Railwells 2013

[Tim V]

For those who want a sneak preview
http://www.railwells.com/railway_show/

[Andrew Ullyott]

Looking forward to helping Dave with Cirencester, which will be making its debut.

[dcockling]

Ready for the off at this years Railwells, Robin Gay and the Rolvenden team

Wells_13_01.jpg

[jayell]

Just arrived home from RailWells, couldn't stay till the end 'cos family turned up. Enjoyed meeting people and spending more money than intended
My thanks to those who took care of my wife and re-assured her I'd be OK.

John

[dcockling]

A few more pictures from yesterday at Wells: Cirencester and Aldbury Town.

Cirencester_01.jpg

Cirencester_02.jpg

Aldbury Town.jpg

[jayell]

I only took a couple of pics as I was trying to hold youngest gt-grandson high enough up so he could see the 'trains' and they happended to be on the same layout

[John McAleely]

Lots more pictures are now live in the retrospective:

http://www.scalefour.org/shows/S4SW2013/

Just in time to remind you that Scaleforum is this weekend!

I've added a slideshow function this time around. I'm uncertain how widely it will work, so comments welcome. (as are any other comments!)

[Bulwell Hall]

One could be forgiven for thinking that Maiden Newton didn't make it to Railwells......

[John McAleely]

Yes, and for the record North Walton, Broadford, Glasshouse Lane and Weybridge also escaped the retrospective cameras.

I'm a little unsure how to do the S4SW retrospective. I could limit it to those listed as P4 in the guide, or I can go with what photos are to hand.

The guide, of course, lists all the layouts.

[David B]

The omissions are mine as the one who was taking pictures.

Railwells is a different show to S4 North and Scaleforum and it can be difficult as well for photographs. The Retrospective is principally a showcase for P4 modelling but sometimes shows other layouts as well if they are at shows.

As for omitting Maiden Newton, I apologise. I was also manning a stand during the weekend and did my best to get round but sometimes I could not get near a layout because of the crowds. If they coincided with one of my excursions I had to move on and I did not manage to get back to Maiden Newton or the others mentioned for which there are no images. I looked at the P4 layouts listed in the Guide and made sure I covered them and as Maiden Newton was listed amongst the 'other gauges' it was not on my priority list.

My apologies. Must do better next time!

[Tim V]

Maiden Newton is of course EM.... though I'm sure it would be welcomed as a layout at Scaleforum???

[DougN]

What are you saying Tim....We are a broad church but not narrow in our view of good models!

[Tim V]

It is down to Terry, Doug, as exhibition organiser to invite layouts, us ordinary members can only make suggestions....

[dcockling]

Some interesting points raised.

Scalefour SW is different from the other two shows, to start with it is not run by the Society. The exhibition Railwells is organised by Chris Challis on behalf of the Wells Railway Fraternity. Chris is of course a longstanding Scalefour Society member, but the WRF is the finacial backer and the Scalefour Society makes no financial contribution to the show, doesn't see the accounts, doesn't take a cut of any profit and isn't liable for any loss. The choice of traders, layouts, demos etc and the overall balance of the show is entirely in Chris's able hands.
The Society has been associated with Railwells for many years; the earliest reference that I have found in the News is to a Scalefour Section to Railwells in August 1985. Thereafter I believe that there was a Scalefour SW every other year until it became annual in 2002, although I've found no reference to Scalefour SW in 1989. I have no idea when Railwells first took place though, or if there were any earlier Scalefour associations.

Railwells then is not an exclusively Scalefour Society event, whereas Scaleforum and Scalefour North are; they are both run by organisers who are responsible to the Committee and although we don't try to remotely manage the organisers, they do attend Committee meetings and report on the planning of the shows throughout the year.

The retrospective is a retrospective of Scalefour SW (a part of Railwells) and not a retrospective of Railwells. The priority for pictures will be on the P4 layouts and Society aspects of the show, although no-one will be deliberately leaving out other layouts. When I did the retrospectives I always included a section on the other non-P4 layouts at Railwells, but sometimes there was a shortage of pictures.

As to EM layouts at Scaleforum; Scaleforum is supposed to be a showpiece of P4 modelling, not a general model railway exhibition and although it does have guest layouts, our policy is for these to be other scale proto equivalents eg Scale7, P87. This certainly does not imply any criticism or intolerance of EM gauge; like Gerry many of our members model in scales and gauges other than P4, but this Society is the Society for P4 and Scaleforum and Scalefour North reflect this. If members want this to be changed they had better let us know.

All the Best
Danny

PS here's the picture I took of Maiden Newton. Nice one Gerry!

Maiden Newton.jpg

[jayell]

Most of what is modelled in that image has gone with the exception of the toe of the turnout situated just in front of the loco, I posted some pics of that elsewhere on the Forum some time back.

I think there is a trace of the buffer stop for the cattle siding still on the end wall and of course the platform is still there but the signal box is boarded up and a lot of the rail is now modern fb welded rail.

John

[Bulwell Hall]

Well that stirred things up a bit although that was not my intention!

I was just a little surprised that Maiden Newton did not appear in the retrospective when Tucking Mill (2mmFS), St.Julliot (S scale),Q Dump,Wipers (something larger!) were included. I do take Davids point about the crowds limiting the opportunity to take photos - I seemed to have a constant stream of people in front of the layout on both days and there was much talking and pontificating to the point where by the evenings my voice was suffering. I most certainly wouldn't expect Maiden Newton ever to appear at Scalefourum even when it is more complete - it is EM and Scalefourum is the showcase for P4 modelling as Danny has rightly pointed out. Nice photo though Danny - thanks for that!

Gerry

[Brinkly]

I like seeing good layouts at shows, regardless of what scale or gauge. I understand that Society shows should showcase what members of our society can achieve, but I'd rather see good modelling from other gauges and scales, than poor modelling in 'our' gauge.

As for taking photos, poor David man's only doing his best!

Kind regards,

Nick.

[Will L]

.. I'd rather see good modelling from other gauges and scales, than poor modelling in 'our' gauge...

Seems reasonable to me that you should see neither.

Will

[Brinkly]

.. I'd rather see good modelling from other gauges and scales, than poor modelling in 'our' gauge...

Seems reasonable to me that you should see neither.

Will

I do understand that layouts have 'hic-ups', but it is disappointing when you see a badly behaved layout at a show, which is down to design or operation.

Kind regards,

Nick

[Terry Bendall]

I like seeing good layouts at shows, regardless of what scale or gauge.

Both the Society shows are intended for members, and probably we should feature layouts built to P4 standards. However in the last few years at Scaleforum we have featured a guest scale/gauge, and probably as far as Scaleforum is concerned, we will continue to do so. This year we have some inspired modelling in P87 both from the UK and some visitors from Europe who are helping with other things so you will certainly admire these offerings and everything else.

Next year we also have a guest scale/gauge, but with a slightly different slant, but news of that is for another day. As it happens this year I was offered Albion Yard for Scaleforum which is a really stunning layout but it is in OO. It was featured in a recent edition of Model Rail and is very nice. We left it out because rightly or wrongly, having an OO layout in our new larger venue would probably cause some people to think that we were strugging to fill the space and had to resort to an OO layout to do so. In fact it was very easy to fill the space and we are even a bit squashed in places as you will see at the weekend.

As for an EM layout to Scaleforum, we have had other "fine scale" offerings so there is no reason why not EM at some stage in the future and there are of course many excellent EM layouts to choose from. Wait and see! However don't forget that even with the extra space we have this year, there are limits on space and costs so we cannot do everything. There are lots of good P4 layouts that we can have, and will have.

Terry Bendall

[Andy W]

The inclusion of other scales and gauges at our shows should be welcomed. They're often inspirational. A few years back I spoke to the "S" scale chaps at Leatherhead who showed me some samples and techniques to build rolling stock in plasticard. It prompted me to build some coaches myself, which led to me scratchbuilding locos etc in brass. I want to learn and improve - I don't care who from or what their modelling philosophy is. So thank you Jas and Andy from S scale and to those who organised their demonstration.

[Brinkly]

Hi Terry,

That sounds really positive. Nice to hear that we as a Society aren't being tribal! haha thumbs up sir, well done!

Kind regards,

Nick.