Train Collectors Society - Spring Show Sat March 14th 2026
Trinity Church Hall, Leicester
Report and pics by Bob Leggett
Train Time again (Fig 1) on a very sunny morning for members and visitors to the TCS Spring event at Trinity Hall Leicester.
At 10am there was a queue (Fig 2) for those not wanting to take advantage of the early entry. The entrance was manned all day by Shirley Williams seen here with husband Paul (Fig 3),who also had the first layout on view in the Entrance area.
Paul had set up a lovely 36”x 32”' Tri-ang 00 Gauge circular layout with early Tri-ang 0-6-0 Saddle Tank an with early Victorian style buildings Jinty Locos and LMS coaches and Milk tank wagon running on German 3-Rail Trix fibre track, with early Victorian style buildings (Fig 4).
The first display on the right was Dave Angell's amazing Indian made Crown 00 Gauge Railways. This system was manufactured in the 1980's by Electronic Toys India (Fig 5), the system used several Tri-ang 1960/70's moulds (supplied by Tri-ang) as well as locally produced items. This is the largest collection of Crown Railways ever seen, the blue ex Tri-ang EMU Centre cars are particularly interesting (Fig 6).
The bring and buy stall was in it's usual place and had a great variety of items from N Gauge to LGB, organised by Malcolm Pugh with help from Dave Corbett and John Davidson, both seen here (Fig 7), there were good quantities of Hornby 0 Gauge, Airfix 00 Gauge and several LGB bogie tank wagons. Also availableon tehstand was Bob Fleming's newly published book. Room on Top'.The story of the SR EMU Double Deckers, I snapped up a copy for £12.
Dave Angell's stall (Fig 8) had a huge amount of mainly Tri-ang and Tri-ang/Hornby plus some Lima. Dave reported slightly lower sales from last November. Dave Bowns was selling mostly Hornby-Dublo and reported okay sales, (Fig 9).
Chairman Bryan Pentland scaled down this year in scale but not size of display!, Bryan was presenting lesser know tinplate 00 Gauge Trains (Fig 10), Monorails and Trolley Buses. This was another amazing effort by Bryan, Trains included Brimtoy (Fig 11), Ever Ready underground, Champion Railcar, Bing and Bud Table Top, Brawa Trolley Bus (Fig 12) and Japanese Haji Monorail (Fig 13) with plenty of tinplate buildings, several items running at one time, a much admired layout.
As we move into the Main Hall, President David Ramsey was selling off some more of his stock (Fig 14), on the left Mark Carne was selling mostly 0 Gauge (Fig 15) including a nice pair of David Peacock's replica Leeds SR Coaches for £75 (Fig 16).
Alongside, Robert Wood had one of the smallest yet busiest 0 Gauge layouts we have seen at our shows (Fig17). The layout is set up on a 5'x3' board with Lionel track and scenic accessories by various makers, Running were Lionel Passenger (Fig 18) and Goods Trains, Chad Valley and Hornby Trains and an Ives Passenger Train, Despite it's size it was a popular layout.
In Peter's Gurd's old corner was Peter Corley with David O'Brien selling off a variety of early 00 Gauge, Perter reported good sales including two Kirdon Diesels and a Hamblings Gnat, also for sale I spotted a lovely Dublo E3002 (Fig 19).
In the far corner was Dave White's excellent 12' x 8' Hornby AcHO layout seen her with helpers Les Martin and Neil Smith (Fig 20) with low and High level railway circuits and a French Railcar Shuttle service.The layout was well packed with scenic accessories including Les Martin's refinery (Fig 21).
Paul Chapman was running Tri-ang TT (Fig 22) on a 5'x2' layout using A Track he built a few years ago for a local exhibition. It was based on a Tri-ang design and most of the BR outline Trains were running during the day including the excellent DMU (Fig 23). At the end of the show there was a bit of a surprise when Rob Ridgeway way seen happily taking the layout home after buying it from Paul!
Colin Allbright from the Historical Model Railway Society was displaying early 00 Gauge wooden Kits from 1947-1960 (Fig 24). Included were Modelcraft, Anorma, Hobbies, Ratio, CCW and Kings Cross, a lovely Anorma Windmill (Fig 25) and Modelcraft Engine Shed with ERG Track (Fig 26) stood out.
On the stage Jonathan Perks and his son Oliver were running Tri-ang 00 Gauge Miniville and various Hornby Starter Sets (Fig 27), An excellent display with many hard to find sets on display including a Miniville set with a Signal box (Fig 28), Oscar Paisley of Youtube fame was at the show and I caught him setting up a video on the front of one of the starter sets engines (Fig 29).
At the other end of the stage Humphrey Davis was displaying his excellent collction of 12 early 20th Gauge 1 Live Steam Locomotives (Fig 30), Examples included Bing, Carette, Schoenner and Marklin and a Russian Station,
The rest of the hall was taken up by Traders including, Dixon Upcott (Fig 31) who was selling Trix, Tri-ang and other 00 Gauge and again reported excellent sales. Bob Leggett had his usual mix of mainly 00 Gauge including a Hornby Dublo display unit in need of tlc selling for £50 and will be seen shortly at the Sandtoft Trolley Bus Toy Museum! and a rare Lionel 0 Gauge 'The General' set was also for sale for £400 (Fig 32), Paul Draycott with help from Peter Wright who was enjoying one of the excellent cakes from the Buffet Bar (Fig 33), was selling a variety of items including Hornby-Dublo replica Tank wagons,
Mick French (Fig 34) were selling books and reported good steady sales. Rob Hampton was selling Tri-ang TT and 00 Gauge including Model Land and Lone Star 000 (Fig 35), he sold an unused Marx HO Gauge Set to a very happy James Day.Rob also had a Hornby-Dublo plastic Suburban Station repainted in Tri-ang maroon (Fig 36)
Paul Brookes has sent to auction the remains of his Master Model Collection however, he was selling off various Kemlow Diecast Models and also his various books including his latest book on Hailey Models (Fig 37)
We now move into the smaller hall which again was all change. David East with help from Paul Holden, David Winter and helper early on Johnny Herbert had set up a brilliant 12' x12' Tri-ang Big Big 0 Gauge layout (Fig 38) with various passing loops and sidings plus a working barrel unloader.
I was very impressed with Paul Holden's 3D left and right handed points and crossovers he had produced (Fig 39), These will greatly improve future track layouts.
David Rhodes had an interesting 'Blue Themed' Layout (Fig 40) which included Tri-ang Coronation Scot and Coaches, Wagon Lit Coaches with alternative interiors converting one to a Dining car and other with a more detailed sleeper interior (Fig 41), Tri-ang Blue Pullman, Hornby Thomas. A Dapol/Kitmaster Deltic with a Lima chassis was on duty while I was passing.
At the end of the room Derek Bond seen here with Rob and Susan Ridgeway (Fig 42) had set up his 3D printing Machine which was making Tri-ang spares and had on display the huge number of spares and neverwazzas now available mainly for Tri-ang Railways (Fig 43) and Minic Motorways, Derek was also proud of his latest advertising sign (Fig 44).
Talking of spares James day received from John Rogers, who was making a rare visit to the show, 1 Kilometre of new rubber for Minic Motorway Track (Fig 45).
The left side of the room was taken by Nikki and Maria Dean trading as Checkrail (Fig 46) and were selling N-00 and had a display test circuit for buyers to test their purchasers, sales were slow early on but improved later in the day.
The dining area was also busy all day with Bacon Rolls in the morning, and excellent two course lunch of Beef Casserole with mash and vegetables and Apple crumble or Sticky Toffee Pudding enjoyed by over 50 visitors including James Day, John Rogers and David Rhodes (Fig 47) and loads of lovely cakes in the afternoon and tea and soft drinks all day, many thanks to kitchen staff Daphne Sargent, Elaine and Neal Priestly, Judith Saunders, Paulette Furborough, Diane Johnson, Harley Johnson, Adam Draycott and Marilyn Draycott ,many seen working earlier in the day serving lunch (Fig 48) .
It was lovely to see so many members and public come to the show, by late morning the main hall was getting rather busy (Fig 49). The attendance was down from our November show, however it was still a good attendance and the Society was able to make an excellent surplus of £100.
Thank you to Bryan Pentland and Paul Draycott and his family for organising the show and other members, Exhibitors, Traders and Public who came to make this such a special event.
