Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th April 2024 saw the first ever Key Model World Live exhibition take place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. This epic two day event built on the legacy of previous national exhibitions at the site and featured a plethora of top quality layouts, traders and demonstrations to explore.
Numerous manufacturers were in attendance at the event and our roving reporter, Matt, was able to capture some great pictures of some forthcoming projects in OO, TT:120 and NG7 Scales – which you can browse below!
World Record Layout!
Of course, we must also mention Pete Waterman and the Railnuts team! The crew manifested the ultimate version of ‘Making Tracks’ for the event, combining all previous parts of the layout into one behemoth display! The layout was so big that it received the World’s Largest Portable Model Railway award from Guinness World Records on the day. All of us at Rails congratulate Pete and his team for such a remarkable achievement.
Centrepiece Loco
What major exhibition doesn’t feature an epic centrepiece? Model World Live featured 37108 (in D6808) guise – fresh in its new BR green coat of paint! The loco’s delivery was sponsored by the folks at Accurascale.
Project Updates
OO Gauge
Accurascale
Accurascale had a number of new samples to explore on their stand, including a selection of colourful goods wagons, engineering samples for the all-new GER ‘Buckjumper’ locomotive as well as some decorated samples for forthcoming diesel & electric locos including our exclusive Class 89 ‘Badger’, the new Class 66s and some new Class 37s.
Breaking News!
However, the star of the show was the first decorated sample for their newly tooled Class 31 diesel locomotive in OO gauge – representing 5544 in BR blue.
Bachmann Branchline
There was an incredible range of new products to explore at the Bachmann stand, including a wide variety of engineering and decorated samples for their forthcoming diesel locomotive projects – including the Class 25, Class 31, Class 44-46s and the all-new Class 69.
Breaking News!
Bachmann announced over the weekend their plans for an all-new range of BR Mark 1 coaches covering First Open, Brake Second Open and Restaurant Buffet vehicles which have not been produced in their range before.
Stay tuned for more details on these when Bachmann make their Quarterly announcements on Weds 1st May.
Cavalex Models
Cavalex brought along the first decorated samples for their newly tooled range of OO gauge Class 60 diesel locomotives! We were lucky to get an up close look at the models, which are shaping up very nicely indeed. A huge range are available to pre-order now including some deluxe weathered models exclusive to Rails.
Hornby
There were some exciting new OO gauge samples to browse at Hornby’s stand including some forthcoming steam locomotives, an early 3D printed sample for their new ‘Dublo Diecast’ DP1 Deltic locomotive as well as a running sample of the all-new ‘Locomotion No.1’.
Pride of place on Hornby’s stand was a working demonstration of the newly tooled ‘Locomotion No.1’ model in OO gauge. This early sample shows just how intricate and impressive the mechanism on this will be.
TT:120 Scale
Hornby
Also on show from Hornby were a selection of forthcoming TT:120 scale locomotives and rolling stock including decorated samples of the Class 66 and LMS Princess Coronation locomotives as well as an engineering sample for their newly announced LNER Class J50 tank engine.
NG7 Scale
Bachmann Narrow Gauge
Last, but by no means least, Bachmann had a number of new samples to display for their forthcoming new ‘NG7 Scale’ range of O-16.5 narrow gauge model railway items – including working samples of the Quarry Hunslets and slate wagons as well as some accessories.
Stay tuned for more details on this range, to be revealed at Bachmann’s next quarterly announcements on May 1st.
