Bridport & District Model Railway Club show a success | Bridport …
The Bridport & District Model Railway Club held its Annual Summer Model Railway Exhibition in the Sir John Colfox Academy in Bridport.
This was the fourth time the club had held the exhibition at Colfox and it was much more extensive with many more layouts and displays than ever before.
The exhibition was very well supported by local people and visitors from across southern England who were able to view exhibits from as far afield as Exeter, Taunton, Bridgwater, Wimborne, Fareham and Weymouth, together with a selection from individual club members and other local people.
Alongside the exhibiting layouts with British, American and Continental themes in all popular gauges, there were several trade stands.
The ‘N’ gauge layout called ‘Grandad’s Layout’ by Pete Blundon from Yeovil was given its first public viewing whilst Windy Miller from Dorchester showed his layout called ‘I Ad That’ representing the Hornby Dublo three rail system.
Club member Ken Banks had the large Exeter ‘0’ Gauge Group layout portraying a small Somerset & Dorset terminus in North Somerset.
Paul Corkrum presented his ‘HO’ gauge ‘Moore Street Yard’ depicting a small American switching yard whilst Brian Golding presented his ‘12mm’ gauge layout entitled ‘Lambeth Walk’ showing the latter days of the London trams including a model of Big Ben.
The ‘00’ gauge layout entitled ‘Marshwood Road’ by Dave Harrington from Shaftesbury showed a fictional station here in West Dorset whilst Chris Thomas from Fareham presented ‘Penmawr’ a ‘00’ gauge layout depicting a typical GWR engine shed and turntable.
Some of the club members showed their personal layouts ranging from Graham Purse with his ‘009’ gauge layout ‘Pheonix’ depicting an old Welsh slate mine working through to ‘Chalkhill’ an ‘00’ gauge layout depicting a local storage depot by Geoff Trenholme for the younger visitors to see and operate.
Douglas Beazer’s display about the ‘British Military Train to Berlin’ was very well received and interested many people.
The club’s rail related ‘have a go’ stand where visitors could try their hand at shunting and control was also available to visitors.
There were also allied model displays, including some ‘Meccano’ models made and displayed by John Day from Bridport, a ‘weathering of models’ display by John New from Portland and ‘All the Fun of the Fair’ by Maurice Hooper showing models of the traditional fairground rides etc.
The ‘best in show’ trophy was presented by Bob Ahrens, the Club’s Exhibition Manager.
The trophy was won by the brilliant ‘HO’ gauge layout called ‘Norge’ showing a Norwegian harbourside railway scene exhibited by Mike and Jenny Carter from Taunton, the runner up was the ‘00’ gauge layout ‘Limington End’ a fictional layout exhibited by Christian Blundon from Yeovil.
Third place went to the ‘9mm’ gauge layout ‘Hobbiton End’ based on a scene from Lord of the Rings exhibited by Simon Addelsee from Bridgwater.
Club Exhibition Manager, Bob Ahrens said there was a very high standard on show while Club Publicity Officer, Douglas Beazer said he received many favourable comments during the day.
The club was also pleased with the support given by the public and wishes to thank everyone, including the Sir John Colfox Academy, which made the show so successful.