Manchester Show 2006

Yesterday was also the Manchester Model Railway Club's 70th exhibition.

Previous Manchester shows have suffered from too many kettle-era branch line termini, which I find get boring no matter how exquisitely modelled. But this year there were a lot of diesel and electric layouts. Star of the show was the club's own "Dewsbury Midland" running in 70s mode. Although kettle fans would call it a modern layout, it represents the world of a quarter of a century ago, with vacuum braked freights and steam-heated blue and grey Mk1 coaches, all hauled by long-vanished classes of locomotives. Another standout was "Farkham", a well-detailed slice of 80s urban modelling complete with half-sunken shopping trolleys in the polluted river. Other fine D&E layouts layouts were two 4mm finescale layouts, "Staverton" representing the post-privatisation era, and Saffron Street set back in 60s green era, and a couple of 7mm "plank" layouts, Ian Futers terminus on a pier "Loch Lochy", and the minimum space shunting layout "The Field". My only real criticism of the show was the lack of N, represented by a single layout, the small but excellent "Woodhead"

Woodhead (taken at an earlier show)

Despite the lack of N gauge traders, my wallet still took a battering from half-a-dozen of the new Bachmann 16 ton minerals, and some of Ten Commandments stonecast ballast loads to fit the Dapol Dogfish (I bought his entire stock; I'll need some more at the next show I see him)

Update: I left my camera at home yesterday, but Andy Y took a lot of photos.