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.