Model Engineering Exhibition 2009

Went up to Alexandra Palace again this year for the Model Engineering Exhibition. Some awesome exhibits including the same Gauge 1 layout that I spent some time drooling at last year...

The urge to try modelling something larger than 00 gauge was still there and whilst the impracticalities of attempting a 5" loco in a small 2 bedroom house without a garage were obvious, Gauge 1 looked very much like something that could be done without the need for lots of space and massive lathes, and could perhaps even be done on a ktichen table. I spent some time chatting to Malcolm and his team at Model Engineers Laser http://www.modelengineerslaser.co.uk/ who had some interesting 'Britannia' framesets on display - laser cut and slotted so even a halfwit such as myself couldn't go wrong in putting them together. After some discussion with the long-suffering "Boss" (remarkably good-natured seeing as she had put up with several hours of looking at model planes, tanks and locomotives!) and further discussion with the "Old Man" (not actually that old, and whose experience with BR Standards includes getting a certain Standard class 8 out of Barry and into preservation) I was walking back to the car with a kit to build a Gauge 1 Britannia frameset under my arm, having paid a very reasonable 60 quid for it.

Searching the web seemed to reveal very little in the way of websites documenting G1 live steam builds, so I thought I would start one myself to keep a diary of progress and hopefully create something that would be of use to others on a similar path in the future. I have zero experience with live steam and so the leap from 'model making' to 'model engineering' should be an interesting one!