The Dave Brewer Challenge at Expo Narrow Gauge exhibition
Dave Brewer was the Chairman of the Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society for many years before his untimely death. The society members decided to rename the 'Chairman's Challenge' the 'Dave Brewer Challenge' in his memory.
The challenge is to build a model to be shown and judged at ExpoNG. Each year the Society picks a theme and sets the guidelines of the competition. Over the years the competitions with the most entries have always been small format layouts. This gives the modeller a deadline, a small project to try out ideas and perhaps new scales or gauges and enables them to, potentially, finish something and we hope this has encouraged modellers old and new into building in the many scales and gauges available to the narrow gauge modeller.
2012 ~ Pizza layout
For the 2012 Challenge we have chosen the theme of Pizza Layouts. Such models are roughly circular and have a continuous run of track. Sidings or loops may branch off from the main track, but are optional. The maximum diameter we have chosen is the popular narrow gauge of 60 cm (1 ft 11.5 ins).2018 ~ 50 and 35 years Anniversaries
For the 2018 Challenge, we have two important anniversaries to celebrat - the 50th of the Greenwich and District and the 35th of Expo Narrow Gauge. So the theme this year will be a working layout with proportions 50 by 35. The only things specified are the length, width and height of the model, the track arrangement will be up to the competitor. Oh, and the model must be narrow gauge!

2017 ~ The Halt
For the 2017 Challenge, the theme is ‘The Halt’, a small, wayside stop alongside a single, narrow gauge track. No loop, no sidings, just a single line of rails. The model is to be a diorama and is not required to operate.
2016 ~ the fork
For the 2016 Challenge we returned to a small, working layout based this time on a point and three lengths of track, usually referred to as a ‘Fork’. As usual the railway had to be narrow gauge. We attempted to leave the conditions as open as possible, for example, the relative lengths of the three tracks were not specified. Also, if any of the three tracks appeared to leave the model, it could be any one of them. We had a large number of fantastic entries so we were able to awarded a second prize.

2015 ~ The bridge
For the 2015 Challenge we chose that useful railway structure ‘the bridge’. It must, of course, be a narrow gauge bridge and the entrant had to indicate this in some way, by the type of track on or under the bridge, for example.
2014 ~ Critters
For the 2013 Challenge we celebrated three anniversaries - 30 years of Expo Narrow Gauge, 40 years of Meridian Models and 45 years of the Greenwich & District Narrow Gauge Railway Society. The challenge was to build a triangular layout with sides in the ratio 30:40:45.
2013 ~ Triangular layout
For the 2013 Challenge we celebrated three anniversaries - 30 years of Expo Narrow Gauge, 40 years of Meridian Models and 45 years of the Greenwich & District Narrow Gauge Railway Society. The challenge was to build a triangular layout with sides in the ratio 30:40:45.