Kipford
Member
The South Hants Model Railway Club will host the annual Portsmouth Model Railway Exhibition on Saturday 15th November 2025 at:
Admiral Lord Nelson School on Dundas Lane, Portsmouth, PO3 5XT
Opening time between 10:30 and 16:30.
As usual we have a carefully chosen selection of top-class model railway layouts and demonstrators, supported by a loyal band of traders and ‘gauge’ societies.
There is limited parking at the school, but the Ocean Retail Park opposite the school has free unlimited parking (except for McDonalds which has a time limit).
New for this year will be a heritage bus service supplied by the City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot (CPPTD) to and from Hilsea Station. The first bus is leaving the school at 10:30am, with the first return from Hilsea at 10:45am. The buses will then run hourly from the school at 30 minutes past the hour with the last bus leaving ALNS at 4:30pm. More details of the group can be found on their Facebook page: CPPTD -City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot
Admission price will be £8 for adults with accompanied children (under16) free. Card payment facilities will be available.
Layouts
Butley Mills (4mm scale, EM gauge) – Andy Vincent
Originally built by Iain Rice in P4, it forms part of the sequence of layouts set in Suffolk that were built by Iain and Bob Barlow. Now over forty years old, it is being carefully refurbished and DCC enabled to enable it make a limited number of exhibition appearances and allow many people to see it again
Ditchling Green (7mm scale, O gauge) – Rex Davidson and Stephen Williams
Gordon Gravett’s “Ditchling Green” can lay a justifiable claim to being one of the seminal layouts that re-shaped the trajectory of 7mm scale modelling in the 1990s, with its emphasis on high-quality scenic modelling as a central part of the concept of the layout. Set on an imagined and very secondary route from Lewes, along the course of the South Downs, to a junction at Keymer near Hassocks, the layout captures - in a remarkably small space - an unmistakable sense of time and place in a charming representation of the Southern Region of British Railways in a small Sussex town in the 1950s. The new owners - Rex Davidson and Stephen Williams – have spent several years restoring the layout for public exhibition. Much of Gordon’s original concept and modelling work has been retained, but the opportunity has also been taken to develop the operational scope of the model, with the addition of a second fiddle yard and improvements to the lighting and presentation.
East Lynn (S scale, 1/64) – Simon Dunkley
The late Trevor Nunn’s wonderful rendition of a Great Eastern Railway (GER) branch in S Scale. East Lynn is located somewhere along the north Norfolk Coast, and is the terminus of two lines. It takes as its primary inspiration from the station at Wells-next-the-Sea, and has buildings inspired by Kings Lynn (the station building and hotel) and Snettisham (goods shed) as well as standard GER prototypes.
The layout was started in 1993, and made regular appearances at exhibitions for almost a quarter of a century. Being made to a non-commercial scale, nearly everything was hand made by Trevor with the exception of a few key components provided by the S Scale Model Railway Society.
FallerStadt (3,5mm, scale HO gauge) – Dave Harris
A nice German based HO continuous run layout which features a busy suburban station with trains, trams, and buses, recently featured in the March 2025 Continental Modeller.
Fen End Pit (16mm, 32 mm Gauge) David Barnham
David Barnhams wonderful working drag line layout, always popular with young and old. Between Ely and March, amongst the rich peat soil of the Fens, deposits of sand and gravel have been quarried for many years. In a shallow pit a Ruston 10RB dragline loads skips to be hauled away by aging Simplex locomotives.
The gift of an original manual with scales drawings for a 10RB led to the construction of the dragline and inspired this 16mm scale layout, a tribute to an age before lorries and conveyor belts replaced rails.
Janes Creek (4mm scale, EM gauge) – Andrew Browne
A very atmospheric rendition of a river port where the ships are as important as the trains. Based on the area around Janes’ Creek, off the River Medway at Strood. The Invicta Engineering Works, of Aveling and Porter, and Strood Steel Works, actually a casting foundry, were served by a rail connection off the SECR North Kent Line, now the Medway Valley Line, and the River Medway, with wharfs on Janes’ Creek and Pelican Creek.
The layout is also unusual in that it has no staging/fiddle yard, a goods train “arrives” at the high level main line, then exchanges wagons with the low level works, then “departs”, only to “arrive” again!.
Lambourn (4mm, P4 gauge) – Andrew Searle
Lambourn, was originally started by Ian Harrison around 1979, published in MRJ 23 in 1988 and now runs as GWR late 1930’s.
Sold on to Alan Ketley who modified it by adding an additional board to the scenic side in between the fiddle yard and the station approach. He also increased the length of the station board to include the weigh bridge, office and station approach. The fiddle yard was also replaced with a turntable to prevent any stock from being handled. As the layout is 40 years old, it was originally designed for DC control, DCC wasn’t even heard of then. As such it has been partially rewired and now has the ability to be used with either system, allowing visiting locos to be used. Scenically the whole layout has been refreshed as colours over time tend to fade. The original layout has been updated with lineside fencing and additional scenic items and repairs to buildings and structures, mainly due to ageing of materials and failure of glues.
Ley Hill (2mm finescale, 9.42mm gauge) – Jerry Clifford
One of Jerry Cliffords little 2mm finescale layouts, which will be featured on the 2mm Finescale Society stand.
Pengwynn Crossing (4mm scale, OO gauge) – Bently Model Railway Group
Pengwynn Crossing depicts a desolate branch line winding through the Cornish countryside in the 1980’s. The unstaffed station platform looks as though the years have taken their toll. There are no station buildings and very few facilities. The only luxuries provided for the occasional passenger who might wander off the Cornish moors are two benches and two lamps. So why has such a remote branch line survived to the present day? The answer becomes clear when you realise that Pengwynn Crossing exists to serve the needs of the china clay industry..
Pwllheli (4mm scale, P4 gauge) – Jonathan Buckie
Situated in north-west corner of Wales, on the Llyn Peninsula, Pwllheli is the northern terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway. 8 return workings a day traverse the coastal route to Machynlleth with services continuing onward to Shrewsbury.
The layout attempts to convey an impression of the station and its surrounding area as it appeared between 2000 – 2012 prior to ERTMS coming into operation, with a regular DMU passenger service, interspersed with an occasional heritage rail tour or engineers train. Buildings and associated details have been laser cut from MDF, Rowmark, etc using drawings created in AutoCAD. Where possible these drawings are based on actual plans obtained through Gwynedd Council or where these are unavailable from photographs or a Google street view survey. Locos and rolling stock are based on prototypes recorded as running on the Cambrian line during the period modelled.
Rye Sands (4mm scale, OO gauge) – William Loyd
Rye Sands is a OO gauge cameo layout, designed to fit in a wardrobe or the
back of a hatchback. The scene draws heavily from the real Rye Harbour
branch constructed by the South Eastern Railway in the 1850s, although it
also includes structures from Folkestone and Hastings. The barren, timeless
location means the layout can portray any time in a period between the late
1800s and 1930s, although rolling stock is primarily of South Eastern and
Chatham period. Rye Sands has its own integral lighting rig and home-made
SCATS (4mm scale, OO gauge) – SHMRC
SCATS is a finescale Ingleknook shunting puzzle for the public to try their skills at and will be located on the SHMRC stand.
Widley and St George (4mm/ft, OO gauge)
Our layout for the younger visitors. Come and drive trains pulled by Thomas, Percy and friends. A 20p fee is payable to help maintain for the layout.
More details of the layouts can be found at: Exhibition Layouts – Exhibition – SHMRC
Traders
Book Law Publications
Coastal DCC
C&L Finescale
Dingo Servo Mounts
London Road Models
Tim Horn Lasercutting
The Model Shop
Squires Tools
Wheels of Southsea
Modelstock – (ABS 4mm range)
Societies
EM Gauge Society
2mm Finescale Society
Scalefour Society
MERG
Demonstrators
Soldering: Roger Sawyer
Scenic Modelling: Roy Hickman
From 3D CAD to 3D Print: Duncan Redford
Modeling Town Scenes: Dave Hawkins
SHMRC Club Stand
If you are interested in learning more about our club, please come and visit the
club stand and talk to one of the members who can tell you all about us and what we have to offer.
More details of layouts, traders, demonstrators and societies, plus details of how to get there, can be found on the Club's website -
shmrc.org.uk
Please note this list is correct as of 15/08/25
Admiral Lord Nelson School on Dundas Lane, Portsmouth, PO3 5XT
Opening time between 10:30 and 16:30.
As usual we have a carefully chosen selection of top-class model railway layouts and demonstrators, supported by a loyal band of traders and ‘gauge’ societies.
There is limited parking at the school, but the Ocean Retail Park opposite the school has free unlimited parking (except for McDonalds which has a time limit).
New for this year will be a heritage bus service supplied by the City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot (CPPTD) to and from Hilsea Station. The first bus is leaving the school at 10:30am, with the first return from Hilsea at 10:45am. The buses will then run hourly from the school at 30 minutes past the hour with the last bus leaving ALNS at 4:30pm. More details of the group can be found on their Facebook page: CPPTD -City of Portsmouth Preserved Transport Depot
Admission price will be £8 for adults with accompanied children (under16) free. Card payment facilities will be available.
Layouts
Butley Mills (4mm scale, EM gauge) – Andy Vincent
Originally built by Iain Rice in P4, it forms part of the sequence of layouts set in Suffolk that were built by Iain and Bob Barlow. Now over forty years old, it is being carefully refurbished and DCC enabled to enable it make a limited number of exhibition appearances and allow many people to see it again
Ditchling Green (7mm scale, O gauge) – Rex Davidson and Stephen Williams
Gordon Gravett’s “Ditchling Green” can lay a justifiable claim to being one of the seminal layouts that re-shaped the trajectory of 7mm scale modelling in the 1990s, with its emphasis on high-quality scenic modelling as a central part of the concept of the layout. Set on an imagined and very secondary route from Lewes, along the course of the South Downs, to a junction at Keymer near Hassocks, the layout captures - in a remarkably small space - an unmistakable sense of time and place in a charming representation of the Southern Region of British Railways in a small Sussex town in the 1950s. The new owners - Rex Davidson and Stephen Williams – have spent several years restoring the layout for public exhibition. Much of Gordon’s original concept and modelling work has been retained, but the opportunity has also been taken to develop the operational scope of the model, with the addition of a second fiddle yard and improvements to the lighting and presentation.
East Lynn (S scale, 1/64) – Simon Dunkley
The late Trevor Nunn’s wonderful rendition of a Great Eastern Railway (GER) branch in S Scale. East Lynn is located somewhere along the north Norfolk Coast, and is the terminus of two lines. It takes as its primary inspiration from the station at Wells-next-the-Sea, and has buildings inspired by Kings Lynn (the station building and hotel) and Snettisham (goods shed) as well as standard GER prototypes.
The layout was started in 1993, and made regular appearances at exhibitions for almost a quarter of a century. Being made to a non-commercial scale, nearly everything was hand made by Trevor with the exception of a few key components provided by the S Scale Model Railway Society.
FallerStadt (3,5mm, scale HO gauge) – Dave Harris
A nice German based HO continuous run layout which features a busy suburban station with trains, trams, and buses, recently featured in the March 2025 Continental Modeller.
Fen End Pit (16mm, 32 mm Gauge) David Barnham
David Barnhams wonderful working drag line layout, always popular with young and old. Between Ely and March, amongst the rich peat soil of the Fens, deposits of sand and gravel have been quarried for many years. In a shallow pit a Ruston 10RB dragline loads skips to be hauled away by aging Simplex locomotives.
The gift of an original manual with scales drawings for a 10RB led to the construction of the dragline and inspired this 16mm scale layout, a tribute to an age before lorries and conveyor belts replaced rails.
Janes Creek (4mm scale, EM gauge) – Andrew Browne
A very atmospheric rendition of a river port where the ships are as important as the trains. Based on the area around Janes’ Creek, off the River Medway at Strood. The Invicta Engineering Works, of Aveling and Porter, and Strood Steel Works, actually a casting foundry, were served by a rail connection off the SECR North Kent Line, now the Medway Valley Line, and the River Medway, with wharfs on Janes’ Creek and Pelican Creek.
The layout is also unusual in that it has no staging/fiddle yard, a goods train “arrives” at the high level main line, then exchanges wagons with the low level works, then “departs”, only to “arrive” again!.
Lambourn (4mm, P4 gauge) – Andrew Searle
Lambourn, was originally started by Ian Harrison around 1979, published in MRJ 23 in 1988 and now runs as GWR late 1930’s.
Sold on to Alan Ketley who modified it by adding an additional board to the scenic side in between the fiddle yard and the station approach. He also increased the length of the station board to include the weigh bridge, office and station approach. The fiddle yard was also replaced with a turntable to prevent any stock from being handled. As the layout is 40 years old, it was originally designed for DC control, DCC wasn’t even heard of then. As such it has been partially rewired and now has the ability to be used with either system, allowing visiting locos to be used. Scenically the whole layout has been refreshed as colours over time tend to fade. The original layout has been updated with lineside fencing and additional scenic items and repairs to buildings and structures, mainly due to ageing of materials and failure of glues.
Ley Hill (2mm finescale, 9.42mm gauge) – Jerry Clifford
One of Jerry Cliffords little 2mm finescale layouts, which will be featured on the 2mm Finescale Society stand.
Pengwynn Crossing (4mm scale, OO gauge) – Bently Model Railway Group
Pengwynn Crossing depicts a desolate branch line winding through the Cornish countryside in the 1980’s. The unstaffed station platform looks as though the years have taken their toll. There are no station buildings and very few facilities. The only luxuries provided for the occasional passenger who might wander off the Cornish moors are two benches and two lamps. So why has such a remote branch line survived to the present day? The answer becomes clear when you realise that Pengwynn Crossing exists to serve the needs of the china clay industry..
Pwllheli (4mm scale, P4 gauge) – Jonathan Buckie
Situated in north-west corner of Wales, on the Llyn Peninsula, Pwllheli is the northern terminus of the Cambrian Coast Railway. 8 return workings a day traverse the coastal route to Machynlleth with services continuing onward to Shrewsbury.
The layout attempts to convey an impression of the station and its surrounding area as it appeared between 2000 – 2012 prior to ERTMS coming into operation, with a regular DMU passenger service, interspersed with an occasional heritage rail tour or engineers train. Buildings and associated details have been laser cut from MDF, Rowmark, etc using drawings created in AutoCAD. Where possible these drawings are based on actual plans obtained through Gwynedd Council or where these are unavailable from photographs or a Google street view survey. Locos and rolling stock are based on prototypes recorded as running on the Cambrian line during the period modelled.
Rye Sands (4mm scale, OO gauge) – William Loyd
Rye Sands is a OO gauge cameo layout, designed to fit in a wardrobe or the
back of a hatchback. The scene draws heavily from the real Rye Harbour
branch constructed by the South Eastern Railway in the 1850s, although it
also includes structures from Folkestone and Hastings. The barren, timeless
location means the layout can portray any time in a period between the late
1800s and 1930s, although rolling stock is primarily of South Eastern and
Chatham period. Rye Sands has its own integral lighting rig and home-made
SCATS (4mm scale, OO gauge) – SHMRC
SCATS is a finescale Ingleknook shunting puzzle for the public to try their skills at and will be located on the SHMRC stand.
Widley and St George (4mm/ft, OO gauge)
Our layout for the younger visitors. Come and drive trains pulled by Thomas, Percy and friends. A 20p fee is payable to help maintain for the layout.
More details of the layouts can be found at: Exhibition Layouts – Exhibition – SHMRC
Traders
Book Law Publications
Coastal DCC
C&L Finescale
Dingo Servo Mounts
London Road Models
Tim Horn Lasercutting
The Model Shop
Squires Tools
Wheels of Southsea
Modelstock – (ABS 4mm range)
Societies
EM Gauge Society
2mm Finescale Society
Scalefour Society
MERG
Demonstrators
Soldering: Roger Sawyer
Scenic Modelling: Roy Hickman
From 3D CAD to 3D Print: Duncan Redford
Modeling Town Scenes: Dave Hawkins
SHMRC Club Stand
If you are interested in learning more about our club, please come and visit the
club stand and talk to one of the members who can tell you all about us and what we have to offer.
More details of layouts, traders, demonstrators and societies, plus details of how to get there, can be found on the Club's website -
Exhibition – SHMRC
shmrc.org.uk
Please note this list is correct as of 15/08/25
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