Trinity Church Hall, Leicester Saturday Nov 1st 2025
Report and Pictures by Bob Leggett
Many of the exhibitors and Traders arrived Friday pm from all over the country and almost everyone encountered terrible Friday afternoon traffic. For most exhibitors it was ideal to get started as for most layouts everything is loose lay.
Come Saturday morning everyone one was ready, there was not the usual rush as many buyers waited until 10am to come in rather than pay the little extra to get in early. However by 10.30 the main hall was busy (Fig 1) and a large number stayed all day with over 70 enjoying the delicious Christmas Lunch cooked by members of the Church. It was also very welcome to see more families come to the show.
Many thanks to Ray, Peter, Dave and David from Trinity Church who manned the entrance. Dave Parry seen here (Fig 2).
The first layout is Chairman Bryan Pentland's, as usual he had a wonderful layout running Brimtoy, Wells, Chad Valley and Mettoy 0 Gauge Trains with Stations, Engine Sheds and Bridges by all the manufacturers (Fig 3). First time out was the Lionel Super Street Track which had many of Bryan's conversions running round including Chad Valley Bus, Minic Ambulance and Buses, Morestone Noddy Car and many others.
I was however, taken by the Lionel detached tin houses which I have not seen before, they appear to be nearer HO Gauge and have hand painted greenery on the sides (Fig 4) ,
Opposite was the bring and buy stall run by Malcolm Pugh with help from Eddie Spencer and David Corbett seen here with Paul Chapman searching for a Bargain (Fig 5). There were more tables than I can ever recall and a large collection was spilt into hundreds of small lots (Fig 6). It was a busy day with sales over £660 despite only three sales over £30, a total of £66 was raised for the club. A big thanks to all three.
Dave Angell (Fig 7) was in his usual spot, selling mostly Tri-ang, Tri-ang Hornby and Hornby plus N Gauge and again reported excellent sales. A lovely set of wooden buildings sold for £75 (Fig 8). Dave also noted families buying Train Sets and Accessories. Tri-ang also sold well, again accessories were very popular.
In the passage-way to the main Church, organiser Paul Draycott, (great to see him back after his recent illness), was selling unusual 00 Gauge and Dave Bowns opposite Bryan was selling mainly Hornby-Dublo (Fig 9).
Moving into the small hall we find our Editor Nicholas Oddy, as usual he was selling good value 0 Gauge and larger models.
Dave Peasant was back in his usual spot with his excellent 0 Gauge layout full of wonderful scenic accessories, As I was passing a Leeds 0-4-0 Pannier Tank and and ACE Castle were pulling rakes of Exley GWR coaches on Lionel 0 Gauge Fast Track (see video on website). Dave had converted a French Tinplate Van using various tin signs (Fig 10) and I loved the Tri-ang Garage (Fig 11), Church scene (Fig 12), Farm (Fig 13) and Construction Site (Fig 14).
In the corner was Derek Bond (Fig 15), with his ever expanding collection of 3d printed spares, mostly Tri-ang Railways and Minic Motorway, The spares for Davy Crockett Loco (Fig 16) and seats for the Old Time Coaches sold well and some new Minic Motorway loads were on display (Fig 17).
In the corner was an unusual display by Colin Allbright, it was the HMRS (Historical Model Railway Society) fascinating display of early 00 Gauge Track Systems (Fig 18).
Alongside was Jonathan Perts and his son Oliver with their first display of Hornby 00 Gauge PlayTrains circa 1984-1994 (Fig 19). This is probably the first ever display of PlayTrains and it was fascinating to see the development of these models aimed at the very young. Of particular interest was the unpowered Thomas trains which were originally part of the PlayTrains system until they were electrified.
Alongside was Bob Smith (Fig 20) selling his large collection of Hornby-Dublo and other maker accessories and spares. A nice Dublo boxed Pre-war Engine shed was on sale for £100 (Fig 21),
First on the right was Mike Cook (Fig 22) with an interesting assortment of O Gauge and larger Locomotives, including a Bassett-Lowke special order Gauge 1 2-6-0 American Union Pacific 354 Locomotive for £1250 and a Gauge 2 Bing Storklet also for £1250.
Alongside was David Rhodes (Fig 23) who was celebrating 200 years of Railways with an excellent layout showing various readily available Historical models by Tri-ang, modern Hornby Locomotion, Rocket and Lion, Trix De Adler, Bachmann and other makers and kitbuilt models by Kitmaster (Fig 24), a Tri-ang Lord of the Isles was on duty as I passed.
Next was Paul Chapman with his lovely Faller E Train layout (Fig 25), lots of variety including a Freighliner depot (Fig 26) and Paul's best friend, his Penguin on the last Truck.
Alongside Dave White with help from yours truly had his excellent Tri-ang Wild West Layout (Fig 27) with two circuits running Davy Crockett original and repainted Locomotives with a variety of Old Timer Coaches including ATT Green and Central Pacific Yellow (Fig 28). Scenery included a Wild West Town, Airfix Fort with Union and Confederates (Fig 29) and American Red Indians having one big battle! A yellow painted Minihaha as proposed by Tri-ang looked excellent with the recently purchased 4-piece Wardie Cutting Set (Fig 30)
On the opposite wall was Eric Large with his very interesting historical TT Layout (Fig 31), all the Locomotives and coaches on view were made in the late fifties-early sixties by Tri-ang and repainted by TE Collins (Fig 32) and Taylor and Mckeena Hand built wagons using Tri-ang Chassis and bogies, the layout was also full of attractive wooden buildings.
The rest of the hall was taken up by the majority of Traders
At the main entrance back to the foyer, David Ramsey was in the late Michael Foster's traditional spot, seen here having a catch up with Paul Chapman (Fig 33), David was selling 0 Gauge spares including Bassett Lowke Tin plate signs which sold well (Fig 34).
On the front of the stage Paul Brookes was selling off his wonderful collection of Master Models, Liliput and Kemlow items (Fig 35), before he sends the remaining stock to Auction. Paul was also selling many of the books he has published on Master Models and related items (Fig 36). Paul reported good sales, my purchase was the four piece Wardie Cutting, seen later on the Tri-ang Layout.
Mark Carne was selling a great selection of mainly O Gauge and larger locomotives and accessories, seen here with some interested punters! (Fig 37). David O'Brien was selling Trix and Peter Corley selling unusual 00 Gauge (Fig 38).
Dixon Upcott had a table full of 00 Gauge including a bargain box of Coaches (Fig 39) and was next to Tony Penn 'Steptoe's Yard' (Fig 40) who was selling cheap and cheerful 00 Gauge Locomotives including a huge quantity of Tri-ang Locos mostly between £10-£20. Not surprisingly Tony had a very good day.
Alongside the Daughter of …....... was selling her late father's collection and reported good sales.
Mike French was selling a massive collection of books (Fig 41) and reported good sales although lower than last year.
Bob Leggett had his usual variety of mainly 00 Gauge including an ER Monorail Set selling for £80 and an unused Hornby Santa Set for £50.
Adam and Simon Goodyear were selling a good selection of vintage trains from all gauges including a nice Hornby 0 Gauge GWR Set for £395 (Fig 42. Rob Hampton (Fig 43) had a good selection of Lone-Star 000, Tri-ang TT and 00 Gauge including Wrenn and Dublo.
In the cafe seating area Geraldine Steel (Fig 44) with help from Alan Walker and David Holt had a lovely freelance 6' 6”x 3'' Hornby-Dublo 3-Rail layout with the later 2-Rail Terminus Station, it was in a good spot and was enjoyed by all including the diners.
During the afternoon Paul Middleton showed me the manuscript of his book on the Tri-ang 00 Gauge Princess Locomotive from Rovex to Hornby (Fig 45). It is a substantial piece of work which Paul has put together over the last 18 months and will be a must-have for the ardent Tri-ang collector
One of the many highlights of the show is the wonderful Christmas lunch with all the trimmings provided by the catering team from the Church, A 3-course meal for £12 was enjoyed by over 70 visitors over two sittings. I was able to have a very enjoyable lunch with fellow Collectors, Dave White, David Rhodes, Dave Angell, Jonathan Perts and his wife Natasha (Fig 46). We also had Bacon Rolls in the morning, Cakes in the afternoon and Tea and coffee all day, many thanks to the catering team, Karen Clements, Pav Pall, Daphne Sargent, Salwa Draycott, Adam Draycott, Judith Saunders, Paulette Furborough, Mary Starie, Pauline Smith, Debbie Robinson, Diane Johnson, Harley Johnson, Neil Draycott and Paul and Marilyn Draycott, some of whom were there at the end (Fig 47).
The show was a great success with many people staying all day.
A Big thank you to Paul and Adam Draycott and their family and friends and Bryan Pentland and Dave White and others for their parts in organising the show. Thank you also to all the Exhibitors, Traders and visitors for making it such a great day out.
Bob Leggett
