RAILEX 2019 -- RISBOROUGH AND DISTRICT MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION

RAILEX 2019
Risborough and District Model Railway Exhibition

ADDRESS
Stoke Mandeville Stadium,
Stadium Approach, Aylesbury,
Bucks, HP21 9PP

Saturday 25th May 10.00-5.30   Sunday 26th May 10.00-4.30

ADMISSION
Adults £9.00,   Child £5.00,   Family(2+3) £20.00
Sunday only - up to 2 children admitted free with an accompanying paying adult. Avoid the crowds and visit on Sunday when it is quieter!

Venue and Location
For those who have not visited Railex before, the whole exhibition is staged in the modern and fully disabled accessible Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Please note that the Stadium is not connected in any way with the adjacent hospital and therefore cannot be accessed via the hospital. All exhibits are located within a massive 20,000 square foot sports hall - the size of twelve badminton courts. The hall also has the best lighting you’re likely to find anywhere, meeting TV filming standards. The massive hall allows some very large layouts to be exhibited, which many other exhibitions would be unable to accommodate and consequently are rarely seen. We also invite a selection of smaller and medium sized layouts demonstrating what can be achieved in a more modest space. We pride ourselves that all the layouts displayed are of the very highest quality and are invited on this merit alone. We ensure there are wide aisles providing easy access to all areas of the exhibition, allowing a relaxed atmosphere to view layouts, or to speak with traders and demonstrators.

Height of Layouts
Although Stoke Mandeville Stadium has been designed as a fully accessible venue, primarily for the use of disabled sports persons; the height of each layout varies and is dependent on the builder. Consequently some layouts may not be at an optimum viewing height for those in wheelchairs or mobility scooters, or for young children. We think the following two solutions that we’ve recently seen in use at exhibitions might be helpful to some visitors: a Periscope, or Small Step-Up, for children to stand on, both of which are available from Stand 1 the Railex Info Point (these items must be supervised by the accompanying parent/adult at all times).

List of Layouts Attending:
Layouts Confirmed to Date (March 2019) 

Creating Cameo Layouts - the Challenge,
All Gauges, Model Railway Journal cameo competition finalists - the six best layouts entered in the MRJ Cameo Layout competition will appear in public together for the first time, with the judging to take place on the afternoon of the Railex Saturday and will be judged by Iain Rice, Gordon Gravett and Chris Nevard. The standard of modelling is expected to be among the very best, see below for the six layouts.

Bottom Works Sidings, 4mm Scale, OO Gauge, exhibited by Chris Matthews, set in the heart of the South Yorkshire coalfield, the layout assumes a steelworks coking plant was developed just to the south of Wombwell, itself south of Barnsley. The crew room itself provides a focal point at the rear of the layout which was made from scratch the idea was to create something quite minimalist and advocating the ‘less is more’ concept.

Cameo Callaton, 2mm Scale, 9.42mm Gauge, exhibited by Mick Simpson, this little project is based loosely on a prototype set in the 1980s which existed close to the real Callerton (Note the Slightly Different Spelling), north of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Dewerstone, (above) 4mm Scale, EM Gauge, exhibited by Stephen Sims, the layout is based on the old clay dries at Shaugh Bridge and set the period as circa 1930.

Lananta Quay
3mm Scale (left), 14.2/21mm Gauge, exhibited by Nick Salzman, the layout is situated in North Devon/Cornwall, the track features mixed gauge of the old 7 foot broad gauge and standard gauge. The period is from the late 1870s until the end of the broad gauge in 1892.

Midland in Bristol, (above) 7mm Scale, O Gauge, exhibited by Richard Ellis, the layout inspired by the Midland Railway's goods dock yard which used to exist in Bristol and is depicted as it might have appeared around 1907.

Newton Heath Works, 7mm Scale, 31.25/16.2mm Gauge, exhibited by Mike Baker & Martin Finney, the layout is based on the ball clay industry on the Isle of Purbeck in the county of Dorset, which is one of the many clay workings in the area.

Not taking part in the competition but also exhibited for the first time is a layout by Iain Rice, his layout is: Longwood Edge, 4mm Scale, P4 Gauge, exhibited by Iain Rice & Don Leeper, on the model, a small wayside station (Longwood Basin) and a goods depot serve the canal basin and associated industries. At the higher level is Longwood Edge Station, terminus of a newly built suburban branch of the L&NWR. The period is set in 1910.

7mm Scale
Arun Quay, 31.2mm Gauge, exhibited by Gordon & Maggie Gravett, the layout is based is s small quayside yard on the River Arun - near Littlehampton in West Sussex. It is fed by a line on the track-bed of an old tramway that, together with many of the facilities and workshops.

Central Works, O Gauge, exhibited by Luton Model Railway Club, the location of the layout is based on the intense network of sidings that once existed at Longbridge, Birmingham. Although this was a BMC factory, the location can be adjusted to feature other makes of vehicles and thus regions of operation. This enables a great variety of locos and stock from the late 1950s through to the 1960s to be run.

Crowsnest Wharf, 16.5mm Gauge, exhibited by Trevor Hughes, this model shows the line at Crowsnest station in 1926, where the line from Snailbeach mine joined the main railway to Pontesbury. The old lead mine at Snailbeach had been reopened for the mining of barytes, the white rock which was being used in the paper industry.

Newhurst, O Gauge, exhibited by Cliff Williams, Newhurst is a fictitious location on a secondary main line somewhere in Hampshire near the New Forest, the name deriving from New Forest and Lyndhurst. The station is at the junction of a short branch to Bramble Quay, which is also fictitious. The layout is circa 1961/62.

Penfold Priory (Top of page), O Gauge, exhibited by Bridgend Model Railway Group, the era of the layout is circa 1930/40 in GWR days with LMS having running rights. The trains enter the scene through the overbridge, with the loco shed facilities on the left. Passing the signal cabin and coal yard, coming into the busy terminus.

Sherton Abbas, 31.5mm Gauge, exhibited by David Stone, Sherton Abbas is A 7mm scale representation of a Great Western Railway branch line terminus, which is set in the Edwardian era circa 1905. The name Sherton Abbas comes from Thomas Hardy's novel "The Woodlanders", quite what he would have made of the layout is anyone's guess!.

4mm Scale
Ellesmere, OO Gauge, exhibited by Phil Greaves, Ellesmere is set in the period of 1958-1962, and is situated on the Cambrian Railways main line between Whitchurch and Oswestry.

Leighton Buzzard (Linslade), EM Gauge, exhibited by Tony Gee & Members of the Denny Family, originally built by Peter Denny the layout represents the Great Central Railway in 1907, with almost everything built from scratch by this pioneering modeller.

Leysdown, P4 Gauge, exhibited by Adrian Colenutt, Leysdown, this terminus was the largest station on the Sheppey Light Railway Line and served the embryonic seaside resort offering very limited facilities including cattle pens along with a horse and carriage dock.

Newhaven Harbour, OO Gauge, (left) Exhibited by Wirral & Wigan Finescale Railway Modellers The layout is based on the infrastructure of the Newhaven and Seaford branch in East Sussex and is intended to provide a flavour of the general location and reflect operations on the BR Southern Region between 1968 and 1974. 

At this time Newhaven was served by some 27 miles of track and three stations, Harbour, Marine and Town.

New Kensal Green, OO Gauge, exhibited by South Coast Rail Modellers Development Group, this layout represents a fictional BR(WR) London area MPD with through running relief/suburban lines set between 1956-62.

2mm Scale
Llangerisech, 9.42mm Gauge, exhibited by Nigel Ashton, Llangerisech is set on the north west coast of Wales on the Llyn peninsular. Although a railway was proposed to the location, it was never actually built. The layout will be displaying the early 1930s, but also the 1960s and late 1970s periods by changing the stock and various scenic features.

Mini-MSW (Left) - 'The Banking', 9.42mm Gauge, exhibited by Alan Whitehouse, the layout represents the Wath branch of the famous Manchester, Sheffield & Wath system - the Woodhead Route - in its last few years of life. by the mid-1970s most of the traffic from the extensive Wath concentration yard in South Yorkshire was MGR coal trains hauled by pairs of Class 76 electric locomotives.

1:148 Scale
Wickwar, N Gauge, (below) exhibited by Farnham & District Model Railway Club, Wickwar is a small town on the important secondary main line between Bristol and Gloucester; Modelled as it was around the early 1950s. The small goods yard was removed in 1963 and the station itself was closed in 1965, though the line is still heavily used.

Nearest Railway Stations:
Aylesbury [1.09 miles]
Stoke Mandeville [1.15 miles]
Aylesbury Vale Parkway [3.11 miles]
Little Kimble [3.34 miles]

MAP

THE BRANCH LINE SOCIETY 'ISLAND OF IRELAND' -- THE CORK STOPPER SUNDAY 19th MAY 2019

The Branch Line Society is delighted to announce its second unusual lines charter train in conjunction with Irish Rail. Traversing unusual lines in County Cork and County Kerry, there will be a leg stretch break in Tralee and a photo stop at Mallow. 

The society have already been travelling around Ireland with private BLS only tours but this one is open to non members too. Highlights of this tour include the Cork station avoiding line, the remains of the former line to Youghal at Midleton (and the rarely used non-preferred platform), Killarney avoiding line, engineer's sidings at Cobh / Banteer / Rathmore, and a number of other crossovers / little used platforms particularly at Tralee Platform 2.

The train will be formed of a Tokyu Car Corporation built Class 2600 DMU with free Wi-Fi and toilet. As usual, there will be an on-train raffle with proceeds donated to Railway Children. It is hoped there will be a trolley service of drinks and light refreshments. A souvenir map, ticket and route guide will be provided to all participants. The train is strictly limited to a maximum of 130 passengers. 

Our route, validated and bid by Irish Rail Operations Planning and Performance, is as follows: 

Cork P4 (PU 08.40) – Midleton P2 (rev) – Signal CE491 (rev) – Midleton P1 (above) – Midleton Siding, the extension on the Yougal side of the station which deviates off the former branch, (rev) – Cork P3 (rev) – Cobh P1 (rev) – Signal CE468 – Cobh Siding (rev) – Cork Loop (Station Avoiding Line) – Mallow P1 (rev) – Banteer Siding (rev) – Signal T203 (rev) – Banteer loop – Rathmore Dn Siding (rev) – Signal TL226 (rev) – Rathmore (main platform) – Killarney Check (avoiding the station) – Farranfore loop – Tralee P2 (rev) (lunch break 13.41/14.30) – Farranfore (main platform) – Killarney Check (rev) – Killarney P2 (rev) – Rathmore loop – Banteer (main platform) – Mallow P3 (rev / SD 15.58) – Cork P5 (SD 16.44) 

There are service trains to Dublin Heuston departing Tralee (P1) 13.45 (arrives Dublin Heuston 17.38) Mallow 16.49 (arrive 18.52) and Cork 17.25 (arrive 19.53). 

About the Branch Line Society
The Branch Line Society (BLS) is a UK-based voluntary association for railway enthusiasts. It is a nationally spread organisation with a membership of nearly 2,000 (including a few resident overseas). It was established in 1955 and is widely recognised as Britain's leading amateur group for the study of railway infrastructure and history of networks (and not nowadays, despite its title, just minor lines). It pursues its aims by a news service, mainline, heritage and private rail-tours and visits, and the production and distribution of publications.
The society place emphasis on the physical works and on operating arrangements, rather than motive power and rolling stock. Whilst seeking to record matters of history accurately for archive purposes, a prime aim is to publicise coming events and activities.

SECOND HAND N GAUGE MODELS #3 -- GWR PRAIRIE TANK (No. 4523)

Great Western '2-6-2 Prairie Tank' No 4523
Beginning to replenish my N Gauge stock now and every once if a while there is a bargain to be found. While I am not targeting any particular period or region I have always liked the Great Western Railway stock and it does allow a wide variety too. A GWR Railcar is definitely on the wish list for the future, but earlier this year I was able to purchase this little Dapol 2-6-2 Prairie Tank together with some Great Western Coaches, all boxed and in good condition overall, so all I had to do was get the loco engine running. 

Luckily for me a nice clean, some oil in the right places, and checked all the connections intact and we had it up and running in under an hour, albeit in a cradle first we then had to try it on our test track. Great Western No. 4523 Dapol model in it's original box and intact, having cleaned it up it's now had a nice long slow run on my test track at home, should fit well with the Great Western coaches I've already got and also I have recently acquired an Auto Coach too although looking for a GWR Pannier Tank or something similar to run with that in a push pull mode so that will be another for the future along with the railcar / flying banana, watch this space. 
45xx Class Brief History
Designed by George J. Churchward.
Total Number Built 75
Introduced 1906. Churchward development of the 4400 Class with larger wheels and increased boiler pressure. Earlier locos subsequently fitted with super-heaters. Classification 4MT.
Class developed further by Collett as 4575 Class.

These tank engines were designed for branch line and carriage pilot duties. They were to be found at many sheds in the West Country. St Blazey in Cornwall had eleven locos in its allocation, just under a third of the sheds total allocation.

Number Series 4500-4574 which includes our specific model was built at the Great Western Railway Swindon Works in 1909 and assigned to Truro Shed. The first withdrawal was No. 4531 in February 1950 from Plymouth Laira shed and the last loco of the class was No. 4569, withdrawn in August 1964 from Swindon shed. 

Preservation
It appears that only three of the class still exist, two of them survivors from Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. All of them have run in preservation but, currently in 2019, none are operational.

No. 4555
4555 was bought in working order from British Railways by Patrick Whitehouse and fellow Talyllyn Railway member Pat Garland, so has never had to be restored. Originally working on the Dart Valley Railway, she later moved to the Dartmouth Steam Railway. Currently named "Warrior", she last worked in 2007. Under restoration since 2014, including a new boiler being built at Tyseley Loco Works.

No. 4561
This locomotive left Woodham Brothers in September 1975. It is currently undergoing an extensive overhaul on the West Somerset Railway, having been out of service since 1998.

No. 4566
Currently stored out of service on the Severn Valley Railway awaiting an overhaul, this locomotive left Woodham Brothers in August 1970. It returned to service in late 2006 following an overhaul and after several years painted in Great Western green, was repainted into BR unlined black with the early crest for the first time in preservation. It was withdrawn from service in January 2017 following the expiry of her boiler certificate.


Motive Power Details
Weight: Loco 57 tons 0 cwt
Driving Wheel: 4' 7"
Boil Press: 200lb/sq in Su
Cylinders: Two 17" x 24" (outside)
Valve Gear: Stephenson (piston valves)

HAYWARDS HEATH MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION 11th MAY 2019

Saturday 11th May 2019
Location
Dolphin Leisure Centre, 
Pasture Hill Road, Haywards Heath, 
West Sussex RH16 1LY

Opening Times:  10am - 5pm
Admission:  Adults £5.00   Concessions £5.00   Children £5.00   

Following the success of the 2016 exhibition, which attracted over 1400 visitors, the same team present the 2019 show. This exhibition will be bigger and better than the previous one with everything located within one central hall at the Dolphin Leisure Centre. The venue is just a short 5 minute walk from Haywards Heath railway station and there is a large free car park. Any profit from the exhibition will be donated to a local charity.

List of Layouts Attending:
Hope Hill - Burgess Hill MRC
Holly Bank - Newhaven MRC is a loco shed layout based in the York area, 1955-1963. Eastern and North Eastern locomotives prevail many of which are kit built. 4mm/00 gauge.

Staindrop (right) - A 7mm 0 gauge layout, LNER 1928, by Chris Robertson. Staindrop is a large village between Darlington and Barnard Castle, but never rail served. This ‘might have been’ branch is an attempt to model the old Central Division of the North Eastern Railway but in post grouping LNER days. This allows for the first changes that were taking place under the LNER other than just the livery of the locos and coaches.

Surrey Oval - Gauge 1 Surrey
Frimley North (left and top) - Matthew Lander. Frimley North is a fictional LB&SCR terminus station with a small goods yard. The layout was built around three years ago and is based in the preservation era. This layout has appeared at a few exhibitions and is a well built example of what you can do with a relatively small space. 

Battledown - Horsham MRC
London SW999 - Phil Gardner
Gellilydan - Jack Gregory
Banbury - Ian Lampkin
Haynes Lane – Bexhill MRC - O Gauge fictional location in Sussex on a line planned from Robertsbridge to Pevensey.
Chelwood Exchange - East Grinstead MRC -  OO Gauge freight layout BR green diesel era.
Oakley - Uckfield MRC
Dorchester Junction - Sam Bee
Indian Hill - East Surrey
Well Creek Basin - Crawley MRC

Brankstone (above) - Roger Bradgate - successfully tackled the ‘no space for a layout’ problem with this two-level OO gauge steam shed, with a commuter shuttle on the upper level.
Mych Grumblyn - GMES
Stoneford & Oxney - Howard Strongitharm
​​College Halt - Uckfield MRC

Hobbs Hill - Tonbridge MRC (above) A busy through station set in the late 1950's on a former SR route in the west country. The layout is built with prototypical operation in mind, and is based on the trackplan of South Molton Road between Coleford Jct and Barnstaple.
Southbridge - Tonbridge MRC
Dougdale - Brighton MRC
Arnold Lane - Uckfield MRC
Newchapel Junction - Steve Wilkins
Gouttieres 63390 - John Arwen
​Ashenden Junction - Andrew Town

Getting here by car:
The Dolphin Leisure Centre has a large car park and is well sign posted from the surrounding area. It is easily accessible from the A272 (B2272). 

by bus:
The nearest bus stops are outside the front of Sainsbury's (just 2 minutes walk away) and are served by buses from Lindfield, East Grinstead, Horsham, Crawley and Uckfield. Please visit the Compass Bus (www.compass-travel.co.uk) or Metro Bus (www.metrobus.co.uk) websites for more information.

by train:

Haywards Heath Railway Station is 5 minutes walk away with regular trains to and from London Victoria, London Bridge, Clapham Junction, East Croydon and Brighton. Please visit the Southern website (www.southernrailway.com) for more information. At time of writing there are no planned engineering works on the Brighton Main Line for this date.

Nearest Railway Stations:
Haywards Heath [0.29 miles]
Wivelsfield [2.98 miles]
Balcombe [3.55 miles]
Burgess Hill [3.77 miles]

MAP: