Today I visited the model traction engine "do" at Kingsbury Water Park, organised by the Echills Wood Railway.
It is a good event but held, in my opinion, for participants to enjoy their weekend away rather than for members of the public to see miniature road going steam engines. There is a meal organised for this evening for exhibitors and I think that sums it up - a good social occasion. I do not have a problem with this but I am glad I live only a twenty minutes drive from Kingsbury. If I had traveled further I would have been a little disappointed.
There was a good selection of engines, in many scales and by different makers. Below are a few pictures that I took this afternoon. There has been no changes made in the computer, other than cropping to make a more balanced composition.
The first picture is of a newly painted wagon in, I think, 2" scale. The paint job looked very good indeed, I really liked the colours and sign writing.
The next few pictures are of a very nice 3" scale Marshall. Built by a father and son team, it ran very sweetly. To be a little controversial, this is one of the few times I have seen a model being driven at a scale speed. The crank was turning at a sensible and realistic rate instead of being a blur and for myself it was a pleasure to see.
The last couple of photos show a 3" Allchin and a 4" (?) Burrell - possibly a Steam Traction World kit...? Whatever, it is a good looking and well proportioned engine and ran very nicely.
Michael