THE SCALEFOUR SOCIETY
	Scaleforum 2007

Scaleforum is a Model Railway Exhibition, but it is much more than that. To make models to P4 standards requires the application of skills and providing the opportunity to those who don't already have them to acquire those skills; to those who have them in part measure to enhance and expand them and to those that have them to a greater degree to teach, coach, encourage and pass those skills on, is one of the principle purposes of our premier show. Scaleforum 2007 had the usual range of Demonstrators passing on their knowledge and experience but this year we also had the Soldering Course run by John Brighton and assisted by Greg Shaw and Ted Scannell.
This is what Peter Tyler, pictured above, had to say: "I'm sure that all my fellow participants on the course will agree that it was enormously helpful, very rewarding and though intensive, great fun. John Brighton gave a very clear exposition of successful techniques and aided by Ted Scannell and Greg Shaw, gave valuable personal tuition. For my own part, my work ended up much neater than hitherto and I soldered white metal successfully, but there were others who had never before held an iron who produced excellent work at the end of the day. More on these lines please." There are more pictures from the course, of the Demonstrators and of Ted Scannell's impromptu seminar on Axle hung motors, as well as the layouts, some of the Trade stands and views from around the show. I hope that you enjoy this retrospective. DC.

Click on a picture or heading to go to the appropriate page, then to see enlarged versions of the images simply 'click' on the smaller ones.

Layouts & Displays

			Belle Vue by the Newport Model Railway Society A fictional station set somewhere in the Midlands following GW practice but with an LMS engine shed on the lower level. More pictures on the Newport MRS website.				Borth-y-Gest by Paul Holmes Representing a line around the coast from Portmadoc to Borth-y-Gest the track is built to 7.83mm gauge. The layout runs with DCC control by Lenz and features a Double Fairlie with scale lights, sound and smoke. NGSG
			Cheddar by Simon Challis Runner-up in the 18.83 layout challenge, the scene shows Cheddar S&DJR in the 1920's with stone, coal, general merchandise and passengers arriving and departing.				Enigma Engineering by Paul Gittins Enigma Engineering is a small layout designed to show that shunting with a purpose can be an entertaining and absorbing way of passing time.
			Faringdon by Stephen Williams The layout is a scale model of the former GWR branch station at Faringdon in Oxfordshire, set in the period from 1947-55, some artistic licence has been used in showing a more varied range of traffic than would actually have been seen.				Forge Mill Sidings by Michael Prince Set between the late 1960s and early 1980s representing a single track branch somewhere on the Notts/Derbyshire border. An 18.83 Layout Challenge finalist.
			Great Bardfield by David Hawkins A fictitious extension to the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway in Essex. The line represents a connection from Great Yeldham on the CV&HR to Ongar on the GE, set in the late 1950s. More info at South Hants MRC website.				Martlet Road by Nigel Thomson Representing a passing station on the 'Withered Arm' of BR's Southern Region in the late 1950s when both steam and diesel locomotives could be seen, the layout is based on Ashbury. Another 18.83 Layout Challenge finalist.
			Melange to Castle Brook by Mike Sharman The latest in Mike's range of end-to-end museum layouts of the period 1830-1870. The items present would not all have been seen together they did all exist in the time period modelled.				Ogden Fold by the South Hants MRG Another 'might-have-been' based on proposals of the L&Y for a line from Rishworth in Yorkshire towards Littleborough and another layout by the South Hants MRC this time set firmly in the pre-grouping era.
			Trerice by Iain Rice Admirers of Iain's work were pleased to see him back this year with his third attempt at a workable china-clay branch layout complete with Beattie well tank and there was also interest in the suspended fiddle yard. See also: S4North04				Displays The Society's showcase was available for members to show off their work and I have also included in this section some views of the Society Stand the DEMU Challenge board and the display of entries in the Photo competition.

Traders, Demonstrations, Workshops & Awards

			Traders Some pictures of a few of the many traders who were attending the show this year as well as some of the things that they had on offer. I have listed links to as many of those attending as I can find on a separate page.				Demonstrators This year there were demonstations on the construction of: Locos, Signals, Wagons, OLE & Track; as well as advice on: Landscape Modelling, Trackwork design, Painting & Lining, Couplings, Moving to P4 and Mfg Methods.
			People Here you'll find a few pictures of people in particular rather than in general, some layout operators, some Area Group members, a couple of Society Officers and even the 'hand of god'.				Around the Show Included in this section are some general views taken around the Halls and from the balcony of people looking at the layouts or taking the weight off their legs, buying things chatting and hopefully having a good time.
			Workshops Most of these pictures are from the Soldering course, but there is also one from Ted Scannell's seminar on Axle hung motors. Follow this LINK for more details.				Awards The Ken York Trophy for the most popular layout at Scaleforum was won by Faringdon. The MRJ Trophy for Excellence in P4 Modelling was won by Paul Holmes and Michael Godfrey won the photographic Competition.

14/10/07

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These pages uploaded and maintained by Danny Cockling
Please send any corrections or additions to the information contained in this retrospective to danny at scalefour.org