Events in 2010

Ted Polet

Model railway show, Rijswijk 11/12 December 2010

The Dutch Group again flew the flag at the Rijswijk, Netherlands, show of December 11th and 12th, with Punta Marina, Uivernest and Rae Bridge. Also present was Derk Huisman with the standard gauge portion of Mariahöhe. Jan van Mourik was assisted by his son-in-law Erik, and Bert van Rhijn helped me set up Rae Bridge on the Friday. My most able back-up operators were Arjan Straathof (on Saturday) and Hans van der Linden (on Sunday). Thus I was able to make my own photos this time. There was a huge secondhand market next to the layouts, enabling us to to buy a few items. Several Dutch group members visited the show, including our new member Jan Mekenkamp, who brought his first 009 locomotive for a test run on Rae Bridge. Again this was a well organised show (with thanks to the organisers who included Gerbrand Haans).

Regrettably my photos are of mediocre quality as I had to use the flash. The photos of Gerbrand's 'Irgendwo' layout were no good. Look at the Rail2010 report for better photos.

Spijkspoor club layout:

Voorne club layout:

Cold Creek (John Vogelaar):

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Punta Marina photos    

Mariahöhe photos  

Expong, Swanley 30 October 2010

On Friday the 29th of October, three cars departed from different parts of the country, all headed for the Channel ports and Swanley. Henk Wust and Jan van Mourik took Punta Marina and Uivernest, my brother Marcel and I myself brought Rae Bridge, and Dick van Beek and Bert van Rhijn were visiting. On arrival we were welcomed as usual by Hazel Brewer of the Greenwich & District Narrow Gauge Railway Society. Regrettably someone had double-booked the side court where our layouts had to be set up, so we started late and had to finish setting up in the morning. Despite this, the show was a success especially for Henk Wust, who deservedly was awarded the Reinier Hendriksen Trophy for Punta Marina. Expong is very busy due to the short period of time available if you want to talk to everyone you know - I only met some of my friends very fleetingly. As usual the day was concluded by the excellent dinner organised by the GDNRS. On the Sunday we returned home tired, but well satisfied with another excellent weekend.

Uivernest (Jan van Mourik):

Rae Bridge (Ted Polet):

Punta Marina (Henk Wust):

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Narrow gauge model days, Valkenburg 11/12 September 2010

An exhibition we never miss is the Valkenburg show which the Dutch Group has attended for about a decade. Layouts present were Stichting Behoud Leemspoor (Bert van Rhijn), Uivernest (Jan van Mourik), and Dunalistair (my own), supported by Hans van der Linden and Dick van Beek. From England we had two layouts: Tom Dauben's Dunbracken and Lee Bryant's Coil End Lane, supported by Chris Matthews and Mick Thornton. There were several other well-known participants like Don and Val Sibley from Belgium, and Ruud Wittekoek and Guillaume Veenhuis. Gerbrand Haans showed 'Pays Perdu' by the late Peter de Vries. On Friday night prior to the show, Mick, Lee, Tom and Chris were at my place to visit the Craigcorrie & Dunalistair Railway (minus Dunalistair which had been set up in the museum). On Saturday night we were treated to the traditional barbecue and the steam train round the lake. The atmosphere and organisation, as usual, were excellent due to the efforts of the museum people.

Mick Thornton at work on Rae Bridge:

Stoomtrein Valkenburgse Meer:

Pays Perdu (Peter de Vries):

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Lee Bryant's photos  

Rail 2010, 12th to 14th of March, 2010

The Rail 2010 show in Houten near Utrecht was a three-day affair celebrating the 25th anniversary of this international model railway show. Most of the content wasn't narrow gauge, but the excellent modelling seen in the huge number of layouts assembled was enough to prompt a special report featuring narrow, standard and broad gauge layouts. The 009 Society flag was flown by Jan van Mourik's 'Uivernest' layout (Jan was assisted by his son-in-law Erik) and my own Rae Bridge (with help by Jaap Stuurman). There were several other narrow gauge layouts present, like Gerbrand Haans' 'Irgendwo' and the 'Erzan Mine' by Leo Grinsven. Also present was Rob Kievit's well-known Isle of Waan layout based on the Manx tramways. Inevitably we only covered a small number of layouts, but enough in the face of the overwhelming number of layouts present.

Erzan Mine (Leo Grinsven):

Bagborough (GWR broad gauge, 3mm/1ft) by Nick Salzman:

Blackston Junction (Scotland/East Area Group, Scalefour Society):

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Dutch Group meeting, 16th of January, 2010

On January 16th, 2010, not less than 10 members of the Dutch Group arrived at Jan van Mourik's place in Bergen op Zoom for a long overdue meeting. Apart from Jos de Klerk, Dick van Beek, Bert van Rhijn, Rob Reinders, Hans van der Linden, Eddy Bolderdijk, Peter Soonius and myself, we welcomed Daan Biessels and Rod Furey as new members. Rod has been a railway modeller for a long time and wants to extend his work to 9 or 12mm gauge narrow gauge. Daan is working on a large home layout based on the Bregenzer Waldbahn in Austria. He has a very nice website HERE.

Jan had set up his well-known Uivernest layout to run a few trains and show his new industrial diesel tractor based on a Caramel chassis. Hans showed us a baseboard unit of his projected Darjeeling Himalayan layout. Dick, Bert and myself had brought a selection of rolling stock. Eddy showed us his son Martijn's NGG16 Garratt which is almost completed from a Backwoods kit. A true mammoth achievement. Rob had brought a photo album full of professional model photos, many of which were made of his Austrian shunting layout 'Dislbach'. He even had a few black and white photos reminiscent of the style of O. Winston Link and Ted Benson, with the stock lighted up as if by a battery of flash guns in the dark. After a pleasant afternoon of railway talk and admiring each other's modelling, and not forgetting the pile of cheese and ham buns made by Jan and Elma, we left for our traditional Chinese dinner. This time we had rather a shorter time to wait than almost a year ago. Although one wag tried to remind us of that occasion. I forgot who HE was…

Daan Biessels, Bert van Rhijn & Dick van Beek:

Backwoods NGG16, Martijn Bolderdijk:

Hans van der Linden's new layout module:

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