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Warley NEC Exhibition November 26th and 27th 2016


Barry O

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Seconded on the seating! A great idea to use some of that spare space. 8 hours without a seat is tough

This has been mentioned many times before but the brutal truth is THE NEC CHARGE ON £x PER METER SQUARE OF FLOORSPACE USED! - note that used includes FLOORSPACE used for isles / gangways, seating areas, operators areas and anything else the organisers use it for.

 

In a nutshell it doesn't matter that the remaining square meterage not booked by the organisers cannot be used for anything else - if they want it they MUST PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE.

 

Yes on first glance it does seem illogical - BUT not every organiser wants / can afford to book the whole hall. As such the NEC would be forgoing revenue (or conversely subsidising exhibitions) if it was a case of 'all or nothing' with respect to floorspace, so they have gone down the charging by the square meter route instead.

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My first time to Warley, getting there about 10am and staying all day til 17:45 when I left for my train. My observations: very busy this morning but I found surprisingly quiet this afternoon, from what I was expecting. I've read on the Warley MRC site the reasoning for only taking half the hall space so won't comment further.

 

I attack shows by doing the perimeter of the room then working my way into centre of the hall. Was a tad concerned that at 13:30, I still hadn't seen an actual layout!. When I did turn to focus on layouts, I liked how it seemed to be laid out with similar layouts grouped together, both in scale or in topic, e.g. the large scale US/foreign layouts were all together and I could qquickly skip by with just a quick glance. (Good layouts I'm sure, just not my thing)

 

As with all shows, disappointed to finally get to the front to see a layout, only to find not a single train running. (nowt to do with the power cuts). It's all very well running a prototypical timetable, but I want to see trains moving!.

 

Great to see so many traders there. In many ways, you  wonder if there should be just a 'retailers' exhibition and dispense with the layouts, as most people were hogging the trade stands.

 

Picked up a RTR Bratchells Class 320 in Strathclyde Transport livery. Put down a deposit for the 2 Realtrack 156's in Saltire livery (with Strathclyde livery to follow in 2018). Got a great deal from Cheltenham models on 3 bulk packs of guagemaster point motors. They were already £5 cheaper than what Guagemaster were selling them and then I got a few more pounds off for the bulk buy/paying cash. A few other goodies and all in all it was a good day out.

 

Bit of a mare getting home, on 3 different Arriva Wales services via Shrewsbury and Crewe, but still better than driving. A wee cuppa just now and bed is not too far away after a 5am alarm this morning.

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......but I did balk at the extra £2 for a normal sized bag of crisps to accompany my pint! Even the lady serving me seemed a mite embarrassed!

Simple answer to that one - stop off at your favourite supermarket on the way and partake of their 'meal deals' to obtain sandwiches etc in advance.

 

It was my first visit to the show - after saying for years that I really should try and get there (though I have not tried to do it in a day from when coming from deepest Sussex). Lots of very impressive layouts on show and careful placement really gave the impression the whole hall was used (when it wasn't). Lots of traders - though that wasn't why I went and as such I didn't spend much time browsing (so it's quite likely I missed out on a few bargains). Yes it did feel crowded compared to other shows, but given its nature as the 'headline' show of the year this was not unexpected.

 

One annoyance (which the NEC are not alone in*) is car parking charges. Now before you all shout me down, it's not the cost as such, but rather the fact that if you get people to pay it - it might be an idea to actually check they have when they exit the car park! I stayed at the show till chucking out time (18:00) but when I came to leave the car park I could drive straight out - nobody wanted to see the £12 ticket I had bought after arriving, presumably just because they wanted me to disappear ASAP and which rather negates the point of buying a ticket in the first place.

 

* The same happened when I went to the Lego exhibition at Steam in Swindon and I didn't leave till chucking out time - despite me paying the parking charge at the machine, the car park exit barriers simply raised as I approached meaning I might as well not having bothered paying in the first place.

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I got to visit the for the first time in a while on Saturday, and it felt like a good show. Plenty of interesting layouts to keep me looking round. I was also able to purchase an O2 in black from Kernow, and a Bachmann inspection saloon in Blue/Grey from Invicta. It all makes it feel like I'm allowed to have a bit of a normal life again :)

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One annoyance (which the NEC are not alone in*) is car parking charges. Now before you all shout me down, it's not the cost as such, but rather the fact that if you get people to pay it - it might be an idea to actually check they have when they exit the car park! I stayed at the show till chucking out time (18:00) but when I came to leave the car park I could drive straight out - nobody wanted to see the £12 ticket I had bought after arriving, presumably just because they wanted me to disappear ASAP and which rather negates the point of buying a ticket in the first place.

 

* The same happened when I went to the Lego exhibition at Steam in Swindon and didn't leave till chucking out time - despite me paying the parking charge at the machine, the car park exit barriers simply raised as I aproched meaning I might as well not having bothered paying in the first place.

When i left car park E4 just before 6pm, there was a guy still checking tickets, but he looked increasingly like he had little to do.

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I got to visit the for the first time in a while on Saturday, and it felt like a good show. Plenty of interesting layouts to keep me looking round. I was also able to purchase an O2 in black from Kernow, and a Bachmann inspection saloon in Blue/Grey from Invicta. It all makes it feel like I'm allowed to have a bit of a normal life again :)

 

Great to hear, and pleased you enjoyed the show!

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£37 for my train ticket from North Wales. Direct train ther and 3 coming back. Never showed my ticket once :scratchhead:

 

Think we had a chat on one of your visits to the CMC stand - the Scot living in Wales but working in England?

 

Phil

 

 

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My first visit to Warley and really enjoyed it, some brilliant layouts, and as others have pointed out liked the fact layouts of similar theme/scales were displayed next to each other. Layout of the show for me was probably Copenhagen Fields, the amount that can be featured in a space is amazing... Bagged myself a Shillingstone Station & Signal Box and Low Relief Goods shed from the Bachmann returns stand for £55 which I was pleased with (plus the industrial Jinty...)

 

Some images from me can be found at http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/warley-2016.html

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My first visit to the show as well; it was a pleasure to meet Phil and Andy at the BRM stand.  Came home with a selection of whitemetal figures to paint, but spent most of the day looking at layouts.  Some of the smaller layouts that stood out to me were Ryedown Lane/Winterbourne Road, Chipping Compton and Anderby Creek.  Stayed at the show a lot longer than I thought I would and still didn't have time to see everything properly - ended up skipping some of the trade stands and spent the time looking at layouts instead.

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£37 for my train ticket from North Wales. Direct train ther and 3 coming back. Never showed my ticket once :scratchhead:

The direct train is slowwwww, goes via Wrexham and Shrewsbury and stops at virtually every station.

We went by Virgin train to Euston, change at Crewe and Birmingham New Street. Coming back the the Virgin Glasgow train, change at Crewe to the Virgin Holyhead train from Euston. Both a lot quicker and more comfortable.

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£37 for my train ticket from North Wales. Direct train ther and 3 coming back. Never showed my ticket once :scratchhead:

The one that stops at Smethwick?  I spoke to someone who changed onto that one at Smethwick to avoid New Street - wish I'd listened, as my train into New Street was standing room only all the way, as was the train from New Street to International.  I should have seen London Midland's spectacular list of events before travelling - still, something to learn from for next year.

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There are certainly cloakrooms open, right next to the show hall entrance (cue a bit of embarrassment for me a couple of years ago when I lost my cloakroom ticket). I'm not sure about somewhere to dump shopping.

Well apologies for that, that cloakroom appeared to have turned into a Starbucks, although there was another nearby.

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Well apologies for that, that cloakroom appeared to have turned into a Starbucks, although there was another nearby.

I got caught out by that. They have extended the existing Starbucks into what was the Cloaks for Hall 5. (More money to be had in coffee concessions than cloakrooms! :jester: )

Unfortunately all the diagrams and the NEC website still show it where it was.

Had to queue up with the greasers to drop my coat at Cloaks 1

 

Cost me about 10 mins extra yesterday but the crowd seem to get into the show much quicker at 9:15 than it had in the past so overall no time lost.

 

Did anyone else think that it was more crowded today than on previous Sundays?

 

Keith

 

EDIT

The train service on Sunday was abysmal considering the number of exhibitions on at a time.

Virgin were running a mix of either 9 coach Pendolinos or 5 coach voyagers for their hourly service to London from Brum, so defintely less than maximum possible capacity.

Add one LM, one XC and one ATW service per hour and the capacity was totally inadequate.

Their were constant apologies about the overcrowded trains "Due to 4 exhibitions at the NEC" (I made it 3!)

IMHO the trains were overcrowded to the point of being dangerous.

 

Couldn't somebody have come up with some extra services to and from the NEC? It's not as if the shows were something completely unexpected :scratchhead:

What happened to the extra non-stop LM services that we have had in the past just to the NEC?

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Very good show and well worth it as usual. Few photos below.

post-28743-0-91206100-1480267817.jpg New Real Track class 156. Scotrail version was running too.

post-28743-0-72214100-1480267910.jpg

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Oxford Rail sample Mk.3 coaches with test lighting. End detail on these looked sublime.

post-28743-0-10373800-1480268119.jpg

Hornby Peckett's, Green one out 11th December, blue on 24th, third (red?) one wasn't on display for some reason. The all new Class 87 looked fantastic but the throng around it prevented a photo. Initial releases in BR Blue and InterCity liveries. Porterbrook was mentioned as a future possibility too. Detail and shape looked superb, especially the underframe and bogies. The 0 Gauge class 87 cab which was next to it might have raised eyebrows and start tongues wagging??!!

post-28743-0-31758500-1480268716.jpgpost-28743-0-06227000-1480268758.jpg

The Belgian HO layout Hasselt 2002 (iirc) was on another scale. Approx 50' x 20' I would guess, with full catenary, station announcements etc, totally incredible even if "not my thing". Centre "operating well" was curtained off completely. Scenic fiddle yard at the rear with 7 full length loops; you could probably fit 3 full length BR MGR trains in each one!

I also picked up a Bachmann Wickhams trolley in plain yellow and some Archer Rivet transfers plus other bits.

Very enjoyable afternoon, I ideally really need 2 days to take it all in. :-)

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Some comments about the show itself.

 

Some really good layouts as usual.

Copenhagen Fields:

What lot of scenery! So well done and a continuous parade of trains up and down as well as a representation of the North London Line. Excellent

 

Grantham, The Streamliner years:

Another well produced layout with plenty of action. I have one complaint (not really), I didn't see any streamliners! Loads of coal trains though as well as some passenger trains. Again an excellent layout

 

Hasselt 2002:

A massive station/yard complex on 2 sides but not enough action for my liking, but still a very good layout.

 

Others which impressed were:

Bleach Green, Johnstown Road, The Summit, Billingham, Bridgewater, Hemyock, Chelma Canyon, Wispering Hollow (plus that live steam layout operated by R/C)

Too many to mention really.

 

Thanks to all those who took the trouble to bring their layouts to Warley so people like me can view them.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

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Are you sure that's Warley? I don't see any rucksacks...

Also, most of the bald folk appear to be congregating towards the left. Is there a special line for those of us that are follicly challenged?

 

closest to the bar and/or the bogs?

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