Great British Train Show, April 26-27

RobertInOntario

Active Member
The Great British Model Train Show is coming up in less than two weeks. This model railway show is held in Brampton, Ontario every two years and it's excellent. I went last time (in 2006) and spent several hours checking everything!

Here's the website:
The Platelayers Society

It's organized by The Platelayers, an association of British model railway enthusiasts in Canada, of which I'm a member.

Just FYI. I'm planning to go on the Saturday. Even if you're not really into British trains it's still neat to go and compare British layouts to North American ones.

Rob
 

60103

Pooh Bah
It is the biggest and best all-British railway show in North America. (Well, we haven't heard of anything else on that scale.) We have the whole hockey rink (ice surface), plus use of the stands.
I'm going to be there both days, pretending to be a craftsman.

We will have layouts, vendors and demonstrators. The criterion is British; we interpreted this to include an Indian layout because the locos were built in Britain.
The scales will run from N to G at least -- maybe even something bigger.
Unfortunately, it is not easily reached by public transport. :curse: If you come that way, contact me for suggestions.
 

60103

Pooh Bah
One small note: No S scale this year. :sad:

There are layouts all over the place. Farthest one is from Victoria BC (I think) beating out the one from Virginia.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
One small note: No S scale this year. :sad:

There are layouts all over the place. Farthest one is from Victoria BC (I think) beating out the one from Virginia.


I had no idea that folks came from such distances -- I'm so Toronto-centric I forget about this! :)

I'll be just happy to see all the OO and N stuff.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Rob
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Well, I went to the show today for about 4-1/2 hours and it was great. A good variety of layouts and lots of vendors. As usual, I find these things overwhelming (there's so much to see & take in) so I need to take breaks! I took lots of pics as well.

Most of the scales were OO (the British HO) with a few N scale and P4. I also enjoyed the retro layouts as well, which used locos and rolling stock mostly from the 1950s and '60s, and in some cases from the '30s and '40s.

The other interesting thing is that I'd say that 70-80% of the trains modeled were steam -- whereas it seems to be the other way round with our North American layouts. This was discussed in another thread, but I think there might simply be more British steam train enthusiasts ... and I also think this trend is also due to the many steam heritage railways that still exist in the UK.

The show is still on tomorrow from 10-4!

Rob
 

60103

Pooh Bah
Rob: one factor is that most of our British enthusiasts came over before 1970 (or even 1960) and remember steam fondly and have little desire for diesels.
That said, even the O gauge layout had a collection of diesels in fairly modern paint schemes.
I managed to spend my allotted money and make some progress on my coaling tower. Lots of fun talking to old friends and newer ones like Rob.
Sunday was a much slower day, but we had time to visit each other. I made a whole $27 off the bring and buy stand (fellow beside me went off with a 50 and a stack of 20s.) There were also a couple of estate sales with fire sale prices - I got a CDU for $2.
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Rob: one factor is that most of our British enthusiasts came over before 1970 (or even 1960) and remember steam fondly and have little desire for diesels.
That said, even the O gauge layout had a collection of diesels in fairly modern paint schemes.
I managed to spend my allotted money and make some progress on my coaling tower. Lots of fun talking to old friends and newer ones like Rob.
Sunday was a much slower day, but we had time to visit each other. I made a whole $27 off the bring and buy stand (fellow beside me went off with a 50 and a stack of 20s.) There were also a couple of estate sales with fire sale prices - I got a CDU for $2.

Interesting. I heard there was a wave of immigration to Canada from Britain in the 1960s (and suspected that many of our members came from that group). So I can see how that affects the steam emphasis.

Yes, it was great talking to everyone, although I was pretty tired when I left! I didn't spend a whole lot of money. I bought a 00 scale Morris Minor for my layout (my Dad owned 1-2 of the real ones!), some figures, an SR coach, and some small station halt platforms. All in all, less than $60!

I hope it was a good show for The Platelayers and everyone.

Rob
 
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