Railway Day
Saturday 2 July 2022
All Trains Running!
For one day only, St Andrew’s was transformed into a bustling railway hub. Layouts, railway-related displays and children’s activities proved an immense draw for all ages. At times, the place even seemed busier than King’s Cross at rush-hour!
The signs were already good before we opened our doors at 10.30am, with visitors queueing right down the path to Beckwith’s. The buzz of activity and excitement among everyone, from toddlers to seasoned railway aficionados, continued throughout most of the show’s six hours. Especially later in the afternoon, it wasn’t uncommon to see parents coaxing reluctant children OUT of the church – how about that for a turn of events?!
The idea of holding some form of railway show at St Andrew’s goes back a couple of years and we were all set to hold one in 2020 before Lockdown hit. Model railway events are often hosted by churches because they have the space for a number of keen hobbyists to lay out their boards in one place, but Hertford itself has not been home to a railway show for quite a few years. So, when local vintage model railway collector Reg Harman offered his services (and significant network of contacts) to help put our Railway Day “on track”, we welcomed the opportunity to tread uncharted territory at St Andrew’s and to make contact with an entirely new audience. With all the exhibitors from Hertford or nearby, their expertise and enthusiasm in this specialist area are evidently right on our doorstep.
The layouts themselves spanned the typical range of gauges; from Keith Neat’s Garden Gauge layout and Tom Oates’ impressive collection of Lego trains, to the seriously miniature N gauge layouts brought by James Toyn and Nik Wilson, with a few more exotic gauges in between. There were, of course, several layouts of the familiar OO gauge. To the uninitiated, that’s what we’d think of as the classic Hornby or Tri-Ang scale that many kids of my generation owned at some time or other. While some layouts (generally the smaller-gauge ones) came pre-assembled and ready to roll, others needed some assembly on the day: Peter Shillito’s sizeable layout in the North Transept was put together from four substantial units all slotted together, and Guy Brigden hand-laid a complex triple circuit over by the kitchenette.
Model railway layouts are evidently as individual as their creators, who like to introduce distinctive touches that reflect their personal interests: to the strains of a Welsh male voice choir and video footage of Welsh railways on Keith Neat’s laptop, Thomas The Tank Engine shunted along that notorious troublesome truck S.C. Ruffey, evoking childhood memories for Keith: his schoolboy nickname was “Scruffy” - in an inversion of his surname! Reg Harman’s Picasso-inspired layout in a French Riviera setting featured a miniature Musée de Picasso in the foreground, complete with tiny Picassos.
“Railwayana” might be a new word to many of us, but if you visited the show you’ll now have a better idea of what that means: anything curious or collectible associated with railways, actual or miniature. Alongside loco plates and lamps, items of particular interest included an approx. 100-year-old Midland Railway button found in the collection plate at St Andrew’s and a magnificent wooden model of an engine and tender built in around 1912-13 by Nick Cheall’s grandfather, beautifully restored during Lockdown.
Local author Pauline Hazlewood (“Saddletank Engines” series) did a roaring trade, especially in signed books, but also had her cute little handmade circuit trundling away on her table. Clive Barton held a first showing of a collection of rolling stock and other memorabilia built up over many years – among the exhibits were a classic train spotter’s notebook with row upon row of engine numbers!
Thomas from Sodor and his friends also turned up in the Children’s Corner, where they could be driven on a small TT scale layout by children – often with far longer trains than Rev. Awdry ever imagined. Other children’s activities included a wooden floor railway, building a locomotive from cardboard boxes and colouring in outlines of saddletank trains, kindly supplied by Pauline.
It was nice to be able to view first-hand the modelling skills that took Nik Wilson and his team to victory in the Great Model Railway Challenge back in 2018. Nik does what is known as scratch-building: he literally makes all components of his models from scratch. You won’t find any pre-fabs on his layouts! He most generously offered his Bolder Hill Tramway (inspired by the San Francisco tram system) as the prize in a special raffle (see below). The young winner was completely overwhelmed at being able to take home such a fantastic prize. Who knows, maybe it will inspire him to become the next generation of scratch-build modellers?
There was an opportunity for everyone to take something home, as local model dealer Joe Lock organised a trade stall selling pre-loved model trains and vehicles; this did good business throughout the day.
A huge thanks to everyone who played a part in making the event so successful – exhibitors, stewards, helpers, the indefatigable catering team, Rosemary and Sue on the kids’ crafts, and indeed everyone involved at various points in the process. All told, the event raised a very welcome £900 for the church through refreshments, donations and contactless taps. But perhaps more importantly, around 600 people visited, reflecting the huge appeal of a community event that was free to attend and clearly ticked a box for so many people.
Nick Hoyle
The May 1961 British Railways Eastern Region staff magazine was on display and featured the Hertford stations - this prompted memories of people who worked and travelled on the railways.
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GREAT MODEL TRAIN RAFFLE
There was also the fantastic opportunity to win a unique layout created by our very own Nik Wilson (one of the Railmen of Kent - winners of The Great Model Railway Challenge 2019)! The lucky winner took home a working model ready to run including trams, train & controller.
Here's the full list of layouts that were on display.