Hi all. This weekend (May 28th-30th), the Battlefield Line Railway at Shackerstone held its "Models Weekend". The event, held mainly at the midway station of Market Bosworth, was the first of its kind for around 5 years, having been an annual event up until 2006. In fact, we used to exhibit the LEGO railway there back in the day - before I was a Shackerstone working member! Returning in 2011, the event featured model railways, a model engineering display, display stands, a collection of steam toys and even a 3" Ruston Proctor traction engine. The locomotive rostered was the beautiful LNER B1 No1306 "Mayflower". 1306 provided a 5-train service on all three days of the event and was very popular with visitors. Despite the changable weather, the event received a good amount of visitors and favourable reviews. I, not being on duty today, decided to go along and check out the event. I arrived at Market Bosworth; in the Saxo; at around 11am and immediately took a good look around the show. I must admit, for a first year returning, it wasn't too bad at all. I film alot of the exhibits, and of course the beautiful B1. Its lovely to get some film of 1306 as I never seem to get a chance! Below, the B1 roars away from Market Bosworth with Driver George Saville on the regulator. The 4-6-0 is in fine form indeed...
The same shot is recreated below in the first video clip. The 2nd video clip see's 1306 roar out of Market Bosworth on a later train. In the later clip, George's wife (Marie) is on the regulator...The second video you will see (below) is of the two biggest Model Railway layouts at the show. The first is an O Gauge Hornby 3-Rail collection. There were countless buildings, coaches and locomotives on this layout. It was a very interesting display with many things moving all of the time. It was very popular indeed with the visitors. The stock varies from over 50 years old to products of this year. Look out for the digitally-operated Duchess Pacific including smoke, station announcements, Stanier hooter and chuff sounds. Lovely layout indeed. The second layout featured is the Gauge 1 (45mm) live steam, named "Midsomer Norton". This huge track, including well-modelled scenary, saw many different locomotives running throughout the weekend. Perhaps the most interesting was the perfect model of 2-2-0 "Blue Circle" which unfortuantely doesn't feature in my film. But, I assure you, it was fantastic. This layout really was popular and drew your eyes very easily. I couldn't get over one thing though...the sight of many live steam 45mm gauge £3000 cheques flying around at great speed...
The final video (below) features alot of the other exhibits including a display of coal fired live steam; regular readers will notice the Darjeeling B and the Darjeeling Garratt that I filmed running at LSMR 2011 (see previous post). Other exhibits include a 2.5" gauge coal fired loco, the 3" Ruston Proctor, a Model Woodyard and of course a fantastic display of Mamods and Model Engineering projects...
Below, the Gauge 1 display during a quiet period. The Market Bosworth Goods Shed did a fantastic job in its first event since being acquired by the railway. It is a huge, brick-built structure with lighting, good security and even an upstairs. This building has huge potential and I'm sure next years model show will be even bigger and even better (the LEGO will be going for a start)...
Below, the 3" Ruston Proctor in steam. I love the livery and it runs like a well-oiled sewing machine. This lovely little engine; owned by Pockets; was in steam giving running demonstrations on both Saturday and Sunday. However, on Monday, due to the almost constant rain, I think she stayed dry inside the Goods Shed on display!...
Below, the lovely model engineering display by North West Leicester club. This included a fabulous 3.5" Doris (Black 5), a 5" Polly and a fabulous 94xx Pannier Tank. The display was both interesting and popular...
All in all, a lovely display of models with alot of potential for next year. Well done to Carl and Pockets (Andy) for arranging it; very good show lads. After a good look around the show and alot of filming, I headed for home at around 4:30pm. Tomorrow?: I'm back at Shackerstone for a turn with the B1 "Mayflower". Thank you all. I hope you enjoyed this post. Look forward to seeing you all at the 2012 Models Weekend at Shackerstone where we shall be in attendance with our LEGO railway! Evening all...
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