Geoff Endacott

I can't just move the Trainwest 2020 layouts to 2021 because that show was already full. I also had ten layouts already booked for 2022. I have therefore had to start again by asking everyone what their availability is for 2021 and 2022. Next year's show will not be the show that was planned for 2020, nor will it be the original 2021 show. It will be a compromise. Geoff Endacott

That's the problem. In theory clubs could make a lot of adaptations to comply with Covid-19 guidelines. In practice it's just too much hassle. Geoff Endacott

The problem is that people from no more than two households are allowed to meet indoors. Geoff Endacott

The Swindon Railway Festival is cancelled. https://www.steam-museum.org.uk/events/event/16/cancelled_swindon_railway_festival Geoff Endacott

Cancellations have now started for next year's shows. Chiltern 2021 is off. https://www.cmra.org.uk/exhibition.html?fbclid=IwAR1z02z2AXdYCFahymaTDLHcCoLrXrHlbI0SN6fkTnZItJ3WE6Zl8ZhdVCQ Geoff Endacott

From the Cheltenham Great Western Modellers Group: It is with great sadness that we have to announce that our October 2020 exhibition has been cancelled due to the current COVID 19 restrictions on exhibitions and shows. We hope with a little bit of luck we will be back with our April 2021 exhibition. Please take care , stay safe and we will see you all when our exhibitions can continue. Geoff Endacott

Another one bites the dust. https://www.steam-museum.org.uk/events/full Geoff Endacott

This advice from the UK Men's Sheds Association has some information which might be relevant to model railway clubs: https://menssheds.org.uk/2020/07/01/slowly-does-it/?fbclid=IwAR3mVYBmUBGx3XcTNg_MuRcm5jK6gzt8z8tmIkJcpNCMEBdpifXWO9NB7NM Geoff Endacott

I am thinking about erecting a model railway room in the garden. However, it is obvious that a standard garden shed will not be good enough. I am therefore looking for suggestion as to suppliers of appropriate buildings. With thanks. Geoff Endacott

I can give a very simple explanation for the decision to cancel Trainwest. It was just getting to be too much hassle. Geoff Endacott

What. all of it? It must be 20 miles long. Geoff Endacott

Trainwest 2020 has been cancelled. Geoff Endacott

No, it's D5811. Geoff Endacott

One consequence of spending my days in the garden is that I have a lot of time to think. Today I have been pondering an issue which must affect many exhibition managers and club committee members such as myself. We need guidance. When and how can clubrooms reopen? When and how can exhibitions resume? There have been many comments on here, especially concerning the latter issue, but very little by way of a definitive answer. That's when my thoughts turned to the local sports clubs. What do they do? The cricket club has closed but will reopen for training soon, following the guidance issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The tennis courts are now open again following rules set out by the Lawn Tennis Association. Football will resume, once the Football Association advises that it will be safe to do so. Where are our guidelines? Model railway clubrooms are not factories or workplaces. Exhibitions are not shops or museums. Each have their own particular circumstances, yet none of the Government guidelines seem to mention model railways. I wonder why not. There are, of course, many model railway societies and associations. The majority are specific to a particular gauge, prototype or geographical area. Who speaks for the hobby as a whole? Bentley MRG have been trying to work out when it might be safe to resume use of the clubroom and we don't really know. I would love to have some advice from an organisation which had studied the matter and produced a general set of guidelines which are specific to model railway clubs. Likewise, I don't know whether or not Trainwest can be held this October, next April or even later. As for any changes I might need to make, I wish I knew. One exhibitor has already asked for single rooms instead of twins. I hadn't thought of that. Where is the specific advice for model railway exhibitions? It's obviously too late to do anything during the current crisis, but maybe when this is over the time might be right to think about how such guidelines might be produced in future. I for one would certainly welcome them. Geoff Endacott

There is a lot of speculation about the future of exhibitions at the moment so I thought I should write with the official position regarding Trainwest. The obvious question is, "Will the exhibition be taking place on 17 & 18 October?" Here is the official answer: I don't know. The Government may have laid out a pathway for reopening the country but they haven't set out a fixed timescale. They can't. It will depend on the way the virus progresses and all we have at the moment are a series of educated guesses. The venue is booked, the layouts are booked and the traders are booked. We are ready to hold a show in October but only if it is safe to do so. What I do know is that if social distancing measures are still in place we can't hold the show. A model railway exhibition is not a shop. I certainly don't relish the prospect of running an event where people have to keep two metres apart and wash their hands as they move between rooms. That will mean we will have to have reached the Government's Level 2 in order to go ahead. So although the October exhibition has not yet been cancelled I do need to prepare for that distinct possibility. We probably need to decide by the end of June because by then we will need to be printing and distributing publicity material and placing entries in magazines. Hopefully the situation will be clearer by then. I really do hope that the situation will improve, not just so we can hold a show in October, but so that we can all get back to some semblance of normality. I may be preparing for the worst but am still hoping for the best. Geoff Endacott Exhibition Manager

We would quite like to take it to exhibitions again, but that's rather a problem at the moment. Geoff Endacott

I now have a copy. The article has turned out rather well hasn't it? Chris Nevard is rather a good photographer isn't he? Geoff Endacott

I need to get hold of a copy to see how the Kannotburn article has turned out. Geoff Endacott

So your building does have a wall at the end. I thought it was infinite. Geoff Endacott

Yes. I thought I had explained that the money will ultimately be used to support the local economy which is exactly what it is intended to do. Is it morally correct to spend your spare time building model railways when you could be volunteering at your local hospital? Geoff Endacott

I don't make the rules, I merely apply them. There has been a lot of speculation concerning the postponement of Trainwest so perhaps I should clarify things. We did not choose the new date. It was the only one offered to us by the leisure centre. It does not clash with any other nearby exhibitions. We would not have gone ahead if it did. The show has already lost money. We have paid out a four figure sum for hotel deposits, leaflet printing and leaflet delivery. That money will not be recovered so to that extent the grant is useful. The main reason for running Trainwest is social, not financial. It makes nowhere near as much money as people seem to think. Last year the show made £907.85. There are far better ways of raising funds. If you think the show is the reason we can afford to own our own clubroom, think again. Our premises were paid for by loans totalling £60,000 from six club members and a legacy of £45,000 from our former Chairman, Chris Young. It would take an awful lot of exhibitions to come anywhere near that sort of money. I have been looking at the finances for the October show this morning and there is a distinct possibility that it might lose money. The grant enables us to go ahead without worrying too much about that possibility. So who does benefit financially? A small local business called Digiprint gets about £2,000 from us for printing leaflets and guides. They are closed at the moment and need organisations like us to keep going if they are to have a future. A company called J P Distribution put leaflets through letterboxes. They have had to stop work for now. They charge £35 per thousand leaflets and usually deliver 30,000 leaflets for Trainwest. They must want us to keep going. We book every room in six local hotels at a total cost of about £4,500. Those are usually quiet in October and will welcome our business. There are others, but I hope that people will see that the grant will be used as intended - putting money back in to the local economy. Then of course there are the small model railway businesses which have been finding things hard of late. I have already offered space to some of our regulars at the heavily discounted price of zero. So please do come to Trainwest in October because in doing so you will be supporting both the hobby and local businesses. Isn't that the purpose of the government grant? Geoff Endacott

I checked that. Private use means that members of the public can't join. Most model railway clubs welcome new members and don't exclude anyone. If they did, they wouldn't qualify. Geoff Endacott

That was very quiet for the first day of Trainwest. We didn't have the usual queue at the door, but then neither did we have any problems with rucksacks. I had obviously worked out the correct amount of float we needed because we didn't run out. I must have also got the print run for the guides right because we didn't run out and seem to have exactly the right amount left for tomorrow. I expect that we will sell out. I must say that it was nice not to have the usual complaints about the catering. There were no long waits to get a cup of tea or coffee and no one moaned about the prices. We must have got something right. It is hard to pick which was the best layout. My personal favourite was the Emperor's New Suit layout by H C Andersen. There were none of the usual complaints from traders about lack of sales which means they must have all done extremely well. So tomorrow is another day - and I can confidently predict that the number of people coming through the door will be exactly the same as it was today. Geoff Endacott Exhibition Manager

There is no easy answer to this. We were invited to apply, so I did. In the overall scheme of things model railways aren't terribly important. Our rates discount is £3,750 a year. If that is withdrawn, the council will have their money back in three years. Geoff Endacott

Yes - it is a grant. They don't want it back. However, I suspect that our rates bill will be significantly higher in the coming years so we will end up repaying the money in a different way. Geoff Endacott