009 Society sales stand in squash court 1 – 90 minutes BEFORE the show started!

009 Society sales stand 2 hours later – under siege!

Meanwhile in the main hall, the 7mm NGA publicity and sales stand were experiencing a rather busy surge as well.

Howard Martin, the Chairman of the 7mm NGA with his own Avalon Lines stand

Steve Bennett with his Black Dog and Black Cat ranges of 09 and Gn15 resin kits

Neville Kent, with his range of N Drive 009 and 09 chassis that are filling a big gap for 9mm gauge modellers

Jen McParlin with the impressive Backwoods Models etched brass kit display

Allen Doherty of Worsley Works etched brass “scratch aid” kits giving a quote to 009 Society stalwart Stephen Sullivan for a new etched hair styling set.......

The joint Greenwich & District NGS and Meridian Models stand

Michael Raynor (sitting in blue shirt) had a very impressive display of his 7mm and Gn15 scale Smallbrook Studios resin kits. Standing behind in the black sweater is well known ng personality, historian and book vendor Andrew Neale

Andrew and Ian Hastie, of Parkside Dundas, who consistently support narrow gauge modelling events right down to small group members days in village halls throughout the country – distance is no object!

Andrew Burnham, Editor of Continental Modeller, always represents Peco with a portable photo studio at Expong. Seen here being distracted by Lee Bryant of the Wessex NGM’s and Robin Winter of the G&DNGS. Michael Raynor (Smallbrook Studios) enjoys the moment!

As well as the huge sales stand out in the squash court, the 009 Society was represented in the main hall by a publicity display and modelling demonstration laid on by the Sussex Downs Group. In this shot Phil Savage tries his best to look photogenic whilst Martin Collins gets on with building ever more brass slate wagons for his finescale Festiniog layout.

Easily the smallest layout at the show (unless anybody can prove differently!). Phil Savage’s exquisite cheese box-on a wine bottle “Tuppenny Handley” that features fully automatic operation (well you wouldn’t want to operate it manually all day would you?) and a real 2p piece as the inside rail of the half inch radius circuit!

The Dave Brewer Challenge this year was to model a static diorama showing some aspect of servicing or maintenance of ng locos or rolling stock in a maximum of 60 scale feet. This innovative entry by Mark Goodwin showing an Emmett style scene in Gn15 was titled “Chipping Clinker Locomotive Works”

Ike A Costabuck by Martin Biswell in 0n30

009 Society’s member in Slovenia, Bostjan Jarc, entered this little Hof (6.5mm gauge) scene: “Werkstatt”

Another highly original entry by Matt Wildsmith in 0-16.5: “Jones the Steam stops for tea”, featuring Ivor the Engine

One of my favourite entries was “Cuckoo Lane Anglicisation Works” in 009 by Stephen Fulljames. I think if he had called it “The Pugbash Factory” it might have won!

This very detailed WW1 scene in an ammunition box “Ole Bill Springs” in 009 was entered by Robin Winter

Trevor Ridley, publisher of Narrow Gauge World magazine, congratulates Robin Winter on being voted the winner of the Dave Brewer Challenge

Cwmorgoth Copper Mining Company – Jean-Luc Pineau, 0-16.5

A very nicely modelled working incline ono Jean-Luc Pineau’s 0-16.5 Cwmorgoth Copper Mining Company

A superb Gn15 model of Heywood’s “Effie” by Andrew Griffith’s on Gerry Bullock’s Gneiss Farm

Gerry Bullock’s very attractive Gneiss Farm – Gn15

Graham & Caroline Watling with their 009 Whitsend Tramway

An attractive little scene tucked away at one end of Graham & Caroline Watling’s Whitsend Tramway, 009

Looking across the fish quay into the village at Whitsend

A box cab steam tram loco with a train of sheep wagons crosses the daily mixed service at Whitsend

Graham Watling’s 009 Sentinel steam tram loco was built by Paul Windle

Beyer Peacock tram loco Luthor shunting the fish quay at Whitsend is another Paul Windle-built model

The Groupe Escadrille St Michel are one of several French modelling groups that are regularly invited to Expong. This very well made layout “Dargil et Lataird” was in 014 scale

Dargil et Lataird in 014 is a model of a freelance brickworks. Most of the locomotives and wagons are by KBScale models

William Loyd’s Sn3 (14.2mm gauge) Oro Grande Railroad has been featured with William operating it in previous reports, so I have rung the changes with this shot which shows 009 Society Treasurer Geoff Bowyer operating and Patrick Collins of the Wessex NGM’s admiring his skill with the controller

Another “ringing the changes” view of William Loyd’s Sn3 Oro Grande, taken from the Roving Reporter’s helicopter – which is not easy to achieve on a layout that appears in an all-round display case (as seen in the previous photo)!

A more conventional view of Oro Grande by William Loyd in Sn3

In my personal opinion, one of the best presented layouts on show was this very nice 0-16.5 layout by teenage modeller Peter-John Saunders: “Blackwood Valley Railway”

A scene on the Blackwood Valley by PJ Saunders in 0-16.5

A low level atmospheric view of PJ Saunders’ 0-16.5 Bagnall 0-4-0ST shunting on the Blackwood Valley Railway

The 5.5 mm Association managed to mount a small stand, courtesy of Francis Stapleton (that’s not him in the photo!) despite the Association having its own AGM some 200 miles away in Manchester on the same day as Expong.

Francis Stapleton’s under-construction New Ira Mine seen on the 5.5mm Association stand

Brian Cameron operating his St Reatham Hall Estate Railway, which was stated as Hn18 scale (1/24 using 16.5mm track to represent 18” gauge) which I am assured is very different from the popularly termed Gn15!

St Reatham Hall Estate Railway, Hn18 by Brian Cameron is exhibited as a shunting puzzle, viewers being invited to participate in shuffling the cards which determine the shunting moves required. An innovative method of involving and entertaining the visitors!

Stephen Sullivan’s 009 Holbeach Estates Railway representing a scene from one of the Lincolnshire “Potato Railways”

A feature of Stephen Sullivan’s Holbeach Estates Railway in 009 is the large collection of exquisitely modelled petrol, paraffin and diesel powered locomotives that he has built.

A train made up from ex-WDLR bogie open wagons trundles across the potato fields on the Holbeach Estates Railway

A view across the Lincolnshire flatlands on Stephen Sullivan’s 009 Holbeach Estates Railway

A new feature (I apologise if it isn’t but it is the first time I’ve noticed it!) on Stephen Sullivan’s Holbeach Estates Railway is this pig farm scene

An authentic modern-day scene in the potato fields on the Holbeach Estates shows (illegal?) immigrants hard at work for the minimum wage!

Don and Val Sibley come across from their home in Belgium to exhibit at Expong every year with one of Don’s exquisitely modelled finescale layouts. This year he brought the Willowdale Light Railway, a very attractive and skilfully made model in 1/50 scale, 18.2mm gauge, featuring locomotives named after and scenes inspired by the Wind in the Willows stories – Toad of Toad Hall and all that!

Don Sibley’s 1/50 scale 18.2mm gauge Willowdale Light Railway – a very attractive little layout made all the more so in the knowledge that in this unusual scale/gauge ratio absolutely everything has to be scratchbuilt. No kit-assembled locos and stock here!

Mole End station on the Willowdale Light Railway by Don Sibley in 1/50 scale

0-4-0T loco number 3 “Rat” waits for its turn of duty on Don Sibley’s Willowdale Light Railway

Another regular exhibitor at Expong is Brian Stubbles, who this year brought a new layout in 0-16.5, Stubbswood Quay

Brian Stubbles 0-16.5 Stubbswood Quay featured 2 very nice scratchbuilt 7mm scale Clyde Puffers and a model of a trawler.

The backscene of Brian Stubbles’ 7mm scale Stubbswood Quay consisted of full layout length warehouses, only a portion of which is shown here. A very attractive solution, particularly when fully illuminated as this one was.

Camp 93 Parsons Lumber Company, by Richard Turner in 0n30 is a superbly modelled slice of a Washington State logging line from the 1930’s with full sound fitted DCC.

An exquisite finely detailed Forney 2-4-4T loco that started off as a ready to run Bachman model on Richard Turner’s 0n30 Camp 93

Although out of area and in the wrong gauge, no self-respecting American narrow gauge layout is really considered complete unless it has at least one example of a Denver & Rio Grande “Galloping Goose” railcar on it, and Richard Turner’s 0n30 Camp 93 is no exception to this viewpoint!

Calstock (Cotehele) by Chris Peacock. A west country layout in 0-16.5

The loco shed at Calstock (Cotehele) by Chris Peacock in 0-16.5

A very nicely modelled Barclay wing tank loco shunts on Chris Peacock’s 0-16.5 Calstock (Cotehele)

Chris Peacock is presented with the David Lloyd Memorial Trophy by Continental Modeller magazine Editor, Andrew Burnham. The trophy is awarded for excellence in scale modelling as judged by representatives from the Greenwich & District NGS, the 7mm NGA and the 009 Society.

The largest layout at the show by some margin was this superb French layout in G scale by Peter Smith, “St Jean sur Mer”

A superb French metre gauge 0-6-6-0T Mallet loco on Peter Smith’s G scale, 45mm gauge St Jean sur La Mer

The garage at St Jean sur La Mer, featuring typical 1/24 scale French automobilia courtesy of Citroen and Renault

An 0-6-0T abtly named “St Jean” on Peter Smith’s G scale St Jean sur La Mer

Angus and Sheila Watkins, assisted by Matthew Keane exhibited Angus’s very popular historic 009 early 1900’s Festiniog scene: “Tan y Bwlch”

A feature of Angus Watkins’ Tan y Bwlch is the sweeping curve through the station and the very long passing loop in the simple trackplan, a true example of “less is more” in terms of model railway excellence.

An overhead helicopter view from the other end of the layout than the previous photo, again emphasizing the uncrowded vista and sweeping curves

A Fairlie locomotive bursts out of the tunnel on Angus Watkins’ 009 Tan y Bwlch

The famous Festiniog gravity train passes downhill (non-stop of course!) through Tan y Bwlch station. Angus informed me that he is planning to double the length of the train; it really will snake its way through the reverse curves then!