In 2010 though, Mark was prevailed (bullied and cajoled) to run it again as a fundraiser. The venue had moved from its previous church hall to a school. The programme promised 20 stands including 3 traders. Not a bad effort for 3 quid. And as any fule know, little, local shows run to raise money for schools will be selling home made cake which is a good enough reason to visit.

The kids loved it of course, 4 trains at a time running including one shuttling back and forth along the back. For the discerning enthusiast you could play "spot the different mouldings" - who knew for example that the Australians made a rip-off Hymek ? I means I know the nation are formed from our criminal outcasts but still. Mind you they did glaze theirs so it is technically a better model.

In N gauge I liked Highley Unlikely which is a little bit of Severn Valley Railway in the space you'd normally associate with a bookshelf. The builder, Tim, likes small layouts as he, like me, gets bored easily and wants to see results from his model making time. The buildings are mostly kit-bashed yet fit the scene very nicely. The end result is also very attractive and hopefully will convince a few people that they can build a model that can be allowed in the house rather than hidden in the shed.

Finally, "Layout I would like to build" prize goes to Lesspoint. This is a micro layout with the gimmick that there are no points on the visible section. Instead there is a small terminus station with track disappearing under a bridge. Behind this is a sector plate that allows all the operation - trains can move from one road to another or be shuffled into the fiddle yard, where there is a single turnout.

If there is one complaint, it's that like most micro layouts, operation isn't that exciting. I know because I fell into operating it thanks to the arrival of the gentlemen of the press at the same time as the owner was at lunch leaving exhibition organiser Mark playing trains. To be honest all you can do is shuffle very short trains around. The wiring is in to allow a loco to be isolated at the end of a coach and another to take the train away but I didn't try this.
This caveat aside, it's a very nice model. The size was determined by the builder living on a barge - not a space conducive to large scale models ! If you like building models then it would be fine and were it mine then I'd be happy chatting to people explaining how everything was constructed.

More photos on Flickr
Churchrail Show web site
Update: That's done it. My Dad has just heard he won a ticket for a trip on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway in the raffle !
2 comments:
Came acros a blog you wrote about the Churchill Rail Exhibition 2010, featuring a layout I built afew years ago called Lesspoint.Though it was portrayed as a gwr layout,it was originaly an lner one called Yarmouth Town.A gentleman called Richard,who lived on a narrowboat,somewhere in the Midlands bought it from me.I since heard that he had sadly died.Seeing it again,after so many years,brought back happy memories.Unfortunatley,I belive it ended up in a skip!!!sorry to go on a bit
Warren,
Warren - Glad the post brought back memories. It's a shame about the layout but if you enjoyed building it and the new owner enjoyed owning and running it then that's the main thing.
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