Awngate at Uckfield

Last weekend I took Awngate to the Uckfield show. It's the first 2-day show this layout has ever attended, and other than the small show in Patcham, all previous shows have been narrow-gauge specialist affairs, so it was interesting to see how it was received. It was certainly a busy show and there was lots of interest, and a few nice comments, so pretty good really.

I have always enjoyed the Uckfield show as a visitor, it does seem to attract high-quality layouts many of which are rarely seen, at least in this corner of the country, and also some good trade stands. This year layout highlights included Portskerra (EM) by Tim Ticknell, a Highland Railway terminus with harbour modelled on a frosty winter's day.

Arigna Town is a 7mm scale, 36.75mm gauge (!) model of the Irish broad-gauge by Dave Holman. Superbly done, and remember pretty much everything has been scratch-built!

Wenfordbridge Goods Depot is a 2mm scale model of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway. A nice model by any standards but the USP was the working crane and road vehicles! this would be some achievement in a larger scale, but this small... wow!

There were lots more top quality layouts too, so do take a look at my full photo collection.

Although I find 2-day shows a bit of a chore, this was a really well organised and good event to be an exhibitor at. The lunches were good too! Thanks to Simon Wilson, Phil Savage, Chris Ford, and my son Joshua who all helped with operating Awngate.