It has been a fair few months since I have added an entry to this blog. That is not because of a lack of show visits. I have visited several over the last few months including Derby, Mickleover, Butterley, Bakewall and more. Many of my comments have been posted on the show's own pages. Sadly some of my comments have led to some criticism from some of the argumentative members of this site! As a result I would like to issue a safety warning. The views on here are my opinions only, and any critici
I wonder how many small villages can boast two different model railway exhibitions a year, in two different locations, organised by two different groups of people. I doubt there are many. In fact Weston-on-Trent in South Derbyshire may just be unique in that sense.
Last year I organised our first ever exhibition, located in the village school. This was successful enough for a repeat to be planned for this year (Saturday 16th November). This weekend sees another event in the village. WestonRail
Well I managed it! Four weekends in February and four model railway shows visited,.....and my wife is still talking to me! Result!!!
This is another small show, but I really did enjoy it. Lots of very good layouts to enjoy. The club's own model of Ilkeston Town station in 00 gauge was excellent a really good depiction of the branch line terminus from the days of the LMS. The scenics were excellent.
The Soar Valley M.R.C layout, Aylett End, is one I have seen a couple of times before. It i
Last week I had an enjoyable visit to the Sileby model railway show. Due to a busy working week I have been unable to find time to write a blog entry for that particular event. Today saw me head to the Ilkeston Woodside Railway Club's annual exhibition which takes place at nearby Trowell. The show is always a small and friendly event that attracts a decent crowd. Today's event was no different as the hall was very busy when I arrived shortly after the 10am opening time, and remained busy throu
Another weekend and another show. After Allestree and Sileby last week I headed off, with daughter in tow, to the 12th annual show at Trowell. This is run by the Ilkeston Woodside Model Railway club and is always an enjoyable event.
With 10 layouts, 7 trade stands and a couple of demonstrations the show is a nice size. It can all be seen in an hour, but has plenty to keep people there for a lot longer. It certainly seems popular and there was a good crowd throughout the time I was there. This
My half term break ended as it began with a visit to a model railway exhibition. Like Sileby last week, the Trowell show packs a lot into a relatively small venue. It is always a good show and this year's was no different. I had been looking forward to the event all week, and it looks like I was not the only one. Throughout the morning the show was packed with a very good crowd.
The show featured three very large layouts. The Ilkeston group's own layout "Kimberley" was on display on the stage.
After a busy weekend I have finally managed to settle down to pen / type my thoughts about this year's Stafford Show. After missing last year's event I was very much looking forward to this year's show. Firstly I have to say it did not disappoint. Once again it featured three large halls of layouts in various gauges and a multitude of trade stands. All of this for £9.00 admission - representing very good value in my opinion, especially when combined with free parking and a free bus service to an
The first weekend of February has produced my first model railway exhibition visit of the new year. I have been looking forward to the Stafford event all week as it is one of my favourite events of the whole year. It guarentees three large halls of exhibits with a host of large and impressive layouts to enjoy and plenty of trade to try and part me from my cash. Once again it did not disappoint. The show was excellent!
My dad and I arrived at around 10.20, just twenty minutes after opening,
And so it begins! The Stafford exhibition begins my model railway show expeditions for this year. Stafford is always one of my favourite events and I have been looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now. It always promises to be a big event with three halls packed full of impressive layouts and trade stands.In many ways it did not disappoint again this year. There were many large and impressive layouts to view. Just a shame my digital camera has decided to have a mood and won't let me downl
I had been looking forward to today's Stafford show for the last few weeks as it would be my first show visit of 2012. This would be my 4th visit in as many years and I knew that there would be plenty of high quality layouts to see and lots of trade stands to tempt me to part with my hard earned cash.
I was a bit worried by the snow forecast for the day, but relieved that it hadn't appeared when I left this morning.
As someone who is building my first solo project at home I was hoping to
Three weekends in February so far and now three model railway shows visited. This time it was the Syston Model Railway society show which takes place in Syston, Leicestershire.
I have to say I really enjoyed this show. Whilst there was once again nothing on the trade stands to tempt me, I enjoyed many of the excellent layouts on show. There were some old favourites such as Rowthorne and Cromer, both of which seem to attend every show I go to.
I always like to see layouts that have appeare
Another weekend and another model railway event. I stumbled on the Sileby show by accident a few years ago when I was idling my way through the show diary in the "Hornby Magazine". My first visit was very enjoyable and I have returned every year since, always enjoying my visits.
Last year I was a little bit critical of the show due to the lack of 00 gauge steam layouts and the concentration of more modern based layouts. There can be no such complaints this time around. This year's event had a
After a particularly long and frustrating INSET day I have broken up for the much needed half term holiday and what better way to celebrate than by visiting a model railway event.
This is the third successive year I have visited the Sileby event and I have always enjoyed it - this year was no exception. For a relatively small location, the Syston Model Railway society always manage to pack in lots to see, and there is always some excellent layouts on show. This year the stand out layout was th
A free Saturday gave me the chance to visit the Ruddington show today. This show, like the Midland Rail-ex at Butterley, spreads its exhibits around several buildings on the Nottingham Heritage Centre site. The main exhibition takes place inside the loco shed, with the layouts and traders tucked inbetween the various items of rolling stock. Space is certainly limited. Inside the shed there were 4 traders and 7 layouts. The best of these was the 0 gauge "Camden" shed model which I saw at the Derb
After a couple of false starts I made it to the Nottingham show just before mid-day. This year the event has returned to the Harvey Haddon Sports Centre meaning that the show is back to being all in one room, rather than spread out around many rooms in a school. I had thought that this change would make the show extremely crowded as there was less room for the crowd to be dispersed. Certainly my previous experience of shows at Harvey Haddon have been like this, with large crowds in front of the
Ok, it was not at Harvey Haddon and the show was spread out over a number of locations. Ok, if you hadn't purchased a show guide you may have struggled to find everything, and ok there may have been parking problems. But Nottingham 2013 was a great show and great credit should go to those who organised the event in a relatively short space of time. It is not their fault the previous venue was unavailable, and it was not their fault that the weather caused some of the parking problems. (I remembe
After a weekend off from show visits I managed to head over to the Nottingham event on Saturday. I really enjoyed this show when I visited for the first time last year and had been looking forward to it all week. (And that had nothing to do with the Rams win over Forest you understand!!)
Perhaps the organisers needed to help fund some new players for the City Ground. I did think that the £8.00 entry fee was quite expensive. I know hiring the hall and bringing in layouts may not be cheap an
This is another show I have been looking forward to. I visited the first Midland Railex show last year and thoroughly enjoyed it with the chance to ride on the full sized trains as well as seeing the model ones aswell.
This year the model railway show did not disappoint. There were lots of excellent layouts, many seen in the modelling press in recent months. Derek Gelsthorpe's "Idle Way" is a superb shunting layout in such a small space. I had seen this featured in its original form in the
Another blog entry!
It has been a few weeks since I last posted in the "show visits" blog. Last week I visited the Loughborough show, thoroughly enjoyed it, but never got the chance to write an entry. This weekend saw me visit the Mickleover show. This is one of my local shows, held at the Mickleover Community Centre, home of the club that runs this and the Moorways show.
My visit spanned both the Saturday and Sunday. On the first day I managed a brief visit to drop some leaflets off
If you are free tomorrow (Sunday 3rd March) I recommend you get over to Mansfield for the second day of this show. I am sure you will not be disappointed!
I first visited the Mansfield show last year and found it to be a very friendly show. This year's visit was the same. I only expected to stay for about an hour, but ended up staying for over three. So many of the exhibitors and visitors to this show are friendly and are willing to chat. Of course it helps that many are RMWeb members.
I
I must have a very understanding wife! Five shows in five weekends! Mind you I am taking her out for a meal this evening in return for today's "pass out" to the Mansfield show!
I have never been to this event before and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. The venue was a bit hard to find, not knowing Mansfield very well and I did drive past it once. Never mind! I got there in the end.
The show is on two floors in lots of different rooms in the St Peter's Church Centre. It is a bit like a
Today saw the first day of the Gresley and Wychnor Model Railway Group's two day Easter show. This is more of a club open day than a full scale exhibition as it takes place in the club's own premises. That being said the club have certainly maximised their space to produce a decent event and a visit is well recommended. Since my last visit the premises seem to have been extended with a new room, "The Sir Nigel Gresley Room" now open at the front of the venue. In here there were two layouts. Burd
Last weekend my wife Sarah had a little moan about how she had not had much of a break recently. With my school workload and the recent house move pressures she was becoming very tired due to constantly looking after our 2 year old girl. She, quite clearly, needed a break - a few hours on her own to wind down and have some peace and quiet.
After breaking up for the half term holiday yesterday I promised to take the little one out for a "daddy and daughter" day today. As it happened this weeken
It has long been a tradition that my Dad and I always visit the Derby show on the Saturday. We have done so right back to the days of the Assembly Rooms, and the late opening until around 7pm. We always used to do the Darwin Suite first to get the foreign stuff "out of the way" (it is not our thing!). Then we would do the balcony, great hall and finish off in the foyer at the top of the stairs before a spot of lunch and a pint (when I was old enough) before going around our favourite exhibits ag
Well it has been that time of year again - the Derby show at Moorways. I always look forward to this event as it is practically on my doorstep. I have been visiting each year since I was knee high to a grasshopper and the show was at the Assembly Rooms. It is a little smaller these days since the switch to the new venue, but at least it does have a free on-site car park which is an improvement. The new date (May instead of April) also ensures that it avoids clashing with any Rams home games and
