One of the reasons why small Members Days are so popular in the 009 Society is the attendance by Brian Guilmant with the superb 009 Sales Stand.

Visitors who "know a thing or two about the history of the hobby" were very pleased to be given the opportunity to see a selection of items from the extensive 009 Society Heritage Collection, including these near-legendary 00n3 items built by Derek Naylor nearly 50 years ago in some cases for his Aire Valley Railway - to some modellers eyes, the "holy grail" of narrow gauge layouts!

A first sighting for me of this attractive little circular Isle of Man layout in 00n3 by Peter Cullen, with the very apt title of "Mannin Middle"!

Some of the excellent models to be seen at Peter Cullen's 00n3 Mannin Middle

An unmistakeable Manx scene in 00n3 on Peter Cullen's Mannin Middle

Mannin Middle, Peter Cullen, 00n3

Mannin Middle, Peter Cullen, 00n3

The motorbikes immediately give a clue that this is the Isle of Man in the 1950's/60's!

Steve Penn from the South Yorkshire Group attended with his well known 009 layout Wood End.

A scene on Steve Penn's double-sided 009 layout Wood End

A simple little tram loco made up from a Peco Jeanette body on a Kato tram chassis at Steve Penn's Wood End

Two very nice little items of rolling stock at Wood End, an 009 layout by Steve Penn

Wood End is a two-sided U shaped layout with a station on either side of the backscene, thereby providing a "journey" for the trains to make, no "tail chasing" and a good amount of track run in a compact space. This scene shows the "other side" of the layout to the earlier photos of Steve Penn's Wood End

Splendidly atmospheric scenic work at Steve Penn's 009 Wood End

A popular feature of Member's Days is that members will often bring along models to show, in addition to the advertised layouts. On this occasion Roger Christian brought along a new prairie Hunslet tank engine scratchbuilt by Paul Windle, for Roger and Stan Williams' very well known exhibition layout "Gairloch & Wester Ross Railway"

Master of colonial large engine modelling, Ian Turner explains an aspect of his 009 South African terminus, Roestok, to admiring onlookers.

Ian Turner's latest little masterpiece is this beautifully made model of a South African class 91 diesel loco, which uses a butchered and very expensive Bemo diesel chassis as the power source. This loco in modern livery is the second class 91 in Ian's collection

The loco depot at Ian Turner's Roestok with Ian's new class 91 diesel and a scratchbuilt steam NG15 class 2-8-2 at the head of a cavalcade of large and impressive narrow gauge mainly scratchbuilt locomotives

This scratchbuilt NG-G16 Garratt is one of 3 that Ian has in the Roestok stock roster. The other two were adapted and improved from Backwoods Kits, and each of the 3 NG-G16 locos displays different detail variations.

An attractive railcar, built by Wessex NG Modeller, Graham Lindley, pauses in the loop at Roestok

Another example of a member's model posed on somebody else's layout - this absolutely superb little Corris Railway loco and train visiting Roestok is the work of SWOONS member, Rod Allcock

This intricately detailed little 0-4-0VB de Winton loco that visited Roestok and spent some time running up and down the station loop line was built by West Midlands Group member, Peter Smith. The tiny 009 model even has working valve gear actuated by cams and slip rings on the axles, which is no mean feat on a de Winton!

Innovative Imagineering or Fevered Imagination? Dave Phillips is very well known by both 009 Society members and Paul Windle for the large collection of very original locomotive ideas that Dave keeps getting Paul to produce under special order arrangements. As Dave's 009 layout is a freelance Argentinian railway a wag (no names no pack drill...) decided that this narrow gauge 4-8-4 locomotive, clearly inspired by Bulleid's Southern Railway "Battle of Britain" "spamcan" pacific, shall henceforth be known as a "Battle of Malvinas" class loco, colloquially referred to as a "corned beef tin"

I loved the Corned Beef 4-8-4, but this ancient "Old Number 2" carried a similar charm about it. A Paul Windle special order (again) for Dave Phillips (again), produced this result on a very old N gauge Lima 0-6-0 Midland Railway tender loco as an example of a primeval narrow gauge mainline engine, circa 1850.

Prolific continental modeller Blair Hobson poses with his HOm (12mm gauge) German layout, Pferdweise

Pferdweise, Blair Hobson's HOm German layout, was advertised for sale at the show, I hope it found a good home and that we all get an opportunity to see this attractive little layout again in the future.

Pferdweise is another double sided layout, this diesel hauled train pausing at the station of Pferdhugel on one side of the layout.

Pferdweise is a compact U shaped layout with the added feature of a T shaped fiddle yard at the "top" end of the "U". This allows for a variety of stock to be used on the (apparent) end to end portion, with the added facility to "let 'em roll" over the continuous run.

Another overall shot of Blair Hobson's HOm Pferdweise, showing the compact nature of this attractive little layout.

John Walker is a prolific modeller from the West Midlands Group and brought along a new 009 layout "Castle House"

An attractive Double Fairlie locomotive on John Walker's 009 Castle House layout

The reason for the unusual name of John Walker's new 009 layout. Castle House features a stone circular castle keep wall, a railway line entering the keep though a gate, and a private house built inside the stone circle of the castle keep.

A view of Castle House from a different angle. Note the scratchbuilt railcar in the foreground.

An overall view of John Walker's 009 layout: Castle House

Geoff Harper, seen here talking to 009 Society founder member, Mike Higgins, is a regular attender at shows with Shirley and one of his several exhibition layouts. On this occastion he brought his HOe layout: Ziller Valley

Unfortunately Geoff showed the layout with one of those annoying anti-photographer's perspex screens, so whilst the layout remained safe and protected from sticky fingers, it proved very difficult to obtain good quality photos. I can only say I tried my best in the limited time available to me.....

A steam excursion rounds the bend on the station approaches in the Ziller Valley, HOe by Geoff & Shirley Harper

Ziller Valley in HOe by Geoff & Shirley Harper

Dave Lowe from the Northampton Group brought his very attractive Welsh layout, Porthladd.

An early morning passenger train in the care of a large Hunslet Penrhyn style loco, pauses at Porthladd.

Dave has some very interesting items of 009 stock on his attractive Welsh layout, Porthladd. This train is hauled by a fairly rare Joe Works 0-4-0ST

An early cabless version of the well known Festiniog Welsh Pony type of England saddle tank loco on Dave Lowe's atrractive 009 layout, Porthladd.

Finally, although the 009 Society do not run actual competitions at shows, retiring Chairman David Burleigh could not resist the opportunity to have just one "Not The Chairman's Challenge" award, which was deservedly won by Dave Lowe's superb little model of the ex-Harrogate Gas Works 0-6-0ST, "Barber"