Ally Pally haul

Or, "What rubbish did you buy from the show this time Parker?"

You know the law. If you go to a model railway show, you are required to buy something.  Anyway, where's the fun in coming home empty-handed? 

We start with some almost sensible items. The Woodland Scenics kits could be useful additions to projects, especially the water towers and tool shed. The middle one is, Tractor Pit Stop, there are whitemetal castings and scenic materials in the box, and it was cheap. Probably a blog project one day.  

I spent more than a penny on these two public toilets, but they are interesting kits. Artitec stuff is always high quality, and the design of the building looks amazing. PN SUD Modélisme are a new name to me, but this one is mostly cast plaster with some slightly (compared to Artitec) agricultural resin castings. More blog projects, as neither really fit into magazines I write for, but they look fun. 

 Looking at the website, I wish I'd bought the lovely looking PN water tower now. But I have enough kits. 

Moving to the German Railway society, I picked up a genuine carriage board. Obviously, I snagged the one with Wuppertal on it as a souvenier of my trip. It's accompanied by a Groudle Glen Railway fridge magnet from Saddletank Books, proving I will buy anything GGR related. 

And a planned purchase - Bob Symes from Buggleskelly Models. I met Bob once at Brighton show, where I was exhibiting Hellingly. He knew the line, and we had a very enjoyable chat. 

I've been trying to buy this 7mm figure for several shows, but I always forget until the end, and he's always sold out. This time, I had him put by early. A wise move as it turns out. 

Now the big stuff. 

I have coveted a raindeer car from Bachmann for years. 2016, to be precise, when I first saw it in the catalogue. Apparently, the heads move in and out as the car moves, a bit giraffe car ish. Just up my street!

No idea why the blokes from the MRC wanted to take my photo doing this. I suspect fowl play in the future. There will be a proper blog post at some point in the future on this wagon. 

Finally, before the show even opened, MRC shop operator, and layout booker for the show, Tom, spotted me, and offered me some junk he didn't want to put back in the van at the end of the weekend. He felt that out of the ten thousand people visiting, I was the only one likely to be mug enough to hand over a fiver.

Yes, it's an Airfix Railway System Multiple Train Control (MTC). According to Wikipedia, it is an analogue system introduced in 1979 and used 20V sinusoidal alternating current on the track with a superimposed control signal. It can control up to 16 locomotives, of which a maximum of 4 at a time be controlled simultaneously. Unfortunately, it was only produced for about 18 months when Airfix went into receivership, and the concept was dropped.

And yes, this fascinating item will also be a blog post. To be honest, it is a bit of a waste of money, but it has been such a good laugh already, I'm glad I bought it. Now, does anyone want to buy it off me? 

The London Festival of Railway Modelling 2026

 

A busy show. Even busier for me, than normal. I spent the time either chatting on the stand (thanks for coming along blog readers who identified themselves) or taking photos. I managed four full shoots, plus a couple of side projects. 

Since this was the 25th exhibition, there was cake. Lots of cake. 

Above is the Warners cake, but Ally Pally also supplied cake, which I didn't get to partake in. The last slice was left for me, but the only time I saw it, it was being wolfed down by our publisher!

Never mind, I did try a slice of the work cake, and a couple of cupcakes, over the weekend. 

Pretty restrained I thought! The cupcakes were given out to the public, and it was interesting to see how often adults needed to explain the concept of ricepaper to their kids. Yes, you can eat it. I mean it doesn't taste great, but then you have a rather nice cake attached to the bottom, so stop moaning. 

Little Brian and Little Phil were out and about. We met some nuns. 

And a celebrity. 

Dad got to visit the set of one of his favourite films. 

A good time was had by all. Sorry, I'm a bit light on general layout photos, there really wasn't as much wandering time as normal. As it is, recovery took a couple of days. Am I getting too old for all of this? 

Saturday Film Club: Inside Rev W Awdry's Office: The Creator of Thomas the Tank Engine

A look inside the Rev. Awdry's office, now recreated in the narrow gauge railway museum. I've been in here, and it's an interesting insight into the way he worked. 

Who keeps old glue?

 

A sticky addition to the Beatties collection - two tubes of plastic cement. 

Sadly, one has overheated at some point and turned into froth, sticking it in its box, but the other one is mint. 

I guess that these were discovered in an old drawer. Fortunately, the finder had the presence of mind to list them on eBay. And I was the one daft enough to buy them. Price, no different to a couple of tubes of glue, possibly a bit less. 

They arrived with a plastic bag too. 

Now all tucked away safely in the Beattie's collection box, they await me setting up the virtual museum. 

Can you believe people think I'm weird for keeping this stuff?  

Break out the airbrush

 

My dream workshop includes a room for airbrushing. All the equipment will be set up, including a great big extractor fan. The door will be close-fitting so the smell stays in the room. And it will be warm. 

As it is, I have to spray in the garage, setting some of the equipment up each time. The smell escapes into the kitchen, and it's the coldest room in the house. 

Which is why the first coat of Humbrol Wine (73) was applied to the wagon using a brush. The second coat on one side and the end was applied the same way. 

Then I caved in, stopped being lazy, and fired up the airbrush. Even allowing for cleaning, a task I hate, painting this Gauge 1 wagon this way was far, far quicker than manually slapping it on with the brush. The finish is much better too. 

I still wish I had a suitable spare room though.