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NEW NG 26 @ SWINDON MODRAIL
Saturday 7 March 2026 10.00-16.30
NEW NG (North East Wiltshire Narrow Gauge) will be an "exhibition within an exhibition" at Swindon Modrail on Saturday 7 March 2026.
This will be the 65th annual exhibition held by Swindon MRC and I am delighted to have again been invited to organise a specifically Narrow Gauge section.
The venue is the STEAM Museum, Fire Fly Avenue, Swindon, SN2 2EY.
https://www.steam-museum.org.uk/
This is adjacent to the Swindon Designer Outlet.
https://www.mcarthurglen.com/en/outlets/uk/designer-outlet-swindon/
Admission: adult - £8.00.
children under 16 - free when accompanied by an adult.
Admission to STEAM museum is not included and is not required to visit the exhibition. However, the museum will be offering a combined discounted entry to exhibition visitors.
The building has disabled access.
Refreshments are available on site within the museum cafe or in the Outlet.
Parking (a short walk) is at the Designer Outlet car park.
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It is planned that there will be the following exhibits.
Layouts
Richard Williams and Tim Tinknell - "Tusk Quarry and Stonebridge Wharf" (SM32)
Alan Monk - "Mynydd y Ddraig" (OO9)
Chris Mold – "Hawkridge" (OO9)
Nick Wright – "Yellow Ridge Uranium Mine" (Gn15)
John Ellis – "Cactus Creek Silver Mine" (On18)
Stuart Taylor – "Melin Dolrhyd" (OO9)
Robin Edwards – "Tony's Forest" (O14)
Paul Levy – "Gosodiad Bach" (OO9)
Christopher Payne – "Saith ar Hugain" (Sn2)
Demonstration
Simon Andrews – KATO mini modules (OO9)
Display
Clive and Wendy Harman – Display of Modellmaking
Society stands
7mm Narrow Gauge Association
Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway
Christopher Payne
NEW NG Co-ordinator
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NEW NG 26 publicity - layouts
With four weeks to go before the event it is time to start drawing attention to the various exhibits.
These are listed in no particular order.
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"MYNYDD Y DDRAIG" is Alan Monk's "OO9" micro layout depicting the Vale of Rheidol in the 1970s. Displayed on a table top the plan is (to use Alan's phrase) "essentially a mirror-image of Devil's Bridge".
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"TONY'S FOREST" is an "O14" layout built be Robin Edwards and extensively described on Robin's own website.
https://www.robinslayouts.co.uk/tonys-forest/
The layout was the subject of a detailed article in NG&IRMR No 118.
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"MELIN DOLRHYD" is a depiction of a section of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway in "OO9" built by Stuart Taylor.
It was described in RM, December 2021.
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"HAWKRIDGE" is a"OO9" layout built by Chris Mould portraying a terminus in a town setting.
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"YELLOW RIDGE MINING Co", Nick Wright's large scale ("Gn15") highly detailed minimum gauge layout.
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"GOSODIAD BACH", is a micro layout in "OO9" built by Paul Levy. It achieves a continuous run within an RUB22 (22 litre Really Useful Box) – baseboard area of 740mm x 215mm (c.29¼ins x 8½ins).
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"CACTUS CREEK SILVER MINE" is a minimum space layout built by John Ellis in "On18".
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"TUSK QUARRY and STONBRIDGE WHARF" is a new "SM32" (16mm/ft) layout built by Richard Williams (the quarry) and Tim Tinknell (the wharf).
Richard writes as follows.
"Somewhere in the east Midlands lay an estate line now lost to history. Lord Fleetwood started the line to move items around the estate and supply the main house from the nearby connections, but the discovery of coal seams in the edges of the estate lead to quarrying activity. At the behest of his accountants, the quarrying was carried out under the auspices of a separate company, for 'financial reasons'. That the system's stock all shares the routes, facilities and locos interchangeably is something the inspector has yet to twig. The red locos are in theory the estates, and the green ones the quarries, but operationally no one cares too much, as they all came from the same supplier! Some coal is shipped to the main house for use on site, and the surplus is taken to the canal connection for onward retail.
Although large scale, the layouts combine a lot of operation into a small(ish) space, and are largely constructed using inexpensive methods."
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"SAITH AR HUGAIN" is my own essay on 9mm track in the scale of "Sn2" (thus being 19% bigger than "OO9") in a WAB27 (a 27 litre Whitefurze Allstore Box).
https://www.whitefurze.net/27l-whitefurze-allstore.html
In the scenic area of 28½ x 5¼ ins (724 x 133 mm) is portrayed a minimal terminus providing simple facilities for passenger and goods traffic, loco refuelling, and (via a secondary exit from the station yard) a connection to a quarry. Outside the area of the WAB27 box the "fiddle yard" is provided by a "Simple Kato Cassette" system (see OO9 News, December 2020, pp. 18-21). The layout is displayed at an adult viewing height on a standard trestle table.
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A further posting will list trade, society, and other exhibitors.
CP
NEW NG 26 Co-ordinator.
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NEW NG 26 publicity – demonstration, display, trade, and society exhibitors
With less than three weeks to the event here is information as to the non-layout exhibitors.
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Demonstration: Simon Andrews - mini modules
Simon writes as follows.
"Modellers are frequently face with restrictions of time, space, or money that thwart their plans. Micros, modular layouts, and dioramas can all provide a solution for the resource constrained modeller. I am currently exploring the use of Kato and Peco Mini Diorama kits to address some of these constraints on my narrow gauge modelling.These palm sized, connectable, modules are ideal for beginners and experienced modellers alike, and allow the modeller to experiment with new modelling techniques, display locos and rolling stock, and can be linked together to provide longer continuous circuits of track to get something running."
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Display: Clive and Wendy Harman
Clive describes the work of Wendy and himself.
"WOOzY BAY is a 'work in progress' and my first venture into larger scale Narrow Gauge of 0-16.5
The aim is to encourage people to 'have a go' at the hobby by showing that it doesn't have to be 'perfect', take up a huge amount of space, and it needn't cost a fortune. For that reason, almost everything was bought second-hand, recycled, or readily available. Much of it has been re-purposed from a Hornby 'Thomas' layout I'd built for my, now adult, grandchildren some 15 years ago. As a couple, we've modelled miniature buildings ('dolls houses') for the last 30 years and the two hobbies cross over and complement each other in many ways. It therefore seemed an obvious progression to look beyond the railway and also display some of these models, most of which are fully furnished, in a semi landscaped setting."
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Trade: Ducket Models
Ducket Models provide resin 3D prints of fine detailing parts.
Web site: https://www.ducketmodels.co.uk/
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Trade: Paul Levy L&B resin models
As the name states Paul specialises in resin models of items for modelling the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway.
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Society: The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association
Now in its fifth decade of existence, the Association presents its publicity stand including a small demonstration layout with tracks of 16.5mm and 9mm, a display of models in the scale, and a range of publications.
Web site: https://www.7mmnga.org.uk/
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Society: Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways
Information about the Ffestiniog Railway (the world's oldest narrow gauge railway) and the Welsh Highland (the longest heritage railway in the UK).
Web site: https://www.festrail.co.uk/
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CP
NEW NG 26 Co-ordinator
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NEW NG 26 publicity – the rest of the exhibition
NEW NG 26 being "an exhibition within an exhibition" those interested will find details of the rest of the event on the web site of Swindon MRC.
https://www.swindonmodelrailwayclub.com/index.php/modrail-2026
PLEASE NOTE
Narrow gauge modellers are advised not confuse the attending trade stand of Brooks Models – https://brooksmodels.com/ - with that of Brooks 3D Models.
CP
NEW NG 26 Co-ordinator
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NEW NG 26 @ SWINDON MODRAIL
Saturday 7 March 2026 10.00-16.30
With less than a week to go, may I remind narrow gauge modellers that for the second time NEW NG will be "an exhibition within an exhibition" at Swindon MODRAIL next Saturday 7 March 2026?
A little expanded after the initial event last year this is an attempt to provide a new Narrow Gauge event in (broadly speaking) the South of England.
Although not immediately local we have in the last few years lost the annual Small and Delightful exhibition at Shepton Mallet and ExpoNG at Swanley.
Fortunately we still have the excellent bi-annual NG South, and various OO9 Society Members' Days.
NEW NG does not for one moment aspire to replace S&D or ExpoNG, to compete with NG South, or to seek to undermine Society Members' Days.
It does, however, hope to bring the attractions of NG modelling to a wider public than the occasional NG layouts participating in general model railway exhibitions.
Put simply, the very existence of a venture like NEW NG is dependent on successfully attracting an audience and thereby publicising NG modelling. One might say that it is a case of "use it or lose it".
This year we have layouts in a wide variety of scales – SM32, Gn15, O14, On18, OO9 (four of them), and (yes, my own small contribution) in Sn2. We also have a display of modelling, a demonstration of KATO mini modules in OO9, information stands from the 7mm NGA and F&WHR, and the trade stands of Ducket Models and Paul Levy L&B Resin Models.
In addition the rest of the exhibition offers another 20 layouts in various scales, other trade, Society, and demonstration stands all for an overall entry fee of £8.00 (accompanied children under 16 free).
There is also on site the attraction of "STEAM - the Museum if the GWR" (separate entry fee), and for non-modellers shopping at the adjacent and extensive "Designer Outlet Swindon".
CP
NEW NG Co-ordinator