Stafford reflections…

I made it to Stafford yesterday. Lovely weather, a few hiccups in travel on the way but nothing major…

It felt good to be out. Out in the world beyond the sheltered valley. Out where it’s busy, bustling and life carries on no matter what my current worries fixate upon. Good to be out, and well worth the emotional effort to get myself through the door…

My first time at the exhibition and I was generally impressed with organisation. Venue is spacious too, and suits the feel - but connection to the station left a little to be desired with the courtesy buses breaking down and suffering from overcrowding and long waits. The young Scouts helping out on the door and around the snow were polite and courteous and I enjoyed the variety of layouts. This is more a whistle stop of some of what I stopped to take photos of, and not intended as a record as such…

My Peco Setrack layout, built back in 2017 after I designed the schemes for the 009 Setrack plan book. Here, on the Peco stand it is looking a little tired in places after years on the road. I believe re-worked at some stage by one of the staff as some of the details don’t look quite how I produced them! Lovely skip weathering for example!

First of all, let’s take a look at a few of the things I enjoyed seeing or was impressed by…

Scratchbuilt and kitbuilt modern models on the 3mm society stand. Not for me, but I was impressed.

Interesting to see this O scale micro ‘Knype Bridge’ in the flesh, compact but characterful. 

It is always a pleasure to catch up with my old friend Charlie Insley and at Stafford he was exhibiting his French 009 layout ‘St Ettience’, absolutely beautifully characterful modelling.

This small N gauge micro ‘Wath Road’ was interesting, a little rough around the edges the concept worked really well…

…and I’m a sucker for sectorisation.

This 4mm layout ‘Wellpark’ was very slow moving (I always think drivers may have been a little ‘quicker’ in their movements than we portray) but who can’t resist a 24 and whisky hoppers. Superb! I watched for several minutes…

Hidden away upstairs were a few gems including this ‘Earl of Dudley’ inspired finescale layout ‘Crooked House’. I noticed the locomotive first, a Planet Industrials conversion in the wild…

…before my eye was drawn to the rake of brown wagons with my transfers applied!

Numerous O scale layouts, a few too many diesel depots! That said, I did like this particular composition across the front of a shed on ‘Queenborough Depot’…

The obligatory US HO scale layout ‘Red Hook Bay’ was curious - a scene that felt inter-war, with stock to match  operated by 1960s diesels. I felt the modelling was nice but spoilt by an overplay of the caricature, as if I was on a film set…

A few wonderful models were at the show, real quality modelling but let down a touch (or a lot) by their presentation…

‘Richmond’ is superb, just look at that track, look at those buildings, especially the rain splashed dirt on the base of the fish and chip shop… but look too at the shadow on the side of the Jinty.

‘Faringdon’ with lovely subdued scenic modelling, fantastic structures and beautiful track. Sublime running… no back scene?!

‘Brettell Road’, at night in the rain. Fantastic concept, difficult to pull off in a brightly lit hall.

Finally the most incredible piece of modelling I saw, and my favourite layout were actually both N scale! No surprise I hear you say, but I honestly have an open mind about these things usually - these weee genuinely the two most impressive things at the show for me…

EFE Austerity with 2mm society cranks… 

…and standard N scale wheels. Beautiful, difficult to tell the scale with such a delicate model. 

Awful photo of my favourite layout, I went back several times to watch the effortless shunting with DCC sound and Dapol Easi-shunt. ‘Barton Road’ nicely modelled and fun to watch. Just not in this photo!

I didn’t take any photos of the trains and railway I used to get there this time, instead just enjoying the sights and sounds of being around them. I find even busy and slightly disrupted journeys to be somewhere I find peace. All logged though, on the wonderful ‘Journey Log’ web-app…

My next outing will be Uckfield in October, as an exhibitor - and then hopefully the annual trip to the NEC come November. It is good to get out and I found the whole experience, the layouts, the catching up with friends, the kind folk who recognised me and said polite things… all of it deeply restorative. Until next time, more soon…

Support my work

I love writing and creating material for the blog. If you enjoy what you read and engage with I would be appreciative of any donation, large or small, to help me keep it advert and restriction free. Alternatively, feel free to buy me a coffee, where regular memberships start from just £1.