This time next Saturday I’ll hopefully be anticipating a cool one, it being the NEC model railway show hosted by Warners Publications. I’ll be taking Shelfie 2 there, Guyzance disposal point, and I’m thinking its only its fourth exhibition appearance, it having been to the Define show, Larkrail and Railex. Thats not really a surprise as I’m not a regular exhibitor, work life often taking weekends up.

This week will be concentrating on ensuring the layout is functioning and from Monday, checking that all the support equipment is packed, the tools and any spares required. Stock wheel cleaning will be a priority too, and coupling adjustments, ensuring as best I can to have a trouble free weekend, making it enjoyable for viewers and operators. There’s no new items of note for shelfie2, though it’s tempting to set an Accurascale 31 up with Dinghams to see how it performs.

When I say that I’m referring to the couplings, not the Accurascale model, which is the equal of anything else I have in terms of running qualities. As I write this and looking at the image above I’m thinking thats a good idea, I do like having something different at shows and this modified 31 fits the bill, It does need a bit of weathering though to drop into its 1968 guise effectively. What happens after next week for Shelfie2? I’m not sure, its had a life of modifications and I like the idea of turning the viewing aspect 180 degrees, it does literally look better from the other side. Much of that depends on how well it performs and if I want to keep exhibiting it. I have been looking at different elements of the layout scenery and may try a bit of enhanced forced perspective again, we’ll see.

The roster is primarily Bachmann 08’s and a Heljan Class 11, the wagons 21t hoppers and loco’s all configured so we can do hands free operation. That bit is really satisfying and does capture the viewers imagination especially as its analogue rather than DCC. Shopping list? As always there’s bound to be something that catches the eye, one of the benefits of the show is that there’s plenty of varied trade there, and this year I’ll be interested in what’s new in TT120, and in particular the EFE class 313 which is likely to be a bit of a catnip model for me having spent years commuting on the GN stock!

If you’re there, do drop by and say hello, thanks for reading!