It's nice when people organise a show just over 10 minutes drive away. When G1MRA announced their AGM would be at the transport museum at Gaydon, I was delighted. I put enough miles in travelling for model railways, that I must have been due a short trip.
As well as my general love of shows, there was another reason to go. As a thank you for publishing the layout "Helvetia", from Belgium, in Garden Rail, I'd been promised some cake. To be fair, it's a fascinating, if very simple, model, with the most stunning rolling stock, so I didn't actually need to be bribed, but I didn't own up to that. I'm always on the lookout for interesting models for the readers, and this ticked a lot of boxes.
Although the important part of the day (which I'll admit I didn't attend) is the AGM, most people were more interested in the layouts and trade. There were two layouts, a South African line, and the Association's own "Carding Road".
Tradewise, there were all the people you would expect. If there is a one-stop shop for the scale, this was pretty close. I could only think of a couple of traders who were missing. I'll cover my goodies tomorrow.
One of the highlights was the Greenley rally. This is a simple-to-build battery-electric, steam-outline loco designed to introduce people to the scale. I've built one, and serialised it in GR, and it's a fantastic model.
My model is the blue one at the front. At the end of the day, we ran all nine on the outer track of "Carding Road", which was a little chaotic, but great fun. Each show, the lineup grows too, a testament to the David Viewing's design, and the innovative idea of the project.
Another impressive area was aimed at children. They could build a G1 wagon from a set of laser-cut wooden parts. The only tool required was a pair of clippers to cut the kebab sticks used to hold it together. A brilliant idea, but it needs to be at a show with more kids.
While not a massive show, it was great fun if you are interested in the scale. There was the opportunity to get "hands-on" with models, and ask all the questions you might like, and I enjoyed it immensely, and not just because of the cake.
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