Scaleforum is one if those shows I rarely miss. For me it has generally kicked off the autumn season of shows, with the run up to the NEC show at the end of November and Madchester in early December. For me it’s a social event, a shopping event and every year there is always at least one layout that is worth the (for me), 300 mile round trip.

This year Ventnor was one that captured me, it took me back literally to my childhood. I recall my only memory of British steam in everyday service, seeing O2’s passing the house we stayed at, etching that image way, way deep into my consciousness.

This is just the sort of layout that captures my attention, this one particularly as it is to scale, and the location is almost ideal for a model railway. The prototype location having the model railway cliche of the tunnel straight into the station!

The attention to detail and subtlety of it is excellent. The island platform was accessed by a portable bridge and that is often seen on pictures of the station.

It was really nice to see this detail as well as the telephone box looking like it’s teetering on the platform edge. You might think thats unrealistic, but again its a feature seen on images of the real place.

Other gauges/scales have been invited, this year there were two O gauge layouts by Gordon Gravett, for me this is a nice concept. Arun Quay above was there with its excellent overcast cool day appearance. Also there and a real memory jog back into the late 1980’s was Ditchling Green.

The layout is undergoing some refurbishment as the past thirty or so years has taken its toll, but it is still inspiring in its very clever use of forced perspective.

The views immediately indicate above and below illustrate the very subtle and clever use of perspective modelling.

Both Arun Quay and Ditchling Green demonstrate that in 7mm scale you can have a plausible and well detailed layout in a relatively small space in O gauge.

Also in the other gauge/scale category is the Late Iain Rices Butley Mills layout. This too is being refurbished and the track has now been changed to EM gauge. It was another trip back into the 1980’s with his being one of the layouts that inspired me and no doubt many others to follow a fine scale mindset, and looking at less mainstream prototypes as modelling subjects.

The classic view of the layout with the large mill building which acts as a clever mask for the fiddle yard. Like Ditchling Green above the layout has seen better days and the restoration is work in progress.

One thing that did surprise me with Butley Mills was the length of the layouts footprint.

For some reason I’d had a firm thought in my mind that the layout was more compact in its length. I have seen it before, but many years back at Watford Finescale or perhaps a Scaleforum at London City University, so it was quite a surprise to see it again in its full length. Another favourite of mine is the model of Pwllheli by Jonathan Buckie.

This is an unusual layout in that it very realistically captures the location, if you’ve been there it’s an unmistakeable representation of the location. the fact it is set in the past ten years, also makes it unusual for a ‘modern’ layout that is very recognisable as the specific place it depicts.

So thats Scaleforum 24 then. Another good show and worth going to even if not an S4/P4 modeller. The refurbishment of both Butley Mills and Ditchling Green was really nice to see, and I look forward to seeing them again in the future. If you get the opportunity to visit a specialist society show, they’re well worth considering and I think this years Scaleforum shows why.