Stanley Midland

At all model railway exhibitions you need a "crowd pleaser". Something that the general public will appreciate and ensure that they feel they have had value for money from their ticket.

Usually this will be a nice big roundy-roundy with trains thrashing around at breakneck speed, although at Scaleforum something along the lines of a perfectly modelled branch terminus featuring 1 train a day is perhaps more appropriate.

Anyway, at next years Leamington & Warwick show we have picked something a little different - Stanley Midland. You see we have a big hall to work with and so can chose those models that won't normally be seen at average exhibitions. In this case some Gauge 1 live steam.

What I love about this layout is that there is aboard in the middle that people book their models on to. This ensures that there will always be something running at all times - just right to provide consistent entertainment. Better still, the models are all superb examples of model engineering. In the past we've gone for vintage or even Playmobile models which are great but not really of interest to the serious modeller (as opposed to the collector) whereas you might be a flange fascist but you can't argue with the workmanship on display.

The film above was made on the Tuesday of the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, hence the light crowd hanging around. We'd never have got the footage on the Friday !