Awngate at the Wealden Railway Group Show

On Saturday I took Awngate along to the Wealden Railway Group exhibition, held this year at the Lancing Parish Hall. As usual it was a friendly show with a good selection of small layouts, and lots of friendly faces to talk to as well. Actually between talking and running the layout I didn't take that many photos - at least, that came out well. Still, here's a few of my highlights.

Nice to see Chris Ford's Art of Compromise, built with a few compromises but it's a refreshing change to the usual GWR branch-line, and would make the basis of an interesting home layout. Chris has managed to achieve his usual less-is-more deserted backwater feel. I think it's deliberate but maybe he just doesn't like adding figures? Anyway, it works. 

Giles Barnabe's Salop Street packed a lot of operational interest into a small space, with a dose of pre-grouping character, another OO layout that is very different to the typical - and I'm sure the better for it. 

I do like Simon Hargraves' sewage works O14 layout, but then I like short trains of skips with small i/c locos. Nice textures too. The photo might have looked better if he'd remembered the backscene though!

Another layout I like and haven't seen for some time is Felsham Lane by Greg Dodsworth. O-16.5 but in a surprisingly small space while fitting in plenty of interest.

There are a few more photos over on Flikr, including the Loo branch (groan).

As for my layout, I had to contend with a few gremlins. A couple of isolating sections didn't isolate - that is they were on whichever way the switch went. Still at least they failed on, dead track is harder to work around. Also some of the wiper contacts to the fiddle yard played up too - yes I should have cleaned them beforehand but they worked in testing! Still neither was fatal and other than some misbehaving wagon couplings the trains ran well enough.

On a more positive note, one of the friendly faces took some serious photos for a potential magazine article - it's flattering to be asked, so I shall have to write something I guess!