A little later than I'd planned, but the first weekend of June saw a return once again to what I dub 'the local' model railway show in Bakewell. In fact, since the show the post I made about last year's offering seems to have gained quite a bit of traction. Either there's more of an audience than I thought, or Google searches are just redirecting people there!
As always, this isn't a full run down of every layout that attended, and any corrections are massively appreciated! Remembering the lack of show guide last year, one of my main challenges was getting shots of layout name-boards where they were used.
Leighmoor Bois (OO) - Classic Hornby Dublo to see upon entry. Lots of train running round. Always a good way to start! It could be the fact that this was one of the largest layouts there, or the fact it was by the door, but there was always a really good crowd round this one. I'll say it again, sometimes it is just really nice to sit back and watch the trains go by.
Brockwell (OO) - A nice and compact Southern Region branch line terminus. I do wish I'd seen this layout before embarking on th scenics for the Micro Model Railway Cartel Christmas challenge. THAT's how I should have done the fiddle yard entrance/exit! (More on that another time!)
Quarry Hill (OO9) - From the same owner of Brockwell was this very nice OO9 layout. Certainly one that I'd be happy to have at home.
Allsop & Sons Slate Ltd (OO/OO9) - Always fun to see a little bit of mixed gauge modelling on a layout. Part of me also wonders how much easier it makes it when trying to explain the concept of OO9 to the general public!
With every show seems to come the stronger and stronger urge to submit to the temptation of a Bachmann Baldwin!
Karolina Falls (On30) - I'm trying to remember when I last saw this layout. I'm fairly certain it might have been at a previous show at Wirksworth, but it must have been some years back now. A very fun layout for spotting little cameo scenes, and it even has something fairly uncommon for model railway layouts, let alone travelling exhibiting ones...
Real running water effects! Just think about the practialities of this makes the mind boggle a little bit. It's either got to be one of those things that's an absolute nightmare for travelling, or is so deceptively simple that like certain magic tricks it's almost disappointing to know how it's done!
Ashover Butts - A very nice representation of the nearby terminus of the Ashover Light Railway by David Wright, taking some artistic liberties by having the line continue onwards (David himself freely admitted this was mainly to make it a loop that could be left running!) As always the scenic work deserves closer scrutiny, I'm only just noticing the level of detail on the backscene as I'm putting this post together! Also worthy of note is the positioning of the barn to hide the abrupt end of the road against the rear of the layout. Clever!
A closer look at the level crossing scene.
Spionkop (N) - I actually missed this small layout on the first walk round, so it was quite a nice surprise when walking round again.
One thing that was notably absent this year was the large 2nd hand stall. It always normally has a large crowd round it (Particularly the N gauge section!) and I normally manage to find a project or two to take home. I hope it returns next year. On the flip side, I did manage to track down a copy of P.D.Hancock's Narrow Gauge Adventure for £10, which I thought was a very reasonable price compared to some outlets online. I'll look forward to reading that on my lunch breaks.
Again, a very enjoyable show from the Chesterfield Railway Modellers Group.
