Roadshow Reports

Hi,

This was our first time at Tenterden, a very pretty Kentish town, not far from that railway town of Ashford. In fact we stayed in Ashford at one of the three Premier Inns in the town. Tenterden itself is one of those very attractive towns with a wide Main Street and lots of very attractive buildings and shops.  Enough of that, we were there for other obvious reasons. The show itself was over two days, most of the team arrived on Friday, Charles and myself on Saturday morning as we had the least distance to travel, we also avoided the Friday evening traffic. Normally this would not have been possible but we were asked to set up on Saturday morning which we duly did. The show was organised by the Ashford Model Railway Club, we were given the introduction from Tony Whibley, who lives nearby and he was there with his clubs gauge 1 exhibit. As is often the case Saturday was the busier of the two days, Adrian was very busy on the front of the layout, with a number or youngsters going for a record run. The technical help desk was busy, in fact getting busier as time passes, no doubt due to the aging of the locos. We have now added a second work station to cope with the demand. As is often the case with the smaller local shows we were very well looked after with an excellent lunch provided by the school dining room, I was going to say it took me back to my school days, but I don’t recall being given a menu and being asked what would I like, that’s what the kids get today! No sago on the menu, what a shame! One of my favourite puddings, sago with a dollop of jam, happy days. We had  our limited edition A4 on display, this time Walter K Whigham. We also showed an Apple green A4 Golden Eagle, painted by Warren Haywood, she looked absolutely superb, we’ll have her on display again at Ally Pally later this month, then Doncaster and Manchester in May. The plan is for her and the other 8 A4’s painted in this livery to be the next limited edition. Maurice