Nottingham Model Railway Show

Sunday just gone saw Natalie and myself go along to the Nottingham show.

This show has always been a highlight I’ve found. It seems for me to find the right balance between the number and variety of layouts and the trade stands. It also I find is much easier to navigate than bigger shows such as London Festival of Model Railways at Alexandra Palace and the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC.

Unfortunately for me the day didn’t start off too well as I failed utterly to sleep. This wasn’t the first time this has happened, back in January it happened prior to the Leamington and Warwick MRS exhibition, which lead to the day being a struggle (although still very good) for various reasons.

I was glad Natalie was willing and able to do the driving, as otherwise I’d of not gone at all, would simply of been too difficult/dangerous to contemplate.

We got there for about 11am or so, and after a brief wander round, had a lovely chat with the Mercian models stand proprietor. At some point one of their Pecket Metropolitan tank kits will be bought for use on West Cromwell Road. It was also good to have a look again at the Judith Edge stand, again a few of their kits will need to be purchased (the 0-6-0DH Steelman/RR that LT used after the Panniers, and a few other potential diesel shunters that would be suitable for Winterbourne Exchange). Eventually at least when funds permit.

I didn’t really spend much money, which with my limited budget is never a bad thing, but did buy a book DRS – The Early Years by Nick Meskell. It has some valuable information on the types used I found, and also some good photos of the nuclear flask trains. It also wasn’t overly expensive – always a good thing!

I also took the time to have a look at the Bulleid 4DD on the MARC models stand, when that is available in kit form, I will have to get one. Something about those units fascinates me. Part of that is perhaps that they worked on the line I grew up by (the North Kent/South London Bexleyheath line) and also are a rather oddball type of unique unit.

Speaking of southern EMUs, whilst I don’t have any plans to build a layout of the South Eastern Division of the Sourthern or BR(S), I do feel like building some EMUs regardless. I suspect at Ally Pally I’ll order bits to start work on a 4EPB, again another unit that worked on the Bexleyheath line and that I used to ride on as a kid till they were replaced by the 465/466 Networker. Maybe in time I’ll build a small layout/diorama for such units, but first I’ll make a start on the units as the modelling itself is what appeals rather than layout building as such.

I took the chance to go take photos of the various layouts and when I’ve uploaded them to Flickr or rmweb will link to them. (the Acton Depot Open Day ones are already on Flickr and rmweb).

In all a very pleasant day out, albeit one that was very tiring and painful, but that is sadly par the course for me, and took a lot of recovery (still not recovered really yet, hence delay in posting this post).

I have the tickets for Alexandra Palace pre-booked, and am looking forward to it. Looking forward to seeing Liverpool Lime Street there, as the pictures in recent magazines (and on rmweb) show it to be a very impressive layout that has to be seen.

Some photos from the weekend: