Chris M

Last time I tried to book a number of rooms the price went up because the hotel was so busy. It was only busy because I was about to book a lot of rooms. I thought a block booking would make it cheaper rather than more expensive. Haven’t used that hotel again.

In amongst all the various chats there was a revelation that Model World Live would give layout exhibitors from afar an allowance for accommodation rather than book it for them. At first was a bit surprised and thought it was a bit poor. Having thought about it I reckon it’s the way to go for all exhibitions. Going back into the early history of exhibitions club members would provide their spare rooms for visiting layout owners. Things then became more sophisticated and clubs started to book hotel rooms for visiting exhibitors. This was back in the 1970s well before it was possible to view and book accommodation on line. Now it is of course very easy to book accommodation anywhere in the world online. Nowadays the idea of having the host club book rooms looks rather old fashioned. We all have different aspirations for our hotel quality and what accommodation we need. For instance I am very happy to pay extra for my friend and I to have a single room each rather than share a twin. On other occasions our wives might decide to come with us so we need two doubles. Sometimes, if I am say 70-80 miles from home I might decide to drive home rather than spend the weekend away. What’s worse is that a fair few exhibitors change their minds as to what they want to do. So, on reflection I think giving exhibitors a basic allowance and letting them fend for themselves is a good thing and I fully support such a change. It is also one less job for the organising club. It is a job that can become quite a challenge when there are lots of last minute changes. It may mean that layout exhibitors end up being a few pounds out of pocket based on their own choice but then going taking a layout to an exhibition always costs the owner a few bob anyway. The only thing I would miss is all the exhibitors being together over breakfast. just wondering what others think.

I wonder if the national press will be full of stories of the continuation of the national model railway exhibition? I very much doubt it.

Warley club did what was right for them. Fundamentally the philosophy was always to have over 90 layouts and run at a fairly thin margin. Warners will do what is right for them. The national exhibition will almost certainly be a bit different under Warners but I’m confident it will still be a great event. It will feel very strange for me being a paying visitor after 30 years working mostly in the side offices during the weekend of the show. Now I’m on the outside I promise not to moan about the cost of car parking. In fact I can get to the NEC for free on my old bu&&ers bus pass which is also good on West Midlands trains.

On behalf of Warley club I can concur with Andy on this.

I think I can say that Warley club wish Warners every success at the NEC. It is good to see two organisations following Warley’s lead by putting on big exhibitions at the NEC. I am not aware of any Warley layouts being invited to the Warner show (yet) but Warley will have a couple of layouts at Model World Live. This shows Warley club fully supports these new ventures.

I don’t whether this helps but here is my 12ft by 3ft 6in N gauge layout. If you look carefully you will see a castle with a 10 coach train and 5+5 IET. This gives an idea of what fairly long trains look like in that sort of space. And a view of the IET

It all depends what you want from your layout. I would argued 20 by 10 is still fairly small if you want to capture the feel of mainline trains running through the countryside in 00. I say this based on my N gauge layout that is 12 by 3.5 and that is only just about big enough for capturing the main line feel in N. A 20 by 10 in N would look great and you would get the feeling that trains were going somewhere.

Of course it is in N gauge. Just work out what you want from a layout and design one to fit your space. Do you use Anyrail or Scarm? I recommend spending plenty of time thinking and planning before building your basebaords.

And they are allowed to vote!

The Warley club company was set up in order to allow the club to put on an exhibition at the NEC. It is entirely owned by Warley club. The Warley club company does not employ anyone and donates all available funds to Warley club. It is entirely controlled by Warley club and only exists because it was required to put on such a big exhibition. This is very different to Key Publishing which is a normal limited company. Warley club fully supports Model World Live and will have a presence at the show in April. The creation of a new national show is open to anyone who wishes to take it on. It will be interesting to see how things pan out.

I would not describe Garsdale Road as anywhere near average; it was far better than that.

Thanks. I expect one of the magazines will put on a new version of a National show. It will almost certainly not have as many layouts because bringing 90 good quality layouts together is very expensive and a business running a big show will always have to concentrate on making a profit. This means the ratio of layouts to trade stands will be lower than the ratio chosen by Warley club. This is not a criticism, merely the reality of business life. I believe there is both room for a new National exhibition and desire from modellers for such a show. I really don't know but I would be very surprised if one or two organisations aren't already deep in negotiations with the NEC. If a new National exhibition comes along it will be a good thing for the hobby. In the meantime I am still amazed that Warley club managed to find the right people from its membership to keep the Warley National going for 30 years. That is one fantastic achievement. There is an article about called "Death of the model railway?" in The Critic magazine by Richard Bratby which makes for a good read. I hope it is ok to quote one line of his article here - "It’s as if, for the last three decades, the Eurovision Song Contest had been organised by the Danebury Metal Detecting Club". Warley club is sound and, whilst it has no need to put on future exhibitions, there is a good possibility that a smaller Warley show will pop up sometime.

I don’t know how accurate the reporting in the Sunday Times is but the article does seem somewhat inaccurate and rather disappointing to me. Warley club has not blamed youngsters for the end of the NEC show. Organising a show the size of the Warley NEC exhibition requires a large group of people with different professional skills (management, marketing, finance, IT, planning, electrical etc etc) to give hundreds of hours of their time for free throughout the whole year. The amazing thing is that Warley club was able to find sufficient members with the right mix of knowledge and skills for 30 years. That is a fantastic achievement but it was always going to come to an end one day. I can also say that Warley club finances are stable and sustainable in the long term without an NEC exhibition. No financial help package is required - although donations are always welcome.

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of folk who have paid to go to an exhibition do want to see trains running. I certainly do.

They are just copying me!

Yes but the NEC was one hell of a jump!

I never really thought about it before but my "A" team of four operators includes two under 30 and two "old gits" who are rapidly approaching 70. Works so well that I hadn't even noticed.

Having a stand at an exhibition has always been "on the edge" for many small traders. Its not just the trade space, its maybe hiring a van, hotel accommodation and spending a weekend talking to people at a show when they could be at home making more things to sell. It was often marginal pre-covid but all of these "peripheral" costs have jumped up considerably over the last few years. I agree its a shame that many small traders don't tend to go to anything but local shows these days but I think we can all see why.

The intention behind the Warley NEC show back in 1993 was simply to be a shot in the arm for a hobby that, at the time, appeared to be shrinking and in the doldrums. It was meant to be a national showcase for the hobby and I think it was very successful in achieving that. There was never any talk of "prestige" or anything like that when the NEC show was first mooted; it was all about creating something that would be good for the hobby. Nobody at the time had any expectations that it would grow so big or last for 30 years. We thought we would do well to last for 10 years. We should not see the demise of this show as a sign of doom for our hobby, we should see it as a wonderful 30 years of achievement.

I don't see why the finish of the Warley NEC show is seen as pointing towards doom and gloom for the hobby. We should instead celebrate the fact that a bunch of unpaid amateurs from a local club were able to run such a big event for 30 years. That was an amazing run. For 30 years the club was able to find the right members with the right skills, knowledge, etc to put on an exhibition with over 250 stands at a venue that is set up for big trade organised shows. It went very well every year and always made a positive return for the club. That's not a failure, that's a whopping success!

I shall patiently await the arrival of the 9 car GWR unit. In the meantime I shall still play.....

Speaking personally and not on behalf of Warley club I would not want to be working with people who are paid for their efforts unless I was being paid as well. I like the Key Publishing team and I am strongly in agreement with Warley club showing support for Model World Live but I wouldn't want Key Publishing telling me what I could and couldn't do with the Warley NEC show. By stepping aside completely Warley club has left the door open for others, be it a club, group of clubs or business, to take up the mantle of putting on a National show. I very much doubt we will see a show with 90 layouts again in this country but it would be nice to be proven wrong. In the meantime I now regard Stafford with its circa 50 quality layouts as the premier English show.

I’ve been running contemporary stock again. I just need a Revolution 66 in DB red livery to complete the scene. The only planned exhibition this year is Statfold Barn in April. I might just run contemporary stock there. I wonder if Revolution would lend me their production sample 66 for the weekend?

Interesting comment. My view is that I give priority to running trains at an exhibition because, after all , that is what most paying punters want to see. I do try to have a member of the crew available to chat to visitors but that is a nice to have rather than an essential. At open days - such as the Warley club free open day on 18th February - talking to visitors takes priority over running trains.