Model railway enthusiasts from all over Gloucestershire travelled to the Cheltenham GWR Modellers October 2021 Exhibition in aid of St Margaret’s Hall, Coniston Road, Cheltenham, GL51 3NX on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 October 2021 to raise money by enjoying the following attractions.
Church Road Sidings
A last minute replacement for Gerald Maher’s Queen Street Yard was this even more compact 0 Gauge 7mm Scale shunting layout from Rob Mills. Two speed Sentinel 0-4-0T 68164 was introduced in 1927 as one of the 12 strong LNER Y3 Class. Weighing in at 20 tons 16 cwt, its 275 psi superheated vertical boiler fed two 6 3/4″ x 9″ cylinders acting through gears on 2’6″ wheels to yield a maximum tractive effort of 12 600 lb.
Pavillion End
Pavilion End arrived at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021 courtesy of Steve Neill. This DCC 0 Gauge (7mm Scale) layout was set in an industrial area, probably South Wales or the West Midlands, and originally featured an end on junction between the Great Western and London & North Western Railways.
However, this had been rationalised back to Pavillion End by the 1950s although a metal works behind the halt and high quality coal from a nearby pit still justified the railway.
All rolling stock was fitted with Dingham autocouplers.
Abbots Morton
Paul Fogg and Sodbury Vale Model Railway Club presented Abbots Morton at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021.
This 00 Gauge 4mm Scale layout depicted part of what might have been a Midland cross country line from Broom (between Barnt Green and Evesham) built west towards Worcester. However, rather than making Broom a railway crossroads with trains running east to Stratford Upon Avon, the money for the line to Worcester ran out and Abbots Morton became a branch terminus.
By the late 1950s it would have been transferred to Western Region with most visiting locomotives being based at Saltley, Gloucester Barnwood or Bournville.
Abbots Morton was designed for digital operation and uses a SPROG device to provide the train control with tablets fitted with the Engine Driver app. Locomotive decoders were from Bachmann, Hatton and DCC Concepts.
Layout trackwork was SMP Code 75 Bullhead, points being SMP plastic kits operated by Trainstronics point motors. The one signal was from Dapol, other structures being sourced from Hornby Skaledale, Wills and Ratio.
Alstone Servicing Depot
Robert Webb ‘s 00 gauge 4mm scale Alstone Servicing Depot made a welcome return to the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021
Robert and his dad Roger have been stalwart helpers in the organisation of the Cheltenham GWR Modeller’s Exhibition for as long as I can remember and this 6′ x 2′ two-board 4mm scale layout is easy to set up and play with at home as it is to exhibit.
Alstone Servicing Depot was inspired, as Robert explained, on many Western Region and other depots that he visited with his father and friends in the early 1980s. The very impressive scratchbuilt water tower was based on the one visible from Bristol Temple Meads station at Bath Road while other scenic items – including magpies, woodpeckers, wood pigeons and a cat – were from Woodland Scenics, Busch and Penduke models.
Track was Peco Streamline, and I also liked the way that Robert incorporated his keen interest in fairground rides. As well as his perseverance in making that red access platform – next to some new water standpipes – from a brass kit!
Apple Lane TMD
For the Halloween weekend, Alex Barnard decorated the back wall of his 00 Gauge 4mm layout at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021 with pumpkins. For the rest of the year though, Apple Lane TMD is loosely based on the Derby Railway Technical Centre as well as the Direct Railway Services depot at Gresty Lane, Crewe. As such it is mainly modern image diesel with the occasional steam rail tour.
This compact layout was capable of handling today’s long locomotives and carriages, and all Alex needs now is a 3D printed Dame Joan Collins to go with his Kit Kat van!
Avon Bridge Junction
David Boot brought his 00 Gauge 4mm Scale Avon Bridge Junction to the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021.
Although boasting an impressive 9 foot scenic area, the 17′ by 18″ deep layout with a four inch turntable fiddle yard at each end can still fit into a Ford C Max car. The light but strong baseboards were built by Grainge and Hodder of Cradley Heath.
Avon Bridge Junction itself is a fictional location which can be near either Shakespeare’s Avon or the one that flows through Wiltshire. It has a Midland signal box, Great Western lower quadrant signals and hosts Southern Region trains as well as some other guests from the 1950s and 60s. All rolling stock has three link or screw link couplings.
The layout has Code 75 track throughout, Peco points and Seep point motors while the trees are ready built with other structures a mixture of ready built, kit made and scratch built.
A very apt and individual touch is the seated model of Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition organiser Mike Walker, who celebrated his 81st birthday on the 31 October 2021. Many Happy Returns Sir!
Castell Sofia
Castell Sofia, Roger Davies’ 00 Gauge 4mm Scale layout displayed at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021, featured a terminal Station with a parcels depot and servicing facilities for sleeper coaches.
The concept came to Roger after a 2017 holiday in Scotland and specifically a visit to Fort William and a ride on the West Highland Line.
This included seeing a Caledonian Sleeper Service arrive behind a rebuilt Class 73 locomotive. The Class 73 promptly uncoupled from the train and ran into a stabling siding. A West Coast Railways Class 37 later coupled to the other end and hauled the train out of the station. After clearing the points, the Class 37 then pushed the sleeper carrriages into a siding for servicing.
Being Welsh, Roger wanted his layout to be set in Wales and so rather than a Fort it became Castell Sofia – the name of his granddaughter.
Apart from the occasional green or maroon locomotive, most of the diesel electric and diesel hydraulics, first generation DMUs and Intercity carriages were in BR blue and grey.
Garfield 1960
Garfield 1960 has its own page on this website but for the exhibition programme I wrote:
In the year 1960 Cassius Clay had won Olympic Gold, Anthony Armstrong Jones punched above his weight by marrying Princess Margaret and on a British Railways branch line in the Cotswolds a London Transport steam locomotive was transferring wagons to a rapidly dieselising Western Region.
Garfield was originally built by George Lowell with track and scenery re imagined by Robert Webb and additional contributions from Malcolm Bell and Alan Drewett.
Just over six feet long, Garfield 1960 is analogue with rod and tube operated points, kit and scratch built structures and kit and ready to run rolling stock.
As well as a 4mm ginger cat, Garfield 1960 also featured an English Electric Lightning from the Jet Age Museum Reserve Collection.
Similarly, on top of the advertised attractions at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021, Roger Webb was kind enough to share with me some pictures and models recalling Dowty’s association with railway products and the Dowty Railway Preservation Society. The modified Bedford QL lorry was used to test Dowty hydraulic buffers and the internal combustion shunter was acquired by Dowty from the Ministry of Defence
Bowleggett Manor
A very apt and individual touch is the seated model of Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition organiser Mike Walker, who celebrated his 81st birthday on the 31 October 2021. Many Happy Returns Sir!
Peter Cullen’s 9mm Gauge 4mm Scale (009) Bowleggett Manor brought the country estate of Lord and Lady Fitztightly to the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021.
Following a successful career in the Royal Engineers, Lord Fitztightly has used all his expertise and contacts to develop a passenger carrying railway in the old quarry on his estate. The passenger trains run on the lower level while the original quarry line is now used by smaller locomotives on demonstration goods trains. Both the rolling stock and motive power has been collected from all corners of the World.
One particular feature of Bowleggett Manor that stayed in my mind was the cassette system of scenery, allowing for a lake with two swans to be substituted for a stable yard complete with farriers forge.
Foxbury
Bob Brown’s 12mm gauge (3mm scale) layout Foxbury, displayed for the first time at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021, was the imaginary terminus of a short branch line in the Cotswolds as it might have looked in the middle of the 1950s.
The layout was designed to be easily portable as it breaks down to form a medium sized crate for storage and transportation. The scale and gauge requires everything to be scratch built or made from kits.
Bridgebury Gate
Russ Hobb’s N Gauge 2mm Scale Bridgebury Gate was the first layout to be seen at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021 and the former eBay purchase certainly had the wow factor.
A fictional station in southern England during the years 1966 to 2000, Bridgebury Gate featured twin island platforms and freight sidings built around a twin track main line. Here, passengers changed for the single line branch to Mikel End.
Round the back of the layout, a six lane fiddle yard could hold two six or seven coach trains – or one really long one – to make use of the 15′ of scenic section.
Bought as a restoration project in 2009, Bridgebury Gate was made of MDF mounted on a softwood frame and was totally rewired in 2016. The next big change for the analogue layout will be the addition of working signals.
In particular I liked the military vehicles 3D printed by Butler’s Printed Models and the 2mm green Mini being driven from the roof by Mr Bean.
Midford
The Shepton and District Model Railway Society’s N Gauge (2mm to the foot) layout Midford re created the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021.
The town of Midford is situated south of Bath at the point where the single line from the Roman spa was doubled to run southwards towards Templecombe and Bournemouth.
On an impressive viaduct the S&D crossed the Great Western Railway’s Camerton Branch (the location of the classic Ealing film The Titfield Thunderbolt) a road, a stream and the remains of a canal.
This layout is the Shepton club’s first venture into N gauge although several of the members belong to the N Gauge Society. In fact Midford was previously exhibition layout of the Chester Area Group of the N Gauge Society but never visited South West England.
Much of Midford is now being redeveloped and the rolling stock was a mixture of members’ own collections and new vehicles purchased by the club.
Midholme
Richard Holmes’ N Gauge 2mm Scale layout seen at the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021 was loosely based on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.
More specifically, Midholme was located at the end of a five mile single track line from Bath. For the next 32 miles through to Templecombe the line was twin track. Midholme Station had a small goods yard including a depot for local agricultural supplies and a coal merchant.
Traffic on the line comprised a regular passenger service from Bath to Bournemouth and intermediate local services terminating at Templecombe. There was also a steady flow of general goods traffic and coal traffic from the Somerset coalfield. Weekends in the summer were very busy with many special trains for holiday makers from the North and Midlands travelling through to the South Coast.
The period of the layout was 1958 to 1962 with most motive power being of London Midland or British Standard origin. Although the Somerset and Dorset was always a steam line (even if diesels were used to dismantle it after 1966) an occasional British Railways green diesel could be seen.
Midholme was built with Code 40 Finetrax.
Return To The Rails &
Wedding Scene
Not only were the layouts back in St Margaret’s Hall for the Cheltenham GWR Modellers Exhibition 2021 but so were the 4mm scale static dioramas. And two of the greatest exponents of the genre were and are Vincent Tweed and Martin Nash.
Vincent presented two dioramas – the much loved Return To The Rails with a Brighton Terrier 0-6-0T coming home to its heritage line on a low loader – and The Wedding Scene. In this, the Sussex village church of St Michael has just hosted a wedding with the happy couple posing for photographs by the west door.
Their transport to the reception will be the white Bentley S1 Continental Fastback and Daimler DS420 parked outside while some of the other guests will ride in the 1947 vintage Leyland PS1/1 bus with South downs livery painted on its ECW coachwork.
Nash Estates
Nash Estates began in 2014 when Martin Nash received both a burning manor house and some farm buildings. The stables adjacent to the manor house have become the Manor Stud, not far from Manor Farm. This is mainly dairy but a few pigs are also kept for the estate and the local butcher. A European style sawmill kit has been Anglicised as Manor Sawmill, its sawbench now being by a Field Marshall tractor rather than by steam.
Model demonstrations were by Steve Harrod, Mark Begley, Richard Self, Trevor Hale and Harvey Faulkner-Aston and trade support came from Collett’s Models of Exmouth, Clive Reid Pre Owned Model Railways, Penduke Models and Stewart Blencowe (Railway timetables,books, photos and slides). The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, celebrating its 40th anniversary, was also present.
