Warley NEC Exhibition November 26th and 27th 2016

[TheSignalEngineer]

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

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

London Midland usually have trouble getting enough drivers to work the normal service let alone any extras.

[richard brown]

I had a very good show today and feel that Warley model railway club put on a good show. Here is my video for today

I will be uploading on Wednesday and put a link on here for who eve want to watch it 

 

Richard

[Timara]

Had a good, if tiring, day at the NEC yesterday.  Didn't see as much of the show as I had hoped, but enjoyed what I did manage to see.  Really glad to have finally seen Loftus Road in the flesh, though my first visit to it coincided with a power outage to that particular block, rendering it a big diorama.... (a similar thing affected other parts of the hall during the day)

 

Didn't spend so much as previous years, though I wasn't going to turn down an NSE 47/7 which I've been looking for for ages and wincing at the prices on a certain well-known auction site.  It'll be a quick rewheel and into service.

 

Anyway, couple of pics of the full size exhibits, taken from the lofty vantage point that a telescopic pole can do rather well.

 

 

 

Here's to the next one, I suppose.  I better get the layout ready finished......!

[Persephone]

Went on Saturday. I'm not the greatest fan of the show as the quality can be a bit iffy in regards of filling the show with layouts, but this year was an absolute cracker, particularly in relation to 7mm. For watching trains go by, you cannot top "the Summit" from Bob Alderman and the Yeovil Group. So simple but so effective and you knew straight away where it was without any write up in the guide.

[Andy Louch]

All, excellent day at Warley yesterday, think its my 5th visit and reckon I enjoyed this one best so far! Huge thanks to the organisers and the demonstrators and layout operators who give up their time for the weekend noting that a lot of folk travel considerable distances to show us the fantastic results of their skills and dedication.

 

The 'early bird' idea is great and,  as last year on entering I made my way to the far end of the hall to get great views of the larger layouts as they started operation although quite weird to see your face on a film on this topic when entering the exhibition! Some real characters on Billingham who not only showed off a great layout bur did it with lovely gentle self-mocking humour! Thanks gents.

I can also recommend parking at a 'park and ride' station and using London Midland to come in! Free parking and £2.10 return from Berkswell; plenty of seats for the 8 minute journey both ways!

 

Finally, spent more than I planned to with the huge range of traders Could have spent a lot more and again, thanks to all 'in the trade' for your cheerful friendliness without exception! Hats off especially to Squires for their 'trays' to make carrying purchases  to the tills easier! It worked for me since I planned to just get a couple of bottles of glue and ended up with a bag full!

 

Thanks again.

[MJI]

I would like to have gone, but wrong side of pay day and I am a bit tight financially at the moment (outgoings a bit high, but my teeth repairs are nearly paid for!)

 

Looks like I missed a good one!

[47137]

I park in Meriden (free) and take the number 900 bus to the NEC (£4 return). This is the express bus from Coventry to Birmingham, it runs every 30 minutes and I've not seen overcrowding in my last eight journeys. I think it's easier than the hike from the NEC car park.

Richard.

[banburysaint]

Pretty much a none event for me. I managed to forget my phone and lost my wife and little person within 10 minutes. Despite trying to find them it was a dead loss. I asked the Warley crew to make an announcement but it was refused, despite having their lunch and little person bits. Another 45 minutes of fruitless searching and I returned to the help desk to find the person behind it had changed. I think it was someone who works for Bachmann, he said putting out an announcement would be no problem and with in 10 minutes we were reunited. Unsurprisingly wasting around 90 mins looking for each other rather took the edge of the day. Yes I should have not lost them or forgotten my phone, but why refuse an announcement? Its just good customer service.

[JohnDMJ]

The Starbucks was always there - no idea where the cloakroom went to. Was a bit of an inconvenience..

There's never a 'groan' button around when you need one!

[JohnDMJ]

Just back from a great afternoon at Warley. Good to have a drink with Chris, Richard and Hugh of this parish and also to meet with Bill, Jamie, Mick & Barry at their respective stands. Fairly uneventful journey each way, too.

 

Now to settle down and read about what I missed in the show guide.

[Wolf27]

Hornsby announcements:

Seperate TTS sound decoders

Princess Coronation new tooling (non streamlined)

Class 87 new tooling

Hitachi IEP 800 CLASS

Apologies for the comments, these are facebook stream screenshots

The screen shot of the IEP almost had an entirely different comment from me. It was almost expletive ridden such was my excitement at the news!

 

Cheers

 

Shane

[melmerby]

London Midland usually have trouble getting enough drivers to work the normal service let alone any extras.

OK staff problems maybe.

So, why weren't Virgin running 11 coach Pendos?

The pushing and shoving to get on a 9 coach 390 or worse a 5 coach Voyager was horrendous.

The bunfight to get on the ATW 3 coach diesel at 10:20 this morning was quite a spectacle. It took 5 mins to get everybody inside and the doors closed.

I declined and got the 10:30 Pendo but that wasn't much better, arriving from the North with people already standing. Getting a platform full of punters for the NEC on wasn't easy either.

Doesn't do the train operators timekeeping any good.

 

The Saturday 08:50 Pendo was better. with plenty of seats available when it arrived in New Street.

 

Keith

[sammyboy]

My now annual trip down the motorway with my Dad to the NEC for Warley was good, there were some great layouts to see as expected. Having extracted a much larger amount of cash than what I normally take to exhibitions from the hole in the wall at my local shop before a 10am departure this morning as my intent was to spend much of it on Christmas presents to myself, mainly on a N Gauge Scotrail BR Class 47, as my layout is set in Scotland (The Edinburgh area to be exact). We also picked up a few other bits for the layout, (a point, Peco's platform kit & a bag of rail joiners) from the same stand that I had just bought my loco from.

 

One moment of humour during the show was that I overhead an announcement over the very echoey PA system which went as follows: "Ladies & Gentlemen, there is a flasher in the hall..." Which very thankfully ended up being a warning about cameras, NOT the sight of someone who whishes to should I say "expose" themselves in public, phew!

 

Sam   

[Ian J.]

To follow up on my purchases from Warley, this is a bit of an odd combination, but one that may very well happen if I ever get the S&PR up and running:

 

[Revolution Mike B]

What a great show this year with some of the best layouts I've seen at Warley in ages and it was nice to see some awards given out to people that thoroughly deserved it.

 

Apart from two (very large and quite large) traders, it was also nice to see the people on the business end being helpful, cheery and friendly for a change, something I've not seen for quite a while. In my eyes (I own my own company), service is always my number one priority and nearly everyone I spoke to was clearly out to make 'today's enquiries tomorrow's purchases'. 

 

My whole experience was made easier by attending both days and apart from a few rude people, I had a great time and caught up with a few friends in the hobby along the way.

 

Well done Warley Exhibition Team and thanks for a great show,

[SDJR7F88]

My video from yesterday's visit (my first time to the show)

26th - 27th November 2016 saw the annual Warley National Model Railway Exhibition, held at the Birmingham NEC. This years line-up featured no less than 90 layout in a variety of gauges, plus Demo's, Societies and Trade Stands, as well as all the top model railway manufactures, including Hornby and Bachmann, plus more.
Filmed on Saturday 26th November, we take a look at just some of the superb layouts on show. 
This was my first visit to the show and it sure didn't disappoint. Will be sure to visit again! 
Hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8izWI-7s3Ps

[Robert Shrives]

Hi Gang,

 

Well all over in the hall by 2145. just several hundred piles of rubbish to be swept away. Along with the Warley club and friends who stayed to help fold it all away  thanks to you the many folk who attended, exhibited,traded and ran support stands/ club stands to make the show a success. 25th show at NEC next year and 50th anniversary  of the Warley Club. 

A peaceful and fairly uneventful show with  lots of mojo creating stands is finished for another year and in just a few months the committee of eight or so will start to develop the 2017 show. Some ideas for 2018 also been suggested.

I ended up buying three books, two  N gauge low loader lorries and funding a 66 for the Valour project and a couple of little bags of this and that - could have spent for England! on some s/h TT but resisted and will no doubt regret it  .

 

Thanks again gang and thanks for supportive and constructive comments on the web and in person. Now re hall 5 can I draw to a close the fun about hiring the hall.  Those of you who exhibited/ traded etc will know what is coming. The void area is hired as that at less than public hall rate as it allows 40 plus vehicles dry loading. a great boon over many other locations and is the only way we can manage the desire to leave show asap on Sunday when many are "all trained out. "    -Mind  you the NEC do a valiant  and hard job mashalling traffic- many want to be first and this not possible nor are we sole users of NEC so it is a juggling act of conflicting demands of several day shows and evening entertainment all being on the complex at the same time.

Robert    

[melmerby]

 

 

One moment of humour during the show was that I overhead an announcement over the very echoey PA system which went as follows: "Ladies & Gentlemen, there is a flasher in the hall..." Which very thankfully ended up being a warning about cameras, NOT the sight of someone who whishes to should I say "expose" themselves in public, phew!

 

Sam   

In fact there were quite a few this year and the requests didn't stop them doing it. Unfortunately the "it's my right" "doesn't apply to me" lot seem to be growing in number.

One chap with an expensive looking DSLR on Saturday was just walking up to the layouts and then FLASH without warning in the face of anybody around.

 

As there seemed to be little preparation of his shots I dread to think how crap some of his pictures will be. No I don't dread that - I hope they will be crap!  

 

Keith

[phil-b259]

OK staff problems maybe.

So, why weren't Virgin running 11 coach Pendos?

The pushing and shoving to get on a 9 coach 390 or worse a 5 coach Voyager was horrendous.

The bunfight to get on the ATW 3 coach diesel at 10:20 this morning was quite a spectacle. It took 5 mins to get everybody inside and the doors closed.

I declined and got the 10:30 Pendo but that wasn't much better, arriving from the North with people already standing. Getting a platform full of punters for the NEC on wasn't easy either.

Doesn't do the train operators timekeeping any good.

 

The Saturday 08:50 Pendo was better. with plenty of seats available when it arrived in New Street.

 

Keith

 

First of all Virgin (and other operators) need to prioritise maintenance of their fleets for the working week over exhibition traffic - thus the are not the same quantity of units to provide longer / more frequent trains.

 

Secondly, weekend working is also expensive for TOCs in terms of staff wages - thanks to the various T&Cs the Unions have obtained over previous decades staff usually get enhanced pay at weekends.

 

Thirdly, the more miles a train does the more quickly things wear out. This requires careful fleet management to rotate stock round diagrams etc to ensure wear is balanced over the entire fleet - adding 'extras' (either to strengthen existing services or to provide extra ones) mucks up the careful planned diagrams and increases wear which leads to increased costs and more unit downtime while the worn parts are renewed.

 

Forthly, TOCs cannot simply add more cars or trainsets to their fleets - that luxury is denied to them as part of their franchises and it can only be done if the DfT give permission (which they don't usually do until a new franchise is let). You should note that when Virgin got permission from the DfT to lengthen the Pendalino fleet, Virgin wanted ALL the trainsets to become 11 cars (which would have made maintenance and servicing very easy and avoided complications when a short set has to deputise for a longer one). Unfortunately the Men (and Women) from the Ministry said "NO! You can only order enough stock to lengthen around half your Pendlino trains to 11 cars because otherwise the leasing costs will get too high - and the figures prove not every service actually needs 11 cars."

 

Fifthly - no passenger railway in the world is truly profitable - and as such the onus is put on TOCs by DfT to be as lean and efficient as possible, thus getting the maximum out of every bit of subsidy they get. One off, or ad hoc special workings cost far more to organise than the normal timetable and they never generate enough revenue to cover the costs that putting them on involves. Removing the controlling hand of the DfT might allow more possibilities as regards TOCs flexibility regarding events at the NEC - as TfL have shown in London, but since when have Whitehall ever relinquished power voluntarily (unless it means they can dump problems on someone else's budget to sort out).

[Vecchio]

In fact there were quite a few this year and the requests didn't stop them doing it. Unfortunately the "it's my right" "doesn't apply to me" lot seem to be growing in number.

One chap with an expensive looking DSLR on Saturday was just walking up to the layouts and then FLASH without warning in the face of anybody around.

 

As there seemed to be little preparation of his shots I dread to think how crap some of his pictures will be. No I don't dread that - I hope they will be crap!

 

Keith

 

Have to say pictures come out better without flash - ok sometimes you get in trouble with moving objects - but you avoid the shadow of objects. People tried hard with the lighting of their layouts (well most of them), so the picture without flash shows what the creator of the model had in mind.

Vecchio

[Dunsignalling]

First of all Virgin (and other operators) need to prioritise maintenance of their fleets for the working week over exhibition traffic - thus the are not the same quantity of units to provide longer / more frequent trains.

 

Secondly, weekend working is also expensive for TOCs in terms of staff wages - thanks to the various T&Cs the Unions have obtained over previous decades staff usually get enhanced pay at weekends.

 

Thirdly, the more miles a train does the more quickly things wear out. This requires careful fleet management to rotate stock round diagrams etc to ensure wear is balanced over the entire fleet - adding 'extras' (either to strengthen existing services or to provide extra ones) mucks up the careful planned diagrams and increases wear which leads to increased costs and more unit downtime while the worn parts are renewed.

 

Forthly, TOCs cannot simply add more cars or trainsets to their fleets - that luxury is denied to them as part of their franchises and it can only be done if the DfT give permission (which they don't usually do until a new franchise is let). You should note that when Virgin got permission from the DfT to lengthen the Pendalino fleet, Virgin wanted ALL the trainsets to become 11 cars (which would have made maintenance and servicing very easy and avoided complications when a short set has to deputise for a longer one). Unfortunately the Men (and Women) from the Ministry said "NO! You can only order enough stock to lengthen around half your Pendlino trains to 11 cars because otherwise the leasing costs will get too high - and the figures prove not every service actually needs 11 cars."

 

Fifthly - no passenger railway in the world is truly profitable - and as such the onus is put on TOCs by DfT to be as lean and efficient as possible, thus getting the maximum out of every bit of subsidy they get. One off, or ad hoc special workings cost far more to organise than the normal timetable and they never generate enough revenue to cover the costs that putting them on involves. Removing the controlling hand of the DfT might allow more possibilities as regards TOCs flexibility regarding events at the NEC - as TfL have shown in London, but since when have Whitehall ever relinquished power voluntarily (unless it means they can dump problems on someone else's budget to sort out).

There are significant events going on at the NEC most weekends and it should not be beyond the wit of the TOCs (especially Cross Country from my POV) to strengthen appropriate services - those that arrive and depart BHI around opening/closing time, at least on the Saturday.

 

Warley usually coincides with the even more popular Motorcycle Show and a single Voyager, full from Basingstoke and crush-loaded from Reading, just isn't good enough.  

 

The thought also occurs that, if the regular TOCs have part of their fleet out of service over the weekend and are running a reduced frequency, there should be paths available for charter operations. 

 

John

[PaulRhB]

Stock is available but the leasing companies charge a premium for short term hire beyond the regular mileage. This was the reason for the HST's not being used sometines on the Weymouth summer extras as the premium destroyed the profits to be made. The hired stock is on a strict mileage based hire and maintenance regime designed around the WTT so there just isn't the flexibility to double up sets every time unless they know it's going to be rammed for the majority of the journey. The train I was on went from crammed in standing to everyone seated at Leamington so the over capacity was only 20 minutes.

Swapping out trains for faults only works because of the fines for cancelling the service.

[Crantock]

Its really unrealistic to expect TOCs to go out of their way to accommodate exhibitions.  My 350 was busy but there were seats at the end and most decamped at Stechford or Marston Green.  ie short distance travellers avoiding the NEC car parks.  Virgin and XC are an inter city TOC.  They are not going to re-arrange their services for 10 minute trips to the NEC.  Why should they subsidise the NEC?  If the NEC want to they can always run shuttle buses to New Street etc.

[Clive Mortimore]

Here is an account of yesterday's trip to the NEC, well I bought the wrong tickets and me and my mate ended up in some model railway exhibition totally missing the good food show.

 

Anyhow on the journey from Darkest Essex to Brumland we stopped at a service station in the middle of nowhere. The stop was great, well the cooked breakfast was, especially as my mate, Andy, gave me his black pudding as a swapsie for my grilled tomato. Still stuffed at lunch time I only able to mangae a white chocolate cookie with my cappuccino. I did have a slight problem, I spotted the ice cream van in the corner, so had a very nice raspberry cheesecake ice cream in a cone. Had a second cappuccino without a cookie as we walked around and around trying find the car park we left my mate's car in. Had hoped to be home in time for tea but some kind person decided to bash in to another person's car on the M11 thus delaying our journey back to Darkest Essex. 

 

That ends this year's Warley report.

[PMP99]

As there seemed to be little preparation of his shots I dread to think how crap some of his pictures will be. No I don't dread that - I hope they will be crap!

 

Keith

 

Thing is he probably won't appreciate they are crap!