Worthing Exhibition

I visited the Worthing Model Railway Exhibition today. As usual it was a good show for a local club affair, a good number of layouts and some variety, although sadly no narrow gauge. There was a 009 layout listed in the show guide though, so perhaps they had to drop out. Nothing wrong with the quality of the layouts either, and mostly I've not seen them before. There was a good selection of trade too, well stocked for useful things like scenic details, tools and materials, and not just the usual box-shifters and second-hand (although that was covered too).

Rather than a detailed run down, here's a selection of shots that came out well, mostly focused on the scenic details and cohesive settings.













And this was most definitely recognisable as Shoreham Airport!

Worthing Exhibition 2016

I enjoyed a visit to the Worthing model railway exhibition with my son today. I'll start by being a little controversial: at first I found a lot of the layouts a little uninspiring... perhaps it's because my tastes are a little off-beat, perhaps because there was no narrow gauge (I made it 10 OO, 1 EM, 3 N, and 1 O, which could be considered a poor balance), and arguably a rather narrow range of themes (BR steam dominated). Maybe a lot of club layouts, which can tend to be unadventurous - and a number of them are widely seen. However I should say it wasn't a lack of quality, the layouts were a high standard, and the selection probably appealed to most visitors. There were a couple of layouts with over-loud DCC sound which quickly became tiresome, which I moved on from pretty quickly (when it can be heard across the room it is definitely overdone!) , a shame as the modelling was good on both. Anyway, here's a few of my favourite shots, click on the pictures to see them larger.



I did like the simplicity of Foldham (OO, Mike Denwood), which showed that a compact and easy to build layout could be attractive. Details like the burnt out shed gave it life.



Kayreuth (N, Ian Hogben) is a German crowd-pleaser layout full of cliches and trains (and trams) whizzing by. But it is well built and detailed, giving it character beyond the commercial parts that make it up, such as this well-modelled motorway (autobahn) contraflow.



New Bridge Street (OO, River MRC) is compact and well detailed, with a strong setting (London), this street scene caught my eye.



Pevensey Beach (OO, Pevensey Bay MRC) is a nice layout, but it is the station concourse that really caught my eye. The detail of the building and canopy is well executed, while the cut-away building showing the parcels office interior is an unusual (and brave!) move.



Summer Springs on the Cut (OO, Andrew Knights) is already a favourite of mine. It's an idyllic and well-modelled scene, which will hit a chord if you ever read Arthur Ransome.

So that shows I did find quality and inspiration. The trade support was good too - some good second-hand stalls (good for my son to spend his pocket money), and my usual favourite (Squires - I always find something I need!), plus some specialist traders as well as the bigger shops.

Worthing Exhibition Photo Update

I have got around to updating the photo's from the Worthing show on Saturday, click here to see them all.

The best bit of the show for my 3-year old boy was the Thomas train set, which he could have a go at! N-gauge this time for a change.

Worthing Exhibition

Just got back from a short family holiday (of which more to follow!), that plus a busy time at work means not much modelling progress recently. However I did get over to the Worthing Model Railway Exhibition today. A good show, probably the highest overall quality of layouts I have ever seen at that show - although last year was good too. Perhaps I am biased given that there were no less than 5 narrow-gauge layouts there, two of them in 009! Certainly a good showing for a local show. However the SG layouts were impressive too.

Last week was my Birthday which resulted in a new camera. Still a compact for convenience and practicality, but with a big zoom, but most importantly (for this blog!) image stabilisation. It does seem to work, and I'm sure you'll notice the improvement in quality of the photo's taken at model railway shows. Especially while holding onto an errant 3-year-old! So here are a selection of photos from the show, I may upload the lot if I get time.

Worthing Model Railway Exhibition

On Saturday I got chance to drop in on the Worthing MRC show with my little boy. It was at a new location this year, and oddly most of the exhibits and stands were in the corridor! (Albeit a wide, long corridor). The layouts were of a reasonable standard, and overall not a bad show.

One superb layout I had previously seen at EXPO-NG a couple of years back, and was pleased to see again, was Pelporro (45mm Gauge) by Brian Taylor. That backscene is amazing, and it is incredible what can be fitted into such a small space in what is normally considered a garden scale!

Another layout I liked was Cwmorgoth Copper Mining Company (O-16.5) by Jean-Luc Pineau. It was a Welsh copper mine featuring a working counterbalanced incline, and some nice internal-combustion locos, again in a very small space.

You can see more of my photos of some of the layouts here. As ever taking photos of layouts with a 2-year old in tow is tricky, especially getting good ones! However he did enjoy watching the trains, in particular a large modern-image OO layout with working colour light signals and lots of trains passing, and a G-gauge setup with Postman-Pat riding on a carriage. Well, that one was aimed at the kids I guess!