39th Farnham Expo.

A bit odd writing a review of an exhibition in which I had a vested interest because this year I was party to exhibiting our Cliddesden layout there.

Being on the other side of the model railway layout gave me privileges and time to explore the exhibition across two whole days. Needless to say leisurely circuits of the exhibits were undertaken during breaks from operating our own layout.

Attendance was steady across both days with plenty of space for visitors to view layouts. I was told that visitor numbers were up on last year.

Nowadays we expect to see a high standard of modelling and once again I was not disappointed. There was a best in show award, as voted by the public, and the fact that little separated the top tranche of votes (I understand) exemplifies the high standard of layouts on show.

Loch Tat (N) won best in show but my personal favourite was Westcliff (EM), a seaside GWR branch line station set above a Dorset beach. I liked the openness, staging of people and the soft hues of the landscape and building colours, or was that influenced by the lighting?.

Loch Tat

Westcliff

Unusually, I could not obtain a couple of items I wanted from traders. One had sold out the previous week and the second can only be obtained second hand, of which none were available at the show. However, I did pick up three other items one of which I had tried to obtain elsewhere without success but here it was on display. So, a mixed result this year from the trade for me.