CRAIG WEATHERLEY reports back from the Glasgow show last weekend, February 2018.
Model Rail Scotland is the biggest model railway show in Scotland, which every year is at the Scottish Event Campus (previously the SECC) in Glasgow. Model Rail Scotland is the show that we travel furthest to attend, all the way from the south coast of England. This year myself, Matt Lovell, and James Hickman travelled up with our 24ft x 8ft stand in the back of a van, to sell our quality merchandise to the public.
We travelled up on the Wednesday before the show, covering the 464 mile drive up to Glasgow in 9 hours. Thursday was setup day, so we built the stand ready for the visitors who would be let into the hall on Friday morning, at the start of the three-day show.
The stand under construction.
Matt and James poised for action.
I had a bit of time to look round the show, and there were some layouts which caught my eye, and that I would like to share will you.
First up is a OO9 WWI layout modelling how injured soldiers were taken from the front-line trenches by Narrow Gauge railway, and transported to a standard gauge railway. This layout is built and owned by the Helensburgh & District M.R.C.
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
The second layout was an O Scale railway named Puddle Bridge, this was being shown by The Edinburgh & Lothians Miniature Railway Club. I liked the way that there was a lot of in-depth detail to it. The operators were shunting big rakes of coal wagons around instead of just one or two, which added a lot of excitement. They even had some of the O Scale Dapol Jintys shunting about.
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
Lastly, there was an HO Scale Portuguese layout on display. It caught my interest because it is a continental railway that is not often modelled or seen at shows. Again, there was a lot of interesting details on it. This layout was being shown off by members of the SDEG (Scottish Diesel & Electric Group).
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
Click image for a larger version.
Overall, we had a fantastic show and I would personally like to say thank you to the Model Rail Scotland team and stewards who make this show happen so smoothly, and whose hospitality make the long journey more than worth it. We would also like to thank everyone who came and visited our stand over the weekend.