[rb277170]

Congratulations to AMRSS on another fine show in the SECC Glasgow. There was a moment of panic when Douglas Blades books wasn't in the usual position- but I eventually found him at the back of the hall. ~(Its not a Model Rail Scotland without Douglas Blades). I say eventually because it took me three hours to get there, browsing at the layouts on the way.

Yes I know there are some well known Scottish layouts appearing again , but equally there are some new ones and some really good visitors. Highlights:-

Wibdenshaw. 1970s blue . Superb . Every bit as good as the website it appears on. Urban grime at its best , with a nice big station approach. Can't really single out a particular feature ,it is all good, but I particularly liked the dmus. 101,103,104,105,108,110 all counted (I think!)

Alloa. A new entrant on the Scottish scene. Very realistic, loved the station buildings and my favourite class ,the Clayton 17 ,made an appearance. Only minor downside was that operation was a little predictable (although silky smooth) and given the size of the yard, it was a shame someone wasn't shunting it.

Wouldham Town. A pleasant change from the Scottish scene with an S&D layout. Southern and Midland steam in the BR era. Lovely scenery , capturing atmosphere very well I thought- and , yes, a yard that was being shunted, with freight trains being remarshalled and disposed off. Great!

Crawford Bridge. Seen many times before but I can still spend a long time watching the trains going past and the quarry being shunted.

Devilla Colliery. Do these burbling 20s not get on your nerves after a while ? Sounds like 30 trapped budgerigars struggling to get out. Nice Swindon 126 though , as on Rosebank Junction.

Great - going back tomorrow. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Russell

 

[Doug]

Please take and post pictures if you can.

 

[Sir Galahad]

I'm going tomorrow aswell. Looking forward to it. I'll see if I can get any photos.

 

[rb277170]

Sorry Doug , didn't take camera on day two!

The Hornby stand did have a preproduction model of the T9. It does look very nice , although of limited interest to us modellers who are not Sarf of the river!

Your pics already showed the main items of interest on the Bachmann stand. The weathered locos , particularly the class 5 looked very nice.

Russell

 

[80class]

Just back from MRS. Took a few photos, will get them up later today hopefully. Also got a picture or two of the T9 in its current state. As usual, it was a good show and I really enjoyed it.

Rob

 

[80class]

Well, to start the ball rolling.....here is the preproduction T9:

Was quite hard to photograph through the display case, hopefully its clear enough!

I have quite a few more, will post later hopefully.

Rob

 

[80class]

For me, the best layout at the show this year was the OO gauge ALLOA by The Scottish Study Group. I did take over 30 pictures of it, but here are a select few:

Rob

 

[80class]

I can't place my notebook at the minute, so have lost the titles of some of the other layouts, but here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy them!

Firstly, a few industrial pictures:

Rob

 

[80class]

I found this on the Model Rail stand:

They have used the newish Woodland Scenes polystyrene blocks to good effect, I quite like this idea. Simple and light.

Rob

 

[80class]

Some motive power depot shots with the odd station thrown in:

Inside view on display of a roundhouse workshop:

Said roundhouse:

 

[80class]

Some weathered skaledale here, although still problems with the joins:

From the Hornby layout, see how they have lengthened the arch by adding a section in:

 

[80class]

And to finish...I have seen this layout several times before and really like the operating steam crane:

Hope all the pictures are clear enough, they were all taken with my phone and were intended for my eyes only!

Rob

 

[Doug]

Thanks for the photos.

I like the idea of an inside view of a workshop. I have a plan to do something similar with a model that I have that has it's innards exposed.

The ALLOA layout, although looking well made, looks desolate. Is that one character walking on the platform? It needs more "life" or is that desolation intentional?

 

[Purley Oaks]

QUOTE (Doug @ 24 Feb 2008, 17:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The ALLOA layout, although looking well made, looks desolate. Is that one character walking on the platform? It needs more "life" or is that desolation intentional?

You've obviously never been to Alloa, Doug.

Model Rail Scotland was a really good show. It's great they can fill so much space with layouts, stalls, manufacturers. It was busy on Friday, too, to the chagrin of some who'd had a few scoops on Thursday night and had hoped for a couple of quiet hours early on.

 

[rb277170]

Yes Alloa is pretty much like that Doug!

I like Alloa too, but I just found the running to be a bit predictable. A very large marshalling yard but no one actually shunting it. No trains running into or out of the bay platforms. In fact there was seldom more than 2 trains moving at once- again probably true of Alloa!

But a great exhibition overall. Well worth it! Topped up with enthusiasm and ideas again !

Russell

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Doug @ 25 Feb 2008, 04:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks for the photos.

I like the idea of an inside view of a workshop. I have a plan to do something similar with a model that I have that has it's innards exposed.

The ALLOA layout, although looking well made, looks desolate. Is that one character walking on the platform? It needs more "life" or is that desolation intentional?
I was going to say, "you've obviously never been to Scotland Doug", but a couple of people already have said much the same. A lot of Scotland is quite desolate. If you think this is desolate you really want to see Harris where I used to live. It looks like the surface of the moon in some places.

 

[80class]

I must say I hadn't noticed how desolate it looked until now, but perhaps thats part of the attraction for me. I do agree that the operation was poor, both the goods yard and the engine shed saw little or no movement when I was there. However the quality of the layout was just stunning for me.

Rob

 

[Richard Johnson]

Thanks for all the photo's Rob

One thing hits me every time I see a lot of otherwise lovely layouts like this - WHO is the idiot that decided that a backscene should be only about a foot high???? It really kills all the amosphere, degrades the fine modelling on the layout brings any form of reality crashing down immediately.

How much better all the layouts would look without a too-blue sky that also doesn't end below the height of an average mature tree or the layout buildings! - a particularly bad look for the Industrial layouts, the colliery chimney ....and "Shame on Alloa", as if you look at where the bracing starts on their valance supports, it could have easily been twice the height!

Richard

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 25 Feb 2008, 03:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>WHO is the idiot that decided that a backscene should be only about a foot high???? I

Could it have something to do with the wish to get the sections into 4' x 2' x 2' modules at all ? - & being able to see over the backscene when operating the layout in public ?

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 25 Feb 2008, 18:41) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Could it have something to do with the wish to get the sections into 4' x 2' x 2' modules at all ? - & being able to see over the backscene when operating the layout in public ?

Could be Brian, and probably is but its habit not necessity so why do it: A backscene can be removed or unscrewed and is then thin and flat, and even an average guy could see over a reasonable height backscene - or stand on a box - or even better, operate from the front and god forbid interact more effectively with the public.

I guess my point is no matter what the reason is, exhibition layouts often destroy the illusion this way when thinking it through says its not necessary at all.... then modellers go away and do the same - and neither the exhibition layout nor those that follow its compromised approach ever have even half a chance of looking as good as they could.

Richard