London Festival of Railway Modeling 2011

[oggy1953]

Its probably me, maybe i got out of bed on the wrong side, but i found it a tad dissapointing. Trade stands predictable, loads of people crowding so i couldn't get near, but most seemed in a daze, not looking or buying, just standing there. Some good layouts, but precious little moving on quite a few, i wont name them, but one i was looking forward to was a let down. Highlite for me was the O Gauge layout with sound and smoke, Cant remember the name, cant find me programme. Think i'll give it a miss next year, or maybe go Sunday afternoon when it quietens down. As i said its probably me, must be my age.

[John M Upton]

Did spot examples of one thing that I think will be a new 'model rail show irritant'. I have no problem with them personally but I foresee mobility scooters becoming the new backpacks!!

 

The lighting in the second hall was poor though, nearly had to conduct business on the Replica Railways stand by candle lamp!!

[The Stationmaster]

Having had a fairly kn*ckering week trying to squeeze operating procedure detail out of various FOCs and sundry others I was already very much in two minds about whether or not to go tomorrow although I was looking forward to meeting various people and having a good look at a couple of the layouts. But the above reports are giving me a few further doubts so it will, I suspect, depend very much on the side I get out of bed tomorrow.

 

I do, incidentally, agree with John Upton's comment about mobility scooters. I have no wish to stop anyone enjoying our hobby and being somewhat arthritic myself I have some understanding of folk with mobility problems. However having been 'collided with' (and bruised) by one of these devices at the Warley show a couple of years back and having also seen one collide with a stand (fortunately not a layout) at another show I wonder if some of the 'drivers' are not quite as alert to the things their machines can do as they really should be?

[Flood]

It seems to me that there must have been two model railway exhibitions at Ally Pally today.

The one I went to was well set out with plenty of space in the Main Hall. A bargain of two Mk1 coaches for £33 were offered by two retailers (and accepted), the chicken caesar salad from the bar was delicious (as was the home made burger I've been informed) and I had a very enjoyable conversation with Brian at Shawplan and also the guys running Loch Dour.

All in all, my first visit to this exhibition was a excellent day out.

[Baby Deltic]

Just got back. I thought the show was OK. Picked up a Heljan 'Lion', so mission accomplished.

[Monty]

Its probably me, maybe i got out of bed on the wrong side, but i found it a tad dissapointing. Trade stands predictable, loads of people crowding so i couldn't get near, but most seemed in a daze, not looking or buying, just standing there. Some good layouts, but precious little moving on quite a few, i wont name them, but one i was looking forward to was a let down. Highlite for me was the O Gauge layout with sound and smoke, Cant remember the name, cant find me programme. Think i'll give it a miss next year, or maybe go Sunday afternoon when it quietens down. As i said its probably me, must be my age.

 

I left feeling the same, maybe too I was tired. As with Warley and other high profile events it was annoying having to wait 10-15 minutes to see some layouts and traders. Still, picked up a Bachmann 7F for 99 pounds. Rowlands Castle looked stunning as always it must be the 3rd time I've seen it and it always impresses, and the S4 NBR layout also looked great. I've seen Moorstreet before and as with the others a very impressive layout. I wished I hd the chance to see some of the modern image and O scale layouts but I did'nt fancy a scrum down with the great unwashed and the other proles pushing for position. I also felt some of the traders were trying it on a bit too...

[gwrrob]

 

Catering was appalling, slow and pathetic as per usual. Notable at lunchtime that the vast majority of people sat in the cafe seating area were eating their own packed lunches!!

 

 

Thats an understatement John.Sometimes I think we live in a third world country with poor service.1 till operating and queueing round the block.Not enough seats etc....

 

Three layouts stood out for me for different reasons.Clutton obviously cos its Western but also Rowlands Castle with its cracking attention to detail.Beasts Widnes with its sounds also took my fancy although not my bag being modern ,superb modelling.Anyone want an old washing machine.

 

Plenty of box shifters and I managed to keep my spending to a minimum but it cost me £30 + to get there and in.

[LNERandBR]

I do, incidentally, agree with John Upton's comment about mobility scooters. I have no wish to stop anyone enjoying our hobby and being somewhat arthritic myself I have some understanding of folk with mobility problems. However having been 'collided with' (and bruised) by one of these devices at the Warley show a couple of years back and having also seen one collide with a stand (fortunately not a layout) at another show I wonder if some of the 'drivers' are not quite as alert to the things their machines can do as they really should be?

 

Mobility scooters were the bane of my existence during my period of part time shop work. You are right as some people driving them simply haven't got a clue.

 

However as always, for every few bad ones there are good ones. Some peope can actually reverse the things and understand that there are going to be areas that are inaccessable to them.

[roythebus]

I went along today along with son (now 33!). Quite a good selection of layouts; I liked Crewlisle, a roundy roundy trainset with loads of activity and it had atmosphere. An awful lot of railway in a small space, something the late CJ Freezer would have been proud of, and it worked. The big O gauge looked nice, sounded nice, but took ages for anything to run; as someone said above, a number of good layouts with nothing happening.

 

The vintage Hornby dublo was good fun and probably worth a fortune. It's the first time I've seen a motorised 3-rail Kitmaster Garatt! It was missing the ubitiquos R1 and the AL1.

 

The Croatian salt mine layout was fun and different, Rowlands Castle excellent, though son found some military details a bit wrong (his other hobby is restoring tanks).

 

I was disappointed that there were virtually no specialist traders, I was looking forward to getting some more C&L bits to add to my track building programme, but will now have to shop on-line again. Pah.

 

But, worth the visit, even if just to meet old friends from the MRC.

[trisonic]

Ha!

 

 

"The London Festival of Railway Moaning"

 

I like it!

 

I went to "The New York Society of Model Engineers" today. Good quality O and HO but still was in and out like a dose of salt and then retired to "The Model Railway Shop" of Piscataway which was heaven as usual......

 

Followed by "The Scotchwood Diner", pure Americana, chrome and good solid food, inexpensive.....look it up...

 

Best, Pete.

[OldNick]

Long day behind the layout at Meacham. We had a decent crowd in front of us most of the day, and pretty good reactions. The childrens quiz was a great hit, and people kept asking to see the DP1 run.

A few pictures here from late in the day as the crowds faded.

[grahame]

Most astonishing comment heard at Ally Pally today;

 

When a father asked an operator on behalf of his young son to see a particular train run he was told "you've missed it and we've completed the sequence now so you'll have to wait an hour and a half to see it next".

 

G.

[Trainshed Terry]

Most astonishing comment heard at Ally Pally today;

 

When a father asked an operator on behalf of his young son to see a particular train run he was told "you've missed it and we've completed the sequence now so you'll have to wait an hour and a half to see it next".

 

G.

 

That was so impolite by that operator, he needs to be hung from the nearest yard arm. ;)

 

I went there today and found it a tad disappointing :( but had a good wonder round the trade stands, a lot of the smaller specialist traders have been priced out of the show.I did not get much chance to see any of the layouts, as each time I passed a layout they where double stacked with people trying to take photographs, and there was only two stand that did tools that I needed.

 

Other than that, what is need is a better spread of layouts to the number of trade stands, in the all important specialist components as I would like to see what I am buying rather than a image on a web site.

 

Terry

[craigwelsh]

When a father asked an operator on behalf of his young son to see a particular train run he was told "you've missed it and we've completed the sequence now so you'll have to wait an hour and a half to see it next".

 

G.

Sounds fair enough as long as the apology wasn't given in a rude or offish fashion, it really is a major issue sometimes on the larger layouts to interrupt a sequence based on the fiddle yard and cards etc. If they were leaving soon maybe something could have been arranged but it would depend on that layout.

 

Looks like (and sounds like from the texts i've had) a good show though too far south for me to spend on at the moment.

[OldNick]

Most astonishing comment heard at Ally Pally today;

 

When a father asked an operator on behalf of his young son to see a particular train run he was told "you've missed it and we've completed the sequence now so you'll have to wait an hour and a half to see it next".

 

G.

 

It wasn't on Meacham, but we did have a lot of requests to see DP1. Our fiddle yards queue trains with (usually) three trains waiting in each fiddle yard line. THat means, by definition, of someone asks to see a train again, they will have to wait for at least two trains in that direction to pass before the train they have asked for appears again. We don't work to a sequence, but if we did, taking a train out of a sequence in our arrangement would mean stopping the rest of the sequence, and looping one fiddle yard siding round three times until it got back to where it started.

 

Nit having heard the comment, I have no idea in how it was said, but I can quite understand why it might have been said.

[Ian J.]

I went yesterday afternoon, and felt that it lacked a certain something. The specialist traders area was sparsely populated compared to previous years, a shame as I had been after a few bits for my Westward Terrier build. I will now follow those up online with the respective traders. One thing I did discover though were tinted inserts for Lima Mark 2 E/Fs and Mark 3s by Shawplan:

They've not exactly cheap at £8.00 for a single coach, but from the examples on the bench it really does the job of improving the look of the coaches. I had a chat with the stall rep about accuracy of the length of the coaches, but he, like me, felt that the length difference is sufficiently minor as to be predominantly unnoticeable. However we also then discussed our own favourite locos, his the Class 52 Western and mine the 33/1s and A1X Terriers, and how if those are wrong, then we feel somewhat miffed!

 

Anyway, I bought two packs (for the Mk 2 E/F SO and the Mk 3 SLE/SLEP) and will open a thread covering their fitting sometime soon.

[chrisf]

 

Catering was appalling, slow and pathetic as per usual.

 

I'm afraid I don't agree. Although the price of £1.60 for a cup of tea is a disgrace, I was served quickly and cheerfully in the Roman Bar [i think - alongside the West Hall] with a portion of stir fried chicken and noodles for £7. It is possible to pay more for less elsewhere.

 

As for the show, there were some layouts which failed to grab my attention and some which were a pleasure to watch - a mix not untypical of this show. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of non box-shifter trade support. The only thing which niggled was not bumping into some acquaintances that I know were there, but there are plenty of hiding places in that cavernous building.

 

Chris

[Baby Deltic]

I'm afraid I don't agree. Although the price of £1.60 for a cup of tea is a disgrace, I was served quickly and cheerfully in the Roman Bar [i think - alongside the West Hall] with a portion of stir fried chicken and noodles for £7. It is possible to pay more for less elsewhere.

 

As for the show, there were some layouts which failed to grab my attention and some which were a pleasure to watch - a mix not untypical of this show. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of non box-shifter trade support. The only thing which niggled was not bumping into some acquaintances that I know were there, but there are plenty of hiding places in that cavernous building.

 

Chris

 

I had the lamb curry in the Roman Bar, and aside from the fact that the nan bread was crunchy, it was a very tasty dish.

[BluenGreyAnorak]

Myself and three friends spent the day there yesterday and had an excellent time. Between us we picked up some bargains, from both box shifters and the smaller suppliers, and saw some very entertaining layouts. Crown Street Goods and Birmingham Moore Street were both good (although the former was suffering from running problems when we first saw it. Rowlands Castle was excellent for the attention detail and the fasincating subject matter. For me though, star of the show was Apethorne Junction - a large 'O' gauge predominantly BR blue layout. Every loco had on-board sound and it oozed atmosphere. Somebody commented to me that it was just like trainspotting, which I think summed it up brilliantly. I also thought that the out-and-back track layout was ingenious.

 

Most of the really entertaining layouts seemed to have a good crowd around them, but surely this is only to be expected? I'm always a bit surprised by comments along the lines of 'I didn't enjoy it because it was too crowded around the layouts I wanted to see'. Surely the only reason there wouldn't be crowds at a show like this is because what was on display was rubbish? Anyway, with a bit of patience I managed to get good vantage points for all that I wanted to see. I didn't feel that I had to push and shove with anybody and felt pleased with myself for letting children stand in front of me on more than one occasion so that they could see too.

 

The only negative aspect of the whole day for me was that I bought a Hornby Class 31 on which the chassis promptly snapped whilst fitting a decoder to it Not a fault of the Show of course and, in hindsight, I really should have known better, but such is life. I'll have to sort out returning it on Monday.

[mezzoman253]

RE Catering: Neither do I, we were served after a reasonable wait and in a polite and friendly manner, we only had 2 teas from the Alexandra cafe at the opposite end to the feature window. Seating hasd always been a problem for those bringing their own food, but this year there were at least some chairs in the small hall to use.

 

Unusually for us we did the Saturday, and what a difference, more crowded and hard to get near some of the popular exhibits and traders. I'd hope to get a bargain at the Bachmann stand, but arriving at 09:50 it was 3 deep and people with armfulls of stock, after 10mins I gave up. Some interesting stands in the small hall, usual mix of layouts and traders in the large.

 

Nice to finally see Widnes Vine Yard in the flesh. Was surprised how relatively small the visual section was. The magazines give an impression of a much larger layout. Impressive modelling none the less. Apethorne Junction had 3 layers of visitors for most of the day, very impressive too.

 

Purchases, switches for the layout control panel, wire ditto, laser cut windows and canopy supports, Slaters plasticard, ditto Wills. Not a lot, but no bargains for me on the stock front.

 

Got talking over tea to some chaps from our local area. So if you're reading this, thanks for the pleasant chat.

 

Rob

[PatC]

I had an enjoyable day at the show yesterday. I agree that there did seem to be a few of the specialist traders missing compared with previous years (I last went two years ago) but overall I thought the selection of traders was pretty good: plenty of box shifters and a good selection of specialists from whom I got most of what i was after (a couple of wagon kits, wagon wheels, couplings, paints etc.).

 

Layout wise there were one or two that didn't seem to be doing much whenever I passed but the ones that did impress (apart from Rowlands Castle and Purbeck etc. which I take as read!) included Totnes, Bawdsey, Loch Dour and the splendid little P4 Aldbury Town (incidentally the last mentioned was operated by a great bunch of guys who were quite happy to operate anything that the viewer wanted to see run).

 

And surely Ally Pally must be must be just about the nicest exhibition venue in the country?

 

I followed the exhibition up with a ride along the Met out to Uxbridge before heading back to Waterloo for the train home. With the end in sight for the A stock I wanted to have a ride in some again. As a bonus I saw the Cravens 1960 train of service stock outside Neasden depot with some of the new S stock tucked away in the distance.

 

All in all a good day out.

 

Patrick

[ants]

Hello

Ii popped along yesterday, I found it good, food prices were not to bad for where you were, no competition around. I got one of the advanced tickets which helped still busy but at least you could get to look at the layouts. The Bachmann stand was always busy.

 

I had a look at Vines yard and it was cracking. I was good did buy to much purchased some tree kits from Ceynix railway trees, started to build them last night they look good have to buy some clay to finish the trunks.

 

Ant

[Kelly]

Went yesterday with Natalie. On the whole a very pleasant day. Didn't find many traders selling etched brass kits of the like I was looking for, but that just meant I didn't spend more money I felt!

 

I got various tools I will need and had either lost/broken, etc over the years. So came away happy with purchases.

 

As for prices of drinks/food at the venue, this isn't a thing unique to such places, if you goto say a music festival or the like, then the prices will be just as high, if not a lot higher. So with that in mind we both took our own food and drinks, saving a reasonable amount of money.

 

Getting around on my injured ankle was as expected, painful, but the fact I had my walking stick with me (which i'd of had anyhow) made it a bit more bearable, but I was glad to get off of my feet at times.

 

The layouts I saw were really nice to watch or look at (unlike some, I don't really mind if there is nothing running at the particular time I am there observing as it gives a chance to look at the rest of the layout and the atmosphere it creates, which to me is jut as important as the trains!). Really enjoyed Hippesburg, Widnes Vine Yard and Appledoor.

 

Had interesting and friendly chats with operators from all 3 and came away having learnt more about various aspects (in the case of Widnes and Appledoor DCC software, which was most interesting/helpful).

 

A long tiring day then in conclusion, but worth it. I've lost count of how many times I've been to this show, but I always enjoy it, although I think I'd have to say I enjoy the smaller exhibitions a little more for various reasons.

 

Kelly

[Brian D]

This was proably my fourth year on the trot and I thought it was well up to the usual standard. Spent three mostly enjoyable hours there yesterday afternoon. The A406 sort of behaved itself so only took an hour going and 45 mins coming home. It was very crouded around the hot-spot layouts when I got there just before 2 but after 4pm the crouds thinned out substantially so I could actually get to see what I wanted. My particular favourite was Bawdesy which I thought was exquisite - see photo.

[Revolution Ben]

Hi all,

 

Went today with youngest daughter and had a splendid time.

 

Alexandra Palace is a lovely venue in itself, and the hall was spacious and well laid out.

 

We both had very nice steak pie with chips for lunch, reasonably priced at £6 I thought, and plenty of seating too. Only slight irritation was that the caterers didn't take plastic - which meant an enforced trip to the cash machine outside with its £1.75 surcharge!!

 

Numerous very enjoyable layouts - our personal favourite was Hartshill Bank both for the detail, constantly running trains and superb individual items of scratchbuilt engineers' stock courtesy of Steve Farmer.

 

We also spent ages watching the American logging layout with sound and fascinating scenery.

 

I was particularly impressed at the courtesy shown by other showgoers to my 10-year-old daughter - at several layouts people moved aside to let her get a better view. So if that was you, thanks again!

 

Nice to run into some friendly faces too.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.