

News ...
a roundup of what's been happening over the past couple of years, as published in the Gauge 0 Guild News
Barrie Colley's gritty take on northern shop fronts
February 2025
We held our modelling competition back in October, and what a treat it was: models of all sorts, with high standards throughout. Gong-winners were:
President's Cup - best steam locomotive: Graham Tombs Bulleid Pacific
Chairman's Cup - best coaching stock: Graham Tombs LMS coach set
Committee Shield - lineside structures: Roy Smeeth for Moretonhampstead goods shed
Electric & Diesel Rosebowl - non-steam locomotives: Andrew Howlett's battery locomotive 'Greenwood & Bailey'
Martin Philpott Cup - diorama: Tim Stubbs lineside cottage with garden
Mug of the Year - goods vehicles: Andrew Howlett's Welsh wagons
Peter Goodwin Memorial Trophy - best overall model: Graham Tombs LMS coaches
Silver Jubilee Theme Trophy - entries on a theme: Paul Doran's Dingham setting gear
I see from my previous epistles that our November 2023 meeting had to be postponed because of flooding in East Devon; this year the mid-month meeting also had to be put back a week, this time owing to a hefty dollop of the white stuff across the country. However, attendance the following week proved the stout resolve of group members, with lots going on. Chairman Ken aided and abetted by Paul Holwill, Barrie Colley, Keith Cleeve and several others continue to develop the two new boards to extend the play value of Wedmore. Most of the track is now laid and the wiring started. The boards should certainly be ready for our next Open Day being held at Whimple on 27th April 2025 – see elsewhere on the website for further details.
We rounded off the year with a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas Bash, held this year at the Blue Ball Inn at Sidford. Twenty-four members and guests enjoyed a very good meal at this new venue, with convivial company.
November 2024
Our meetings continue to be very well attended, with a goodly number of new faces joining our happy band. In the middle of September it was good to see Barrie Colley returned to the fold after a period in purdah for health reasons. We also welcome John Ashton as a member of the group.
By the time you read this our annual modelling competition will have come and gone: always a good talking point within the membership! After our resounding success with the disposal of Lew Trump’s models we’ve decided not to have a Bring and Buy sale this year – it would probably have been rather a non-event! We will be holding what is now a permanent fixture, our annual Christmas Dinner for members and partners, on Thursday 12th December. As I write this at the end of September I’m having issues finding a suitable hostelry, but I’m sure we’ll get somewhere to stick holly sprigs onto our neighbour’s seat.
We had a very enjoyable showing at the Exeter MRC annual show back in June. Wedmore behaved very well, but over the weekend it was agreed that without too much grief we could modify the terminus end (right-hand end as viewed by the public) to provide more versatility in operation. Paul Holwell, who’s a genuine professional at creating hamster-bedding, knocked out a pair of quite superb boards for us, and we look forward to developing them with track and scenics. Dave “NG” Taylor also presented Bridport Town his superb layout running his fictitious Marshwood Vale Railway stock. Beautiful running, and exquisite modelling. Kevin Cartwright presented his latest offering, well up with his usual standard. At the other end of the scale Byron Williams and I traded hints and insults demonstrating some kitbuilding activity, aided and abetted by Barrie C, Keith C and John C. One advantage of holding such a show in an agricultural auctioneer’s premises was that the catering was really good. Just the aroma of cowpats to detract. Otherwise lots of fun! Apart from the Exeter show, many members have been seen running around the countryside at various shows, not only with Wedmore but also with their own layouts – Chairman Ken and Treasurer John among them.
August 2024
The spring has been greatly overshadowed by the passing of yet another of the very early members of the group towards the end of April; Bill Barnes had been highly supportive of all we have done over the years and received the Guild Order of Merit for his work for the Guild back in the 1990s. He has been a great friend to so many of us, and will be sorely missed.
Ken Banks and I paid a final visit to Lew Trump’s bungalow to clear the rest of his 0-gauge equipment, including much outside track, generously anointed with pigeon poo. Lew had knocked holes in each bedroom wall to allow track to proceed through, and then we discovered a real gem: after the third bedroom the line executed a right-angle and went through another wall – across a tiny WC before exiting into the garden. In this WC Lew had thoughtfully constructed a lifting section so that the ‘facility’ could be used without clouting one’s head!
Our mid-April meeting was somewhat of an anticlimax after the previous two sessions, when we had sold almost all of Lew’s effects and in the process increased the group coffers by a few thousand pounds. However, with over 20 folk turning up the test track was fully occupied all evening. The star turn was Ken Banks’ recent acquisition of a Tower Brass BR Standard 2-6-4T locomotive. Judging from the tarnishing of the unpainted brass 2-6-4T it was more than a year or two old, but nevertheless ran very well. Closely following the 2-6-4T was Charlie Smythe’s Class 58, purchased as a non-runner from Lew’s estate and cajoled to run successfully.
Everyone was delighted to see Trevor Tew back to full teamaking duty after his recent ‘holiday’ in Torbay Hospital. Not quite so cheering was the news that Mike Doherty – late of Cavalier Coaches and a recently-joined member of the group – had died. Another talented modelmaker heads skywards.
Early May saw a number of Lew’s locomotives reappearing, restored by their purchasers to running order, including Spencer Barber’s HST set, and in mid-May Dave Haines brought along his stunning GWR clerestory Dia. E57 58’ tri-composite coach, entirely scratchbuilt and painted/lined by Dave. The original ran on the Birkenhead to Folkestone route: now there’s a prototype to think about! At the same session Byron Williams and Tony Pursey showed off a little rolling road test-bed they were dedicating to the late Jim Calverley.
We gave a very good account of ourselves at the Exeter MRC annual show, held in the Matford Centre on Marsh Barton Industrial Estate. The venue is more used to the bellowing of cattle than DCC locomotive sound, and the place was distinctly redolent of the aroma of its more frequent visitors! Anyway, not only did we present Wedmore, the club layout, but also Merefield - Dave Harding and Paul Doran's layout - Dave Taylor's narrow-gauge Bridport Town, and Kevin Cartwright's little 'weekend build' layout. Add to this several of us who were demonstrating and encouraging visitors to move to 0-gauge, it added up to a tiring but very rewarding weekend. During the two-day show certain members suffered from a rush of blood to the brain and as a result we've decided to extend Wedmore by constructing two new 4' boards to replace one of the original boards.
Some of the suspects, many with partners, after enjoying the annual Christmas Dinner at the Blue Ball, Sidbury


Paul Holwill striding purposefully along the length of Wedmore prior to the opening of the 2024 Exeter Show.
May 2024
At the beginning of March that man-about-the-GWR Amyas Crump gave a fascinating illustrated talk about Westcountry railways, showing some wonderfully atmospheric old slides of this glorious part of the country. He’s promised to dig out another few hundred for us to enjoy…
At the mid-March meeting we had a grand sale of stock items previously belonging to Lew Trump. Lew had been a founder member of Exegog back in the early 1990s and was one of those very rare beings, a truly gentle man. A retired BT engineer, he lived in East Devon with his wife Margaret, and in our early days in Hope Hall in Exeter Margaret had always been queen of the teapot whilst Lew was kingpin of the electrics team for our roundy-round layout, Dawlish Warren. Sadly Margaret developed dementia and died a few years ago, leaving Lew with his railway. Lew had no children or relatives and typical of the man, offered all his 0-gauge stock to our group. Having made this generous offer, he died just a few days later.
During the sales pitch – frenetic as it was - Dave Taylor entertained the troops running a slide show using the hall’s relatively new digital projector system. Meanwhile Chairman Ken and I collected a significant amount of cash for club funds. By the time you read this, members will have had a second bite at this particular cherry. Thank you Lew for your huge kindness to our group.
We’ve been re-jigging the group website in the past few weeks; Chris (Mr 3D Printing) Ward has stood down, and I’ve been daft enough to take on the post of webmaster. Transferring control was reminiscent of herding cats; however, it’s done now and there are a few changes which regular visitors may notice, hopefully giving small improvements. Grateful thanks to Chris for so tirelessly managing it since inception.
February 2024
Christmas has come and gone, and with it our modelling competition. This latter event was slated to be held on the first Thursday in November, but the Met Office down in Exeter didn't do us any favours that evening and East Devon was generally fairly well flooded, and we deferred the event to the beginning of December. The mid-November meet certainly compensated for the missing early-November gathering, with about 23 folk busy chattering and running stock on the test track. The new storage facility has now got superb lighting courtesy of chairman Ken and is really a huge improvement over the original facility.
Our annual modelling competition was well-supported in most categories; we don’t have an external judge, but members all vote on their favourites in each group. Whilst you can of course vote for your own exhibits, this system does mean that any unsuspecting external judge doesn’t get lynched before he can get to the door! A very catholic assembly of models was presented this year, from the sublime and stately (Graham Tombs’ LNER A4 Pacific Dominion of Canada, winning the President’s Cup for steam locos) to the wee and whimsical (Byron Williams’s Simplex 0-4-0 petrol shunter, which took the Diesel & Electric Rose Bowl) via the rightly royal themed Keith Cleeve’s Queen Victoria’s 1867 royal saloon, with delightful internal detail (took the ‘royal theme’ - this year’s special award). The only category with just one entry was the diorama class, where Terry Hodgson took the Martin’s Cup, as well as taking the lineside structures Committee Shield for a GWR searchlight panel signal box with associated relay room. Dave Haines (he of Guild Forum fame) presented a superb group of GW coaches – what else? - scooping the Chairman’s Cup for coaching stock and the Peter Goodwin
Memorial Trophy for overall best exhibit in the competition.
Our now-regular Christmas supper in the middle of December was attended by 18 members and wives, and a convivial evening was enjoyed by all at The Nightjar in Aylesbeare. Mention must surely be made of Dave Harding’s spectacularly seasonal shirt!
November 2023
Without wishing to bang on about it, our ‘Wedmore’ layout is certainly giving us lots of play value. Chairman Ken, aided and abetted by Tim Stubbs and Paul Holwill, lugged the layout up to Stafford for Guildex, which though tiring, they all thoroughly enjoyed. Ken was immensely impressed by the brilliant organisation in place for exhibitors, and the team were particularly delighted to meet Trevor Gibson, who created the original version. Ken has also taken it to Willand (near Cullompton) and Blandford shows, and is already booked for Westbury on November 4 th and Wincanton on November 11th . What a busy boy! Our numbers continue to grow steadily; we’ve recently welcomed Mike Doughty, Jim Allwood and Richard Frost to our merry band. We still have a mix of DC and DCC running, though my absence from an August meeting was heralded by Paul H with the comment “So it’s a DCC (David can’t come) night then gents. Fire up those noisy diesels!”. My disaffection with the over-enthusiastic use of sound is becoming legendary! By the time you read this we will have insulated and racked-out our ‘new’ storage facility at the hall – a shipping container. This will then accommodate both Wedmore and our regularly-used test track in a decidedly more secure facility than at present. All being well we’ll be having our annual Christmas bash at The Nightjar, Aylesbeare, an Thursday 14 th December – strictly pre-booked with me only!
June 2023
The past few months have been rather overshadowed by the sad loss of one of our members, Jim Calverley. Jim had been below par for a while, and it was distressing to see him go downhill. He finally died on 18 th May, aged 85. A goodly number of us supported his widow Zena at his funeral, and member Dave Taylor made a splendid job of giving part of the tribute. Jim was a superb modeller – mainly scratch-building –and onetime manager of the Blackburn Show, but above all he was a real gentleman who would always find something good to say about other folks’ humbler efforts. His gentle smile will be much missed by us all. His funeral was a true celebration of him and his passion for railways, and his museum-quality scratch-built 8F was on display beside his coffin before its final journey.
We seem to be enjoying lots of activity at the moment. Without resting on our laurels, we’ve been beavering away continuing to work up our little end-to-end layout ‘Wedmore’ for our own show which took place in Whimple on 17th June. We had a couple of working days at Paul Holwell’s commodious workshop a few miles out in the sticks from Exeter, and several annoying glitches in wiring, signalling and point operation were sorted out, and more scenic tweaks completed prior to the show. Chairman Ken also made a great job of replacing the previous cassette fiddle yard system with a four-road sector plate: much more practical for our purposes. We’ve also got some more storage for our gear thanks to the generosity of the hall committee, so all our kit is now on-site.
The show itself was a great success, with 150+ visitors through the door, and was enjoyed by all who were there. We learnt several lessons, so look out for our next jamboree!

