NGRS 2026

 

You won't be surprised when I say this was a busy one. Since Warners are looking after the trade now, I was able to get in early on the Friday, but ironically, other than setting up my tables, I couldn't take advantage of this to get cracking with the "Layout in a Day" build. 

The plan this year was that Andy, from Amazing Little Trains, would be supplying the 45mm gauge track, to demonstrate the DCC system he imports. And Andy wasn't due until the official get-in time of 2pm. 

Still, once he arrived, we got stuck into laying track and quickly had a working layout. In total, three hours build time saw a fully working garden railway, with loops and sidings, created. I'd also laid an oval of 32mm gauge track (I'll blog about this later) to keep what the Association calls "The True Gauge" visible. 

When the day dawned, it was pleasing that the number of pre-booked tickets, was within 100 of the TOTAL attendance the previous year. By the end of the day, over 1500 visitors had been through, a 25% increase. 

I'd recruited Amy and Ben Bucki to run the layout so I could wander around properly. This they did to great effect, with Andy joining in too. Lots of people, young and old, ran trains using the fancy DCC phone-control system, and they had a great time doing it. Our sounds competed with the Marble Express at the other end of the stand, especially the diesel that made ice cream van noises!

I didn't get to wander as much as might have liked, there being far too much chatting to do. Apologies if you couldn't get to me, perhaps I need to have a full-sized Little Phil made to help!

What I saw, was a very busy show with some fantastic models on display. Everything from a £45 loco kit (PS Models sold out of those) to £5000+ steam locomotives. People were buying too, with a few stands stripped of items. All good news for the hobby. 

I was very happy, and not a little relieved as I always am. The layout looked great, and proved that you don't need a huge amount of space to build a garden railway. For the first time, thanks to Andy, we put on a proper garden line, not just a couple of circuits of track. Anyone could enjoy operating it as the plan offered plenty of play value. 

So, another good year. All being well, we'll do it all again. I hope so, as I've recorded a load of video for next year's promotional efforts. Well, the marketing team have their work cut out beating this years attendance figures!