Train Collectors Society AGM, Trinity Church Hall, Leicester
Sat March 5th 2022
The best attendance for many years enjoyed an excellent Spring show.
A sunny day with a nip in the air saw over 160 visitors from near and far converge in Leicester.
Our Treasurer, Paul Williams was the main meet and greet on the door and even had his lovely 2' 6'' square 00 Gauge scenic layout featuring Ramsay's Pub, Pentland's Radio Shop and William's Factory with a German Trix Express 0-6-0 Tank and 4-wheel stock (Fig 1).
This was the first of many treats for visitors.
On the left of the foyer, Chris Bush was selling a large collection of mainly 0 and 00 gauge spare parts. In its usual spot was the Club 'Bring and Buy' stall which was pretty full by the time I arrived at 7pm on Friday night! Lots of Playcraft (Fig 2), Lionel (Fig 3) and even a Tri-ang TC Set (Fig 4),
however, my favourite item was a Marklin 0 Gauge Engine Shed which sold for £35 (Fig 5). Many thanks to Malcolm Pugh, Eddie Spencer and Paul Chapman for manning the stall, over £870 was sold and with donations an excellent total of £95 was raised for the TCS.
Opposite was Nick Dean and Maria trading as Checkrail (Fig 6), selling 00 and N Gauge with a nice test track in the middle of his stall.
Leon Mills was selling ACE Trains and I was pleased to be able to photo one of the '10000' Diesels this time (Fig 7), he had sold out before I could photo it at the last show!
Opposite was Bryan Pentland whose theme was Monorails from early post war tinplate to 1990's Disney Plastic. Two Disney sets were combined to make a figure of 8 and it presented a good photo when crossing (Fig 8). An unusual East German Keim floor monorail was also on display (Fig 9).
Bryan also had working an early Computer Chip train, by placing chips on the track you could stop or reverse the train, or both! (Figs 10, 11 and 12)
As we move into the main hall, Mike Foster was promoting his excellent British Toy Trains books and Barry Potter was alongside, promoting his sales (Fig 13).
The first exhibit on the left was Robert Palmer's wonderful Bayko Minster (Fig 14), a towering building with over 7000 pieces used to construct it of which 3000 were 3D printed!. Wonderful detailed windows and ornate decoration including rows of modelled Knights (Fig 15).
It certainly had the wow factor. Robert had also built using mainly Bayko, a copy of the main station building from the Hornby-Dublo pre-war wooden terminal station (Fig 16).
Further along, Tony Penn and Mark Carne were selling mainly 00 Gauge and 0 Gauge respectively.
In Pete Gurd's old spot David and Jan Nevett, ? Hale and David Holt had put together a fascinating display of 00 Gauge Land, Sea and Air models constructed of wood or card including 00 Gauge vehicles by Wilson, Roadway and Ashe (Fig 17). Of particular note was a recent acquisition of an original Wilson Red Artic Bus (Fig 18), David had a modern replica built but now has an original red model, also a Wilson Motor Torpedo boat was another new addition (Fig 19). There was a lot of interest in these hard to find models such as a pre-war unmade Wilson kit (Fig 20).
Fig 17
Fig 18
Fig 19
Opposite on the far wall, Bill and Rachel Vyse had their attractive Hornby 0 Gauge layout with a Southdown Buses theme (Fig 21). Southern stock was running well all day with a good selection of buses around the layout (Fig 22) and a nice scenic station area (Fig 23)
Dave Peasant and his Uncle Peter had an excellent 0 Gauge scenic layout using Lionel easi-track. As I was passing, a Darstead LMS Jinty was pulling a rake of Hornby 4-wheel coaches (Fig 24), the layout was full of Bassett-Lowke and Hugar wooden buildings with a great backdrop of stock on an arched viaduct the full length of the layout (Fig 25).
The centre of the room was full of Traders, Simon and Adam Goodyear had a variety of 00 and 0 Gauge including various Hornby 0 Coaches, Rob Hampton with Lone Star 000 and Tri-ang TT and 00. Paul Lumsden trading as W J Vintage with his excellent range of 0 gauge including the Austerity Tank (Fig 26),
Stephen Knight with help from Marcus Archer, selling mainly 00 Gauge including Kitmaster, Dixon Upcott, mainly 00 Gauge including a nice Hornby-Dublo GWR Set (Fig 27) and Bob Leggett also selling mainly 00 Gauge and accessories.
In front of the stage, Mike Hobday was selling a large variety of stock from 00 to Gauge One and floor trains. Pride of place was a large 3' long LMS 7.25 gauge wooden floor train 'Landore' (Fig 28) with 'Built in Swansea' mark, it was operated by elastic! Mike demonstrated this several times and you should be able to see videos of it in action. The engine was probably based on an LMS 0-8-4T loco that saw service into Swansea. Mike and most of the other traders reported good sales. Also, in the photo is a ¾ scale GNR Stirling built by Kenneth Leech circa 1916 and interesting immeadite post war scenic backdrops.
As we move towards the third room we pass the club stand, this show's theme was green engines and I was particularly taken by Nicholas Oddy's Tipp and Co clockwork Motor Spirit floor train (Fig 29 and 30). Opposite, David Ramsay looking splendid in his blue Jacket was selling a variety of spares.
In the small room, Colin Totem trading as Raylo, had a good selection for sale including Locos (Fig 31), Vans (Fig 32) and Badges (Fig 33).
In the left corner, Dave White and Les Martin had an excellent dual Tri-ang and Hornby 00 Gauge/Minic Motorway layout with much modifying to produce a Thomas The Tank Engine Themed layout (Fig 34).
This included various battery vehicles altered to run on Minic Motorway and I think Dave had spent most of lock down putting new faces on trucks and coaches! A plastic Thomas Station looked good with Hornby platforms (Fig 35) and Les Martin had built a lovely Henrietta Coach for Toby from two Tri-ang coaches (Fig 36).
This was a superb layout much enjoyed by the families who visited the show.
In the right corner was David Rhodes, David decided to bring a touch of style to the show and was displaying and running a selection of Brighton Belle Trains (Fig 37).
This included a Hornby 00 gauge five car set, Neil Smith's excellent conversion of Tri-ang Pullmans to a Brighton Belle, Wrenn Pullmans and a Hornby/Arnold N Gauge set also with lights (Fig 38).
In the centre of the hall was James Day's amazing Playmobil G scale layout with large 1:24 scale Carrera slot car system with Carrera and Autoart Cars, several with modifications . With help from Derek Bond, Malcolm Pugh and Jon Davidson, James had a Wild West theme which included a superbly modified model of the 'Back to the Future' Delorean and of course Doc and Marty figures (Fig 39).
With appropriate Wild West buildings by Playmobil and Piko with saloon (Fig 40), music and cars stopping for the two trains (Fig 41) at two scratchbuilt level crossings (Fig 42), this was a wonderful layout which also attracted the younger audience.
Derek Bond was also selling many of his 3D printed spares; Derek had his machine on site creating some Tri-ang Battlespace Missiles (Fig 43) and also on display his interior fittings for the Minic Frontier Post (Fig 44).
As we complete the circle back towards the foyer, Nicholas Oddy was selling a nice mix of mainly O Gauge including a Bing GNR Atlantic circa 1925. (Fig 45)
One of the highlights of the Leicester shows is the superb and very inexpensive catering. Tea and cake for a pound. A tasty two course meal of Beef Casserole and Apple and Blackberry Crumble for only five pounds. Many thanks to Pav Patel, Judith Saunders, Mary Starie, Diane Johnson, Daphne Sargent, Adam Draycott, Paul Draycott and Marilyn Draycott.
The show finished just after 3pm and the AGM was held at 4pm. Details of which are in another section.
Finally, a huge thank you to Paul Draycott and Bryan Pentland for organising the show, thanks to anyone else who contributed to helping, the Exhibitors and Traders and friends of Trinity Church.
The summer exhibition is also planned to be held at Leicester.
Bob Leggett
