Hi all. Slightly later than I planned here is a review of this years Zedex 2016. The following weekend myself and Ann and Brian Silby were out showing again at Hartlepool and pesky full size railroads have kept me busy ever since Torrential rain greeted the exhibitors as set up time approached at this years Zedex convention at Didcot Civic hall on the 16th of October but the weather faired up though the morning and once again the best of the U.K’s Z layout were on show Once again it was the best chance of the year for all of us Z modellers to get together as we are spread the length and breadth of Britain Show organiser Peter McConnell was caught chatting to Hazel Woodbridge before the doors opened to the public Richard and Hazel Woodbridge had brought ‘No Mans Land’ based on a Rokuhan trackplan Graham Jones, a pioneer in z modelling in the U.K had brought his Wintersdorf German layout Tony Waitzman had bought along his easily portable ‘Guitar case’ layout Peter Clucas has been developing woo woo woo Bergdorf, an imaginery Ski resort, for a couple of years now with his efforts really looking good more soon
Dave Burbridge debuted 'Sweasey Lake', representing lines to Lake Michigan from Chicago and Waukegan. This layout is intended to become a permanent fixture in his workshop after the show. His running was hampered slightly by a tunnel too tight to take some of the rolling stock. Ann Silby, aided by her husband Brian, has built many fine Z layouts over the years. Her latest is called Anzdorf based on Swiss railway practice near the German border Anne was snapped chatting to Ted Carter on his tree building demonstration stand South Bohemia is an excellent layout based on a 760mm line in the Czech republic modelled by Blair Hobson. With scratchbuilt track and a mixture of techniques used to make the buildings
It captures the rural nature really well Roddy Mullin had a couple of layouts side by side one of which was Cheyne Central, an imaginary South London terminus His other layout is built into a flight case with a scenic backdrop in the lid ‘Double bluff’ is an ingenious two sided layout shown by Julia Craig McFreely and Tony Heathfield more soon
Dave Dawes is a prolific layout builder and his new Z layout ‘Lincoln’ is set on the Milwaukee Road. Using the Kato sound system to good effect and digital recordings of fighter jets tp create a bit more atmosphere. This layout featured in this months Continental Modeller magazine. Dave is seen operating with Eric Jones taking a break from operating his exhibit Gareth Rees had once again brought his ‘Mini Missoula’ switching layout sat on its customary Ironing Board stand. Gareth is collecting more ‘Montana rail link’ stock for a future, larger layout Ken Jones brought his Kendorf set in a small German mountain town
Showcasing the latest Japanese stock was show organiser Peter McConnel and Andrew Burchett’s ‘Sankei Kansen 2’ the layout is big enough to give the Rokuhan Shinkansens a good run out at a realistic speed David Mitchell had brought an new mini layout Kidmore KZ Eric and Sandra Jones had brought ‘Franklin Mint’ and a briefcase layout as well Sy Newitt showed his St Frazal d’Ardeche’ Nm layout soon to be going to a new home. at the end of the show he was getting enthusiastic about starting his new Alpine layout One of the problems was the strong sunlight beaming in through the skylights as you can see in the pic of Simon's layout This also made photographing Hanzauff, Neil Cocksedge's new German mainline layout which was the biggest layout at the show
Derrick Webb had modelled his house complete with garden railway. Piers Milne’s Nm ‘Inselbahn Langeoog’ is set on a Friesen island in North West Germany and is being constantly developed Switzerland on the move, shown by Paul Kent, has been much modified since last seen more soon Kev
Chris Atkinson had ‘Switzerland on the Move’ featuring a Swiss main line on the German/Swiss border So what were you up to Kev? I hear you ask Well I always make a weekend of it when I go to Zedex so on Saturday I went playing full size trains Avon valley railway Swindon and Cricklade Didcot railway centre Full report of that adventure will be on the International railway pages shortly
At the show itself I had two displays First was Republic Steel which after some debate I showed in 1990s USA form and giving my SD70ACE its first outing Still with its temporary lighting rig and the USA flag hiding the steel trestles I also wanted to build on a thread I'm running on Modelrailforum over here in the U.K on modelling British railways in Z. The latest results from the workshop including etched, 3D printed and scratchbuilt rolling stock plus conversions of the Atlas editions 'Great trains' were assembled to show what is possible with a bit of effort two of the Oxford club members have just noticed the camera!
Kev, Interesting information concerning Forum on British railways in Z. It looks that we have similar challange rebuilding Z rolling stock. I do it for Polish Railways. Information on the Forum will be a great inspiration for myself. Maybe I will learn some new ideas and techniques. Pawel
Looks like it was a great show, thanks for sharing! If you see it, get it, for tomorrow it will be gone!
Very inspiring to see so many small layouts! Detailling is great. Thanks for the pics! How many Z scalers will there be in the Netherlands, Frank? And how many of them will have portable layouts to show at exhibitions?
I'll guess you're right Thieu, assume there are just a hand full of Z-scalers here in the Netherlands.
Wow so many great photos. Ok that layout called Lincoln. What type of throttle was being used? It looked different that usual
