Farnham and District MRC
- 43nd Annual Exhibition
Saturday 14th October 2017 + Sunday 15th October 2017
ADDRESS;
Alderwood Leisure Centre, Tongham Road,
Aldershot, Hampshire GU12 4AS
OPENING TIMES:
SAT 10am - 5pm, SUN 10am - 4.30pm
ADMISSION:
Adults £6.00 Concessions £6.00
Children £2.00 Family £15.00
Entrance includes free show guide.
The following layouts are expected to be at the 2017 exhibition:
Ackthorpe (OO). This layout (shown above) is based on the Swinton and Knottingley line in West Yorkshire, which was originally built jointly by the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to provide a more direct route from Sheffield to York and in the past was a very busy line. One of its attractions for modelling is the great variety of LMS, LNER and BR Standard locomotive classes that could be seen. The model includes colliery exchange sidings and coal-loading screens, not based on anywhere in particular, but inspired by the presence of Frickley Colliery sidings just to the south of Moorthorpe station. These sidings bustle with activity as small National Coal Board tank engines shunt wagons between the exchange sidings and the screens for loading prior to marshalling for dispatch to the main railway network.
Addison Road (O). Originally built jointly by the LNWR & GWR, this station, in a greatly reduced form, will be better known to many of you by its current name – Kensington (Olympia). The model represents the station in the mid-1920’s when rolling stock from all the Big Four railway companies can be run alongside some pre-grouping liveries and yet still be prototypically correct. At approximately fifty feet long and with baseboards nearly five feet wide this is also the Club’s largest ever project.
An Clár and The Pizza (2mm/Nn3). The Pizza was built as a scenic test track to see if Nn3 was practical. Rolling stock runs on Marklin chassis and wheels. It has travelled widely and appeared on Blue Peter in 2000.
An Clár represents a slice of rural Ireland in a remote and rugged location, built like Pizza from code 40 rail on PCB sleepers. It was originally a diorama but has been converted to continuous run. While set in Ireland, almost any stock can be seen running!
Arigna Town (7mm 36.75 gauge). A fictitious branch line of the Sligo, Leitrim & Counties Railway in NW Ireland. The SLNCR opened in 1882 and closed in 1957, remaining independent for its whole history. It ran from Enniskillen to Sligo and the main traffic was cattle. However, to the south there are coal mines and the layout assumes a branchline was built to tap this traffic. Built to the correct Irish broad gauge [5’ 3] & everything on the layout has been built by me, mostly from scratch, though four of the five steam engines are from kits. The trains are representative of the real SLNCR, with a railbus and railcar for passenger traffic and steam hauled freight.
Brixham Bay (N). This started as a project to build a small layout depicting the railway as it used to be in Brixham where we live. It has grown considerably! Many hours of research were carried out in Brixham into what buildings existed in the 30s and 40s. The 10 foot long backscene is oil on canvas.
Burnham-on-Sea (2mmFS). Situated on the Somerset coast, this town was once important as the northern terminus of the Somerset and Dorset railway. The pier received rails from Welsh steelworks, the railway had many bolster pairs to carry them. Pleasure steamers such as the “Waverley” would call regularly, particularly on cross-channel trips. The pier was used by the lifeboat with its own private siding. It opened in 1858 and closed for passengers in 1951, though excursion trains continued until 1962 and goods until 1963. The model was built by the late Denys Brownlee, and after his death was stored for many years. I recently bought the model and have set about repairing damage and rejuvenating it to exhibition standard.
Dentdale (N). The 72 mile route from Settle to Carlisle takes you on a journey through the magnificent Yorkshire Dales, over the 24 arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct before plunging in to the longest tunnel on the line at Blea Moor emerging onto the side of Dentdale, the line leaves the Dales at Garsdale and makes it way through the gentle, lush rolling hills of the Eden Valley, with rural villages and market towns before arriving at the great border city of Carlisle. As the Settle & Carlisle line has changed relatively little over the years and still boasts semaphore signalling and buildings painted in authentic Midland colours, this allows us to represent any period from the 1950’s to the present day. We run sixties stock on the first day and modern on the second day of a show.
Denton Brook (7mm, O/14mm). The works of a large cable manufacturer, supplied by standard gauge railway but with an internal narrow gauge railway. The model depicts the unloading and interchange between the two railways. This will be only the second time this layout has been exhibited. All the buildings are scratch built, and it features a working level crossing with a man pushing the gates open.
Diano Marina (HO). Set in northern Italy, it represents the real Diano Marina station on the Mediterranean coastal line in Italy, an international route from Genoa to Nice crossing the border at Ventimiglia. Some artist’s licence had to be used to squeeze in key features, such as our favourite hotel, which has been moved to within sight of the trains, and Bar Eden where we watched Italy win the World Cup semi-final and Mario gave everyone free drinks. Trains range in era from about 1992 to 2002, including sleeper services from Rome and Venice, the “Riviera dei Fiori” through train from Nice to Zurich, and a charter excursion with a preserved 1950s Breda TEE set, as well as occasional freight and engineers’ trains.
Frecclesham (O). As with many small market towns Frecclesham craved a railway connection to London and the coast. Unfortunately by the time it opened in 1901 it was too late to be successful, and terminated at Frecclesham rather than continuing as intended to Hazelhurst (which is why the layout is of a through station). Frecclesham marketed itself as the purveyor of “The alternative to Eccles cakes” which had potted shrimps instead of raisins.
The incompetent surveyor of the line was H.Crun who served as batman to Lord Raglan during the Crimean Campaign. His army career was cut short after the inadvertent substitution of a dry cleaning ticket for Light Brigade orders caused some embarrassment to his employer.
Hospital Gates (O). There were many light railways built to serve hospital and asylums, often in remote places, carrying patients, visitors, supplies and fuel. Many of these lasted longer than conventional light railways. One such was the “Whittingfield Hospital Railway” near Longridge in Lancashire, lasting until 1957. It was worked by an array of mis-matched second hand locos and stock throughout its life. The model is set in 1944/5, when the hospital included a temporary military hospital built within the grounds, in preparation for D-Day casualties.
Kirkmellington (EM). Kirkmellington represents a small colliery in the NCB East Ayr area of Scotland, on a small single track branch line off the main G&SWR main line from Carlisle to Kilmarnock that winds its way up into the Ayrshire hills near Patna and Dalmellington from the east. There is a through branch line which with DMU traffic and the odd local freight or engineering working. The colliery has three exchange sidings, one dead end and two linked for run rounds. A headshunt then links these to the internal NCB network. This features a small engine shed, a dead end siding, two sidings which run under the loading screens (for saleable coal) and one siding which runs under a loading hopper for slag \ spoil.
Lighterman’s Yard (2mmFS). The layout represents a small fictitious goods yard, somewhere in South East London. Timescale is the late 1950’s early 1960s, near the end of steam, with an occasional diesel to be seen. Stock is supplied by various group members, and is a mixture of RTR n gauge stock converted to 2FS and kit or scratch built 2mm Finescale models. The buildings have their origins in proprietary kits, but have been heavily modified to suit the area and era.
Merstone and Ventnor West (OOFS). Merstone (right) was located in the middle of the island and served the local communities of Merstone and Rookley. The Isle of Wight Central built the line from Newport to Sandown with completion in 1875 and closure in 1956. The Ventnor West was the last line to be opened on the Isle of Wight opening in 1900 and closing in 1952.
The line to the north is to Newport via Blackwater and Shide. The line to the east was the route to Sandown via Newchurch, Alverstone and Horringford. The line due south was the Ventnor West branch which was usually operated by a Terrier and push pull set. In later years an 02 with a 2 coach LBSC bogie push pull set would run the branch, normally W35 Freshwater or W36 Carisbrooke. The Ventnor West line was often described as the prettiest of all the island lines particularly at St Lawrence where the line emerged from the tunnel onto the under cliff.
Parkside (OO) is a small (4′ x 3′) childrens’ layout built by club members. It is being sold by raffle at the exhibition. All proceeds will go to the local charity Parkside for children with learning difficulties.
St Mary’s (O-16.5). The layout was been inspired by a long term fondness for the Welshpool and Llanfair, the Wild Swan book on this subject by Glyn Williams and the lovely models produced by Kevin Trim at Dorset Kits. Reading the book I learnt of the rivalry between two alternative routes to connect Llanfair with the railway system, that to Welshpool and the one via Meifod to Llanymynech. As is well known, the Welshpool route was chosen, but my ‘what if’ was to suppose a branch had been built from near Heniarth to serve Meifod as a kind of consolation prize and to widen the traffic sources of the W&LLR. However, as I am taking liberties with the location, the layout is called ’St. Mary’s’ after the Meifod parish church dedicated to St. Tysilio and St. Mary.
The layout is set in the summer of 1930 and a modified version of the real W&LLR timetable has been used to which has been grafted on a service to St. Mary’s. Further traffic is provided from the quarry at Newbridge which is worked in to St. Mary’s by the quarry company’s own locomotives. Shunting at the station is done with a shunting tractor to allow the whole W&LLR to continue to operate with only one engine in steam.
Tanners Hill (N). Depicts southern EMUs in the Network South East area around New Cross. The layout is a continuous run through a suburban station. As well as EMUs you will see engineers trains, ferry traffic, speedlink and parcels.
Wadebridge (2mmFS). Wadebridge (image below) is a model of the station in North Cornwall which was the far west of the Southern Railway. It is part of a larger layout that will eventually include 4 other stations. The station and engine shed are to scale, but approaches and quay sidings have been reduced to fit the space available. Most locos are scratch built. Coaches are from etched kits or converted Graham Farish. Goods stock started as Peco but is now mainly kit built. The area at the rear, used as a fiddleyard, includes the track for Boscarne Junction and a fictitious station Pencarrow road.
Weydon Road (O). Weydon Road is set in a fictitious location somewhere on the border of the GWR and SR around Wiltshire. It is a busy through junction featuring a double track main line, branch line, goods yard and relief lines. The livery of most of the stock on the layout fixes the timescale as late 1930s, we can also run the layout in a late 1950s guise.
The layout is run to a sequence of 53 moves from the fiddle yards at each end of the layout. As part of the design brief we felt it was important to have an intensive sequence and variety of trains. This illustrates the kinds of traffic to be found on a main line route and the way in which it was worked before the rationalization of the 1960s started.To allow exhibition viewers to follow the sequence, three display boards are placed along the front of the layout listing all the movements.
Whitecross Street (OO). Set 1960s/early 1970s (British Rail’s ‘Blue Period’) the layout represents a fictitious station and small parcels depot located near the real Moorgate Station. There was once an SECR service running from Snow Hill to Moorgate via an east facing junction from the Snow Hill/Farringdon line to the Widened Lines (which ran from Kings Cross & St Pancras to Moorgate) Although this SECR service ceased in 1916 and the connection lifted some years later, I have assumed that for my purposes it remained open and the line was later electrified on the 3rd rail system. The passenger service is by the Southern Region and sees a variety of EMUs. The small parcels depot is also accessible from the Widened Lines and in addition to SR trains sees Midland and Eastern Region diesel hauled parcels trains with locos and parcels stock typical of those Regions. The aim has been to produce a small and interesting layout to use a collection of EMUs and parcels stock.
Ynysybwl (EM). Within the confines of 9 feet by 13 feet the layout is a faithful replica of the prototype station and surrounding area in 1922 just prior to the Taff Vale Railway losing its independent identity at the grouping. Rolling stock is a mixture of scratch built, kit bashed and etched brass kits and represents the type of stock and motive power that would have been used on the branch at the time. The scenery is an adaptation of the egg crate/card former system used at Pendon with scrim cloth covering and various surface treatments including flock, ground rubber, scatter materials and the now obligatory teddy bear fur. Rock faces are carved Dry Wall adhesive and the buildings and structures are all scratch built using a combination of preformed and flat plastic sheet.
Nearest Railway Stations :
Aldershot [1.15 miles]
Ash [1.46 miles]
Ash Vale [2.56 miles]
North Camp [2.71 miles]
MAP
This picture gives a good idea of the size of the O Gauge test track, you can give your models a really good work out here. This can also transform into an exhibition layout called Grindley Brook a scenic section replaces the long straight down the back.
