Model railway show comes back to town

Model railway enthusiasts will be able to indulge their favourite pastime when Hastings hosts its first model railway exhibition for several years. The event takes place at Hastings Academy on Sunday 18 May, as Nick Terdre explains.

There will be plenty for all to enjoy at Hastings Model Railway Show, including some 20 layouts, the organiser Dawn Quest tells HOT. Enthusiasts have complete freedom to design and build their own layouts, which range from small to huge, from reproductions of actual railway stations and settings to fantasy sets, from overground to underground, from Victorian to contemporary to futuristic tableaux.

One of the attractions on view will be what is believed to be the world’s first underwater layout, with a tram running on top and a train running through a perspex tunnel at the bottom of a a water-filled tank.

And the trains all run! Dawn is very firm on this point – a static layout would be a diorama and that is not permitted. Some of the trains even have their own timetable to adhere to.

It’s a family friendly pastime and there will be a couple of layouts in the show especially designed for children.

Alongside the layouts there will also be more than a dozen trade stands selling all sorts of supplies, from signs and signals to model locos and rolling stock and track. There will be a cafe to provide refreshments, and free parking will be available in the school grounds.

No longer a male preserve

Traditionally model railways was a male preserve, but that seems to be changing, says Dawn. “More girls and women are getting into the hobby and I’m very much an advocate of that (as well as young people being involved).”

She has a YouTube channel on which a video she posted last year about women involved in the model railway hobby has garnered nearly 25,000 views and sparked quite a debate. She also runs her own Women in Railway Modelling Facebook group.

“I’m also invited to speak at events and have been invited to the biggest model railway show in America next year to hold a workshop for women,” she reports.

It’s the first model railway exhibition in Hastings for some time, Dawn says. Hastings & St Leonards Model Railway Club, which has been involved in shows here in the past, will be present, exhibiting two layouts.

One will be the Ashdown Steam Shed, an 00 scale (1 in 72) which depicts an imaginary but typical setting from the days of steam trains, including a turntable and coaling facility, treasurer John Papworth tells HOT. Around the outside runs a continuous loop of main line, including a station and tunnel.

The second layout from the club, which meets every Monday at Baldslow Memorial Hall on Harrow Lane, is Seaton Vale, which depicts an imaginary 009 – narrow gauge – scale preservation project such as the Ffestiniog railway in Wales.

Dawn has also been in touch with the family which runs the miniature railway on the Stade, who will bring their own layout and show footage of the miniature railway shot beforehand.

Like other enthusiasts, Dawn builds her own layouts. She currently has two for show: a monochrome representation of the black-and-white Brief Encounter film, and a set based on the classic film The Ladykillers in glorious technicolour.

Dawn, who also organises regular model railway exhibitions in Sevenoaks and Woolwich, and is planning to hold one in Clacton-on-Sea, is looking forward to the event. “It promises to be a popular event for model rail enthusiasts and families alike,” she says.

 

Hastings Model Railway Show Sunday 18 May, 10am-4pm, Hastings Academy, Rye Road, Hastings TN35 5DN. Admission on the door adults £7, children/over 65s £5, families £15. Tickets can also be purchased through the website at discounted prices: adults £5.95, children/over 65s £3.95, families £12.95.

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