As I've mentioned, I exhibited last weekend at the Festival of British Railway Modelling held at the Doncaster race course. It was a busy show so I didn't get to see as much as I had hoped for, but here are a few shots I managed at the start of both Saturday and Sunday before the public arrived, or on the odd walk about during the late afternoon...
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| Barton Road, an interesting 'Y' shaped scheme with junction at it's centre. I wonder if the back scene could have been treated more creatively, but the modelling was neat and I spotted this Farish 25 just idling away, sound fitted, in the yard. |
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| Barton Road from the end - 25 in the centre of the shot. |
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| Barton Road's triangular junction. |
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| Barton road's yard. |
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| Alston's use of scratch built structure and pale consistent colour palette really made it a stand out sample of fine modelling in the smaller scale. |
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| Alston, end on. |
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| This large layout was full of cameos and interest - but no IW&D liveried Victory, which was a surprise considering the theme! |
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| I think this was Durham Street, a large O scale steam era loco shed layout. Impressive for it's size, but lacking a back scene. |
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| More Durham Street, I didn't see this in operation but if modelled well I expect it was a joy to watch the locomotives move around the shed. As I said, the back of the traders stand opposite is sadly a distraction to the scene, which otherwise was nicely modelled. |
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| A close up of the harbour wall on Harlyn pier, which I admired all weekend opposite the Planet Industrials stand. I saw this at Manchester too, it's a nice layout and well executed modelling. |
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| Harlan pier end on, I did love that Beattie well tank, though quite what it was doing on a pier/wharf and not at the Wenford dries who knows! Probably the same could be said for many of us, 'love that locomotive, how can I justify it on my layout'. |
A busy and successful show for Planet Industrials, and I'm sure for Warners who hosted it as well. As an exhibitor I felt looked after, and I enjoyed talking to the public and modellers alike. I hope this whistlestop tour has given you a small taste of the quality and variety of exhibits you can find at shows like this - I think I would have enjoyed visiting as the public too, which is always a good sign. Until next time, more soon...
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I can only dream of having such open access and great views, I spent most of the Saturday squeezing in or looking over others to see the layouts, when the crowds finally eased off around half past 3, I didn't have time to go round everywhere again and do them justice.
ReplyDeleteNick you’re right, Saturday was very busy. Sunday was a different animal. Perhaps worth considering if visiting again in future, you might miss some bargains on the trade stands but you will see the layouts.
DeleteThanks for the end views of the layouts, James...most people either don't take them or don't post them up for some reason. While Barton Road featured in a recent Railway Modeller, I didn't pick up from the article how spacious it seems...yet another advantage of N when the space is available.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Harlyn Pier for a while, fairly sure it's West Country based though so I guess the Beattie WT isn't all that out of place. A few years ago, one visited my local K&ESR and I rode behind it on a quiet day...two green Mk.1s scudding along the Rother Valley but it could have been in Cornwall in the 1960s, great stuff!
End views, for my own information but when I posted I thought they’d be of interest to readers, glad that was the case!
DeleteI think Harlyn Pier is probably one of my favourite layouts, it is certainly a source of inspiration for the quayside shelf layout I was about to start before the current unexpected project came about. I'm still looking forward to that quayside layout - hopefully it will turn out to be my own PyD. Thanks for sharing these pics, definitely a perk of being there before us great unwashed turned up. Even on Sunday it was challenging to get a decent view at times.
ReplyDeleteYou'll have no problems next year James, as an exhibitor!
DeleteI'm looking forward to it and plan to take full advantage before opening time!
DeleteBy the way, for the benefit of other readers, the large wartime layout is 'Overlord', which is a personal project by Chris Mead, a member of Leamington & Warwick MRS. There were also members of Solihull MRC operating, one of whom I chatted to for a minute. I believe the layout was in BRM in 2015. And yes, at least one Pi Kerr Stuart 'Victory' working the dock would have been right at home. I'm glad it wasn't me packing up that layout on Sunday evening, though!