Last year at the Hornby Magazine Live exhibition the Hornby Magazine editor Mike Wild, fellow modeller Richard Proudman and myself undertook the challenge to build a layout in a weekend and having successfully finished with an hour to spare Ashland was born. Based on Southern practice in North Cornwall we used Ashbury and Dunsland Cross as the inspiration, hence the name. Ashland will be returning to Hornby Magazine Live at Hartlepool on 7th and 8th July to enable those visitors who attended last years show and saw only a part built layout to view the completed challenge.
Making only its second appearance since completion, we shall be operating Ashland in Post war 1946 to 1949 guise on the Saturday using my own rolling stock and moving forward in time to the BR Southern Region era of 1955 to 1965 on the Sunday using Mike and Richard’s stock. If you are planning on visiting the show please make sure you come and say hello!
This year’s show, being held in the centre of town in a new venue at the Hartlepool College of Further Education, Stockton Street, Hartlepool, TS24 7LB will feature over 20 quality layouts in scales from ‘N’ to ‘O’, many having been previously featured in Hornby Magazine, plus full trade support and catering. Proceeds from the event go to Hartlepool Families First and RNLI Hartlepool.
Other Southern related layouts include: Rowland castle – 00 wartime Southern, Hedges Hill – N 1980’s BR Southern Region and Meopham East Junction – 00 1960’s BR Southern Region.
Although not Southern based another one of Mike wild’s Hornby Magazine layouts, that I can often be found assisting with, Bolsover and Seven Pit Lane will also be in attendance and operated as usual by Hornby’s Railmaster system and is well worth a watch. Further details about the show can be found here on the Hornby Magazine website.
If you are unable to get to Hartlepool, Ashland will also be making an appearance at the High Wycombe and District MRS’s Wycrail show on the Saturday 3rd November also at a new venue this year at the Cressex Community School, Cressex Road, High Wycombe, Bucks HP12 4UD.
Building a layout in a weekend, now that’s some achievement! I seemed to spend my entire childhood buiding one and it still wasn’t finished
Hello Mitch, good to hear from you, I trust that you are well? I think we showed what was possible with a bit of advanced planning and three people who worked well together, was tiring but fun all the same.
Hi Graham, very well thanks and I hope that you are too. I’ve been nosing around your blog for a while and it’s very interesting. I don’t really know much about the Southern being a Midlands boy, but I’ve learnt a bit already. I’ve been working in York for three years and still not made it to the to the Railway Museum! Do you do the show at York?
Well the Railway Museum is of course well worth a vist although its been a few years since I last managed to get there myself. The York show is on my list of those to visit or maybe even exhibit at sometime in the future, not got there yet.