That Was The Mickleover That Was

Today is a day of recovery after a very busy, but successful day at Mickleover yesterday. As I write this I’m surrounded by ‘Elsbridge’ and the thought of taking it all back up two flights of stairs to the attic has been overtaken by the desire for a cup of tea first and post my photos from yesterday. 

Setting up ‘Elsbridge’ on Friday evening meant that I had space for all the home made cake in the car Saturday morning and I arrived to find many layouts, demos and traders busily setting up, the tea urn was warming up and so was the bacon grill. Perfect timing!

After putting the stock on the layout and making sure everything was ready it was time for a quick look round on my way to getting that all important cuppa and bacon roll. 

It was then that the scale of the day dawned on me, considering this was a modelling day for our local group of 7mm narrow gauge modellers, we had layouts in 009, SM32, O9, O14, O-16.5, O standard gauge (both British and American), On2, On3 and even O-24.5 with some Kinver Light Railway tram models running on scale 3ft 6in gauge track. Plus three traders, Association Sales, TVAG second hand sales and Adrian demonstrating etched origami.

Once the doors opened, we had a busy day and I wisely stocked up on cake, stowing it beneath the layout until I was ready for it. By the time I got chance to look round it was well into the afternoon, but it was pleasing how many people I was able to chat to whilst operating the layout. Suffice to say that it definitely wasn’t a rush hour service being operated. 

Trade wise, EDM Models had the first of their O14 converted Lionheart L&B models running round the test track all day. Iconic Rail had the first of their Corris four wheel tram car kits for sale and 422 Modelmaking had their recently introduced O9 range for sale. 

Managed to get a few photos of the layouts and trade offerings on display, though only realised in the evening that I failed to get more general shots of the hall. 

We had nearly 100 visitors through the doors, proving that many others need a modelling mojo fix in late January to brighten the winter months, mine is certainly boosted. 

After everyone had gone and we’d vacated the hall. A few of us adjourned to my local curry house for a debrief over some fine Nepalese cuisine and raise a glass or two to a successful event. 

To finish, a selection of photos from some of the exhibits that caught my eye.

Set up complete. 

Taking no chances- stockpiling cake!

Mr B appears to have escaped from the kitchen for a drive of Simon’s shunting puzzle 

Cheers! Until next time…