Shrewsbury Festival of Model Railways 2026
The first show of the year for East Road is the Shrewsbury Festival of Model Railways 2026. Please come along and see the layout at what is proving to be a popular show.
Layout Upgrade
East Road has had a little upgrade recently. An additional siding has been added along the back wall. This runs from a left hand point fitted just after the bridge with the siding running to a stop, just before the signal and signal box. This will allow for a couple of loco’s to be stabled up or for engineers stock to be stored when not in use. It just adds for more capacity and playability on the layout for both…
Stafford Model Railway Exhibition – 2026
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…
Finally…
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…
Happy New Year
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.
Gauge O Guild Exhibition – Wigan 2025
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.
It’s all Black & White
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.
Falkirk Model Railway Show 2025
East Road had another successful trip north of the border, this time for the Falkirk Model Railway Show over the weekend of November 15/16. The layout was exhibited 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 darkness falls…
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.
Welcome to East Road
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…