Amberley rail gala

It's the time of year again that the Sussex Downs 009 group take the 009 Society showcase and demo stand to the Amberley rail gala. 

Sadly the model railway side of the event has diminished over the last few years and there were just a handful of layouts, some seen before. I can't resist an original cameo though. 

The event doesn't seem to attract the numbers of enthusiasts that it used to, and while many of the visitors were interested in the models I can't imagine it resulted in much business for the couple of traders present. I did manage to have a productive day modelling, although that isn't really the point of a demo stand! However, it's never a bad thing to show model trains as a hobby, particularly with kids around (they do love our little demo layout).

Outside there was a visiting loco, Lily, a rather smart Decauville, which was on passenger train duties alongside the resident Bagnall, Peter. The two train service seemed well patronised. 

Of course there was the usual line up of small internal combustion engines in action which the Amberley museum shows off so well. 

I'll leave you with a shot of the morning steam-up on shed.