Garden Railway Saturday; National Garden Railway Show, Stoneleigh

Something a little different for this weeks Garden Railway Saturday- out first model railway show where we were on the 'exhibitor' side of things.

Having worked late, we got to Stoneleigh, near Coventry, fairly late but with a beautiful sunset greeting us.

A walk from the hotel on the site to recce where we were going was a pleasant end to the day.

The next morning, high-vis jackets donned, it was into the venue to see our office for the day.

The layout had been built the afternoon before, by Big Boss Editor Phil, ably assisted by Andy, who set up the Digital Command Control side of things.

It was a rather nice layout- lots going on in two gauges, multiple locomotives, and the impressive selection of real plants (borrowed as usual from a local garden centre).

A few fun things for people to spot, including Shaun the Sheep, who we took mild joy in moving around the layout and re-posing.

We'd shamelessly bought a few of our models along; the ice cream cart being in the current issue (which was being given away at the door).

Also the luggage barrows...

...benches...

...Estate Loco and the Permanent Way Hut.

Wait, a few seconds ago! Digital Command Control, you say? Yes, the outer G-gauge line was operated digitally. The Future!

Points could be controlled...

...and the tram, two diesel shunters, and tank loco. All had sounds, all had extra features, the tank loco also had working steam effects.

It was great fun, and we did a lot of channelling the Scout Leader side of things we do, and got kids to drive the trains. A pair of children came back again and again, one of them needing to be practically dragged away by his mom at closing time.

We managed a few laps of the wider show; 1500 visitors through the day apparently, a record.

We were next to a huge 32mm-gauge line, which was very impressive. Mix of live steam and electric trains.

Yellow Classic Camper Van.

Lovely gauge 3 class 08 on Warton Road.

Winner of the model I most wanted- this terrific gauge 1 pug.

I'm a sucker for a miniature railway; this one was incorporated into a massive gauge one layout...

...as was this boating pond.

Sheep on an Irish-themed layout.

Nice tramway scene.

Slightly Wes Anderson-angle.

So; despite all this model-making malarkey, particularly in recent years, this was our first time exhibiting (technically... I mean yeah, we hadn't made the layout, but we were helping run it). It was a fantastic day; it was great to finally help out on something concrete for the mag, it was fun getting the kids to drive the trains, and yes, it was a lot of fun actually playing with a big noisy train set too. We'll be back next year for more!

Railway Research Trip; Liverpewwwlll

This was an interesting research trip- the Museum of Liverpool, mainly to get some decent shots of the Overhead Railway exhibit.

Oh, and the magnificent "Lion"; I actually have one of Hornby's models of this, though not sure what to do with it. It was very much an impulse purchase with some reward points and money from an article a few years ago, so I took the opportunity to get some decent reference pics.

The set-up in this hall is pretty impressive; the recreated section of the Overhead Railway is really very impressive, it's such a shame there's only two cars from the old trains still survive.

There's the potential for a piece for Hornby later in the year, so again, it was all about getting reference pics.

Back to "Lion". The balconies allow some useful angles.

There's some interesting models in this gallery too; I love all these custom-designed, child-friendly interractive exhibits.

Some vintage tinplate, made in Liverpool. Always wanted one of those green tender locos.

A very impressive exhibit; the big model of the Festival site from the 1980's...

...and a slightly gloomily-lit model of the docks.

Mindyou, the real docks were a bit gloomy outside. Still, a useful visit, and at least there's something of the old Overhead Railway preserved. The Museums organisation have quite a few railway artefacts, some very rare, but they're stored out of sight. It's nice that at least some of it is on show though.

 

This Month in British Railway Modelling; Retaining Walls in 00

The second of this months pieces in BRM, and it's an article tied in with the modernised station from a couple of months ago. The build was this time to modify, customise, and personalise some Hornby retaining walls, the resin Ready to Plant ones.

Inspiration... those dark, huge retaining walls around Keighley...

...the sinuous brick around Llangollen Station...

...the overgrown slate walls of the Ffestiniog.

Here's a selection of what I had to work with- quite a lot of the walls, in different sizes. I was wondering what to do with so much ornate brickwork, and decided to turn for inspiration to the Stourbridge Town branch in the West Midlands; hence the choice of the Town station for the modernised steam-era station building article.

Chopping and modifying the walls; I'm quite paranoid about cutting resin, though with the very good reason that the dust will shred your lungs. I was also masked up for this, with the workshop door open.

I did some painting- fairly rough and ready, but these were going to be very heavily weathered.

Limescale deposits and various colour washes; Citadel acrylics, as usual.

Metal security fencing from Ratio platform fences.

Plan for the graffiti; as with the coach graffiti article a few issues back, using my own characters and designs.

This month's Hidden Hallie.

A bit of greenery added to the walls. These are meant to be in use, if neglected, on a barely-surviving branchline.

The diorama; at this stage when this article was shot, the station hadn't been added.

Dumped rubbish from odds and ends in the scrapbox.

A Mystery Door.

...and here it is, the article. I'll admit to not being one hundred percent happy with this one, it turned into a bit of a rush in the end, and there's odd bits I could have re-done, but hey-ho. The eventual plan is to upcycle these walls into a micro layout for the Hornby Collectors Club later in the year, so at least I'll get a second shot at this.