An afternoon at the races

Back in September I went to a small local exhibition and was quite content with being at a smaller show. I wasn't planning to go to the much larger exhibition at Doncaster racecourse but after some thought decided at about 11.00 on Sunday morning to make the short trip to the show. My plan was to concentrate on the layouts and to try and ignore the trade...

The layout I really wanted to see was the smallest there, Michael Campbell's Loctern Quay, and I wasn't disappointed! I managed a couple of snaps on my phone:

Not long after taking the pictures Michael's phone rang and I was handed the controller(!) With a Minitrains loco and MicroTrains couplers it was very easy to operate, with photo-card tiddlywink computer to generate the trains. I liked the interaction where Michael asked members if the audience to pick cards and he says this does sometimes result in them hanging around a bit longer to watch "their" train being formed.

I think I spent more time in front of this layout than any other at the show, so thank you Michael for braving the trip North!

One thing that struck me were several layouts that placed the railway well in it's landscape. 'Loctern Quay' does this well in an urban setting, but one of my favourites was 'Blueball Summit' in 2mm finescale - possibly the finest scenic modelling there, I overheard someone say what I had thought, that is was almost a smaller scale 'Worlds End'.

I did spend a little money in end, as it had died down considerably after 3pm I had another walk around and a quick look at the trade stands, where I picked up a secondhand but unopened Parkside Dundas 009 chassis kit - largely because it had the old style wheels in it, which are useful if you ever need them for scenic purposes as they blacken up easily. I also picked up a secondhand but new-in-box Peco 009 point, looking online once home I found I had paid about 1/2 price for both. There are bargains out there for narrow gauge modellers...

Colin