Report by Bob Leggett
Photos by Dave McCarthy
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Photos by Keith Bone

The TCS again delighted modellers and collectors with another excellent exhibition at Sandy Upper School sponsored by The Bachmann Collectors Club.

The Show is  probably the only one that has full mix of Collectable toy train layouts and Model Railway Layouts plus over 50 sales tables selling old and new trains.

The show is over 5 halls and I will briefly describe the action as we enter the entrance hall. Here Bachman who are celebrating 20 years in the UK market had two show cases (Bachmann and Graham Farish) showing new and future models.

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I was particularly impressed with a mock up of the Southern 4CEP EMU and the Tornado which will be getting a new tender before it’s launch later in the year. Also Graham Farish N gauge which was taken over by Bachmann in 2000 is now made in China and on a small demo layout the new Voyager was running round.

Another Layout by Milton Keynes Model Railway Club was running Bachmann Stock including the latest Class 150 units in Central livery.

Pat Hammond had a superb display of Bachmann Trains spanning the last twenty years as well as Graham Farish  which is celebrating 60 years and the 30^th anniversary of the TCS.

The TCS Information stand was also in this Hall manned by various members including Keith Bone, Eric Large, Malcolm Pugh and Rod Hannah. The TCS test track with six gauges from Z to G was busy all weekend helping potential purchasers test their engines.

Also on sale was the TCS 30^th anniversary truck made by Dapol using the original Hornby dublo mould. At £8.50 this is an excellent buy. Binders for the TCS magazine ‘Train Collector’ were also on sale.

 David Embling was running the HRCA information stand.

 Hall 1 was the main domain of the model railway layouts as well as the main dining area. It has also changed in the last year with new kitchen and dining facilities.

The first model railway was a neat industrial oo gauge quay side layout ‘Two short planks and a Bit on the side’ by Geoff Trenholme. This is his first exhibition layout and was loosely based on Hythe near Fawley in Hampshire. The scenic modelling was excellent .

The next layout was Borchester Market. This is one of the most well known model railway layouts which was built by the late Frank Dyer in 1975 and has been restored since 2005 by members of Newhaven MRC. Trains ran to a timetable also using the bell system to let operators know what was coming next. Despite its age it still looked wonderful and was much admired over the weekend.

Paul Brookes with mechanical help from Martin Doubleday were running Hugar Southern Electrics built in 1947 on Hugar track. Hugar track is solid wood with rails embedded in. There are even points. Alongside was a collection of Hugar Buildings. Paul was also selling his book the Kemlow Story and a good collection of master models.

The next layout was Norgate (which was my favourite Model Railway at the show) by Tim Page and John Harrison in association with Milton Keynes MRC. It is an N gauge 60+ foot looped figure of eight with four main running lines. Steam and diesel trains were running from 1930-1967. Despite its length there was hardly a straight line on the layout just lovely long curves with lovely scenery.

The final layout in this room was Bilton, a 3mm (TT) railway built by Tony Briddon. This layout was started in 1995 and was only 4 feet then. It has grown over the years and is now 20 feet long. . The layout has been well made and depicts a mainly industrial outline with warehouses and loading areas and has excellent weathering.

We now move into Hall 2 (Theatre) and we have three Hornby Dublo layouts. Dave White and his son had set up a superb loose lay 2 rail layout with Acho high level based on the plan of the Dublo exhibition layout at the 1963 trade fair to promote the E3002 and Simplec points. The plan was made from photos in Mike Fosters Dublo book (pages 140 and 175) Dave had kept as close to the original which included Britains Trees and Playcraft buildings!

Derek Smith and friends had his excellent Dublo 3 rail Kingsend layout. I was particularly impressed with a Dublo Brighton Belle. An interesting conversion using Dublo Pullmans and an Emu motor bogie.

Alongside Peter Willis and friends had a lovely Hornby Dublo scenic 2 and 3 rail layout called Binns Road 11. This also included some interesting stock. The layout included both metal and plastic buildings.

Andrew Hyelman had a very interesting layout  from Austrian manufacturers including Klienbahn, Lilliput and Ro-Co. The main attraction was the superb 12 stall roundhouse complete with full catenary.

In the middle of the room Elaine Hyelman was selling as well as Mike Fowler who has started to sell the accessories and stock from his well known layout that made a final appearance two years ago.

Nick Gillman as usual enjoyed playing trains and had set up a neat Tri-ang Industrial layout using Standard Track. The main interest was the hopper trucks  unloading into a Tri-ang freighter. This delighted people all weekend. It is the first time I had seen Tri-ang boat being used in such a way. Nick was also promoting the Tri-ang Society.

A nice display of Meccano by Ivor Walton was on the far wall. I was particularly taken with a collection of Meccano  sports cars from 1919 -1979. There was  also an O gauge Meccano Diesel on a short track with Hornby wagons.

Hugh Bennett had a display of Dublo Dinkies showing the complete range including some rare versions.

In Hall 3 Peter Dunk and helpers had a Gauge One layout, as I was passing a superb Bing Pacific from the 20’s was hauling a rake of LSWR Coaches also by Bing c1902. On the inside track  a Marklin George V was running round with a train of Carette trucks. Earlier I had seen a Southern  4-4-0 T9 running which had been expertly built by Peter.

Opposite Peter Berry with help from Martin Doubleday had a  Graham Farish oo gauge layout. This was the best one so far by Peter and  included a complete Brookvale station and two very rare card kits by Farish of 1930’s Villas. A good selection of stock was running. Peter was celebrating 60 years of Graham Farish oo gauge which started in 1949.

Next to Peter Steve Knight and Ashley had their excellent Kitmaster Display and were also selling Kitmaster accessories and other stock.

As we enter the main sports hall the remainder of the layouts are round the outside with most of the traders in the middle.

On our left is a delight for Trix enthusiasts. First up is David Holt with a new display layout featuring  Trix and Lilliput from the sixties. David has rebuilt his layout to a very high standard to accommodate larger curves and includes various card kits made by Trix in the sixties. A variety of stock was running including a five car  Railcar set

Various members of the TRIX Twin Collectors Association were running the club stand.

Alongside Brian and Gill Arnold had an excellent Trix layout  using stock c 1936-1959  including most of the pre and post war buildings and a working conveyor belt.

Simon Culverhouse completed the Trix line up with his excellent British N gauge Minitrix. The layout ran stock from 1967-1997 and also on display were boxed sets and other items.

Mick Flye with help from Neil Trump were running American Flyer S Gauge. Although S gauge originally finished in 1966  it was re-introduced by Lionel in the 1980s and now has a small but decent following in the States with several new manufacturers. The stock running was 50/50 old and new. As I passed a Circus train was running around.

Dave Coddington has a very impressive display of Tri-ang Battlespace and at one stage had two trains running with  no less than ten ambulance cars. I understand he also had four Turbo cars warming up for a photo shoot!

Dave also had a collection of Transformers  including South African, Australian and Canadian. What surprised Dave was that he had more comments re the Transformers than the Battlespace!

Alongside Bryan Pentland had his wonderful Tin plate layout with three levels of track. Seen running were Brimtoy, Marx, and  Hatchette. I was also impressed with a Tin windmill in full working order and a plane circling over the track.

On the next wall Richard Bingham had his excellent  Lionel Standard Track layout. Standard gauge ceased production in 1942 when the USA entered WW11. It was never made  by Lionel after the war, hence Richard was running stock over 60 years old.

Dave Peasant had his wonderful Vintage O gauge layout which is cram full of accessories including Britains Farm, Tri-ang minic Cars, Buses, Fire Station and  Garages. While I was passing a Basset Lowke  Prince Charles was running round- an acquisition this weekend by Dave. . At the front of the layout was a Lionel Thomas to entertain children.

Phil Goater with his son were running Tri-ang Big Big in its various guises from 1966-1980. There were at least three trains running at any one time and with various accessories this was a colourful layout.

Steve Guest had a layout using O gauge Atlas 3 rail track and this was used to show off the latest ACE trains. The latest Battle of Britain loco Winston Churchill was running round all weekend sporting a Southern Livery on one side and BR on the other. I’m sure the finished loco will be an excellent seller

In the corner Reg Harman was displaying his excellent collection of Die cast trains including Budgie and Morestone. There were also three Teddy toys streamline trains. In addition Reg had a complete display of crescent signals.

The majority of the traders were in the sports hall. Amongst them Bernard Ridgely was selling an excellent  Hornby Style TCS 30th Anniversary coal truck for £40. I understand the attendance on Saturday was higher than last year and most of the traders  reported  good sales on Saturday however due to good weather attendance on Sunday was much lower than last year and sales were generally poor.

As usual visitors from overseas made the show and Tony Griffiths and his wife Pink  popped in from Canadian and earlier in the day two Americans also enjoyed the show.

Food and refreshments were supplied by the School caterers and they did a good job .

Well done to Show organiser Eric Large on a great show and also to David Ramsey for his assistance and all the other volunteers who helped make the show a success.

Bob Leggett