Perth Model Railway Show
Perth Model Railway Show is one of the easier shows for me to access via train and so I found myself on a service from Stirling through to Perth on Saturday morning to attend the show. Held at the Dewars Centre there was already a fair queue by the time I arrived a few minutes before opening time. Once the doors were open everything moved quickly and I was soon inside. The show took up two large halls and there were plenty of layouts to enjoy.
Whithorn by Alisdair MacDonald. An utterly charming 4mm EM gauge layout set in the quiet south-west of Scotland. The sleepy branch line runs between fields, over streams and past railway cottages, all lovingly modelled.
Calla Fountain Crossing by Perth MRG. A North American layout with two separate running lines providing plenty of visual interest as trains crossed rivers and dipped through tunnels. The lengths of some of the freight trains running the sinuous curves of the layout was particularly impressive, even in N scale.
Eli Wood by Eric Farragher. Another impressive layout with two separate running lines offering up a variety of services: short DMUs on the winding branch line at the rear, and full length passenger and freight services on the mainline. The layout featured a rich countryside and captured the feel of quiet country villages.
Montague Field by 57 Study Group. Trains took a back seat on this richly detailed industrial dockside layout in 00 gauge. A number of shunters shuffled wagons around but it was the level of detail in the wharfside industry, the cranes and the atmospheric lighting which really impressed.
Kaninchenbau by Iain Morrison. An impressive fully automated alpine layout in HOe gauge with a tight and twisting series of loops making the most of a compact space. Controlled by a computer, the trains kept up a constant timetable of services with pauses at signals and stations carefully choreographed to hold the attention of the viewer.
Northallerton by Cleveland MRC. This slice of the East Coast Mainline was instantly recognisable as the station close to my childhood home. The long run gave the N gauge models plenty of space to stretch their legs, and the freight branch heading for the industry on Teesside provided plenty of visual interest.
Cadhay Sidings by Chris Gough. This Southern Railways layout had plenty of beautiful modelling with a wonderful attention to detail in the buildings and landscape. The operational interest was maintained by the use of a proper timetable, signalling, and communication going on between operators and signallers all doing their best to keep the trains running.
Crianlarich by Renfrewshire MRC. Another great N gauge layout, portraying the spot on the West Highland line. There were plenty of BR blue locomotives hauling passenger and freight trains. The station, goods yard and engine shed, along with the modelling of the town itself brought together a very impressive layout.
Shuri Koya by Raven Miniatures. There was plenty of attention to detail in this Japanese layout portraying a locomotive deport with suburban services passing by in the foreground.
See my full Perth Model Railway Show album on Flickr for all of my photos. Model Railway in Action on Youtube has lots of great footage of the show and layouts. Part 1 is here.