Dawn Quest

The Best Model Railways at Ireland's Miniature Models Expo, definitely worth the trip from England to see this great show

Which raises the question: what exactly is a “local model shop”? If you live in certain parts of the North of England, your local shop might be a large retailer with a warehouse attached. If you’re like me, living on the east coast of England, your local shop might be run by a couple who split their space between model railways and craft items like yarn, fabric, and knitting needle So what about me? Do I shop at my local model shop? Yes. Do I buy from larger retailers? Yes. Do I buy at model railway shows? Yes. Do I buy directly from manufacturers? Yes. Do I use eBay or Temu? Yes. Would I buy second-hand instead of new? Yes. Would I boycott a business because people on forums tell me to? No. Would I boycott a business if they did something that directly and negatively affected me? Likely—but it depends on the situation. I’d find it hard to share or review a product if I felt that the company’s practices weren’t transparent and didn’t represent good customer service My personal thoughts: Model railway shops—particularly smaller ones—need to explore additional revenue streams from independent manufacturers, such as cottage industries, and create more niche shopping experiences for their customers. Small, independent model railway manufacturers who currently sell only online: now is the time to consider wholesale opportunities with model shops and price your products accordingly.

The new Heljan website has discounted some of the range of locos at £99. I cannot imagine this will be taken well by the trade.

My weekly livestream 'The Wednesday Express Not Stopping at Peterborough' will be featuring my amazing trip to Cork last weekend and talking and showing extracts from the Model Rail Expo plus a great garden layout and and amazing Irish home layout I visited and discussing how the show I attended got everything so right. Join us tonight at 7:30 to watch live and comment or watch it on catch up. Also try our regular features, our model railway quiz of the week and also we feature our infamous regular Irish viewer, Maura this week as we showcase her stunning cottages she has made for her layout. If you don't know Maura, you will by the end of the show. She is a legend.

I've had lots of submissions for this challenge, and I would like to extend the deadline by a week, until next Wednesday, 1st April, as I have been ill for the past week or so, although I’m now feeling much better. I would also like to take part in the challenge myself, and my own submission is only half complete because of this. This means everyone still has this weekend to create a model of a structure you might find in a garden for your layout or a diorama—whether it’s a shed, outside loo, Anderson shelter, dog kennel, tropical garden bar and BBQ area, or a run-down, disused workshop. The rules are: No 3D printing No using items taken from kits No shop-bought modelling materials such as roofs or printed brickwork You can use static grass, etc., but everything must be made from items found around the house or things not intended for model making (e.g. toothbrush lids, coffee stirrers, lentils, cardboard, etc.). All entries will be featured in a YouTube video, so please send three to four pictures along with a written description of the materials used. I will narrate this over your images. Please send your entries to: modelrailwayquest@gmail.com By the way, I’m not looking for expert modelling skills—as “Grumpy Cameraman’s” effort of our garden studio below proves! That said, some of the submissions have been of such a high standard that it’s been surprising to see what the items originally started life as.

This is one of a series of LOCONORY stories about important people in our hobby

Looks like there will be 50 traders, 10 model railway layouts and of the traders, some interesting 3D building suppliers. Entrance is only 2 Euros and just spoke to the event manager and looks like he is bringing this beauty

Yes, not many people know that a loco was painted like this for a publicity shot before being painted in their actual colour at the time. Also in B/W films, such as Brief Encounter, lipstick colours were green and not red, as that made a better contrast balance.

Really looking forward to this weekend! I’m flying over to Cork from the UK to visit . Thank you for inviting me—it’s going to be a great show on Sunday. On Saturday, I’ll be filming an amazing home layout and garden railway, as well as enjoying some foodie experiences in Cork City. If you’re coming along on Sunday, come and say hello!

I have built a fully monochrome exhibition layout based on the 1944 David Lean film. OO gauge and love to exhibit in in Ireland one day. Coming over this weekend as a visitor to the big Cork Model Expo show