Spalding Model railway Show 2017

We recently had the sad news that there isn't going to be another Spalding Model Engineering Show. But at least we still have the Model Railway Show. And if today's crowds were anything to go by it remains extremely popular.  I suspect the time of year and the proximity to an outlet shopping centre help enormously in getting non-enthusiasts family visitors through the door.

At the other end of the extreme, it highlighted that shows really need to take into account the age, health and mobility of visitors. This is something the 16mm AGM  does really well.

This year the show also suffered from a lot of people stood in front of layouts pontificating and seemingly unaware that other people might want to see things. When taking photos I go out of my way to try an avoid making life difficult for others. This year just one person offered to move so I could get a better photo.

As for the layouts, well the usual mix, with everything seeming to be popular with someone. The disappointments in my eyes were definitely the N gauge and narrow gauge lines. Last year Tony Hill's 16mm layout showed what could be done by modelling the narrow gauge with the real thing as a guide.

The stars were the big name layouts, Hospital Gates and St Merryn, and Outwell Basin, which attracted a lot of attention for being both well modelled and a local prototype. In fact it would have looked very familiar to anyone with the Wild Swan book on the Wisbech and Upwell.

Uppingham was very well modelled, and I liked a lot of things about Wolfe Lowe


Hospital Gates

Earls Court 

Uppingham

Lee on the Solent 

Wolfe Lowe

St Merryn 

Leavesden

 Outwell Basin