There’s a treat in store for model railway lovers at the Severn Valley Railway’s O Gauge Get Together on 7 and 8 October at The Engine House, Highley. For the third year running, the SVR will play host to an impressive collection of award-winning model layouts, along with trade stands including Dapol and Ellis Clarke Trains.
A total of seven 1:43.5 scale layouts will be showcased, displaying the sight and sounds from the early days of the railways through to the modern era.
“For the first time, we’re welcoming the ‘Newchapel Junction’ layout,” explained Tom Clarke, one of the volunteer event organisers. “It’s absolutely huge and takes seven hours to set up. It’s fully signalled and needs five people to operate. It’s run like a real railway system, depicting the 1930s on the Great Western Railway.”
Another award-winning layout will be ‘Central Works’, showing the railway’s involvement within a car factory complex. It can be run as either Ford Dagenham or BMC Longbridge, and features a quirky coal ‘tippler’ which turns fully loaded wagons upside down to empty them.
The volunteer organisers of the event have commissioned a special Dapol O gauge wagon for the weekend event, as Harry Bradley, another member of the volunteer organising group, explains: “It features Edward Russell coal merchants of Kidderminster and Netherton, and we’ve kept this to a limited edition of just 50 which will be on sale at the event. We’ll also hold a raffle for thousands of pounds worth of O gauge prizes, with proceeds going to the SVR’s Survival Fund.”
Entry to the O Gauge Get Together at The Engine House, Highley is free but parking is very limited. Tickets to travel on the Severn Valley Railway are available at svr.co.uk
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