Stratford & District Model Railway Club show 2023

I've made the point about visiting local shows before. Too many modellers look down their nose at the smaller events, prefering to give their "valuable" time to something they consider more "important" - and IMHO, they are wrong. 

Stratford show takes place in the bowls club, Tiddington. About 15 minutes drive for me. I dropped by last year, and so had a pretty good idea what to expect. A couple of rooms with members layouts around the edge plus a second-hand stall. 

And that's what I got. There was more on display this year, and Baz's Model Rail were also present, which was handy for a project I'll mention later in the week. 

While most of the layouts weren't of the quality I'd be looking for for a magazine shoot, there was still a lot of interesting modelling on display. Some of the running, especially on a couple of N gauge models, was nice too. It's important to remember that every single layout gave it's builder plasure, and they were proud to bring it along. Just as importantly, for many visitors, everything they saw would be something to aspire to. I wonder if this sort of display actually inspires more modelling that the superstar stuff at the bigger shows.

Winner of the "Layout Phil Would Like To Build" prize goes to Reliance Works, seen at the top of this post. A minimum space O gauge, it's builder has re-sized Scalescenes buildings and added details. Very much a work in progress, I'm keen to have another look later in the year as there is potential for a feature. At the very least, it's a nice idea that appears to be being carried out well. I even have the stock for such a model...

Another star has to be Combwich West, built two owners ago by my friend Chris Nevard. 

Now, this is a layout a lot of people would like to see, and here it is, in the corner of a room in a tiny show. There was no problem spending time examining the model closely, for as long as you wanted. Just the sort of surprise to be found if you visit enough events. 

Since they weren't charging to come in, although donation boxes were dotted around the show (I dropped cash in one of course), the very loeast I could so was make a few purchases on the second-hand stall. A random Bachmann building, couple of interesting wagons, Colin Gifford book, and what I thought would be the best buy of the weekend. 

Three quid for a very tidy, and working Tri-ang missile launcher? Can't argue with that. It was even boxed, although the box was for an exploding wagon, so probably doesn't count. 

As it was, this was soon beaten by another buy, but more of that tomorrow. 

Any complaints about the show? Yes. Refreshments, or rather, the lack of them. No-one could flog me a cup of tea, or a slice of cake. Next time I see the guys from the club, I'll have words about this...

However, a fun hour and a half with lots of chat, some toy trains and a little retail therapy. Just the job for a Sunday morning. 

Visit the Stratford and District MRC website.