In the last week of October 2021 the large model railway show Eurospoor in Utrecht (Holland) was taking place. The Dutch Hornby Railway Collectors Association was also present with a Dublo and an 0 gauge tinplate layout. The day before the show Peter Zwakhals, Rob van Teylingen, Barend Westerveld and Hans van Dissel came together at Utrecht with 4 cars loaded with stuff. Rob got busy with his Hornby Dublo layout, while the rest started to build an 0 gauge empire. By 15.30h we had laid all the track, tested it and put up all the buildings, signals and other lineside goodies, so decided to call it a day. Early in the morning of the show the trains were unpacked and after finishing touches to the layouts the public could see what classic trains are all about. During the show we had a lot of questions to answer and some people were quite surprised to hear that Hornby, Dinky Toys and Meccano were all made by the same firm!
The O-gauge layout was about 8 * 4 meters and was capable of running 5 trains simultaneously. The 2 loops in the inner area were interconnected. The outermost oval was made with original Hornby steel track, allowing locos with more fine-scale wheels, such as Leeds Model Company ones, to run smoothly too.
Rob putting the finishing touches to the Dublo layout.
Starting from the left: Metropolitan, E120 Special with GWR No. 2 Passengers Coaches and a train with pre-war Petrol- and Oil Tank Wagons headed by an ACE 4-4-4 Tank.
The theme of the O gauge Hornby was G.W.R.
A Princess Elizabeth with a rake of Corridor Coaches next to a train of French Hornby
A busy moment at the station.
Almost all variations of the electric G.W.R. loco's were on shed.
A Hornby Dublo Breakdown Crane headed by a B.R. 0-6-2 Tank Locomotive.
On the Dublo Layout, a Jodel Models B.R. 2-6-0-0-6-2 Beyer Garratt locomotive was run.
During the 2020-2021 lockdown we had no formal meetings at all. So this show was our first opportunity to meet again, enjoy the company and to run trains. During the days of the event, many Dutch HRCA members showed up and did just that.
The Dutch HRCA is a broad church and members during the days brought along locos and rolling stock from makes as diverse as Bassett-Lowke, Leeds Model Company, Buco, Darstaed, ACE Trains, Bonds, Märklin, Western Coil & Electrical, R Models, Milbro, Bing, Jep, British Marx, Moskabel, Lionel and others. In short, we had a lot of fun! The result is that our 'British Tinplate Toy Trains' layouts can best be seen as a joint effort by the Dutch members of both the HRCA and TCS.
One of our visitors brought along an impressive Märklin 4-8-2 ME70 with some Märklin bogie tank wagons, while one of our members found a very nice Märklin 4-6-2 HR70 at one of the sale stands at the show (one of the very, very few classic 0 gauge items to be found), which of course was also pressed into service.
We had some extra tables where visitors could unpack the trains they took the show. Such a table always forms a display on its own, often forming the start of a conversation with visitors to the show.
Eurospoor is held in the Jaarbeurs exhibition centres in Utrecht. Our vintage layouts are built on the spot using old-fashioned handwork. As before, our packed cars were allowed in the hall for unloading. The pictures below give you an idea of the work involved setting up the layouts.
