NGRS haul

With such a busy show, I didn't have a lot of time for shopping, and a few of the things I fancied, had sold out by the time I got around to them!

Browsing the ModelTown stand, and influenced by past articles in Garden Rail, by Mark Thatcher, I picked up a bargain Bond microcar, and a pedal car. These will be a bit of fun, and the sort of model that I can use on the Layout in a Day, as well as other places. I've also sat in one of the Bond cars years ago on the Isle of Man, which makes it even more appealing. 

The other impulse buy is a business card display from Porterhouse Models. A 3D printed loco, with slot for your card.  Fun, and not expensive. 

Apart from that, there are a lot of boxes containing kits for review, so I better start digging into those! 

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!

 

Saturday Film Club: Rustival 4 2026 - the world's friendliest car show full of classics, rare cars and more!

I'll be honest, if I'd not been heading to SWAG a couple of weeks ago, my car would have been pointed down the road to Rustival. A lovely, friendly car show, with all sorts of weird and wonderful vehicles displayed, including quite a lot that I remember being on the road normally!

R416 Hornby Travelling Post Office Coach

 

Recently, someone dropped off a box of "stuff" on one of the tables of the railway club. Truth is, most of it was junk, broken plastic buildings, ancient and battered rolling stock. One item that appealed to me though, was this Travelling Post Office coach. 

I think it's a unprototypical BR blue and grey livery that grabbed me. Hornby has produced a TPO for many years, the original being a Tri-ang product. That one took the mail in through one side, and chucked it out the other. This version, from 1980, is a little more prototypical in that entry and exit are from the same side, in something approaching a realistic manner. 

Operated by skates that hit ramps under the coach, the top and bottom "nets" are swung open when required. 

The top net collects the mailbags, as long as the coach is travelling in the correct direction. 

When it snaps shut, the bags drop into the bottom net, which has a hole in the base to drop them at the appropriate point. 

Sadly, my coach has come with either operating device, but I'm sure I can pick one up. TPO coaches never seem to be very valuable, one of these in this livery with all the bits, if on eBay for less than a tenner, and that's not that unusual. A shame, as this is a rare operating accessory with a real railway background. 

 

As far as I know this set has appeared in GWR, BR blue, and Red 1980s Royal Mail colours, and now it's back in the Railroad range, with a quite modest livery. I'm going to say that blue and grey is my favourite. The final mail drop was in 1971 - could this have been a blue coach? I'm sure someone will know. 

Finally, while digging around, I tripped over this video that demos the Hornby, Dublo and Joueff (didn't know about this one, was it really HO? ) versions. 

Tamiya Extra Thin, Low Odor Cement

 

Using plastic solvent is smelly. Those of us who have been at it for many years, hardly notice the whiff, but normal people do. 

Spotting a bottle of Low Odor cement in a shop, I thought I'd give it a try - can a smell-free product really work? 

First impressions are, yes it can. The liquid cement flows freely, once applied using the brush in the lid. Sticking power seems good, but it is slower than MekPak. Not a lot, but Mek tends to be pretty much instant, whereas there is a noticeable wait with this stuff. 

What about the smell? Well, there is a slight odour, but you have to sniff hard to spot it, so I'd say it does what it says on the bottle. 

Price?  Between five and six quid for a 40ml bottle. So, more expensive than buying Mek in a big bottle, but not too dissimilar to the smaller bottles. The bottle design is worthy of note, you'd have the be pretty clumsy to knock this over. 

 Definitely worth a go if the smell of building plastic models bothers you. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Swiss coal transhipment

An interesting view from a couple of years ago in Switzerland. Approaching Thun on the boat, we passed by this gantry for moving coal from ships to railway wagons. Via a great big pile, presumably a stockpile. 

A quick look on Google maps gives another angle, although oddly, the gantry itself hardly shows up. The gantry spans four tracks, and well as poking out over the water to unload ships. 

It strikes me that this would be quite a slow way to move coal, and I wonder why the stuff isn't moved all the way by rail. Or in a mountainous country, is this too hard? 

Also, what is the coal for? Switzerland is known for extensive use of clean power. Who is burning this stuff? 

Regardless, this would make a fantastic model. Good luck if you fancy making it work in HO, though, there's not much structure to hide the mechanical parts!

Classic pub in The Collector

 

More classic kitbuilding in the Hornby Collectors Club magazine. I'm back in the 80s (which I'm sure is only a few years ago) with the Hornby "Bell Inn" kit, produced for them by Piko. 

Unlike a lot of the other buidlings in the range, this isn't a European structure pretending to be British, it really is a UK pub. Looking at the catalogue from 1990, there were half a dozen of these, although this is the most interesting to my mind. Maybe by this point in time, the Margate bean counters had been persuaded of the benefits of proper kits. 

One surprise is just how big this model is. 155mm long, 80mm wide. Modern resin buildings tend to exhibit selective compression, some ranges more than others, so this seems oddly big compared to them.  

It took me a long while to locate this kit, but once I found it, it appeared in a couple of photo shoots I carried out, including the South Coast MRC's layout, Canalside. 

I rather like this model, it has character. The only thing I'd change is the wall coverings. Stickers are provided, but they aren't perfectly cut around the windows, and the finish is very flat. Maybe one day I'll redo them with Redutex, or even scribe the stone myself. It would be a worthwhile upgrade. 

SWAG haul

 

I made a profit!

Sales on the Bing'n'Buy £60. Puchases £18. That is the right way around, and best of all, the volume of items sold was considerably greater than those bought. 

A couple of kit bundles leapt out at me. I'll always buy Cooper Craft tool sets, there is nothing better. I've also acquired some singboards for their letters. 

Whitemetal cats? Well, they were only a couple of quid, and I like cats. 

There were several kits I knew nothing about too. Normally, that guarantees they will come home with me, but this time, I was good. 

John Day Models is a name I know, but not well. I've never seen this GWR halt though. Did it become the Wills halt with the pagoda waiting room? 

I can see a use for this one day. But then I also fancy the 7mm scale halt from Peco. That will wait until I have real use for it.  

Time to bank some cash! 

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.  

Saturday Film Club: 1975: MODEL RAILWAYS - All You Need to Know

Running model trains on a carpet for the benefit of a video camera? It will never catch on...

Off to the NGRS today

 

Today, it's my time to load up a van with plants, earth and stones - take the whole lot to Stoneleigh park, and make a garden railway with it. 

Yes, it's time for the National Garden Railway show.  

Please come along, say hello, and enjoy some large-scale railway action.  

Standing behind the Berlingo, realising why I do this

 

At the last MOT, we picked up an advisory for one of the numberplate lights not working. The Berlingo has two, which is why we scraped through. But, it needed to be fixed, and last weekend was the time to do it. 

According to Haynes, you have to take the cover over the top of the plate to do this. I have replaced a bulb before now, and was sure I hadn't bothered with all this. Could I remember how? 

Half an hour of poking and prodding later, I'd extracted the holder, but it won't pull out without removing any significant parts. I started to remove the inside panel, but broke two clips, so stopped that. 

Then I looked back on this blog, and the answer is here. 

Put a small screwdriver into the hole in the side, lever the top towards the light bulb, and it pops straight out. At least it did for me, on both covers. Once I remembered that, the job took around 5 minutes, and I replaced both bulbs with nice LED versions. 

Thanks you past Phil. I should pay more attention to you.  

Warehouse Wednesday: A view from the USA

A friend is on a trip to New York, and among the pictures of the view, and Statue of Liberty, there was this cracking shot. 

At first glance, there is nothing special about it, but that's what makes it so interesting, to me at least. Everything in this photo is American. The building with exposed fire escape on the front. The USPS van - I tried to identify the make, but can't work it out. 

My point is that you can't take an American building kit and plonk it on the UK layout. You'll need to do a fair bit of work first, but then that's all part of the fun isn't it? 

Brian gets his loco

 

Now I've fitted the radio control, there was only one job left to do on this loco - fit the correct nameplates. 

As far as I can work out, this was the last loco kit, and possibly the last kit, my father, Brian, ever bought. As expected, I built it, and even managed to show him some photos, which he liked, a few days before he passed away. Obviously, there was only one name it could have. 

Boot Lane Works provided the new plates. Dad always liked them, and their products, probably why he bought this odd-looking loco. 

Anyway, knowing who they were for, Andrew added a little extra detail to the 3D printed design, and handed them over at a show. 

All I had to do was paint. No problem. Whack some brass colour enamel on. Let it dry. Splosh red over it, and wipe the faces clean. 

Which is what I did. But metalics don't behave like normal paint, they don't dry hard in the same way. So, when I wiped, most of the brass came off as well. I let the red dry, and touched in the brass. And then touched in the red. And the brass. And the red. Until I was happy. 

The old plates, which had been attached with Glue'n'glaze peeled off easily enough, but left glue marks. I got these off, mostly, with damp cotton buds and bits of wood to scrape with. I wasn't happy though. To cut a long story short, the sides of the tanks have been resprayed. 

But, the new plates are on, and look great. Little Brian has been installed on the footplate, read to pull the coaches big Brian built a few years ago.  

Radio control for Musketeer

 

Time for a little catch-up job. A couple of months ago, I wrote up my build of the Boot Lane Works kit of "Musketeer" in Garden Rail, but left the job with power controlled by an on/off switch. My aim had always been to fit some radio, I just didn't have any to hand. Besides, the kit was off the market, and I'd run out of space in the magazine. 

"Musketeer" has been rereleased due to demand, for which I take some of the credit. I still needed power and control, so I turned to RC Trains for a simple solution. Their drop-in unit for the Timpdon Railmotor worked well, so a similar setup here appealed. 

A quick email discussion about space for batteries later, and I received a small Jiffy bag containing all I would need.  As promised, it doesn't take much work to fit. The unit it connected to the motor with a chocolate block, and the battery pack just plugs in. A few seconds binding the transmitter to the receiver, and my loco works perfectly. 

The biggest job was making the switch fit into the toolbox on top of the loco. This is designed to fit over a slightly smaller switch, but a few minutes hacking away at the 3D printed part saw it fit snuggly. 

Now, the loco just needs a driver... 

Saturday Film Club: 1979: The Model World of Robert Symes

Off to SWAG

Sunday sees the latest meeting of the South West Area Group (SWAG) of RMweb. It's a fun little event that is open to all, and normally features some really good small layouts, plenty of chat, pasties and cake. 

You can read about last year's event here. 

It's a little bit of a mystery exactly what will be there, but dig through the thread on RMweb, and you'll have a better idea. I've already arranged one layout shoot, and strongly suspect that it won't be the only one. I find SWAG a great source of micro layouts for BRM. 

If you enjoy quality modelmaking, and cake, head to Taunton, and all being well, I'll see you there.  

10AM- 4PM , Sunday 19th April 2026 

Staplegrove Village Hall, 214 Staplegrove Road, Taunton. TA2 6AL

 

Dirty and stoned - BRM May 2026

 

May's issue of BRM has landed, and there's a few Phil pieces in there. First up, I've taken the exclusive World of Railways fireless locomotive, and given it a gentle coat of muck. These things wouldn't get too dirty; there's no muck coming out of the top for a start, so the work is all carried out with powders. I'll admit to being very pleased with the end result, although when you read the article, the model had to come to pieces first, which is a story in itself. 

The four-step piece this time involves loading a wagon with stone. 

We had a bit of a discussion about this on RMweb. Contemporary photos show the stone loaded loose, possibly with some straw, so that's what I've done. But first, I had to make the stone itself. 

My camera has been out to shoot: 

Bournemouth East (OO)

Chaddesley Corbett (N)

Jeffrey Lane (OO)

British Railway Modelling magazine is available from all good newsagents, or our online store. 

Warehouse Wednesday: Mill House, York

Opposite my hotel in York, are a couple of attractive buildings.According to Wikipedia, Mill House is a former grain mill which is now the headquarters for the police in York. There's no obvious signs of it's current use, other than a couple of Police vans parked outside at all hours. 

Next door is The Whippet Inn, which is Grade II listed and dates back to 1896. It used to be called The Yorkshire Tavern, The Other Tap and Spile and the Yorkshire Huzzars. The entrance to the back yard (and possibly stables?) is shown on the first large-scale map of the city in 1852.

Visit these buildings on Streetview.  

 

Manvers Main wagon - finished

 

Job done, and very enjoyable and satisfying it was too. The end result is a very pleasingly large model. If you get the chance, have a go at one, just for the fun of it. 

Nothing was difficult, apart from wrangling the transfers for the sides. My efforts aren't perfect, but will do for a wagon that will be part of a train trundling past. 

Only one complaint, it's too wide for the box!. I managed to squeeze the completed model in and slide the lid on, but the sides bow out a bit. That's fine for now, but one day, a stock box will be called for. That can wait until I've sorted out a suitable loco though. 

York haul

 

A big show means lots of money spent? Not this time. 

I didn't deliberately try for a cheap show, but that's just the way it turned out. The biggest item is a second-hand length of Gauge 1 track. While I have lots of 45mm gauge track, I didn't actually own a bit of proper G1. Well, I do now. The sleepers seem very mobile on the rails, so I think I'll take it apart, clean the metal, and then fix everything to a board. 

On the Dart Castings stand, I spotted a new range of model telephone boxes. Both K2 and K6 are available, nicely 3D printed, in 4 and 7mm scales. Since I don't have a K2 in the collection, I bought an O gauge model. And while I was at it, a picked up a bag of 4mm scale cats. Just because. 

I can't resist a bit of railwayana, and having admired the Azuma's at York station the evening before, I was pleased to find a promotional noughts and crosses game, presumably from the launch of the sets. 

While I was at it, a Scotrail sliding block puzzle joined the pile. Both were cheap, don't take up a lot of space, and have play value. 

Strolling around York the day before the show, I dropped in to Monk Bar model shop, and since the law demands a purchase, picked up a couple of pots of Revell Anthracite paint, and restocked the Micro Sol and Micro set bottle, both of which took a hit from the Gauge 1 wagon transfers. 

I did have to resist a pack of 1930s gangster figures, among other temptations. Something for the next visit perhaps...

York 2026

 

An early morning photoshoot saw me into York show nice and early this year. Finishing my work just as the doors opened left me with the whole day to wander around looking at layouts, perusing the trade and chatting to people. Far nicer than my normal rush around. 

I'm not going to try to bring you the whole show, there are plenty of YouTubers out there who make it their mission to do that, I'll just mention a few displays that appealed to me, and I managed to get an acceptable photo of with my 'phone. 

First up, I finally had the chance to see Maggie and Gordon Gravett's Port De Crozon, seen at the top of this post. It really is a lovely layout. The unusual high-quality modelling of an unusual subject in an unusual scale - 1:50. The thing that struck me most was the colour palette - muted but very consistent. Nothing stands out, and the colours suggest a quiet village on a sunny day. I was also pleased to see the tower that I remember watching Gordon build many, many years ago at the Chiltern Assoc. show. I'd always wondered where it would end up. 

Sticking with finescale, Old Parrock by Paul Rhodes looked like a chunk of Pendon had been lifted and brought to the show. OK, it's East Sussex, but the modelling techniques looked like the best of the Oxfordshire team, and Iain Rice. 

 

I'd love to have a go at building something like this in TT:120. Enough stock is available to make it practical, and with a scenic section only 4ft long, it would fit in the space I have available, even if the time required wouldn't. 

Larger, but to my eye, very distinctive, is Coniston, by the Morely Model Railway Group. It's a truism that you should be able to identify the location a model is set in without any trains being seen, and this is very much the case here. One look at the station, and I knew we were in the Lake District. 

Novelty always appeals to me, and the Roundhay team seemed to have decided to model the Lincolnshire Potato railways!

Roundhay is a particular favourite of mine. Regular readers will remember that my NG7 layout for BRM was based on it. 

Finally, the most eye-catching-for-Phil layout had to be Janice and Myles McGregor's Studio Tour. Imagine you were visiting a behind-the-scenes theme park based on the Harry Potter films and books, and this is the model of your day out. 

I'm a big fan of interesting ideas, but, and it's a big but, they need to be matched by the quality of the resulting model. Poor execution is a waste of good ideas. This is not the case here. All the modelling (from someone who is new to the hobby!) is really well done. I'd happily see these snow-covered houses in a mainstream publication, ignoring the Potter angle. 

We also saw Ford Anglias and boats on The Dark Lake, operating smoothly and effectively. Statues spun, and there were other working features. Potter-heads will delight in spotting the scenes, most of which passed me by in the same way as the books and films. I was alone in this, though, judging by the crowds in front of the model all day. 

As I say, there were so many quality layouts to be seen, a days entertainment was assured. I've only covered a few. 

But, what about the cake?  

One of my first stops was the restaurant, and how about a rhubarb and custard eclair? Delicious, even if Little Brian was unimpressed with the addition of yellow stuff to his favourite vegetable!