Fairlight Works

Narrow Gauge South 2010 – part 2

More photos from the show that kept on giving. The configuration of the college venue means layout are arranged in the classrooms, maybe four or five per room with traders slotted in too. So there is a chance you’ll miss something unless you’re methodical – and trying to re-find a favourite layout later on without recourse to the guide can be a headache!

Torreton by Jim Owers. OO9. At first glance a small mining scene with verdant splashes of greenery, but if you look to the bottom left you will see the slot which reveals a look inside the mine itself.

A closer look inside the mine on Torreton.

East Quay Chapel Pill by Angus Watkins. OO9. Another layout from the list of “would like to see” and as usual in this situation it didn’t disappoint. The superbly detailed ships and working coal tipper wagons make it an entertaining experience.

Clydach Valley Railway by Richard Holder. OO9. A large, L shaped layout with a passing station on each leg and a large and impressive girder bridge (sadly not pictured) linking the two together. The very bold and effective use of photographic backscenes really make this layout stand out, and the balance between track and scenic space has been judged very well.

Spirit of Welshpool by Mark Holland. OO9. Mark’s new layout has come on a bit since I saw it at the Sussex Downs Members’ Day last year – the town section between the canal and Seven Stars is now mostly there and, even though it is described as being “in spirit” rather than to absolute fidelity it captures the cramped wriggle through Welshpool’s back lanes very well.

Foxcombe Colliery by Phil Farr-Cox. OO9. A small and neat colliery layout with effective use of a large building in the foreground to break up the scene.

Illfracombe East by Brian Key. OO9. I was really getting into “closing up” time when I reached this large fictional-Lynton-&-Barnstaple-extension layout (surely a significant narrow gauge modelling sub-genre of its own!) so none of the photos I took have trains running on them. However when you take in the atmosphere at this simple, but wonderfully executed halt I hope you’ll agree that it doesn’t really matter.

Bourne Valley Railway by Graham Stenning. OO9. Finally, a look at Bourne Valley, a large modular layout which I’ve seen bits and pieces of before but never such a lengthy chunk of OO9. With the Wimborne Railway Society’s Tarrant Valley in another room, this was definitely a show to prove that narrow gauge is not all about micro layouts.

All 34′ of Bourne Valley!

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