Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Spent a very pleasant day at the East of England Showground, Peterborough for the 16mm Associations National Show today. The only issue was the heavy rain shower which lasted the exact amount of time it took to run from the car to the ticket booth, arrival and parking was easy, the place was well signposted and the stewards were helpful and good humored...at least the shower was short for them 
The main theme this year was a celebration of 150 years since the introduction of steam power to the Ffestiniog Railway and to bolster that fact, the show played host to Mountaineer (this years full size loco), Topsy (the first narrow gauge garden railway live steam loco) and a collection of 16mm scale George England style locos.
Its difficult not to be impressed by the fact that full size locos appear at the show and Mountaineer was no exception. I got lucky early in the day and managed to get a shot without anybody walking through the photo
I didn't get so lucky with Chaloner, hence no photo.
If I'm honest about it, Topsy was the primary reason for turning up at the show and was worth the entrance fee and round trip on her own. She was built in 1869 to a scale of about 1 in 7 and loosely based on the George England locos operating on the line - there is a bit more information on the 16mm Association website http://nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk/2013/loco/default.html Despite the fact that she is not in her original condition, I thought she looked superb:
Apologies for the lack of spaces between photos, for some reason 'return' has stopped working for this post
Anyway, whilst you are admiring the delicacy of the work that went into shaping the slidebars in the photo above, spare a quick look at the chairs and the track - not only are the chairs cast, but they use separate wooden chairs to fix the double headed rail, just as the prototype...how cool is that 
Even better is the fact that the original portable track survives and is full of pointwork etc built to the same standard...I really do hope that it will all be assembled one day. Size wise, the track gauge is 3 1/8" whilst Topsy is 1' 10 1/4" long (without tender), 6 13/16" wide and tips the scales at around 60lbs...puts my current 16mm loco into perspective....
Edited to add: Apparently, posting the thread sorts out the missing spaces and makes my 'return' work again - I've tidied up and will start another post for the George England Loco display....
Steve
The main theme this year was a celebration of 150 years since the introduction of steam power to the Ffestiniog Railway and to bolster that fact, the show played host to Mountaineer (this years full size loco), Topsy (the first narrow gauge garden railway live steam loco) and a collection of 16mm scale George England style locos.
Its difficult not to be impressed by the fact that full size locos appear at the show and Mountaineer was no exception. I got lucky early in the day and managed to get a shot without anybody walking through the photo
I didn't get so lucky with Chaloner, hence no photo.
If I'm honest about it, Topsy was the primary reason for turning up at the show and was worth the entrance fee and round trip on her own. She was built in 1869 to a scale of about 1 in 7 and loosely based on the George England locos operating on the line - there is a bit more information on the 16mm Association website http://nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk/2013/loco/default.html Despite the fact that she is not in her original condition, I thought she looked superb:
Apologies for the lack of spaces between photos, for some reason 'return' has stopped working for this post
Anyway, whilst you are admiring the delicacy of the work that went into shaping the slidebars in the photo above, spare a quick look at the chairs and the track - not only are the chairs cast, but they use separate wooden chairs to fix the double headed rail, just as the prototype...how cool is that Even better is the fact that the original portable track survives and is full of pointwork etc built to the same standard...I really do hope that it will all be assembled one day. Size wise, the track gauge is 3 1/8" whilst Topsy is 1' 10 1/4" long (without tender), 6 13/16" wide and tips the scales at around 60lbs...puts my current 16mm loco into perspective....Edited to add: Apparently, posting the thread sorts out the missing spaces and makes my 'return' work again - I've tidied up and will start another post for the George England Loco display....
Steve
, an early Aster Japanese engine which i really don't know why i bought it but there goes.....
