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GLOUCESTER MODEL RAILWAY SHOW

HUCCLECOTE METHODIST CHURCH

  SATURDAY 30 JUNE 2012

  
 

 

    
  LAYOUT AND ATTRACTION REVIEW  
 

 

    
 

On Saturday 9 July 2011 over 400 people visited the one-day exhibition at Hucclecote Methodist Church, publicised with organiser Alan Postlethwaite's own image of Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific 35026 "Lamport & Holt Line" stopping at Axminster on a Waterloo bound express in August 1959.

  
 

 

    
  On  Saturday 9 July 2011 over 400 people visited the one-day exhibition at Hucclecote Methodist Church, publicised with organiser Alan Postlethwaite's own image of Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific  35026 "Lamport & Holt Line" stopping at Axminster on a Waterloo bound express in August 1959.

Afterwards, the church donated a sizable sum to the East Africa relief fund and another, larger, exhibition was arranged for Saturday 30 June 2012. 

 
 

 

    
 

Publicised with Alan's January 1962 picture of GWR Large Prairie tank 6123 arriving at Littlemore on the Thame to Princes Risborough branch, the 2012 show made full use of the stage and the room at its rear, raising £ 800 for Hucclecote Methodist Church, Water Aid and two other local charities.

  
 

 

    
  Publicised with Alan's January 1962 picture of GWR Large Prairie tank 6123 arriving at Littlemore on the Thame to Princes Risborough branch, the 2012 show made full use of the stage and the room at its rear, raising £ 800 for Hucclecote Methodist Church, Water Aid and two other local charities.  
 

 

    
  NEW HARBOUR JUNCTION by Rob Newman

0 Gauge 7mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

Aptly enough, the Bromsgrove based group of operators assisting Rob Newman supports The Stanier 8F Locomotive Society in preserving LMS 2-8-0 48773 - while Henry George Ivatt, William Stanier's successor as LMS Chief Mechanical Engineer, designed the Class 2P 2-6-2T 41246 pictured above hauling a typical Midland Railway brake van past ex Lancashire and Yorkshire "Pug" 0-4-0ST 51217 and a six wheeled Travelling Post Office.

  
 

 

    
  At just 15' x 2' 8" this compact layout portrayed the interchange point between the British Railways line and the parallel light railway serving a small docks complex which purported to be beyond the bridge.  Passengers could change from the British railways train - more often than not a Derby Lightweight railcar - to the adjacent light railway which provided a "Galloping Goose" railcar. Freight wagons were hauled up from the harbour by a variety of steam or diesel industrial locomotives to be collected by the BR pick-up goods using the connecting spur. Larger BR tender locomotives often passed New Harbour Junction as light engines on their way to a nearby motive power depot.

The layout could be operated to accommodate rolling stock from different parts of the country so that changes in location could be made during an exhibition, and in this case the motive power was mainly London Midland with some Great Western locomotives too. 

Aptly enough, the Bromsgrove based group of operators assisting Rob Newman supports The Stanier 8F Locomotive Society in preserving LMS 2-8-0 48773 - while Henry George Ivatt, William Stanier's successor as LMS Chief Mechanical Engineer, designed 41246 - the Prairie tank cousin of Mike The Mogul - pictured above hauling a typical Midland Railway brake van past ex Lancashire and Yorkshire "Pug" 0-4-0ST 51217 and a six wheeled Travelling Post Office.

  
 

 

    
 

At just 15' x 2' 8" this compact layout portrayed the interchange point between the British Railways line and the parallel light railway serving a small docks complex which purported to be beyond the bridge. Passengers could change from the British railways train - more often than not a Derby Lightweight railcar - to the adjacent light railway which provided a "Galloping Goose" railcar. Freight wagons were hauled up from the harbour by a variety of steam or diesel industrial locomotives to be collected by the BR pick-up goods using the connecting spur. Larger BR tender locomotives often passed New Harbour Junction as light engines on their way to a nearby motive power depot.

 
 

 

    
  SYREFORD by Roger Brown
 O-16.5 Gauge 7mm Scale 		 
 

 

    
 

Locomotives and rolling stock were a mixture of scratch and kit built vehicles, some with modified proprietary components. Pictured above for example, is a model of the Kerr Stuart diesel mechanical locomotive which ran on the Welsh Highland Railway and was photographed at Dinas in 1928 by L.T.C. Rolt, who was then one of Kerr Stuart's Premium Apprentices following in the footsteps of Supermarine Spitfire aircraft designer Reginald Mitchell.

  
 

 

    
 

 

 The Cheltenham & Cotswold Hills Railway Company was proposed in 1811 to carry the products of the Stone Pipe Company from Lower Guiting to a junction with the Leckhampton branch of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramway and via there to Gloucester Docks.  The Act of Parliament for the 3' 6" gauge plateway failed at its third reading in May 1812 and the Stone Pipe Company also failed soon after when installed systems in London and Manchester would - literally - not hold water!

Syreford Station represented the upper terminus of the viable part of the line, had it been built and survived the Stone Pipe Company's failure.  The line was by now a 2' 4" gauge edge railway and was depicted in the early 1950s when tourism became a significant portion of remunerative traffic.

Track was hand built and buildings are scribed styrene sheet or textured DAS PRONTO on ply shells.  Scenery was carved from polystyrene foam coated with Artex and covered with commercial scatter materials.  The trees were twisted wire frames with Woodland Scenics foliage and the back scene was a view of Sandhurst Hill as seen from Sandhurst village, near Gloucester.

Locomotives and rolling stock were a mixture of scratch and kit built vehicles, some with modified proprietary components.  Pictured above for example, is a model of the Kerr Stuart diesel mechanical locomotive which ran on the Welsh Highland Railway and was photographed at Dinas in 1928 by L.T.C. Rolt, who was then one of Kerr Stuart's Premium Apprentices following in the footsteps of Supermarine Spitfire aircraft designer Reginald Mitchell.

Founded in Glasgow in 1881, James Kerr and Company became Kerr, Stuart and Company in 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a partner.  The business began as an agency ordering locomotives from established manufacturers such as Falcon of Loughborough, John Fowler of Leeds and Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning of Stoke on Trent.  In 1892 Kerr, Stuart and Company bought Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning and moved into Stoke on Trent's California Works to begin building their own locomotives.  The railway and tramway plant division of Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning was then sold to Dick, Kerr and Company in Preston.

As well as an illustrious output of steam locomotives and railcars for home and export use, Kerr Stuart introduced a range of roller chain driven diesel mechanical locomotives in the late 1920s.  Available in a range of track gauges, their McLaren Benz prime movers were also supplied in 2 cylinder (30 bhp) 4 cylinder (60 bhp) and 6 cylinder (90bhp) formats.

However, Kerr, Stuart and Company entered receivership in 1930 with goodwill (design and spare parts) going to Hunslet of Leeds although many staff - including the Chief Draughtsman - joined Stafford based W.G.Bagnall who continued to manufacture Kerr Stuart steam locomotive designs.

  
 

 

    
 

The Cheltenham & Cotswold Hills Railway Company was proposed in 1811 to carry the products of the Stone Pipe Company from Lower Guiting to a junction with the Leckhampton branch of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramway and via there to Gloucester Docks. The Act of Parliament for the 3' 6" gauge plateway failed at its third reading in May 1812 and the Stone Pipe Company also failed soon after when installed systems in London and Manchester would - literally - not hold water!

  
 

 

    
 

HARTBURN by Ian Manderson

EM Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
 

Hartburn is a small village in Northumberland. It was never served directly by rail but lay just north of the old Wansbeck Valley Railway from Morpeth to Redesmouth, with the nearest station being Angerton. However, the original plan put forward in 1855 to link Morpeth and Rothbury proposed a line running via Meldon, Hartburn and Long Witton. This proposition pre-dated the Wansbeck Valley. A survey and report was produced by John Willet but nothing came of the project and Rothbury was eventually linked to Morpeth by the Northumberland Central Railway (NCR) that joined the Wansbeck Valley at Scot's Gap. The track plan of this EM layout was based upon an amalgamation of the 1862 and 1896 layouts for Angerton with station buildings based on those at Brinkworth on the NCR.

  
 

 

    
 

 

Hartburn is a small village in Northumberland. It was never served directly by rail but lay just north of the old Wansbeck Valley Railway from Morpeth to Redesmouth, with the nearest station being Angerton. However, the original plan put forward in 1855 to link Morpeth and Rothbury proposed a line running via Meldon, Hartburn and Long Witton. This proposition pre-dated the Wansbeck Valley. A survey and report was produced by John Willet but nothing came of the project and Rothbury was eventually linked to Morpeth by the Northumberland Central Railway (NCR) that joined the Wansbeck Valley at Scot's Gap. The track plan of this EM layout was based upon an amalgamation of the 1862 and 1896 layouts for Angerton with station buildings based on those at Brinkworth on the NCR.

The 17' x 1' three-turnout rural layout - which started as a test track - marked a change from Ian's more usual urban scenes and is presented in the 1962/1963 era just before closure with ex LNER J72s hauling freight trains to Rothbury and Metro-Cammell DMUs providing a token passenger service.

  
 

 

    
 

The 17' x 1' three-turnout rural layout - which started as a test track - marked a change from Ian's more usual urban scenes and is presented in the 1962/1963 era just before closure with ex LNER J72s hauling freight trains to Rothbury and Metro-Cammell DMUs providing a token passenger service.

  
 

 

    
 

HOOKWOOD by Jim Bryant

EM Gauge 4mm Scale

  
 

 

    
  When the South Eastern Railway reached the small village of Westerham in July1881 it was assumed by the local populace that it was only a matter of time before the branch line from Dunton Green ( on the London Victoria - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge main line ) via Brasted would be extended south west for four miles to Oxted on the London Victoria -Croydon - Newhaven main line. In fact this never happened due to the huge cost of extensive engineering works required but Hookwood imagines that the line had been built as a secondary route from London to the Channel Ports. Hookwood station itself would have been located about a mile north east of Oxted on the Kent / Surrey border and the layout depicts the scene in the mid1960s with scratch-built station and goods shed buildings based on those at Westerham and BR Southern Region third rail electrification.  
 

 

    
  When the South Eastern Railway reached the small village of Westerham in July1881 it was assumed by the local populace that it was only a matter of time before the branch line from Dunton Green ( on the London Victoria - Sevenoaks - Tonbridge main line ) via Brasted would be extended south west for four miles to Oxted on the London Victoria -Croydon - Newhaven main line. In fact this never happened due to the huge cost of extensive engineering works required but Hookwood imagines that the line had been built as a secondary route from London to the Channel Ports. Hookwood station itself would have been located about a mile north east of Oxted on the Kent / Surrey border and the layout depicted the scene in the mid1960s with scratch-built station and goods shed buildings based on those at Westerham and BR Southern Region third rail electrification.

The locomotives were mainly modified ready-to-run examples using Ultrascale EM wheels and A1 detailing kits. The 2BIL ( 2 cars, Both Including Lavatories ) EMU was an Ian Kirk kit with Branch Lines motor/gearbox and extra detailing and wagons are mostly super-detailed kits with EM Society wheels. Spratt & Winkle couplings were used with strategically placed electromagnets placed around the 11' x 1'6" layout for uncoupling.

Hookwood also featured simulated third-rail arcing, a station cat, working semaphore signals and a decidedly non-working gardener!

  
 

 

    
 

The locomotives were mainly modified ready-to-run examples using Ultrascale EM wheels and A1 detailing kits. The 2BIL ( 2 cars, Both Including Lavatories ) EMU was an Ian Kirk kit with Branch Lines motor/gearbox and extra detailing and wagons are mostly super-detailed kits with EM Society wheels. Spratt & Winkle couplings were used with strategically placed electromagnets placed around the 11' x 1'6" layout for uncoupling.

 
 

 

    
  COMBE ABBOT by Alan Postlethwaite

00 Gauge 4mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains, local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and this was its first public showing. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers.

  
 

 

    
  This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains, local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and this was its first public showing. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers.  
 

 

    
 

This branch terminus was joint GWR/ LSWR and became part of the SR at the 1923 Grouping. Set in Wiltshire around 1950, liveries were a mix of GWR, SR and early BR. Trains ran to Westbury (BR-W) and to Salisbury (BR-S). The latter included 3-coach sets which attach to Exeter-Waterloo services. There were also push-pull trains, local goods, a weed-killing train and Army tank traffic to a sub-branch on Salisbury Plain. Built originally by Keith Blake from Bromsgrove, Combe Abbot was refurbished during 2010-12 and this was its first public showing. Track on the 17' x 3' layout was SMP with wire-in-tube point operation and there were two Gaugemaster Combi controllers.

  
 

 

    
  ANNIE & CLARABELLE by The Thin Controller

00 Gauge 4mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

This is a simple layout for children to operate featuring two of the Rev. Audrey’s coaches plus Percy the green engine. All three all chatterboxes. There are also open wagons for children to fill with dinosaurs, soldiers, cowboys and cars. To prevent crashes, the controller has a speed limiter and there are diodes at the buffer stop ends for automatic stopping. It measures 17 ft x 1 ft 6 in along the edge of the stage.

  
 

 

    
 
This was a simple layout for children to operate featuring two of the Rev. Awdry’s coaches plus Percy the green engine. There were also open wagons for children to fill with dinosaurs, soldiers, cowboys and cars. To prevent crashes, the controller had a speed limiter and there were diodes at the buffer stop ends for automatic stopping. It measured 17 ft x 1 ft 6 in along the edge of the stage.
 

R. Pugh & Company, a London coal merchant with depots at Chelsea Basin and Gospel Oak,
owned about 40 wagons and had a Royal Warrant from King Edward VII and obtained coal from the Derbyshire. As Royal Warrant holders R. Pugh & Company would have supplied Buckingham Palace,Windsor Castle and the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Hiding inside meanwhile was a Stegosaurus of the late Jurassic period ( 156 -140 million years ago ), characterised by the double row of bony plates along its back, hind legs longer than those in front, spiked tail and a brain the size of a walnut.

  
 

 

    
 

R. Pugh & Company, a London coal merchant with depots at Chelsea Basin and Gospel Oak,

  
 

 

    
  EUROBAHN ZWEI by Gary Ball

H0 Gauge 3.5mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

This 9' x 4 '2" layout was built to show unusual steam, diesel and electric locomotives of Swiss, Austrian, Italian and German origin. Some locomotives were scratch-built in brass but most were from various Continental manufacturers. The twin track main line was a continuous loop with all traffic starting from a hidden yard at the back while a second line started from the same yard onto a 1 in 25 incline to a high-level station where there was a castle and a gathering of classic cars. The latest addition was a working chairlift and the priority of Eurobahn Zwei was continuous movement and interest.

 
 

 

    
  This 9' x 4 '2" layout was built to show unusual steam, diesel and electric locomotives of Swiss, Austrian, Italian and German origin. Some locomotives were scratch-built in brass but most were from various Continental manufacturers. The twin track main line was a continuous loop with all traffic starting from a hidden yard at the back while a second line started from the same yard onto a 1 in 25 incline to a high-level station where there was a castle and a gathering of classic cars. The latest addition was a working chairlift and the priority of Eurobahn Zwei was continuous movement and interest.  
 

 

    
 

A real seven-vehicle "Helvitia" train set - owned by Deutsche Bundesbahn and built with aluminium bodies on welded steel chassis - connected Hamburg with Zurich from the 1950s and was known as Class 601 by 1970. Powered by a pair of 1 100 MAN prime movers yielding a top speed of 95 mph, each 63' long driving vehicle contained a 250 bhp diesel engine for a 260 volt generator to power the lights, cooking and air-conditioning as well as compartments for railway crew and customs officers.

  
 

 

    
  Catching my eye in particular was the red and white Trans Europ Express diesel hydraulic multiple unit, pictured above with the letters DR on the side.

A real seven-vehicle  "Helvitia" train set  - owned by Deutsche Bundesbahn and built with aluminium bodies on welded steel chassis - connected Hamburg with Zurich from the 1950s  and was known as Class 601 by 1970.  Powered by a pair of 1 100 MAN prime movers yielding a top speed of 95 mph, each 63' long driving vehicle contained a 250 bhp diesel engine for a 260 volt generator to power the lights, cooking and air-conditioning as well as compartments for railway crew and customs officers.

In 1972 four of the driving motor vehicles were re-engined with gas turbines and a four car set reached 120 mph in tests.

Deutsche Reichsbahn produced a rival design for international services known as VT 18.16 which lacked the distinctive exhaust stack between the windscreens.  One of these sets, seen below, operated the Copenhagen - Berlin - Prague "Neptun" which involved travel aboard a train ferry linking Denmark with Germany.

  
 

 

    
 

Deutsche Reichsbahn produced a rival design for international services known as VT 18.16 which lacked the distinctive exhaust stack between the windscreens. One of these sets, seen below, operated the Copenhagen - Berlin - Prague "Neptun" which involved travel aboard a train ferry linking Denmark with Germany.

  
 

 

    
  KINGS CROSS by Paul and Pepita Walker

N Gauge 2mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

 
 

 

    
  The aim of Kings Cross was to re-create a BR Eastern Region terminus set around 1956. Kings Cross offered Gasworks Tunnel as a scenic cut-off, straightforward architecture and almost everything still there (in the mid-1980s) to be measured and photographed. Paulʼs original idea was to model just the station (out and back) but Pepita wanted scenic appeal so Alndale village was added somewhere in Yorkshire or Northumberland. Walkergate yard was added later for storage. The central panel had three analogue Gaugemaster controllers plus one at Walkergate. Overall dimensions were 10' x 8' and the layout took 20 years to research and build. Two prime requirements were reliable running, particularly at low speed, and the ʻfeelʼ of the real thing. Buildings were modelled from photos, a map and on-site measurements.

Comparing the picture above with 21st Century views from Google Earth, the three portals of Gasworks Tunnel remain as do Goods Way and Regent's Canal above them although the turntable and locomotive depot to their west have long since been demolished and redeveloped.

Below meanwhile, the view south from Goods Way over the top of Gas Works Tunnel is still framed to the east by York Way (A 5200) although the large central signal box has disappeared and most tracks have 25 kV overhead electrification.  The red brick tunnel portal on the left of the picture leads to Old Street and Moorgate stations.

  
 

 

    
 

 
 

 

    
  TERMINAL 1 by Alan Drewett

N Gauge 2mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

Welcome to Terminal 1 of Britainʼs newest airport, located at the end of a ʻcut and coverʼ branch line with the long-term car park above. Rail passengers and their luggage arrived at a four-platform terminus, served by diesel multiple units and push-pull trains, while road traffic passed over the buffer stops and under the airside apron to reach the coach station and freight terminal. The airport company owned the branch line and had a liberal attitude towards vintage steam, diesel-hauled excursions and vintage aircraft.

 
 

 

    
  Welcome to Terminal 1 of Britainʼs newest airport, located at the end of a ʻcut and coverʼ branch line with the long-term car park above. Rail passengers and their luggage arrived at a four-platform terminus, served by diesel multiple units and push-pull trains, while road traffic passed over the buffer stops and under the airside apron to reach the coach station and freight terminal. The airport company owned the branch line and had a liberal attitude towards vintage steam, diesel-hauled excursions and vintage aircraft.

Last seen in public in 2010, Terminal 1 appeared at Hucclecote Methodist Church Hall with some new trains, German airliners, airside vehicles and - courtesy of Vulcan To The Sky Club - two "preserved" delta winged bombers!

While many of the civilian developments are discussed in Flying Down To Hucclecote, Vulcans XM655 and XM607 stood in for XH558 - not least as the real last flying Avro jet bomber is currently grounded with engine damage.

XM655, on the left of the picture above with the Hallam tug attached, was delivered to 9 Squadron RAF Bomber Command  at Cottesmore on 20 November 1964.  Later serving with 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons, the aircraft was bought by Roy Jacobsen in 1984 and was flown to Wellesbourne Mountford - between Stratford Upon Avon, Warwick and Gaydon, where it is currently preserved to ground running condition by 655 Maintenance & Preservation Society.

XM607 meanwhile joined 35 Squadron at Coningsby on 31 January 1963 before serving with 101 and 44 Squadrons at Waddington.  It was from there that it was deployed to Ascension Island as the reserve aircraft for the "Black Buck" raid on Port Stanley airfield on the night of 30 April / 1 May 1982.  Due to a malfunction of the lead Vulcan, XM598, it was XM607 that completed what was then the World's longest bombing raid with 11 Handley Page Victor tankers required to refuel each other as well as the Vulcans during the 15 hour 45 minute mission.

XM607 took part in later Black Buck missions during the Falklands conflict and after 44 Squadron was disbanded in December 1982 the aircraft became the RAF Waddington gate guardian where it remains to this day.

More recently, in March 2011, three Northrop-Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew 11 418 miles from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri to bomb aircraft shelters used by Colonel Gadaffi's forces in Libya and returned to the USA during a 25 hour mission.

On the railway side of Terminal 1, guest rolling stock kindly loaned by Colin Green included Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific 35018 "British India Line" hauling maroon Full Brake E80533 and Pullman carriages "Amethyst", "Falcon" and Cars  334 and 349.  Similarly, carmine and cream liveried auto coach W190W joined my own chocolate and cream auto coach and 14xx tank engine to show how modern DMUs and semi fixed formation trains evolved.

  
 

 

    
 

On the railway side of Terminal 1, guest rolling stock kindly loaned by Colin Green included Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific 35018 "British India Line" hauling maroon Full Brake E80533 and Pullman carriages "Amethyst", "Falcon" and Cars 334 and 349. Similarly, carmine and cream liveried auto coach W190W joined my own chocolate and cream auto coach and 14xx tank engine to show how modern DMUs and semi fixed formation trains evolved.

  
 

 

    
  QUELQUE PART EN FRANCE by Simon Newitt

Nm Gauge 2mm Scale		  
 

 

    
 

Quelque Part En France was originally built by Rodger Main and was called The Salt Marsh. This was an accurate representation of part of a French metre gauge line, the Tramways de la Vendee, which ran down the West Coast of France until the 1950s. It was more specifically based on the Musee de la Petit Gare at Ile d'Olonne in the Vendee region.

  
 

 

    
  Quelque Part En France was originally built by Rodger Main and was called The Salt Marsh. This was an accurate representation of part of a French metre gauge line, the Tramways de la Vendee, which ran down the West Coast of France until the 1950s. It was more specifically based on the Musee de la Petit Gare at Ile d'Olonne in the Vendee region.

The layout is now owned by Simon Newitt and has been moved several hundred kilometres inland to somewhere in central France, rebuilt, renamed and redated to the 1970s. The backscene on this layout was a modified photograph taken from a barge on the Canal du Nivernals, near a village called Cravant  in Burgundy - hence the vineyards on the hills!

Simon was using Quelque Part En France as a test bed for his new Nm layout, Chatel Sur Yonne, based on Burgundy's Vonne Valley. This particular take on the Nm format used N gauge scratchbuilt or French resin cast bodies on Z gauge Marklin chassis track to represent the once extensive French metre gauge wherein run railcars ( or Autorails) by firms like De Dion and Billard using a notation system based on Type, Horsepower and Fuel. Hence one class of Autorail was described as A80D , developing 80 bhp and running on diesel.

Also visible on the Z Gauge rails were steam locomotives (locovapeurs)  diesel locomotives (locotracteurs) and wagons (wagons marchandises) built from French resin castings, specially commissioned etched brass kits or scratchbuilt from plasticard while the Dutch barge was also scratch-built and the buildings were heavily modified kits.  The layout measured 3 ft 6 in x 1 ft 6 in.
 

  
 

 

    
 

Also visible on the Z Gauge rails were steam locomotives (locovapeurs) diesel locomotives (locotracteurs) and wagons (wagons marchandises) built from French resin castings, specially commissioned etched brass kits or scratchbuilt from plasticard while the Dutch barge was also scratch-built and the buildings were heavily modified kits. The layout measured 3 ft 6 in x 1 ft 6 in.

  
 

 

    
 

Traders for the show included Keith's Bits and Pieces supplying second hand model railway equipment and new Gloucester-based scenic material purveyors Penduke Models.