Saturday 26th October & Sunday 27th October: Rail-Ex Taunton 2013

Some would say that the Somerset Railway Modellers Club 23rd Annual Rail-Ex Taunton show at Taunton School was the best ever with more quality layouts than previously, several demonstrators showing how to make models and trackwork, paint figures and even produce old style signals that bounce. A balanced selection of traders were on hand to offer something for everyone. The queues at opening time on Saturday stretched round the corner of the small hall, which shows the popularity of this event. Unfortunately this led to some overcrowding during the first two hours of Saturday. We will be looking at ways to encourage more visitors during the quieter times in future years.

A new venture this year was an area for younger visitors associated with the club stand. This proved extemely popular with numerous little ones plus their parents and will be further developed for next year. A double decker vintage bus made regular trips to and from the station in Taunton, with just a 'slight' pause around lunchtime.

The Committee would like to thank all our members and volunteers, those who attended with fabulous layouts, and trade support we received over the weekend including the provision of prizes for our show guide draw. Taunton School's catering was well up to its usual standard and is now something of a hallmark of this show.

Most of the layouts this year were excellent and covered a wide spectrum of subjects and scales, which made it difficult decide on who should win the club trophies:

The Chairmans Shield for his choice of best diorama on a layout. Ron Randall for Rax Lane Motive Power Depot in 4mm OO-gauge and presented by Niki Gould (Club Chairman) to Ron Randall.
	Brian Winter Salver Selected judges opinion of best signalled layout. Doug Tompkins for Bahnbetreibswerk Dügelshaven in HO scale presented by Niki Gould (Club Chairman) to Doug Tompkins.
St. Christopher Shield Best in show voted by club members. Mickleover MRC for Farkham in 4mm scale OO-gauge presented to Alex Hall by Niki Gould (Club Chairman).
	Rail-Ex Taunton Cup Best in show voted by visitors from programmes. Mickleover MRC for Farkham in 4mm OO-gauge and presented by Niki Gould (Club Chairman) to Alex Hall.

The Somerset Railway Modellers Club must thank all our visitors who made the show the success it was and hope they had as much fun attending as we had organising it. We hope to see you all again next year in the same place on the weekend of 25th & 26th October 2014 in half term where well make every attempt to present a show full of modelling interest and even better fun for all the family.

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