It's amazing the difference two weeks can make. Last time I was walking through the pouring rain to the Bakewell show, this time I was applying a liberal amount of sun cream and making sure I had a water bottle topped up for Railex at Buxton. Now in to its fifth year, this show is hopefully sticking around for a good few years yet, even more so now they've rolled the date back a bit to avoid it clashing with the Buxton Wakes week celebrations. It certainly makes parking easier!
The show could also boast that it was roughly 50% bigger, and gone was the section on the stage of the Octagon that caused access issues for some.
As always, what follows is a small selection of highlights. I made a point of taking more photos than I did at the Bakewell show!
Minories (OO) The Model Railway Club - Late 60s/early 70s BR, based on the classic small terminus plan by C.J.Freezer.
There was a slight twist though, the main bays had been extended to give a 'run through' station.
Farringdon Street (7mm Broad Gauge) Peter Boyce - I'd enjoyed seeing Peter's 'Edgeware Road' at Railex last year so it was nice to see a return of the theme even in this under construction point. An interesting place to ave a baseboard edge with the turntable pit!
Evercreech Junction (N Gauge) Shepton & District MRS - Just a small portion of this layout. I was quite impressed with how the plain sky blue backscene blends nicely with the model work.
Kaninchenbau (HOe) Ian Morrison - One of those layouts I've seen and read about several times in the 009 News and Railway Modeller, but this is my first time seeing it in person. Even as someone who is very much a DC modeller, the amount of computer control here is impressive.
Eastville Flats (O gauge) Dave Madden - I always like seeing a proper 'train set' style setup, and this was a fun example of a three rail system. The Duchess did look a little out of place amongst the American stock though!
Sakura Cherry Blossom (N Gauge) Tony Barratt - A nice example of Japanese N gauge (I'm noticing this is becoming more and more popular in the UK thanks to the likes of Kato) Watching it though, I couldn't help thinking that the new TT:120 stuff really isn't all that far off size wise. Not a complaint, just an observation.
Karoline Falls (On30) David Bailey - Seen this one a few times now on the circuit, but watching the real water never gets old.
Hidden just round the side of the layout is this little On18 scene. This would make a fun little micro layout on its own.
Emwell (S Scale) Brendan Walsh - Very much in Great Eastern Railway territory here. Lovely use of muted colours here.
Middleton Top (4mm finescale) Jay Dean - Having had relatives who worked on the Cromford & High Peak during its final few years I'm always amazed at just how accurate the details can get on layouts of the line. Thank goodness for all those well patronised railtours during the final years! You may have noticed the large white sign on the layout...
I hope it didn't cause too much disruption, but I will admit the sign itself did give me a good chuckle!
And finally:
Fort Whiting (009) Charles Insley - I spent a lot of time watching Charles operating this layout, probably too much time on reflection, but we did have a very good chat on approaches to the hobby and how it differs from modeller to modeller. I'm still telling myself that under no circumstances do I have room for a Garratt no matter how tempting Charles's example running on a pair of Life-Like chassis is!
Most importantly though, Fort Whiting has inadvertently solved a lot of problems that had caused my own 009 layout 'Church Lane' to stall. I'd got the point where I was convinced a cased layout was the only way to go and that of course brings all the setbacks of trying to work out hands free control in a small space. This was proof that I didn't need to go down that route, and as Charles quite rightly pointed out this sort of setup is FAR easier for a one man operation.
Plans were put in motion the moment I got back from the show! More on them another time.