SWAG 2026

 

Roll up! Roll up! Visit honest Phil's diorama stall! Get yourself a genuine artefact made by the great man. Guaranteed to rise in value in a few years...

Yes, when asked to take a stand full of projects, I decided (with permission) to take the opportunity to sell some of them off. My storage is getting full, and I'm going to need to put more in there while we shuffle rooms in the house, so a load of projects built years ago were finding themselves new homes. 

SWAG (South West Area Group of RMweb) is a loosely aligned group of people who like high-quality model railways, but don't take things too seriously. Each year, we take over a village hall in Taunton, bring layouts, and demos, add in a couple of traders, the Bring'n'Buy and lashings of cake and pasties. There is no entry charge, but visitors are encouraged to leave donations to keep the event going. 

It's a very freindly day. Lots of chat, plenty of time to admire the modelling, and a good time is had by all. Despite being there all day, I didn't photograph all the layouts, but here is a selection. 

Under construction, is this estate railway in O14, all the way from Wales.  

It wasn't alone, there was a forest of little layouts in the scale from the same builders. I'd love to have a go at some of this. 

The simplest layout there, had to be the 7mm scale Osney Quay. More a picture than a layout, there is just one length of track, it was beautifully modelled. 

Moving to S gauge, the show is nothing if not eclectic, Nancarrow Junction. 

Guinea Street is a classic Inglenook. The colours are lovely, and there's plenty of detail. Look out for a feature in BRM at some point. 

 

 

Owner Chris Hooper is very generous and will let all sorts of dodgy people play with his layout. I'm pretty sure this bloke doesn't know what he's doing. 

 

I know it's Great Western, but Bradstock is a nicely modelled engine shed scene. There's just the right amount of detail and clutter for a branchline scene.  

I saw Rye Sands a few weeks ago, and immediately wanted to shoot it for BRM. Luckily, SWAG is just the place to do this. Look out for a future feature. 

 

Finally, for the photos, but not the quality layouts, we have Crooked House, a layout built as a tribute to Andy York, using stock and materials he left when he passed away last year. 

 The modelling quality is astounding. Mr York himself makes an appearance of course. 

His layout, Keyhaven, was also present, but my photos of that aren't very good. 

Of course, it's not all about trains. There was cake. 

A very nice chocolate cake for elevenses, and then later in the day, because I missed out on the courgette cake, I opted for apple crumble and custard. 

Little Brian dislikes the yellow stuff as much as Big Brian did!

All in all, a cracking day out. I'd trade this sort of event for one of the bigger shows any day. Yes, it's a long drive, and me messing up my hotel booking didn't help, but this didn't detract from the fun day out. This is what the hobby is supposed to be about - community and quality model railways.