As usual there was a Dutch Group delegation at Expong, Swanley, the premier narrow gauge show put on by the Greenwich & District Narrow Gauge Railway Society. This time our member Dick van Beek had been invited with his Vroonen layout, assisted by Bert van Rhijn, who put a selection of his Tralee & Dingle inspired rolling stock on a display next to Vroonen. The layout received many compliments by the public, and many tried the periscope made available for children and wheelchair users so they can view the layout which is set at a considerable height from the floor. I myself had come as a visitor together with my brother Marcel. The quality of layouts was excellent, which as usual included the small layouts contest for the Dave Brewer Memorial Trophy. In addition, the David Lloyd Trophy was awarded, and the Reinier Hendriksen Trophy, which has a special connection with the Dutch Group as Reinier was one of our founder members.

This year's Reinier Hendriksen Trophy went to Castle Wharf Kendal by Ian Kirkwood, which the jury members found most representative of the freelance modelling style and atmosphere of Reinier's work:

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Valkenburg, 29/30 September, 2012

On September 29 and 30, 2012, several members of the Dutch Group attended the Narrow Gauge Model Days at the National Narrow Gauge Museum in Valkenburg. After an absence of a few years, Dick van Beek returned with his layout 'Vroonen' showing a small Dutch town scene with a tramway running through. Rob Reinders had brought his small Austrian photo diorama next to a huge black and white print of one of the photos he made of it, in the style of O. Winston Link, a well-known American photographer of the 1950s. Shortly afterwards he mentioned to me that his work had been accepted for an exhibition at the O. Winston Link Museum at Roanoke, VA. Jan van Mourik brought his Mouburg tramway layout which now has the harbour area almost completed, representing the atmosphere of an RTM ferry terminal from the 1950s. Also there was my own demonstration layout 'Nixnie', described elsewhere in these pages. And last but not least there were many excellent layouts from this country and abroad, including 'Corris' by Rod Allcock, the Picture Frame by Dave and Midge Grassing, and 'Pontevedro' by Don Sibley.

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NG South, Sparsholt, April, 2012

On April 14th, four members of the Dutch group - Bert, Dick, Jaap and myself - visited Narrow Gauge South (Sparsholt College, Winchester). This show is organised by the Wessex Narrow Gauge Modellers and doesn't need explaining to narrow gauge modellers. We attended the 009 Society AGM, held in the afternoon. Regrettably this takes up valuable layout viewing time, which is reflected in my small photo album.

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The up side of this all was that we saw Ian Turner, much against his wishes but well deserved, being made a Honorary Life Member of the Society. The same happened to John and Jane Jacobs, long standing friends who often visited the Valkenburg show. Congratulations from us all! In addition we were able to renew our acquaintance with many other good friends.

More photos of Sparsholt can be found in this album by Michael Campbell, who also exhibited his pretty little steam tram layout Awngate.

Michael Campbell's photos  

As usual we did good business at the 009 Society's sales stand. Our evenings in the pub next to the motel in Basingstoke were filled with endless discussions about narrow gauge modelling and other topics, with a good glass of 'Old Speckled Hen'...

Special mention should be made of this surprise sprung on me by Bert van Rhijn, who had been working very hard during the days before the Sparsholt trip to build me a copy of his own Tralee & Dingle horsebox no. 1T, from scratch styrene, on a Parkside Dundas chassis:

Activities of February and March, 2012

In February the Dutch Group was represented at the Lahnstein show in Germany (Jan van Mourik with Uivernest 25/26 February) and in Tonbridge, England (Rae Bridge, Ted Polet, 18 February). Jan made a nice set of photos of the Lahnstein show and in addition at Ontraxs in Utrecht which he visited. I was accompanied to Tonbridge by my wife, Henriette, and during the show I was most ably assisted by Robin Winter.

Lahnstein photos  

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Tonbridge photos  

On the 3rd of March we held a Group meeting at my place. There was a huge response as there were 10 of us. Regrettably some had to cancel the meeting for various unforeseen reasons. Present were the following: Bert van Rhijn, Dick van Beek, Jan van Mourik, Rod Furey, Jos de Klerk, Hans van der Linden, Arjan Straathof, Daan Biessels, our new member Hedzer Durksz and myself. I hope I didn't forget anyone because I lost track halfway through the meeting. Downstairs in the back room I had set up my demo layout Nixnie, and upstairs I ran a non-stop service on the

Craigcorrie & Dunalistair Railway. Luckily the people downstairs pitched in to serve themselves and others with the buns and soup I had prepared - with the missus away working I could hardly divide myself in two. Thanks for your assistance!

As usual, the participants brought a rich collection of their own modelling work, most of which was photographed on C&DR rails. This included Daan's new diesel railcar, a complete passenger train built by Dick, Hedzer's very nice 3D printed models and last but not least the various models by our other 'master of rolling stock', Bert.

Regrettably the traditional Chinese dinner at a nearby restaurant was attended by only Dick, Hedzer and myself, as most of the participants had a long drive home ahead of them, or various evening commitments.

Photos by Daan    

Photos by myself