Marlow & Maidenhead Model Railway Club Exhibition

[2mmMark]

Does anyone know any details of what's going to be there?  The club's website gives opening/closing times & location so I assume it's taking place. Other than that, I can't find any details of layouts, traders etc.

 

It's normally quite a good show.

 

Mark

[johnb]

List is as follows:-

 

Traders are:-

 

Ceynix Railway Trees
Page Components Ltd
Freestone Model Accessories
JBS Model World
Joe Lock Model Railways
Priory Books
RCTS
Railwayania

 

Layouts are:-

 

Whitecross Street-Oo- (Club Member Layout)
Little Hister -O- (Club Member Layout)
Southwick -Oo- (Club Layout)
Coldfair Green -P4-
Brambledene Junction -Oo- Withdrawn today due to sudden ill health
Glasgow Emerald -Ho-
The Tar Works -7mm- -O-
Snakei Valley -Z-
Portpatrick Town -N-
Kidmorton -N-

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks John - see you on Saturday all being well.

[johnb]

Look forward to seeing you there Mike, I'll probably be on my new layout Whitecross Street on it's first showing as a complete entity.

 

A replacement has been sourced for Brambledene Junction. It's a smaller one called Marwah, a US prototype in N gauge. Many Thanks to Geoff from the Hemel Hempstead club for stepping into the breach.

 

John

[PenrithBeacon]

http://www.mmdmrc.org.uk/

[Xerces Fobe2]

For up to date information on our Show please go to our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/MarlowMaidenheadDistrictModelRailwayClub . Please not that this year the Highfield Lane railway bridge is closed to all road traffic however there is a temporary pedestrian bridge in place. - details are on our Facebook page If you are coming to the Show by road please look our for the yellow sign that mark out the alternative route to the exhibition hall. Parking can be challenging at time at the hall so please be patient and our club members on parking duties will do their best to help you.

 

One that might amuse a few that know me! We have a raffle at the Show and First Great Western have donated 2 second class day return tickets to anywhere on their network as the prize - Thank to First Great Western for their support.

 

​We look forwarding to seeing both old and new friends at our Show on Saturday..

 

Nigel

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

Will be along at some point during the day. mainly to catch up with people after Christmas!

 

Simon

[johnb]

Just back from setting up Whitecross Street in the Community Centre. Show is looking good with the Clubs new OO layout Southwick looking very good, as is Chris's O gauge Little Hister.

 

The members second hand sales stand has a good collection of books on a wide range of subjects.

 

So ....... looking forward to meeting some Rmwebbers tomorrow.

 

John

[Xerces Fobe2]

Will be looking out for Kenton !

[The Stationmaster]

Nice little show as always plus a 'special offer circular tour' courtesy Network Rail in order to reach it.  Great to see he who had best not be named of this parish busily 'plugging' the chance to win a train trip courtesy of FGW.

 

Interesting selection of layouts in a variety of scales and gauges with some really good stuff for a small local show that was also attracting families with small children, showing that no matter what the size of a show it can be contributing something to our hobby.  The only black spot in my day was that the bacon rolls had gone by the time we arrived and the meat pie described as 'a pasty' very obviously wasn't (but it was quite a nice meat pie, and the cup of tea was excellent).

 

Hope it turned out to be as successful in attendance terms as Johnb thought it might be heading as it wasn't the sort of day which encouraged folk to leave the comfort of home.  Oh and it's the only show I've ever attended which seemed to offer an RMweb members' parking place - GW Mark duly pulled out of it leaving me the chance to take it, clever stuff

[David Bigcheeseplant]

Popped in today, as I missed last years show. I wanted to get some plasticard but nobody was selling it so came away empty handed, hopefully I will get some at St Albans next week.

 

I thought Priory books had a much smaller selection than when Kevin Robertson had the stand, as seemed to be lacking any of the new releases I was interested in.

 

Coldfair Green was in my opinion the best layout at the show although it was exhibited in its short format without the level crossing that I would have like to have seen. 

[station cat]

I agree that Coldfair Green was the best layout at the show, though they were all decent and seemed to be running well. Most of them were new to us which often isn't the case at the smaller shows round here. I thought the catering was quite well done although we were too late for a lot of it.

 

I did think that the admission price was quite high but I appreciate that this isn't necessarily something the club have much control over.

[ANT]

Hello

 

I went along today, and got there for when the show opened, though stayed in the car until the queue had gone down a bit.

 

I was with our Risex exhibition manager as ever on the look out for a layout or two, at one point over a coffee we had one of our hall plans out, and I think it was the exhibition manager can over and introduced himself to us, though cannot remember his name.

 

I had a chat with Johnb and Xerces Fobe2 about decoders for a Bachmann 2EPB, so I might get either a Lenz 10321 or a TCS EU621.

 

The layouts were good, and it was good to see a local modelshop there with their trade stand.

 

Thanks

SEEYA
ANT

[The Stationmaster]

Popped in today, as I missed last years show. I wanted to get some plasticard but nobody was selling it so came away empty handed, hopefully I will get some at St Albans next week.

 

I thought Priory books had a much smaller selection than when Kevin Robertson had the stand, as seemed to be lacking any of the new releases I was interested in.

 

Coldfair Green was in my opinion the best layout at the show although it was exhibited in its short format without the level crossing that I would have like to have seen. 

Agree about the layout David - I was especially 'taken' by the point lock bars - one inside and one outside in precisely the right positions, not something you see very often on layouts even including those claiming to be fully to scale and highly realistic.  I agree too about Priory Books - definitely a seemingly small selection particularly when compared with the huge load Kevin always seemed to have available. 

 

The trade representation overall was pretty good I thought for a comparatively small show where traders must be faced with some big question marks about what they can bring along for a potentially very mixed audience.  As it happens I spent with the trade at this show around 40% of the amount I spent with the trade at the Warley show (last year I spent considerably more at Railex than I did at Warley;) ).

[Nigelcliffe]

Coldfair Green was in my opinion the best layout at the show although it was exhibited in its short format without the level crossing that I would have like to have seen.

Marlow & Maidenhead was our last booking with the smaller form.  The level crossing is on YouTube and in Finescale Review issue 2. 

 

We'll have the longer version of the layout at Stowmarket (local show for the layout team) in a couple of months time, and at Scaleforum and Farnham (Aldershot) in the autumn.   

[Pacific231G]

 

 

I did think that the admission price was quite high but I appreciate that this isn't necessarily something the club have much control over.

I though £4.50 was reasonable for a decent local club exhibtion and, as usual at this show, found several layouts to inspire me. I did like John B's Whitecross Street which I'd seen at a much earlier stage at the Chiltern modellers' day last summer and it's now a very worthy successor to West London Parcels. It was also good to see Geoff Latham's Marwah again and this tiny short line really does show what can be achieved in almost no space at all with a good operating plan. I'd also not seen Andrew Knight's Glasgow Emerald for a while and it is always interesting to see how much less space British H0 requires takes than 4mm scale. The club second hand stall also proved surprisingly fruitful on the books front.

I found the catering rather basic but perhaps I was a bit late for that and I do now know where the local shops are. I enjoyed the show and for me the only downside of the day was the M4 clotting just as I was heading home which turned my thirty minute drive into well over an hour.

[PenrithBeacon]

I did think that the admission price was quite high but I appreciate that this isn't necessarily something the club have much control over.

£4.50 is quite high???? Surely it's pocket money!

 

I went and thought it was a nice show and very good value. Bought a couple of books and some bits from Replica Railways too.

 

Regards

[station cat]

£4.50 is quite high???? Surely it's pocket money!

 

I went and thought it was a nice show and very good value. Bought a couple of books and some bits from Replica Railways too.

 

Regards

 

 

I suppose it depends on what you are comparing it to really. It's undeniably a lot cheaper than most other forms of entertainment. But I thought it was quite expensive compared to some other other model railway shows which are either the same size and cheaper (though not much cheaper) or several times larger without being several times more expensive.

[Xerces Fobe2]

We had held the admission price a £4 for many years however the family ticket was held at the same price!

 

Thanks for all of you that attended

 

XF

[PenrithBeacon]

I suppose it depends on what you are comparing it to really. It's undeniably a lot cheaper than most other forms of entertainment. But I thought it was quite expensive compared to some other other model railway shows which are either the same size and cheaper (though not much cheaper) or several times larger without being several times more expensive.

I really don't understand why folk are being negative about £4.50 and IIRC I have never paid less that this to get into a show, at least not recently. I was surprised that they didn't charge a fiver and do away with the need to give 50p change. When I arrived at about 1pm the blokes on the front desk where having problems with change so I gave them the fiver anyway. Job done! No fuss.

 

Just why as this issue of entrance fee become a problem?

 

Regards

[johnb]

As a member of MM&DMRC I would say the following:-

 

The entrance charge is all a matter of covering the costs of running the show, it's not about maximizing the surplus. The short answer is, if we don't charge that figure we cannot afford to run the show.

Yes, it's all a bit more complex than that of course, it's about assessing the likely attendance and dealing with the expenses, hall hire, layout expenses, insurance etc etc, then deciding on the figure to cover all that. Attendance year on year can vary quite a bit depending on weather, other events locally etc etc, so there is a need for bit of a 'comfort margin' to cover that sort of risk.

Balancing all that out that results in an entry fee that we feel is reasonable, we don't just think of a figure that we feel that we 'can-get-away-with'. There are limits of course, as if we are asking more than potential visitors see as reasonable, the door numbers drop off and our reputation suffers.

 

One important aim of the show is to attract new members, as there is always a small attrition over the years and without new members the club would just fade away.

 

I hope that gives some insight into how we set our entrance fees.

 

John

[Xerces Fobe2]

A Model Rail mag will cost about the same however an exhibition gives you a 3D version with direct interaction with modellers.!

 

It is very heartening that most of comments above have been positive and again thank you to all for your support

 

 

Nigel

[2mmMark]

I attended and thought it was a worthwhile show.  I was able to pick up a few books at very decent prices.

 

No quibble at all with the entrance price. I saved enough on the books to cover that.

 

Very easy drive too as well, as I avoided the M4 and went via Staines/Runnymede/Windsor/Bray instead.  I've been using that route for years now.

 

Mark.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

To be fair I don't really look at the cost of admittance if I decide to go to a show, although most local shows tend to be in the sub £5 bracket. medium shows being £5-£10 with the larger ones being £10-£15

 

I note that St Albans this weekend is £8 but you do get a free programme we charge £8 for Railex without a programme and I did hear via CMRA that a few shows wanted to put the entry up but did not want to go above the Railex price as a ceiling level.

 

I know there may not be much choice for other venues but I feel the Cox Green venue is not as good as the previous one in the school close to Maidenhead railway station or going back many years in the park at Marlow, both that seemed more brighter, than the dark brick inside at the current venue.

 

Maybe I missed it but was there a club stand at Maidenhead show to attract new members? If the show is to attract new members you need an area that is manned by someone who can tell you about the club, rather than a heads down demo area, For example the Scalefour Society has a high counter with people who will engage you as you walk past.

 

David

[johnb]

David

 

Thank you for your comments. The other venues that you mention are not viable these days for several reasons including importantly when the  financial aspects of attendance/hall cost/admission price are considered. Cox Green suits the club in several ways, agreed it does have some less-than-ideal-aspects, parking, or lack of it is one, but it is currently our best option.

 

The club stand was present and admittedly some demo work was being carried out. However, my layout Whitecross Street was beside the stand and whenever I looked towards it there were visitors talking away to the club members there. It seems to have worked as we had several visitors along at our regular Monday club evening. Maybe we need to reconsider it's location to a more obvious spot, but the thinking for this years show was to place it in the hall where the club layout and club members layouts were located.

 

John