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Amberley Museum Rail Gala 2019

MATT LOVELL reports back from this show at a local industrial museum.

Over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of July the Amberley Museum laid on their annual Railway Gala, which features running industrial locomotives of all shapes and sizes, demonstrations from the museum staff and of course Model Railways.

Martin and I were delighted to be invited back to show off our industrial 009 model railway Brown & Stickwell, along with other small layouts that we have built to show off scenic detailing and chalk pit nostalgia.

Brown and Stickwell.

Dunkenby Station.

"View to a Kiln".

This layout is designed to capture a scene from the James Bond film "A View to a Kill", which in 1985 used a section of the museum to film the infamous Zorin Industries.

Lots of other model railways were dotted around the museum, which included layouts from N Scale to 32mm live steam. There were about twenty layouts around the museum, which gave visitors lots to look at and hopefully lots of ideas for their own railways.

As I walked around the museum, I was amazed to see the different model railways featuring different scenes and operating scenarios. Down near the entrance to the museum there was an absolute monster of a modular railway, set in America, which had ten operators and spanned the entire length of the barn.

As I made my way up the line from Amberley to Brockham, there were a few OO Scale layouts in the waiting room featuring a modern era DCC-controlled station and a motive power depot, as well as a small industrial scene set in a dock yard.

In one of the sheds the Bognor Regis Model Railway Club 'hands-on' layout "Aldingbourne Central" was on display, where kids and adults could have a go playing trains.

Aldingbourne Central

There was also a Layout building challenge where the creator started with a basic board and by halfway through Sunday he had nearly finished his layout.

The last layout I looked at in this area belonged to the 32mm Group and featured both live steam and electrically powered locomotives. I quite enjoyed just watching the trains going around but there is something about the smell of live steam locomotives that really adds to the experience.

After I looked at these layouts I jumped back on the train and continued up the line to Cragside which is the end of the line. From here I went back to the exhibition hall where our layouts were and had a look at the other layouts in this hall.

A few layouts caught my eye just because of the scenic detailing and design. One of these layouts was Gilly North's "Barry Inspired Scrapyard" which has been featured in the Model Rail Magazine back in July 2017 (and was at the 2018 Gaugemaster Open Weekend! - Ed). This layout featured lots of old steam locomotives heavily weathered and ready for scrap. The attention to detail on this scene is incredible even down to the "sold", "save me" and the unhappy faces being painted on the locomotives.

Barry Inspired Scrapyard.

Attached to this layout was another industrial scene called "Staffordshire Potteries" which has won best in show at Stuttgart in 2017. This layout featured a very dirty industrial yard, a 3D style background and large brick towers which were all fitted with smoke generators. This effect really adds to the scene.

Barry Inspired Scrapyard.

The last layout that really made me stop and stare was the aptly named "Steampunk Junction", which combined model railways and fantasy warfare. The railway is set deep within a cave and pits Warhammer Orks against the Space Marines. All the locomotive bodies have been modified to suit the scene and the inclusion of expandable foam, old PC parts and LEDs really completes the scene.

Steampunk Junction.

Now on to the real railways.

The main attraction to the railway was a 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive called "Wendy", which is currently on loan to the museum. Helping with the passenger services was the fan favourite "Polar Bear" and the iconic coaches from the Isle of Man.

Freight services could also be seen throughout the course of the day.

Wendy.

Polar Bear.

No.27 with Wagons.

There was one locomotive missing from normal service which was "Peter", which currently requires a new boiler. It was on show though, sitting in the siding at Brockham Station.

Peter.

As 16:30 on Sunday came around, it was time to put away our trains and pack up the layouts until next time. All in all, a great event and one we will be happy to keep supporting.

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