with images by Rebecca, Martin Kilford, Roy Sinclair, Chris Dodge,
David Temple, and Steve Sands
Click on each image for a larger view in a separate window
This year's show will long be remembered not for the show itself, but for the trauma of the Friday set up afternoon. Thanks to a lorry fire and complete closure of the M5, the whole of Bridgwater and beyond was in total gridlock. Most people took several hours to get to the venue in the King Alfred School. Some turned back home, but fortunately arrived early the next morning.
Despite the problems, all was set up and ready for the first visitors at 10.00am.
The chief guest this year was I 'Ad That with the Miller brothers from Weymouth making a welcome return, their first since lock-down. They continue to develop more innovative ways of modifying standard Hornby Doublo metal buildings to make impressive structures complete with lighting. A first time guest was the Rev. Brian Woods with Woodtown, his demonstration of what is possible on a 6 foot by 4 foot board, and especially the use of card building kits. The cricket scene was delightful. Brian encouraged visitors to have a go at the controls.
As a complete contrast, David B. was persuaded to show a small display of his pre-war Hornby Dublo clockwork trains. It was strange to see track on the usual tin-plate base, but minus the centre rail.
The club's own Hornby Double layout was bigger than ever with a through station complete with overall roof. The locomotive facilities with two turntables was on the other side. Some very long freight trains were run.
Even the buildings are clearly wooden prototypes of the familiar post-war metal versions
Two other guest displays must be mentioned. Martin Kilford is a regular at our shows and this year did not disappoint with his two rail layout decked out with French Hornby (Acho) buildings and rolling stock. Roger Winterbourne also made a return visit with his Triang display, showing how in the early 50's they improved their offerings to avoid banana shaped roofs etc. Being based in Margate, they introduced a Southern suburban passenger train early in their programme.
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Our chairman, Steve Sands, ran his modular Dublo 3 rail layout. The added attraction for the children was to push a button that enabled a mailbag to be passed to a passing train. A certain degree of anticipation and coordination was required for success.
In another classroom the club’s Dublo 2 rail layout was set up, it was similar to previous years but included more lighting LED lights. Chris Castleman and Jim Roach organised the train rota.
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In the main hall was Chris Batten with his merry band of clockers keeping his large O gauge layout running smoothly. Roy Sinclair was displaying his Wells Fargo Marx trains. Rebecca put on her usual layout using club track and tables. This was not as comprehensive as before because of the M5 traffic delay. She did put on her Princess with 4 Hornby bogie coaches, which ran perfectly. One track was reserved for use by members to run their pride and joys.
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Christopher put on his usual display of Dinky cars in the centre of the clockwork layout. This year we also had a display of transport items constructed with Meccano, some of which were tested on one or more of the layouts.
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Last but not least we must thank the many dealers scattered among the various classrooms, who bought goodies to expand our collections or tempt new enthusiasts.
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After the raffle of Carol’s Christmas cake for club funds, it was time to pack up and transport the tables back to the scout hut for storage.
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We must thank the organisers who worked many hours before the show to ensue the smooth running,
Mike Barton, Steve Sands and David Temple
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