Report by Bob Leggett

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Here is my report of the Autumn  event organised by Paul Draycott  Like last  year I decided to leave early and set the alarm for just after 5am and arrived at Trinity Hall Leicester by 7.55am, only snag was  that in my haste to leave I left behind my overnight bag!

As usual Paul had arranged a great show with a variety of layouts and displays together with the usual assortment of dealers selling cheap and cheerful bargains to more expensive tinplate delights. At the entrance members of Trinity Church welcomed visitors to the show.

In the lobby Rod Hannah single handily manned the TCS stand

and I understand  some visitors were interested in joining the society. Also helping the club were Peter Wright, David Posselthaite, Dave Collinson and Eric Wardle who ran the club bring and buy sales stand with 10% of the sales total going towards club expenses at Warley MRE at the NEC. Sadly unsold was Lionel Southern Daylight with 5 coaches for £570.

Mark Carne had an interesting sales table including a Hornby Cadbury’s PO van a for £68 and a Marklin for Gamages GNR green 4-4-0 tender engine £225.

Alongside Peter Hilton had on display his latest tank transfers for 00 and 0 gauge stock. I particularly liked the 00 gauge copies of the O gauge tankers

Also selling in the lobby was Peter Corley, Albert Chaplin, Phil and Bertie Goater.

John and Pauline Foreman were also selling more of John’s surplus tinplate O gauge and I was pleased to pick up a nice Brimtoy large size Signal Box for £4! I noticed a Marx double Girder Bridge for £35 and a single for £10. Of all the traders John probably had the most empty boxes at the end of the day.

Elaine’s Trains and had some nice Acho coaches and a rare piece of Puck scenery amongst a large collection of mainly quality boxed 00 gauge. Elaine also had a large box full of transformers free to all which was almost empty by the end of the day.

 Alongside Andy Hyelman was showing his latest project, a small portable N gauge layout, track had been laid and stock running, we will now look forward to the scenic effects, Andy also had a display of N gauge toy trains including Ferroro, Roco, Ruco and Railroute which included a lovely Mistral engine and two coaches.

As we enter the main hall Tony Twiggs was selling some surplus Hornby O gauge and included a superb Eton for £1400 and an L1 for a similar price. I picked up early on a couple of good SR 4-wheel coaches.

Next to Tony was a 4 foot high Blackpool Tower made from Meccano with two operating lifts and plenty of lights. This was restored by Richard Bingham and was a much admired item.

Opposite Leon Mills had a good day selling the excellent Ace Trains, Spancams and Castles were in demand as well as the new  N2.

Peter Berry won the award again for the most unusual display, his  00 Gauge Wrecks and  Oddities was certainly well titled, there was some unidentified 3-rail track, an Astral Coronation, A Farish King converted to a blue continental Pacific, a rare Kibri station and an uncommon  boxed Trednip turntable for Trix , a collection of wrecked Rex rolling stock  was also on display.

In the far corner Malcolm Pugh set up on his own a very nice Tri-ang series three track layout with station and buildings.

to start with Malcolm was running standard Tri-ang stock, however when Tony Penn decided  to help he introduced several Tri-ang neverwazzas

which included a repainted L1 into a maroon compound, a Princess Royal with Turbo motive

and  a Scalemaster Streamline body on a Tri-ang Hornby Scotsman chassis,

Alongside Bryan Pentland and Paul Williams were running O gauge tinplate including a Marx Mercury train and a Joustra battery train (converted to 3-rail operation).

The Leyland Detroit 1931 monorail which we saw for the first time last year has now been completely renovated by Bryan and all four cars were running. With red cast iron supports and sparks as the train whizzed around the track this really was a very impressive sight.

The next display was of Leeds Model Company litho coaches and trucks by Humphrey Davis. A very well arranged display showed the variety of ‘lithos’ available

to me the most outstanding was the Brighton Belle sitting proudly at the top of the display. I was also impressed with the Sentinel Steam car which was rescued from a bombed out house during WW11 alongside a modern Roy Fearn LMS steam railcar. Also included were Bond’s and Mills Bros wagons. Humprey also had a copy of David Peacock’s ‘ A History of Leeds Model Company’ which is being launched this month

In the middle Chris Smith was also displaying a  lovely range of locos and I noticed a Portsmouth SR green  EMU, all set  for outside third rail operation. Chris was also selling a few items surplus to his requirements.

Michael Foster was also selling some surplus items to his collection, I was impressed with  a couple of lovely ‘Christmas Train ‘coaches.

On the stage Mick Mobely was running Lionel, American Flyer and Ives standard gauge trains.

Richard Bingham also had stock running and made sure I noted that the 2-4-0 Steam loco with coal trucks had the correct black roof caboose .While I was there a  Lionel Bipoler was running with a rake of 1932 lime coaches, Richard’s train and an all white Electric 6-wheel engine and two white coaches, these were salesmen samples used so not to offend anyone when selling!

Opposite the stage Dave Angell with help from John Seargent , Dave White and a little from yours truly had an amazing display of Playcraft and Jouef Trains with a small display of  Playcraft Highways.

Dave had several trains running all day on a small oval with a backdrop of boxed sets including several rare Primary sets.

An engine I had never seen before was a red 0-4-0 steam engine with BR arrows, it was also nice to see the small packed header card displays.

A rare Dutch brown 4-wheel diesel also caught my eye. This certainly brought back memories of seeing Playcraft on sale at Woolies. When James Day turned up in the afternoon he was able to get Bob Leggett’s Highways shop display layout running using Dave White’s cars. Dave also had a nice selection of Tri-ang and other makes for sale.

Around the outside and in the centre were the traders including Peter Gurd  with an interesting selection of ephemera

Bob Leggett with a table of good value stock which Tony Penn unkindly likened to a skip!, rather unfair as items sold well all day including a Tri-ang 3-Car DMU set for £20 and EMU centre car for £17.

Ray Brooks had O Gauge all sorts , I particularly liked a Chad Valley boxed set of extra trucks. Kevin Garratt also had a variety of good value items while Ray from the Kitmaster club had various kits and RTR stock for sale.

As we leave the hall we pass the club display stand manned by David Ramsey, over 65 Private Owner Freight trucks were on display and included VB wagons and a Penn Salt tanker (from guess who?). David was also selling some surplus stock.

The first exhibit in the small hall was Bob Fleming’s neat display of Railway Plastic Kits  including  Airfix and Kitmaster and  some rare examples by ERG who were one of the first  to produce plastic kits after the Second World War.

Alongside Colin Toten was selling the excellent Darstead O gauge trains and had a good day selling the new Jinty  as well as a set of Pullmans.

In the corner Brian Arnold had his excellent Trix layout and had help from John Brown, David Holt and Keith Jones the Trix Overseas co-ordinator from America.

While I was passing  pre-war Southern goods and passenger trains were  running round  as well as with an LMS train with ‘scale length ‘ coaches.

Pat Hammond followed the club theme and had a display of colourful PP wagons by Bachmann and Hornby including Coal wagons, Tar and oil tanker as usual displayed beautifully in Pat’s cabinets.

Dave and his uncle  Peter Peasant had one of my favourite layouts. Their O gauge scenic layout with stock from ACE , Bassett Lowke and Hornby is just lovely with the superb scenery.

The Fox Hunt was in full cry and the Tri-ang Minic Fire Station with the  Minic vehicles was excellent.

As I was passing an ACE ‘Spitfire’ was on the outside with a modern Basssett Lowke (now made by Hornby) in the centre and a old Hornby LMS tank running a goods train on the inside circuit.

In the centre of the room Paul  Brookes had a wonderful display of wooden O gauge stations

including a Bond’s Terminus station which Paul had lovingly restored from a wreck and had the photos to prove it, a Bassett Lowke country station, Leeds Through and Terminus stations with canopies and an unknown SR ‘concrete’ style station with Kirdon lamps.

Paul was also selling surplus items from his collection including a Hugar Grain store. Paul also had his new book for sale ‘A Walk on the Dark Side’ which is about his life as a diabetic and on insulin for the last 45 years.

The refreshments were as usual superb value for money and I was able to treat four of us with a bacon roll and cup of tea for £5.20.This show is famous for its excellent Christmas lunch and once again the cooks did not disappoint. For £6.00 we were able to enjoy a superb three course meal ( main course with all the trimmings) and a cup of tea. Surely one of the best value meals in the country.

It is always enjoyable to be able to have lunch with fellow enthusiasts and I was able to share the enjoyment of the meal with Phil and Bertie Goater and John Seargent. My thanks to the catering team of Marilyn, Simon and Adam Draycott, Audrey Foulds, Janet Tilley, Diane Johnson, Daphne Sargent, Carol Ireland, Mary Starie and Pavita.

Well done again to Paul Draycott and all his helpers for putting on such a great show.

I hope I have not missed anyone out.

Bob Leggett

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