Scalefour North 2018

[Flymo748]

There's couple of weeks to go to Scalefour North 2018, and we'd like to share the details with you.

This year’s Scalefour North exhibition will be taking place on Saturday 14th April and Sunday 15th April, from 10 am on each day.

The show is at the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, 154 Northgate, Wakefield, WF1 3QX. The show enjoys plenty of space and an open atmosphere for visitors to move around in and enjoy the exhibits. The School is within easy walking distance of Wakefield city centre, and is only a few minutes away from the main bus depot although on-site car-parking is available for visitors that choose to drive. Full catering will be available at the venue.

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Admission prices have been held unchanged at £7.00, and a discounted rate of £6.00 is available for Scalefour Society members. Tickets are valid for both days, enabling visitors to make the very most of their visit. Accompanying partners and children under 16 years of age are admitted free.

Scalefour North provides a unique opportunity for like-minded model railway enthusiasts to meet, talk, exchange ideas or information, and generate new friendships or revive old ones. To encourage dialogue between visitors and exhibitors, we don’t place barriers in front of the layouts. Asking advice from the exhibitors is what the show is all about.

Over the years, many new and innovative ideas which have advanced the art of finescale modelling have emanated from the members of the Scalefour Society. Scalefour North provides the ideal showcase to present these developments. New at Scalefour North should be an update the Society’s own design of lever frame. Used by modellers in all scales and gauges, the new version is specifically designed to interface with a mechanical locking system for points and signals.

Full details are on the Society’s website at www.scalefour.org/scalefournorth.

You can download the Show Guide for free from https://www.scalefour.org/downloads/2018/scalefournorthguide2018.pdf

We look forward to welcoming you to the show...

Cheers
Paul Willis
Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman

 

[Flymo748]

And the layouts...

At the heart of any exhibition are the layouts, and a superb variety of new and established ones have been selected for Scalefour North 2018.

Boston Frodsham

This is an embryonic P4 layout set in 1975-1985 and inspired by the swing bridge at Boston Docks and the wharf at Frodsham in Cheshire. The layout is under construction, showing all the track (C&L rail and chairs on ply sleepers) laid and wired with Lenz DCC system and points are activated by Tortoise slow motion motors controlled from a lever frame which has been built from a Scalefour Society kit. Trains approach the docks via a branch from the main line (off scene) and enter one of three reception/departure sidings, where 03 and 08 shunters then move the wagons, a few at a time, over the swing bridge and into the dockside area, returning with other wagons for dispatch.

Clackmannan Goods

This is is very much an evolution of the previous Longcarse West. The scene is set in the twilight months of wagonload traffic in a small yard during the mid 1970s. The sort of place that could be seen all around the country at that time as rail freight continued its downward spiral. The yard is fictional, but is imaginedto be on the site of the Caledonian Railway goods yard in Alloa. The main traffic flows are domestic coal, grain for the local breweries and sundries, but just about anything can turn up. It is not unusual for wagons to be sent to the yard for storage, and parcels stock can also sometimes be sent from Stirling if siding space is at a premium there. Wagon building is David’s main area of interest so there are a lot of variations in the fleet.

Clutton

This personal project by TimVenton, depicting a passing station on the Great Western branch between Bristol and Frome was inspired by Barry Norman’s Petherick and by Pendon, where the train is a part of the landscape. The project started in 1989 by building the lever frame, and all signals, including the ground signals and the running line points, are worked by the interlocked frame, which represents the actual frame in Clutton Signal Box. The single main lines are controlled by representations of the electric key token instruments and the signalman sits in front in full. Representative trains pass through the station to a sequence. A lot of tank engines and B-sets is exactly what would have been seen in the 1950s. Freight was also important, with coal from the Somerset collieries that were connected to the line passing through.

Faringdon

A scale model of the former GWR branch station in Oxfordshire has been entirely hand built by Stephen Williams, depicting the station as it might have appeared during the transition from GWR to BR ownership in the period 1947-55. Some artistic licence has been used in extending both the time frame for the model and in showing a more varied range of typical branch line trains than would actually have been seen. The buildings are made from card and painted with water colours, following Pendon practice, with the scenery showing influence of Pendon as well as Barry Norman’s work.

Kettlewell

This is a ‘might have been’ layout, had the Parliamentary powers granted in the 1880 Skipton and Kettlewell Railway Act been exercised. Work started on the layout in January 2011 and the layout was shown for the first time at Model Rail Scotland 2013. The layout has a number of features such as a unique fiddleyard design that allows a five-road traverser to be turned around. The layout operates to a timetable that provides constant activity for the viewing public, through the use of ground frames in both station area and goods yard to provide concurrent operation. It is operated in two different eras - as a 1922 Midland Railway branch line and as late 1950s scene using an eclectic mix of stock.

Picton

Is a station which lies on the former Leeds & Newcastle line from Northallerton to Eaglescliffe, opened in 1846. The period chosen for the model is 1947-1960 and encompasses the late LNER and early BR periods, allowing a wide range of NER, LNER & BR steam engines, railcars, and early DMUs and diesels. Passenger traffic was withdrawn from Picton to Battersby on 14th June 1954. Picton to Trenholme Bar was retained for wagon storage until the early 70s but he final nail in the coffin of the branch proper came with the closure of the Stokesley to Battersby Junction section to freight on 2nd August 1965. Construction of the layout has adopted a pseudo-modular approach with the view of attaching a fiddle yard board to any of the scenic boards. This has enabled us to test the layout as it develops and has helped stave off the onset of depression and insanity whilst allowing the layout to be exhibited throughout its construction.

Lee-on-the-Solent

This was one of the earliest layouts built to P4 standards to appear on the exhibition circuit. The layout was originally built as a result of taking a school party on a visit to the area and was first shown in October 1981. The layout today is presented around the time of Grouping (1923) allowing both LSWR and SR stock to be run. Motive power includes an ex-LBSCR D1 class tank and Terriers. All are fully compensated. Rolling stock includes ‘gate stock’ sets and various coal wagons from local merchants

Pulborough

This model represents the station situated in rural West Sussex on the LBSCR double-track main line at its peak in the years around 1910. At that time the station was provided with extensive facilities – up and down side goods yards, cattle pens and coal staithes, loop platform for the nearby Midhurst branch, and loco turning and coaling facilities. The model is a full scale replica of nearly 1/2 mile of track, intended in part to demonstrate the space required for a large station and the enormous size of some of the engineering features.

Cheers
Paul Willis
Scalefour Society Deputy Chairman