There was no food in the house this morning. I offered to do the ‘big’ shop in Saffron Walden where there’s a good Saturday market and lots of other shops. My wife was pleased, she likes it when I help out. Honestly though, I may have forgotten to mention that the Saffron Walden Model Railway Club Exhibition was today 🙂

Saffron Walden is a small club but they put on a good show: 11 layouts, three trade stands, second hand sales and some fantastic cakes. Here are some ‘snaps’ taken on my mobile phone.

Firstly, I was impressed with Priory Lane an N gauge layout by Malcolm Goodyer. The modelling was good, with lots of interest and some very good DCC sounds. Not only did the locos sound good, the volume was appropriate, like you were viewing and hearing them from a distance. Some DCC layouts have the sound so loud you feel you are about to be run over by the train, but not Priory Lane.

It was a pleasant surprise to see there was a good selection of O gauge layouts and some young modellers. For example Crown Electroyltic Plating Works operated by Mark Chandler (and originally constructed by Colin Heard) a fictional  engineering works in the east end of London in the 1960s. This is a nice O scale layout that’s only 4 feet 6 inches (135cm) long.

Also in O, Battlefield Estate by Stuart Marshall a private industrial estate, set in the 1920s, the yard serves three companies. There are nice cameo scenes throughout the layout.

Varicourt a World War 1 themed 009 layout set in 1918 was originally built by the late Peter O’Dell and is now owned by Saffron Walden MRC. It is a work in progress, the club are building the fiddle yard that will sit behind the scenic section. It features some nice modelling and it has real potential. (The foreground in the first photo is a little blurred, I haven’t quite got used to my new mobile!)

Finally, Jakes Yard a small locomotive stabling point somewhere in the north of England in 00 by Andrew Craig. I thought the atmosphere, the railway arches and the terrace houses were very well captured. Apparently the row of houses is a photo of real houses copied multiple times to create the full row.

It’s good to attend shows with a wide variety of layouts, it broadens the mind. I’ve even started to appreciate standard gauge, blue diesel era layouts 🙂