As promised in last week’s post this week I am going to share with you some photos from this year’s Poole & District Model Railway Society’s 2014 Exhibition.

The exhibition was held in Poole Grammar School on Sunday 9th of November and for this one day show there is always a good turnout.  This year there were thirteen layouts on show and a good number of trade stalls covering everything from base board construction to ready-to-run trains.

To start with we have an N Scale layout set in 1912 Altenholz, Bavaria.

The layout was very nicely finished in a surrounding display case with built-in lighting giving a realistic look to the scenery, particularly because of the great shadows.

This German railway is based on the Royal Bavarian State Railways or KBayStsB.

All the track work and most of the rolling stock are made by Fleischmann.

The little loco pictured above is a 0-4-4-0 mallet locomotive and ran like a sewing machine.  Given the limited number of wheels for electrical pickup and traction this locomotive was smooth and pulled very well.

The most curious little locomotive was an 0-4-0, as pictured below.

Here is a short video of a freight train running over the viaduct.

 

The next layout is Camlas; this was built by the same person who also built Holm which you can see here.

This is 00 Gauge Great Western Railway based in Carmarthenshire near the Welsh/English border.  Camlas is Welsh for canal, and yes the layout has a canal.

The canal runs past the warehouse buildings at the front right of the layout.

Next we go up a scale to the O Scale layout Danbee.

This beautiful layout is also a GWR branch line railway

The track work on this layout is made by Peco.

This layout had one of my favorite GWR trains, the classic railcar or ‘flying banana’ as it was often affectionately called.

Here is a short video of the railcar leaving Danbee station

Next we are at Mallingford.  This is an N Scale layout based on the station used in the 1953 movie, ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’.

There are several references to the movie including Sid James on his steam roller!

The quality of detail on this layout is fantastic, my photos don’t do it justice. Every part has been customized and weathered to look just it would have done back then.

Stepping up a size we now go Teignford which is a TT (1:120) or 3mm Scale layout.

3mm Scale is roughly half way between OO (HO) and N Scale and dispite being an avid N Scaler I think it is the perfect size.  Not too small and too big.  However, as it is not one of the more popular scales the majority of rolling stock, building and track needs to be scratch built.  3D printing is an ideal tool for this scale and there were some 3D printed locomotives on the layout.

The use of the low relief building to help blend in the backdrop was very effective.

The track work used on this layout is Peco’s HOm gauge.  Designed for narrow gauge trains in HO Scale it is ideal for TT.

Stepping up in scale again we are at Ruggin Manor Peatworks.

This self contained layout is packed with detail and was fun to watch.

The track scale is GN15 which is an unusual gauge.  GN15 is G Scale (1:20.3 to 1:24) running on OO/HO Scale track.

There was so much to see on this layout; the little details are subtle which makes them even more believable.  There is a tiny blue bird on top of the milk bottle, nervously eyeing the cat on the step.  The cat jumping onto the wall at the back has spotted a rabbit in the hedge.

The characters are fantastic, the driver of this train looks like he has stopped for the photo, the foreman on the top step is not so impressed!

The detail goes through to the back of each building, completing the realism.

Another cat dozes on the chair just inside the door.

Now we go back to N Scale to visit Bodmore Vale.

Bodmore Vale is a mix of rural and industrial scenes with four running tracks, so there is always something moving.

I particularly liked the two traction engines on the big truck, it blends the vintage with the modern era.

Everywhere you looked there something going on.

At the front of the layout between the two pairs of main lines is a canal scene with barges.

Stepping back up to O Scale we next come to Ellen Green.

Ellen Green is a beautifully modeled branch line small station halt and industrial scene set on the Southern Railway.

Although this is the Southern Region a coal wagon from Parkend Deep Navigation Collieries has made it down here. This is one of my favorite UK wagon liveries as I grew up just a few miles from Parkend in the Forest of Dean, and I also worked for many years on the Dean Forest Railway which runs tourist trains to Parkend.

The last four layouts at the show, all fantastic layouts, have recently been covered in other posts so rather than repeat myself you can find out more about them in the relevant posts using the links below.

Sawpit Creek built by Neil Lancaster.

Sumach Grove  built by John Levesley.

Gorpeton Blymee By Wimborne Railway Society.

Corris by Rod Allcock.

Corris won the People’s Favorite Layout award at this year’s show.

One other group that was at the show was the Slim Gauge Society and although they did not have a layout they did bring some of their fantastic locomotives.

And that was the Poole & District Model Railway Society’s 2014 Exhibition.

Next week I will be getting back to my new 3D printed projects which are coming out soon; I currently have a big order coming from Shapeways, not just in volume but containing the largest print I have done to date, which I look forward to sharing with you.