A Trip to The Model Railway Exhibition.

It was the Lake District Model Railway Clubs show this weekend and as it is a couple of years since I last visited it I thought I would pop in and have a look. I got there promptly to find a queue of elderly men lined up waiting to get in - I joined the queue and blended in well ! . In fact there were so many waiting in the Sports Centre foyer that they opened up early to avoid crowding with all the fit people (or people that wished to be fit) .

One thing I noticed was the abundance of tiny electric lights on the trains and layouts - a development since I last visited .

Sometimes this didn't help with photography - this miniature fire engine had a blue flashing light ! .

I'm always impressed by the level of detail in these layouts , here BT have the road dug up doing repairs . 

I always have a soft spot for the small industrial layouts , here a gravel plant with  narrow gauge track and the working lights everybody seemed to have .

Another part of the layout , I like how the scenery blends into the back board. It was noticeable that most of these train sets were run by grey haired men of a certain age - similar to wargaming shows !.

One of the smallest layouts was only about 3' x 3' and portrayed the Budweiser factory yard with trucks of beer being shunted from one warehouse to the other.

Another view of the factory yard it was only about 18" deep but the warehouse backdrop worked well .

One of my favourites was this set up portraying a logging railway set in 1940s (?)  America , again not very big but done on an L shaped board .

There was again attention paid to small details which helped to tell a story of what was going on .

The great selling point for this layout was running water which flowed over a waterfall and under the railway trestle bridge , much to the entertainment of several small boys (and your author) who wondered were it went ! .

Computerised virtual loco driving - it had to happen ! and the unwitting reflection of me ! 

My modest purchase was from the 'bring and buy' a classic pack of Merit Popular trees for £2 just right for Old School gaming . Overall a grand morning out ! .