Hi John, I've found a few old Peco guides to give me a steer so am probably ok for now - it's a N gauge project (extending my 8 year old's layout across his bedroom and he has plenty of good ideas). I also have a few Midland stations to model it on (my trainset's a bit bigger than most these days - www.kwvr.co.uk!)

This sounds quite Familiar as I have a OO in my loft but as a tail-chaser 20x12 foot I am scatchbuilding the town scenes at present but unfortunately have grand-kids who are too small in that they get under the baseboard and hold on to whatever is to hand so got a bit of re-wiring to do again

I can remember Sheffield modellers here in Chesterfield but never got chance to visit their exhibitions as Saturdays a lot of times meant work as a teenager

It suddenly seems like a long time since I started this thread. I guess life has been busy. I apologize for not keeping up with the conversation. There are so many BBS opportunities that I became lost. Around about the time I asked about the SMRE I started an interest in Hornby Live Steam, which continues. This branch of the hobby is ably supported by the OOLiveSteam Club, which has a good web site for discussion of this topic. These locomotives continue to go up in the price on ebay, so it is a bit of investment to start playing with it these days. At the time I bought most of these locos, about 2010, the prices were reasonable, or even discounted on the RRP.
My layout is still nascent, although I have recently retired and can start moving things along.
It looks like many of you were contemporaries of mine at the SMRE, although I moved on before the end of the 1960s, most of the characters I knew are mentioned by you all. I heard from Eric Burdette's son Steve in recent times. He is continuing his Railway Modelling. His father passed away a number of years ago (2002). I particularly remember Steve because he was a classmate of mine at Rowlinson Technical School. We both remember the SMRE at Cutler's Hall where we worked on the exhibitions. He also exhibits at Model Railway Shows with an LMS engine shed. Another name is Mike Carline, who was also my contemporary in the 1960s, and who was at the SMRE show in 2009 according to Steve.

I realized after a little chasing that I have two aliases on here rgmichel and kinggeorgev. Either one of these leads to my email, and skype so its no big deal I guess.

I have posted a picture in the gallery at: http://www.railwayforum.net/gallery/...?i=38141&c=508

This might be interesting to those of us in the SMRE in the 1960s. I took this photo on a trip to a York model railway exhibition with a number of other SMRE members. I think Des Welch was on that trip, and probably the Burdetts, but I can't be sure. I have a couple more images to upload from that exhibition, but they are not quite as interesting.

I find this picture of interest because it portrays a pre-grouping GWR scene with some great old early 20th century GWR locomotives.

http://www.railwayforum.net/gallery/...atid=favorites
http://www.railwayforum.net/gallery/...atid=favorites

Above are links to two more photographs that I took at a York Model Railway exhibition in 1967. The first is a model representing a continental scene, which is clear from the coaches involved, while the second is a model of a quarry scene with an Airfix signal box and telegraph pole in the foreground. I have no more information about these layouts at the moment, although if I dug around I might find an old program of the exhibition, but I doubt it really.