Events in 2008

Ted Polet

Expong 10/2008

On October 25th, 2008 four Dutch members of the 009 Society visited Expong at Swanley. On Friday Bert van Rhijn, Hans van der Linden, Dick van Beek and I myself travelled to Calais to cross to Dover. Otto Schouwstra had travelled separately using the Hook of Holland ferry. On Friday evening we helped Brian Guilmant, Mick Thornton and Ian Turner to set up the second-hand Sales Stand and the next day we visited the show itself. This was the 25th anniversary of Expong and the 40th of the organisers, the Greenwich & District Narrow Gauge Railway Society. Expong always offers a good selection of high quality narow gauge model railways and is attended by a great number of trade stands offering specialised narrow gauge modelling materials in all scales and gauges. For the Dutch 009 Society members Expong has always been an excellent occasion to meet their British counterparts. As usual we had a very pleasant time and we felt very welcome at Expong.

On the ferry:

Gairloch & Wester Ross Railway:

Pempoul:

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Valkenburg 9/2008

On September 13th and 14th, the Dutch Group together with a good selection of other narrow gauge modellers from Holland and Britain attended the 10th narrow gauge model show at the Valkenburg Museum. The anniversary was celebrated with Champagne and with a tray of cakes specially made by Val Sibley.

Regrettably, on Friday afternoon a fire in the Channel Tunnel created a traffic chaos preventing our good friends Dave and Midge Grassing from reaching the mainland and the show. They had to turn back as the Dover area was impossible to reach. Robin and Sue Winter had received a message warning them of the problem and they left home as early as 4:30. They made it to the ferry and to the show, after a tiring trip through very wet weather and numerous queues in Belgium and Holland. John Thorne, who together with his Surrey NG Modeller friend Richard brought his new layout ‘Purbeck’, luckily had crossed a day earlier. Despite the setbacks the show was a great success, and traditionally included the Saturday barbecue and steam special. This time we made a short trip to the storage shed at the end of the line, a true Aladdin’s Cave full of narrow gauge treasures waiting to be restored.

Garry Whiting and Jan van Mourik:

Erzan Mine:

Port Foxdale:

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RRC show 3/2008

On Saturday, March 29th, the Dutch Group provided the entertainment at a small model railway show in a Revalidation Centre (Rijnlands Revalidatie Centrum) in Leiden which was managed by a local model railway club called 'De Spoorbiels' (the Railway Sleeper). They had approached me at Valkenburg the previous year but at the time I didn't realise they meant the Dutch Group to provide all the entertainment apart from their own members' sales stands, so I had quite a job to get enough working layouts together.

In the end, we had Jan van Mourik with 'Uivernest', Bert van Rhijn and SBL, Hans van der Linden with his cubic layout FLAW, Rob Reinders with his new shunting layout Dislbach and my own Rae Bridge on show, with Dick van Beek showing his collection of Dutch model houses, and Arjan Straathof came to assist. We came through with flying (009 Society) colours and the public was often three rows deep in front of the layouts. Several layouts had been set up at a specially reduced level to enable access for children and wheelchair users, and I remember one boy in a wheelchair who enthusiastically ran trains for quite a long time. Many children queued up patiently (!) for a turn at the controls. We had an excellent time, although regrettably several members of the Group were unable to attend due to other commitments.

Jan van Mourik with Uivernest:

Bert van Rhijn with SBL:

Dick van Beek with his collection of models:

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