standard track layout complete with hundreds of contemporary
accessories. They seem to have lots of fun running this layout.

Andrew and Elaine Hyelman were on double duty, firstly they were operating
their colourful Faller Hit Train layout complete with an excellent German
Shop Display and with help from Ian Ramsey Connell were organising the TCS
information stand .It was a very successful weekend with 9 new members
(including 4 lapsed members) and 40 renewals including Bruce Thompson who
came over from Australia just to renew!

Pat Hammond had a wonderful display of Tri-ang and Hornby Pullmans including
a North American Flying Scotsman set.

Moving into the dinning hall we pass Steve Knight who has a display
promoting the Kitmaster Club and Ashley Barton with his impressive Kitmaster
and Airfix Scenic layout. It takes a while to absorb everything on this
layout, it really is a joy to watch.

Derek Smith, Ron MaCuskie and others were operating Derek's Dublo/Wrenn
layout with their speciality of running long trains often made up with rare
Wrenn wagons.

David Embling was flying the flag for the HRCA manning the information stand
but also I noticed taking time out to operate Derek's layout.

Bruce Garwood was operating one of the Model Railway layouts at the show. He
has made a lovely N gauge layout set in a rural environment with a castle
overlooking the railway. Another Model railway on show was Melford a
fictitious junction set in the Midlands.

Alongside Miles Rowland and friends from the Tri-ang Society were operating
his Super 4 layout with a variety of stock from Tri-ang Transcontinental to
Modern Hornby on two levels.

Another Club, the newly formed ACE owners club was running stock on a small
layout.

David Lyon was operating his excellent Tri-ang Minic Motorway layout with
some railways. It ran well most of the w/e although I had to save a
container lorry from the jaws of a Dock shunter as I passed by!

Bryan Pentland and Paul Williams made sure their w/e was full of fun, on
Saturday they had fixed a camera to the front of a train and visitors could
view the video in real time. On Sunday there was a rare sight of an
electrified Chad Valley 4-4-0 with a glowing firebox chasing round the
outside track. They also had 24 Marx elevators for the high level track and
were also running some Belgian Jils stock. A very colourful and fun layout.

Moving back towards hall 2 we are met with several TT/3MM displays
commemorating 50 years of British TT. Dave Coddington had a neat display of
Tri-ang TT with some excellent shop displays items on show, Keith Gowen had
his lovely GWR Helston 3mm. This is a very impressive layout model in post
war era and has been featured in Railway Modeller and BRM and won the
Favourite layout competition chosen by the visitors over both days.

Brian Smetham was promoting the 3mm Society, Eric Large the show organiser
had a superb display of Tri-ang TT and Alex Garfield was operating his
Standard track TT layout which had the rare Kays Golden Train running when I
was there.

George Rutter is a friend of the National Railway Museum and was promoting
forthcoming events at the museum.

Brian and Gill Arnold and Trix society members flew the flag for Trix . A
lovely layout with both AC and DC systems was set up. Star appearances
included a rare pre-war Princess Presentation Set and a German Trix Express
2-4-2. They were also busily promoting the Trix society which must have been
successful as I saw many visitors with a back copy of the Trix Gazette.

Alongside Roger and Barbara Burnish were operating their Dublo/Acho 2 and
3 rail layout with stock moving from 2 to 3 rail! I also noticed late on
Sunday a Hornby Toby the Tram Engine enjoying a trip around the layout, it's
a good job this was a TCS event!

In Hall 3 Sandy Transport Society had a continuous slide show as well as
photos and magazines for sale.

Hugh Bennett was displaying his collection of Dublo Dinkies. Fourteen
models were produced over a period of 7 years. Hugh had several variations
on display.

Ivor Walton had his Meccano display and what a terrific display it was,
using modern Meccano he had produced a Concorde with a squadron of Red
Arrows set 'in the air', beautifully display with a full sky and a selection
of Meccano Motor Cars on the ground.

This hall however was nearly filled for the last time with Mike Fowlers
excellent 24' x 10' layout c1963 with mainly Dublo and Tri-ang stock and
beautifully crafted scenic effects using contemporary items such as Merit,
Master Models, Tri-ang and Dublo accessories.

I took several visits to this wonderful layout as Mike has decided to sell
the layout and his complete collection. Some of this layout is featured in
Mike's Dublo video however it will be sad if this layout never returns to
the exhibition scene.

We now move into the sports hall for the remainder of the layouts and the
majority of sales tables.

Robin Thrope was displaying his superb range of Bayko buildings, the Country
Club was particularly excellent, also on display were other construction
systems including American Betta Bilda.

David Holt was showing his late Trix and Lilliput layout complete with Trix
card buildings and contemporary accessories.

In the far corner Peter Dunk was operating his tinplate Gauge 1 layout
running mainly Carette, Bing and Marklin stock together with some of Peter's
home made engines. I was particularly taken by a very Bavarian style Putney
Station!

Lionel Standard gauge was operated by Richard Bingham. The layout depicted
the era 1930-40 and was very colourful display with operating accessories
activated by the public.

Phil Goater with help from his son was running a lovely Tomy layout complete
with a spiral and a drive in Thomas!

Dave White had set up his fantastic Tri-ang super 4 layout c 1963-1972.
Every time I passed the layout it seemed to get more items added.

With some unique Tri-ang Model land buildings including a Castle as well as
catenary running this was a much admired layout.

Steve Guest was operating his neat 13' 6'' x 8' layout with Atlace track
and stock by Corgi, ACE Hornby and Bassett Lowke.

Lego was represented by John and Pauline Foreman. No less than 10 trains at
once were operating. A variety of stock was running and I was very impressed
with a Lego Church built from the Castle set.

Granddad's Trains was the title of Terry Durrant's 3 rail o gauge layout.
Using a variety of stock by Hornby , Bassett Lowke and ACE this was a lovely
layout complete with Hornby accessories.

Reg Harman and helpers were operating to a Transcontinental theme on his
Tri-ang Standard and series 3 layout. Spotted were Red , Green and early
Yellow switchers Reg had also brought along his display of Cresent and other
die cast play trains.

Simon Culverhouse brought along his British Minitrix and displays.

This is the first time I had seen this set up. The neat layout ran well and
Simon had set up a huge display showing the range of Minitrix from 1968
until production ceased in 1997 .

Bassett Lowke were represented by Geoff Spriggs who ran stock on a 6' x 4'
layout.

Also on the layout was a lovely 1928 Bing Station.

One of the best layouts on the circuit for presentation is Richard Deas
Tri-ang super 4 layout which has a frame in the style of a Tri-ang Hornby
Box and has that wow factor when first seen. Richard was also running a
variety of stock showing the full variation available from Tri-ang in the
mid sixties.

Mike Flye and Neil Hunter had their excellent American Flyer trains running
and paid no attention to the introduction of the smoking ban on July 1st as
their Santa Fe steamers were producing smoke all weekend!

Although mainly in the sports hall but also scattered around the rest of the
halls was over 40 sales tables selling a variety of toy trains. Most dealers
did well on Saturday but as is normal trade was very slow on Sunday.

Over 40 members and friends enjoyed and excellent dinner on Saturday night
organised by David Ramsey and a big thank you to the School Kitchen for the
food over the weekend.

Finally well done to Eric Large and David Ramsey and the rest of the
committee who had imput into the show. Anyone who came would have enjoyed
themselves and would hopefully rekindle that desire to have a layout at home
if they have not got one already.

Sorry to go on and my apologies if I have missed anything out.

Cheers

Bob Leggett

Show Photos