STUART JORDAN reports from the Gaugemaster Model Railway Open Weekend at the start of September.
Firstly, all of the Gaugemaster staff would like to thank everyone who came along - visitors and exhibitors alike. It was a fantastic show, and the weather was just right - not too hot under the marquees, and not pouring with rain either! Let's take a look through the layouts that were on show, showcasing the absolute best in modelmaking, in a variety of scales and locations.
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Burnham was built by David O'Rourke. The layout depicts a small country terminus somewhere in East Anglia, with Great Eastern and Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway influences.
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This gives the opportunity to run a mixture of rolling stock without it looking too much out of place. There is also a small goods yard and a wharf for small ships and barges.
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This N Scale Swiss layout was built by Gordon Wiseman, and it is a fictitious SBB/BLS alternative to the Lötschberg route, travelling from Basel to Genoa via Bern, Crans Montana, Grand St Bernard, and Turin.
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The layout is controlled by Kato controllers and point switches.
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This layout is owned by Gaugemaster, but is maintained by Robin Stanbury of Model Masters. One of the last few remaining in the UK, Gaugemaster restored the layout with Robin and displayed it at Model Rail Scotland in 2018, so you may have seen it there!
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The layout is fully automated using magnets and reed switches, with many lines running up to five trains at once.
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Gas Works is set in a broad period from the mid 1930s to early 1950s, and the layout was built and run by the Yeovil Model Railway Group. The layout is split between a canal basin, warehouse and a foundry on one side, and the gas works and surrounding industry on the other.
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The coal is delivered and the coke is removed, and the gas holders rise and fall.
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The layout, built by Eric Bird, is a small permanent way yard/stock servicing point providing light repairs to visiting items and the testing of new/seasonal equipment, using a recycled second hand layout.
It is primarily to demonstrate German DCC items of rolling stock and advances in model technology, as well as the Kadee magnetic coupling system powered by Roco Multimaus or NCE DCC control.
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This Dual-Gauge layout is HO and HOe, and depicts a goods interchange in 1960s Germany. The layout was built by John Hills of Minitrains.
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Although declining, narrow gauge passenger traffic still trundles through the tiny station whilst some freight continues to be handled, primarily for the timber trade and a couple of local factories.
You can read more about this at, "LAYOUT SPOTLIGHT - Guterbahnhof Frankenland".
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Set loosely in the 1960s Haversham Central depicts a busy town/city and was built by John Dowrick of the SilverFox DCC Model Railway Club.
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It is a fictitious location in a central position, allowing trains from various regions to have reason to pass through - including steam and diesel. There may also be a bit of shunting going on in the yard.
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This diorama module, built by Gilly North, features thirty heavily rusted locomotives, awaiting their fate in a 1970s scrapyard based in a sand pit.
Members of the West Sussex N Gauge MRC donated their non-working stock to Gilly so that she could build the diorama, which also features an oxy-acetylene torch worker and the yard owner's Daimler!
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Kenstadt is operated by Ken Jones, and was originally built by Steve Pilling The small hamlet of Kenstadt sees tourists in the summer who visit the local castle at the top of the hill.
In winter the town is usually cut off by snow and only horse carts and trains get through. The trains are the odd freight train, a local multiple unit service and sometimes a Christmas Special.
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Built by Mike Carter, Mill Falls is a fictitious busy manufacturing hill-town with industries involved in the production of carpets, furniture, beer, confectionery and spinning machinery. Set in the late steam/early diesel era of the early 1950s, it is somewhere close to Route 1, which links Boston, Massachusetts with Bangor, Maine.
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Sound and lighting effects bring this evocative period to life.
You can read more about this at, "LAYOUT SPOTLIGHT - Mill Falls".
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The East Surrey N Gauge Group were here with their large modular layout. Each Member of the club builds their own section of the four track layout, which is then fitted together for running days to make a complete circuit.
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With an eclectic mix of stock running at any one time, be prepared to see everything from GWR Pannier Tanks to Japanese Bullet Trains!
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This Modern Image layout has been built by Mike Buick. It is 20' by 9', and portrays a fictitious station somewhere in Somerset/Devon, based on the real station at Castle Cary on the Reading to Taunton line.
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There was lots of First Great Western/GWR stock from 2013 to the present day heading through this large modern station.
You can read more about this at, "LAYOUT SPOTLIGHT - Oak Road".
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This layout was built by Ian Milroy and Robin Marie. It was inspired by a video called ‘Spanish Narrow Gauge Steam', and they took various scenes from the video and amalgamated them into the layout, which spans the years between 1965 and 1969.
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There are three working parts to the layout - A HO standard gauge line, a HOe narrow gauge line, and a Faller Car System layout.
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San Maria Gandia won the 2018 Open Weekend Best In Show award, voted for by visiting members of the public.
Presenting Ian Milroy with the Best In Show award.
You can read more about this at, "LAYOUT SPOTLIGHT - Ferrocarril San Maria Gandia".
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School Lane was conceived as a teaching layout for new club members at the Billericay Model Railway Group. The track layout is based on Dent Station on the Settle & Carlisle line in the late 1950s. New technology has been used, with lights controlled by a micro-computer, automation, and a 3D printed support system.
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This layout, built by
Peter Capon
, is based on the narrow gauge railways operated by the Royal Engineer Light Railway Operating Companies behind the lines in France and Belgium during WW1.
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The date is late 1917-early 1918 and the layout is split in two. The left hand board depicts a French village used by troops, The right hand board represents further forward towards the front line.
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Staffordshire Potteries was built by Gilly North and features a working Pottery in the early 1900s. Smoking bottle kilns, a canal, back-to-back housing, and an open-cast coal mine add to the dirt and grime resulting from the manufacture of the finest porcelain in the world at that time. It won the Visitors 'Best in Show' award at the International N Gauge Exhibition in Stuttgart in November 2017.
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The location is France, somewhere south of Bordeaux on the former CF du Midi tracks. The period of operation can be anywhere from about 1970 to 2000 as there is a wide range of suitable stock to be run.
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Tenac was displayed by Tim Hills, as part of the French Railway Society stand.
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This layout depicts a fictional Motive Power Depot on the LNER, and has been built and run by the Oak Field Model Railway Group. It features over sixty different LNER locomotives, both ready-to-run and kit built by Sam Burford.
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There was the chance to do some trainspotting with this layout, as the group produced an A-to-Z list of locomotives to tick off!
You can read more about this at, "LAYOUT SPOTLIGHT - Wentworth Yard".
In our technical area you could get advice from the Gaugemaster Technical team, as well as Train-Tech.
We also had DCCconcepts here to help customers with their products, as well as Deluxe Materials. Ex-Gaugemaster staffer Nick Duxfield was on hand to show off his scenic wizardry.
Several societies also attended - the French Railways Society, the Swiss Railways Society, The German Railway Society, and the British Overseas Railways Historical Trust. We also had the Sussex Community Rail Partnership here, as part of Gaugemaster's adoption of Ford Railway Station.
Thanks again to everyone who made it down to visit us - we had a fantastic time, and we hope that you did too.