Expo EM Spring 2017 Review

If you are a scratch builder seeking some obscure and rare component then this is the place you are likely to find it because small, specialist traders out number the model railway layouts on display. I have not been to any other exhibition where such a number of specialist traders can be found. I for one picked up all the components I needed for my current modelling project.

For the novice scratch builder there are many stands giving demonstrations of modelling techniques from which you can learn.

And so to the layouts, all of which are modelled to finescale standards, which basically means accurate to prototype, where modelled as such, and attention to detail. The ones that stood out for me were London Road, for the nicely decorated Edwardian people and Sandford and Banwell, where I spied operating ground disc signals (I believe). Swaynton struck a cord as it depicted an LSWR line - my territory.

My best in show goes to Pwllheli. Its soft lighting, well modelled buildings in unusual architectural styles that run into the backscene were of note.

It is not easy to merge 3 dimensional foreground to 2 dimensional backscene, especially where buildings and roads pass between. What we see on Pwllheli is the best one can expect to achieve in my view.