I am delighted to say that East Road has been invited along to attend the Stafford Railway Circle’s premier event of their show calendar for 2026. It has now been confirmed that East Road will feature at the Stafford Model Railway Exhibition over the weekend of September 26th and 27th. This is East Road’s first confirmation of this year. This is the largest independent model railway exhibition in the UK and promises to be a fantastic event. The show is…
East Road has a new member to the fleet in the form of a Class 20, 20049. It has been a long time coming! The loco was purchased as 20080 from Andy Pannett, the then owner of Castlebank Sidings. It has been renumbered as 20049 (which was an Eastfield allocated loco) mainly due to the fact that this variant of the Heljan model, does not actually cater for the deeper cab side windows that were fitted to two batches of…
2025 was a busy year for East Road. Hopefully an equally busy year in 2026 bOth on the exhibition circuit and with the layout extension. Already this year there have been some developments with updating some details. The failed factory wall lights have been removed and some period concrete style lamposts added to the scene.
Since the layout build was completed in July 2024, East Road has successfully completed six exhibitions. This is something I am proud of and something I never envisaged in the slightest. It is very humbling to recieve the positive comments and appreciation of my modelling with East Road. It certainly does make it all worthwhile. It is also humbling to know that East Road has been an inspiration to other like minded railway modellers. Also in this time… With all…
East Road has now wrapped up its exhibition commitments for 2025 on Sauturday December 6th with the attendance at the Guage O Guild exhibition, at the Robin Park Liesure Centre in Wigan. Here are some photo’s I managed to take during the show. The Guild president, Ian Allen loaned his excellent 47555 The Commonweath Spirit for the show, which did actually look the part and at home on the layout.
I do like the nostalgia that black & white photography brings. These images of 37027 were both taken with the black & white option of the camera phone app. No manipulation or AI editing involved.
East Road had another successful trip north of the border, this time for the Falkirk Model Rialway Show over the weekend of November 15/16. The layout was ehibited in the main hall of the event and was very well received. Thanks to Ronnie Hamilton, Matt Collins and Graeme Moyes for their invaluable help over the weekend and thank you to the Falkirk team for inviting me to their excellent show. The new banner looked the part showcasing East Road on…
As the autumn light fades, East Road continues to function into the night. Eastfield allocated English Electric Type 3, 37027 is being prepared for service while its crew are deep in conversion.
East Road is a BR Blue inspired O Gauge/7mm layout. I have taken inspiration from my many memories of travelling the network during the late 1970’s and the 1980’s. It is a Scottish themed layout that includes many elements from the likes of Inverness, Haymarket, Eastfield, Grangemouth, Dundee and Fort William. It is modelled during the TOPS era, specifically the years 1974 – 1987. This allows me to vary my stock to cater for the TOPS period allowing the transition…