West Midlands Group at Peterborough Show

Yvonne and Mike Whiteaker of the West Midlands Group took the exhibition stand to the 16mm Garden Railway Show at Peterborough on Saturday, 27th April.

Unlike the previous exhibition with the North West Area Group in March, where the venue at Stafford was almost snowbound, this time the weather behaved itself and consequently the show was well-attended. The Ffestiniog’s Mountaineer formed the centrepiece to the exhibition, which contained the usual mix of layouts, trade stands and preservation societies. Needless to say, there were plenty of L&B models in evidence.

The L&B stand attracted a great deal of interest with a steady flow of visitors throughout the day; so much so, there was hardly time to see the rest of the exhibition (although a brief foray late afternoon did result in the purchase of a Woody Bay signal box kit).   On the retail front, the day was also a great success, with sales making a significant contribution towards L&B funds. 

For once, interest in the railway’s extensions plans took second place to the news of the heritage coaches’ arrival at Woody Bay which seems to have been widely followed by the railway fraternity and there was universal praise for quality of the restoration work.

One visitor to the stand was an excited Chris Yeoman who had just received the “Rolling Stock Model of the Year” award for his scratch built model of an L&B 4 ton van. Chris was obviously surprised to have won the award but was keen to show us the quality his work.

Mike Whitaker with the West Midlands Group Stand

Photo and Text Mike Whiteaker