The BR blue era is fast becoming one of the most popular for railway modellers, as those of us who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s start to recreate the sights and sounds of our salad days. It was a time when ‘Peaks’, ‘Duffs’ ‘Tractors’, ‘Peds’ and ‘Choppers’ ruled the roost with their distinctive orchestra of thrash – usually accompanied by copious amounts of clag!

O Gauge modellers can easily recreate the period thanks to both Heljan and Dapol catering for almost every prototype between them. And whether your layout calls for a mighty Sulzer-engined beast on a rake of Mk2 coaches…or a humble ‘Gronk’ toying with a wagon or two in a back-of-beyond siding – we can usually assist you in painting the picture.

This week we were fortunate to welcome a large collection of mostly mint-condition engines and stock from ‘Period 7’ – aka the BR TOPS era prior to sectorisation. You may be lucky enough to catch some of the stragglers before they depart…and if you’re headed for the Gauge O Guild Spring Show at Kettering on 7 March, we’ll have plenty of freight stock on hand to accompany them.

Meantime, grab yourself a platform ticket at teatime each evening for new arrivals. You never know what may draw in…