2006 Exhibition Pictures   

 The Layout judged winner by the Public was Wonderworld

The Chairmans cup was won by Mansfield 

Beccadale Haematite; by David Scott (5.5mm/ft scale, 3ft gauge.

The Beccadale Haematite Company was a small iron ore mining and processing concern situated in South Cumberland, which lasted long enough to see the introduction of early diesel locomotives. The Beccadale Valley is one of Cumberland's lesser-known areas and is impossible to trace; Ordnance Survey maps choose to deny its existence and make no reference to the now lifted railway system.  The 3ft gauge track is represented in model form by 16.5mm track to a scale of 5.5mm to the foot. Being a largely 'non commercial' scale means virtually nothing is available out of the box. Buildings are therefore scratch built from plastic, cardboard, wood veneers and scribed aluminium sheet with roofs of corrugated cardboard or individually applied paper slates. Yard lighting is from roofing screw plastic cover caps and grain of wheat bulbs. Boundary fences are made from lengths of 00 gauge rail soldered into separate panels before finishing with wood veneers or fine nylon net. The dry stone wall at the mine end of the layout is stained oil and grease absorbent granules held together with evostik complemented by fencing from drilled matchsticks and fusewire. Baseboards are half inch plywood frames with similar tops and incorporate integral folding legs. Scenic contours utilise whatever was to hand, plastic foam packaging materials, polystyrene ceiling tiles or interwoven cardboard strips covered with plaster and scrim finished with products from Heki and Greenscene among others. Locomotives use propriety 00 gauge chassis from Bachman, Dapol, and Tenshodo, fitted with B&B remote couplings operated by electromagnets. Bodies are all scratchbuilt from plastic sheet with the occasional whitemetal fitting and extra lead weights. Mine skips are from Plastruct sections with the 'main line' hoppers being converted Jouef mineral wagons. Unloading the mine skips is achieved by magnet and metal \rashers hidden in the removable loads, which are made from coarsely ground flower arrangement pebbles

Borth-y-Gest; 7.83mm gauge Ffestiniog/NWNGR; Paul Holmes.
 

In 1865 the Croesor Tramway obtained an Act of Parliament permitting the construction of an extension of their line around the coast from the quays at Portmadoc to the village of Borth-y-Gest, and to run steam locomotives on their 2 foot line.  The line was never constructed, but my model is yet another ‘might have been‘.  I assume that the line came around the headland and behind the fictional Gorseddau slate warehouse to emerge onto a newly built wharf that had been constructed parallel to the Glaslyn river’s course through the estuary, thus creating an enclosed harbour at Borth-y-Gest. On the same date 10 years later the NWNGR obtained its Act - if built in full, this would have created a network of two foot lines around North Wales, and would have enveloped the Croesor, creating the line we know now as the Welsh Highland, some 50 years earlier than actually happened. The idea behind constructing Borth-y-Gest was to discover whether 7.83mm gauge could be made to work.  Track is all hand built  using copper clad sleepers and PECO  Z gauge rail.  Stock is a mixture of scratchbuilt and kitbuilt items, running on 2mm Association wheels set to 6.9mm back-to-back.  The layout runs with DCC control by Lenz, decoders by Lenz and also now with Umelec sound decoders – LISTEN to the England engines at work on the wharf….
See www.festrail.co.uk

Clovelly; Don Brears and Graham Hand; 4mm/00

 

A line from the LSWR at Bideford to Clovelly was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1898 but was never built  We have assumed that it was built, with a later kick-back extension to a Royal Naval establishment further along the coast at Hartland Point.  If built, the line would have been operated by the LSWR, then later the Southern Railway and finally the Western and Southern Regions of British Railways, like the other ex-LSWR lines in the area to Bideford, Barnstaple and Ilfracornbe.  In fact the track plan is based on the original 1881 layout at llfracombe. The period depicted on the layout  is late 1940s to early 1960s. This is the layout’s first exhibition, so we are expecting plenty of questions

Divorce Lane; N gauge modern image

Welcome to Divorce Lane works and freight yard.  The works and yard are separated by a road to create two 'divorced' operating areas, hence 'Divorce lane' as the layout name. (That's my explanation, um!)
On the left hand side of the layout is the works area, complete with traverser. Here you will find the obligatory works cat out for a stroll; he goes by the name of 'Smokey'.
On the right hand side there is a Euro-hub freight yard. With judicious positioning of lorry trailers and rail containers, a working container crane can travel & traverse, to pick-up and deposit containers, over a large area. http://www.calmm.8m.com/index.html

Gairloch & Wester Ross  Railway; Roger Christian & Stan William's; 009/4mm

The layout is set in a fictitious setting in the far north west of Scotland. There was actually a proposal to build a railway from Achnersheen on the standard gauge Highland Railway to Gairloch. It would have run along the shores of Loch Maree. Early in the 20'' Century and around the time of the First World War the Royal Navy used some of the sea lochs in north west Scotland as anchorages for their warships. It is with those facts in mind for it's raison d'etre that we have built the model.  Other influences have played their part. Such a railway would require substantial locomotives and rolling stock. British builders constructed large locomotives for India and other former colonial territories. Therefore many of our model locos and rolling stock have a colonial influence as well as some from Britain and the world.

 The operators are members of the 009 SOCIETY which caters for small scale narrow gauge modellers. We will be happy to answer any questions regarding the Society, the layout, scenics and the models. In return we ask you to enjoy watching the trains go by and, if present, control your children and prevent any finger poking. Most of the model locos are made by the operators or were special commissions and it only takes a second to destroy many hours work.

Harper Valley; N gauge American

HARPER VALLEY.. is a small mining town in the foothills of the rocky mountains.  
The town owes its prosperity to the quality of the ore and mineral deposits that have been discovered in the vicinity.  The presence of these valuable formations are due to severe volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.  One of the most recent discoveries was the finding of the very rare mineral “Fluxonoum”.  This was the discovery of the eminent scientist Dr Emmet brown who suddenly appeared in the valley a number of years back.  Local rumour has it that he arrived in a weird futuristic vehicle muttering words like “Flux Capacitors” AND “Gigawatts”
The layout is built on a plywood frame covered with ¼” plywood.  The mountain and the  rock face bases are made from blue flooring grade material.  This is a very light rigid form of polystyrene available from builder’s merchants that is very popular for layout construction in the USA.  Please ask to see a sample if you would like further information.   

Heath North; 4mm/00

  
The layout "Heath North" is a fictional town set in West Yorkshire in the late 1990's to present day.
The small terminus station, which serves the town, still retains its main building with 2 platforms with a run round loop. The town still retains a small fuelling point. with a two road shed. It is now used for refueling, light servicing and stabling. There is a private siding to the small oil terminal

Little Kanawha Yard,  American HO Modern

The Little Kanawha River branches off from the Ohio River at Parkersburg in West Virginia, USA. The CSX railroad has a number of switching yards in the town that sort freight cars for local industries. The layout tries to capture the look and feel of a typical small yard and its surrounding industries. Industries represented on the model are (L to R): Engineering, Milling, Storage & Shipping, Printing, Packaging and Plastics, all of which exist in the Parkersburg area. A small locomotive depot provides servicing and light repair facilities for all yards in the area and adds further operational interest.
Trackwork is Peco code 100, ballasted with granite chippings. Buildings are adapted from kits or scratch built. Stock is from Athearn, Atlas, Bachrnann, Lifelike, Roundhouse and others and is representative of that which appears on the prototype. Control is by Gaugemaster handheld units.
If you have any questions, please ask the operators.

Mansfield; 4mm/EM

Mansfield represents a fictional branch line in Nottinghamshire. It is assumed to have run from the Leen Valley line to the outskirts of Mansfield, to allow the GNR to grab a share of the lucrative coal traffic from the Midland and the Great Central.  The period portrayed is the early years after the 1923 grouping. This allows a mixture of liveries, with some items in LNER livery and the others still in pre-grouping colours.
Nearly everything has been either scratch-built or kit-built. In particular, apart from a couple of repainted proprietary wagons, all the rolling stock and locomotives have been made either by myself or Malcolm Crawley.
The main station building is based on East Barkwith, a GN station on the line from Louth to Bardney, The track plan is also based on the same station, with one additional siding, although East Barkwith was a through station, not a terminus.
Some of the baseboards date back to the 1960's and are survivors from my first ever "train set". The fiddle yard was built more recently and uses modem, lighter weight techniques.

Ride on Railway; 7.25” gauge  1/5 scale 

Probably the simplest layout at this exhibition, not even a point in site!  But this is one layout that children of all ages can RIDE ON.

Usually to be found in Thompson Park, Burnley, together with a selection of other trains, including steam.

If you require any further details on 7.25” gauge in Thompson Park or general information please ask one of the operators.   (Brian Howorth)

Sparkle; HO Austrian

Sparkel depicts a small terminus in the Bavarian region of Germany around 1910. The scale is H0 (1:87) - a little smaller than the most popular British scale of 00.
The layout took around 5 weeks to build and rests on my trusty Black & Decker workmate. This has been with me almost as long as my wife and somedays it’s a close call as to which is the more useful! .
A snowfall and the tree in the square suggest that Christmas is not far away. The back scene is hand painted including the buildings in the town square. Buildings are both kit built and conversions.
Stock is fitted with KD couplings giving (on a good day!) fully automatic coupling and uncoupling. The layout has a number of little cameo scenes and some operating features. Look out especially for Heinrich the hare as he pops up from a bush to see what’s going on.
Please feel free to speak to us and to take photographs.

Trollenberg Junction; Yorkshire Dales G Scale Groups 

Commenced in February 2005 the layout is currently based upon an area of 20 X 14, A complimentary background branch line is under development at our clubrooms. The layout currently has three running tracks, one of which is operated as DCC under the LGB, MTS system. This allows us to operate and demonstrate both analogue and digital control systems. We operate both European and American stock in G scale, predominately narrow gauge, around the one metre wide track bed. However G scale is a broad church when it comes to scales if it looks right it is usually okay. Please ask if you have any questions, alternatively do leave your name and address if you would like details of our groups events. The group locally was formed in April 2004 and presently has members across the North of England. Group member's work with models using both electric steam and battery power, and layouts can be found indoors and in the garden environment, Radio Control is available, and track layouts can be quickly put together for use on a patio areas etc for a days use.
A common misunderstanding is that this scale is expensive however a basic starter set can be purchased for around £170-00p or less. If you are interested in taking things further you are welcome to join us at the Keighley Club just ask for details.MIKE

Thresons Bridge; 7mm/0

  THRESON'S BRIDGE is a freelance layout but not based on anywhere in particular. It could be any medium sized town with a station, goods shed, cattle shed, dock and coal yard, passenger services operate at regular intervals. Track and points are on the whole Marcway with one point Peco to coal yard; all buildings are made from foam board and plasticard.  The stock is mixture of kit built and ready to run, using Slater's Peco Parkside Dundas fitted with Dingham couplings to make easy operation. If you want to know any more information please ask the operators and we will endeavour to answer your questions

Thomas 00;   Bradford Model Railway Club (00)

ASHTOM is a little known intermediate station on the coastal branch line on the Isle of Sodor. So little known that hardly anyone has heard of it, even Thomas gets mixed up when he is sent there.  You’re not likely to see the Fat Controller at ASHTOM so anything goes and quite a lot STOPS.

The only visible industry is the Sodor Kipper Company, which was built after the first catch of smoked kippers, was landed on the quay on the 1st April 1900 and something or other. So much far the serious stuff.  So - the layout was built with our younger visitors in mind and they are invited to take the controls and have a go...

  Anyone get the anagram?

Valley Tramways; 4mm/00 - W.& J.Helliwell   CANCELLED

Portrays a portion of edge of Northern town scene circa 1920-1950 showing trams and narrows streets.  All trams run from overhead as full size.  Trams not detailed scale models but typify type in use, i.e. four wheelers and bogie; single, double decks and open top types.  No automatic operation.  All manual to give hopefully realistic operation

Victoria Road;   4mm/00 - Bradford MRC

This is the first showing of the Clubs' new 00 exhibition layout Victoria road which is nearing completion. It is based on Saltaire Station and Salts Mill.

Wonderworld; 4mm scale

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A fairground site with moving vehicles,  monorail,   miniature train and of course plenty of fairground rides. 

Stands and demos

List of traders

Page updated 30th Oct 2006  KDJ