Tolworth Part 1

Hellingly Hospital at Tolworth
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

We’ve just returned from Sunny Tolworth with the Hellingly Hospital layout.

It’s not a bad model railway exhibition as they go. There were plenty of layouts and certainly in the main hall and not a duff one to be seen. Some seriously impressive modelling was on show. If I’d been a visitor I would have felt I’d had my moneys worth. Since you get three halls for the price of one there really is something for everyone.

I was especially impressed with the American hall. The models in there were proper modelling with dirt and wear and nothing taken straight from the box. No cowboy hats to be seen either.

Trade was good too. Perhaps not the best in the world but no-one could complain about the selection of locomotive kits (in 4mm scale at least) with one kit manufacturer (Roxey) and a couple of stalls with good stocks of second hand kits. Despite my plans not to buy any more projects I have come back home with a couple. Of course they were kits I had planned to buy one day anyway, and they were a bargain…

The biggest downsides weren’t the organisers fault. The leisure centre owners have employed the slowest builders ever to refit their toilets. For two and a half months they have been messing around and still haven’t finished the job. This means a reasonable sized exhibition has to content itself with three loos. Two for men and one for women as the former made up the largest percentage of the crowd by far.

The other problem was the crowd itself. For the first half of Saturday they didn’t speak. At all. Absolute silence despite my best efforts to get some chat going. The first morning is always filled with enthusiasts and they never speak to the layout operators. Oh no we have to far too serious for that. With the Hosptial offering limited operational potential, we are as keen as possible to get to talk about it. There is history and model making techniques to discuss. Or you can just stand and look serious.

Fortunately the atmosphere improved after lunchtime on the first day when the normal people start to arrive and the serious people loosen up a bit. We managed a good few conversations and even some laughs. As we’d left home at 6:30am earlier we needed this to keep our spirits up. Early starts and 104 mile drives tend to take the shine off playing trains even in a good show.