Narrow Gauge South 2018 was held on 7th April at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh, nr Southampton. 

Feedback to date has been full of praise and hugely supportive of the new venue; the layouts on show and the freindliness of Stewards, Exhibitors and the viewing public.   The event seems to have reasonated well with families.  See the gallery pages for images of the show.

Wessex Narrow Gauge Modellers brought together 34 layouts of high quality shown in our new venue at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh.  We welcomed both the 009 Society (and AGM) and our friends in the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association, as well as 24 other traders and societies to create our largest show to date.

The new venue felt right and judging by the feedback we’ve made the right choice of new location. Any doubts were dispelled once the main hall was fully set up on the Saturday morning. Our theme and “show within a show” this year was celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Lt Colonel Holman F Stephens. We teamed up with the Colonel Stephens Society and brought together 7 layouts in celebration, in various scales and gauges.

This year the competition for the Best in a Show trophy was again a tight contest. Brian Key’s evocative L&B inspired “Ilfracombe East” emerged as eventual winner and second recipient of our group award. Congratulations and well done.

Nonetheless we learned some useful lessons to be incorporated into the next show and there were some last minute changes which we will avoid next time.  A special thank you to Eastleigh Lakeside Railway for going the extra mile to get centrepiece 7 1/4” TAW into the main hall. Thank you also to everyone who exhibited this year, either with a layout, Society stand or as a trader. Thanks too to the staff of Barton Peveril College for their help and, finally, but by no means least; thank you to my fellow WNGMs for excellent support and stewarding throughout; a clear demonstration that teamwork is essential to stage an event like Narrow Gauge South – it is not a “one man band”.

Wessex Narrow Gauge Modellers look forward to welcoming you to our twentieth “family friendly narrow gauge show” in April 2022.