York Model Railway Show - Easter 2010

[Jol Wilkinson]

Spent a full day there yesterday and whilst the layouts were the usual high standard, I couldn't help but think the trade was lacking this year. The days when there was a good selection of smaller traders covering most genres, scales etc seem gone for good. Admittedly, many of the favourite traders from York in years gone by have disappeared or stopped doing shows (D&S, C&G, Slaters, Fox et al), but there are surely others who would like the opportunity to attend one of the hobby's showcase events and it didn't look as though space was a problem. Even some of those who had been there in recent years (Modern Structures in Miniature for one) were missing.

 

Whilst I was dissappointed that there was no S/H book seller (one of my vices), what brought it home was the fact I couldn't find anyone selling Knightwing castings or who had a Peco buffer stop!

 

On the rest of the show, Charwelton, New Hey, Peffermil Rd, Moortown and Wheal Elizabeth were probably the highlights but virtually all were of a high standard. Driffield disappointed, every time I went to see it, there was little running and it looked like problems with the operation which was a shame as having seen it at Hull a couple of years back, it is a great layout.

 

The numbers looked to be down on recent years, certainly didn't seem as crowded, but that did make it a more pleasant experience.

 

Having only missed one York show in the last 16 and only missed 5 in the last 35, it's become the routine thing to do on Easter Saturday but I'm starting to think maybe Ally Pally or Nottingham would have been a better bet. Railex seems to have surpassed York in trade and maybe also layout content but York scores very highly as a venue and it would be a tragedy for it to slip down the ladder.

 

Having been to York for over 20 years assisting a trader, there is a definite shift from "specialist" trade to RTR retailers and S/H. I also attend another 8 or so shows a year, and York is now one of those that I wouldn't visit on a personal basis as a 4mm kit modeller. I think it's part of the polarisation of both the hobby and shows.

 

If you make your models, then you will increasingly have to go to the society shows to find the traders who have what you want. That's because the societies (EMGS, S4Soc, GOG, etc.) run shows to support their members and make it viable for the specialist traders to attend by offering lower rents.

 

If you buy RTR and RTP, then the "big" shows are the place to go to find the products you want. Of course, discount prices are driven by the mail order and internet trsders mean that people are always looking for RTR bargains which makes it difficult for traders to cover their show expenses.

 

Arguably there are too many shows on the calender, both for visitors and traders. Perhaps fewer, in the more suitable venues (to include better catering, access, parking, etc.) would be better for the hobby. Of course, it'll never happen.

[Penlan]

......... Perhaps fewer, in the more suitable venues (to include better catering, access, parking, etc.) would be better for the hobby. Of course, it'll never happen.

 

But it did at one time (40+ years ago), remember when Central Hall, Bristol, York and Manchester where the main shows, plus the big Scout hut ones (OK, a bit over the top, but not that much B) )

 

I'm amused at the references to not enough trade in some of the postings, other shows there's to much '...please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people, never...'

 

Penlan

[moorlander]

Nice to see one or two other having similar views about this years show.

 

Easter would not be Easter without my annual trip to York. Some excellent layouts to see this year.

 

I guess these days margins are tight for traders and their customers to attend. Plus the internet allows for modellers to purchase their goods from home. If you type one of the manufacturers names into Ebay. these days there are thousands of items to buy.

 

I too was after some stuff from knightwing. plus the Bachmann wash point. no joy on either front !

[55017]

Spent a few hours at York today, didn't seem as busy as usual. Thought there were some great layouts this year, Rowntree Halt and Driffield were my favourites along with a very small N gauge layout with lots of class 76 electric's on (Forget it's name)

 

Bought a nice Class 15 from Tower for £79.99, Green, full yellow ends with double arrows.. didn't think price was bad..

 

I asked most trade stands if they had any Bachmann 8 pin decoders, no joy, they appear to be like hens teeth at moment, on a very slow boat from China apparently..

 

Dave

[john new]

The numbers looked to be down on recent years

 

Not true; although it is not my place as webmaster to give out the actual gate figure numbers I can assure readers here that as of close of play tonight the officially recorded numbers are not down. However apart from Saturday morning the through flow around the halls has undoubtedly been better this year. I suspect the general visitor, whether off their own bat, or from actually heeding our advice to familes about avoiding the busyness of Saturday AM, has learnt from experience that coming a bit later in the day and on Sunday or Monday is a more comfortable option.

 

If you haven't been already - come along tommorow to another cracking York Show, you won't regret it.

 

One edit to make better sense.

[mojo]

John,

Views on another forum suggest that the car park was very difficult to get out of due to mud.

Is this correct and has anyone found the same?

Maurice C.

[john new]

John,

Views on another forum suggest that the car park was very difficult to get out of due to mud.

Is this correct and has anyone found the same?

Maurice C.

 

Car parking area is as directed by the Racecourse as operators of the venue and is one of their normal race-day car parks. On Saturday two incidents were reported to us during show hours that vehicles had stuck (I.e. into/via the York Mod Rly Show Information point) . That was sorted out, AFAIK, successfully by the Racecourse crew and obviously we apologise for any inconvenience that caused the visitors concerned.

 

I can't say with authority that there were no other problems as I wasn't on the car parking team. However no other complaints on Saturday or today were made into the Information Stand during the show hours, or on the show phone line: Nor have any arrived into my in-box in emails sent via the link from our website. Given other organising team members haven't mentioned it either during the day, that suggests to me that apart from the two isolated incidents mentioned on Saturday there weren't major problems, as if there had been those complaint routes into the show would have been busy.

[Wizard of the Moor]

I was parked in the middle of the car park from 10:30 to 17:30 today and had no problems getting in or out.

 

However, some eejit had dug foot deep ruts next to me and left my car looking like I'd been bog snorkeling in it

[Pennine MC]

Sounds similar to my experience James. The going was a tad soft in places, true, but nothing untoward; certainly not like the snow the other year

[TheDukeOfWellingtons]

Having visited the show this afternoon, never again will we join the customary Saturday morning melee. Uninterrupted viewing, jostle-free wandering, bags of time to chat to operators and traders, no queue for a cuppa, a thoroughly enjoyabe five hours. Last show we visited, Doncaster, was so over-crowded and uncomfortable I don't think we lasted one hour and we didn't get a clear view of a single layout or trade stand. York is the nearest major show to home for me so its unmissable anyway but I've seen it in a new light today.

 

 

 

[70000 Britannia]

Overall, enjoyed some good layouts today and it was great to wander around in the last hour and a half, for a 2nd burst, with no crowds and an opportunity to really study some of the displays.

 

However, was disappointed that the show, of the standing that York presents itself as, was unable to muster at least 1 HO Continental and 1 US layout, given the £8 admission and £3 programme - although there was a good O gauge DB layout.

[Mr.S.corn78]

HI all,

 

i went yesterday with DaveC46026 and we had a good look round, bought some bits that i had been after for ages and on the whole i thought it was a good show.

 

Spent to much time talking to people that know but that seams to happen at every show i go to these days.

 

As for trade, i think many of the smaller parts/detail/kit companies have had owners retire or sell up so the lack of some isn't a suprise but i got the bits i wanted so wasn't really looking for anything else.

 

As for the car park Dave got his car out without any problems, we did see a guy spinning his wheels when we arrived but this was down to driver inability rather than wet grass (but that is a whole other story and not for here)

 

when we left we expected it to be quite bad after the rain that we have had up here in yorkshire for the past few weeks/months but the sun was drying it up nicely and no major ruts to see.

 

thumbs up to the organising team

 

cheers

Simon

[john new]

Having visited the show this afternoon, never again will we join the customary Saturday morning melee. Uninterrupted viewing, jostle-free wandering, bags of time to chat to operators and traders, no queue for a cuppa, a thoroughly enjoyabe five hours. Last show we visited, Doncaster, was so over-crowded and uncomfortable I don't think we lasted one hour and we didn't get a clear view of a single layout or trade stand. York is the nearest major show to home for me so its unmissable anyway but I've seen it in a new light today.

 

Thanks for the welcome feedback Dave. Our advice on the YMRS website family page is to come a bit later in the weekend, you will miss the crush and enjoy the layouts much more for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Perhaps that should also be on the general page also. Too late for this year obviously but if you have to come on the Saturday morning at least take the option of booking early. Once the prices are confirmed for next year the book early offer will be open until 7 days prior to the 2011 Show, it will save you a bit on the door price and allow you to jump to the head of any queue.

 

All sensible feed back on how we did this year welcomed, whether pro or anti, as without such visitor feedback monitoring the successes and weakness of the Show is difficult.

[john new]

Overall, enjoyed some good layouts today and it was great to wander around in the last hour and a half, for a 2nd burst, with no crowds and an opportunity to really study some of the displays.

 

However, was disappointed that the show, of the standing that York presents itself as, was unable to muster at least 1 HO Continental and 1 US layout, given the £8 admission and £3 programme - although there was a good O gauge DB layout.

 

HO European perhaps not but as one of the organisng team I have to stongly rebut the comment that there are no US layouts this year. Been too busy so far with Show and SLS duties to have more than a quick whiz round but I can state, as I have seen them, we have at least three US outline models this year. The three are Buffalo River Railroad (7mm), Paradise Mining Co (1:25) and California Coast (Z). Given we also have the T Gauge Japanese demonstation layout being shown by the T gauge trader and the DB layout mentioned above it certainly can't be said we are being solely pro-British / Eire outline this year.

[Major Clanger]

 

Driffield disappointed, every time I went to see it, there was little running and it looked like problems with the operation which was a shame as having seen it at Hull a couple of years back, it is a great layout.

 

 

One of the points in the goods yard (side with the coal drops) was causing problems yesterday, which culminated in complete layout failure (DCC shorting) this morning before opening. Once we'd traced where the problem was, it was simply solved by removing a couple of wires, but this meant most of the yard was inaccessible for shunting. Hopefully today's visitors saw normal service on the main lines at least.

 

Consultant electrician to Driffield,

[Eaton]

We visted on Saturday afternoon after spending the morning at the National Railway Museum and had a great day out. We thought it one of the better York Shows and found many layouts to admire. Rowland's Castle and Charwelton are always worth viewing again and again. Given the comments concerning the lack of N Gauge at Ally Pally, this was certainly not the case at York. 'Bridgeford' and Normanton & Pontefract's 'Great Burden' were good value, but 'Dyna Hyfryd' was superb. Watching a 60 wagon train crossing the bridge over the estuary really exploited the possibilities of the scale. Mark Henshaw's 'Long Line' is getting longer and longer and he seems to be about to give James May a run for his money.

However my favourite was a little gem on the second floor 'Pudley Lane', which had some really unusual stock including the odd Cambrian vehicle.

 

We missed Mike Cook on his rounds and were unable to find out how he is progressing. We hope he is on the road to recovery and wish him well.

[Allegheny1600]

Well, back home and refreshed now after a couple of hours drive - well worth it IMHO!!!

Pretty good show, i thought! Nice mix of layouts/scales etc generally of high quality - my favourite: Colnrade!!! Beautifully done, cheers messrs Smith!

I find it hard to really fault the traders mix,

Theres box shifters, (club) s/h, books galore and a good mix of specialists, if theres something you want thats not covered by these guys - you'll just have to bite the bullet and make a phone call, email, letter etc - whats the problem?

I do my share of trawling of shows to invite layouts & traders to come to my local show and i get the idea that some of our specialist traders are literally running themselves ragged on our behalf - attending as many shows as possible in between trying to make a living during the week. Everybody is entitled to the occasional weekend off, holidays planned for and even, sickness covered (or not). Plus, none of these guys are ever going to become millionaires, they just make a living and work jolly hard for it!

So, as a thank you - i'm happy to buy a few things from the guys at the show, i don't spend a fortune but i do my bit!

.

On another point: Many thanks indeed to the organisers and "gofers" of the show as without all your hard work, we would have no Easter show!

I did find the cost of the programme a bit steep, so i didn't buy one!

I didn't buy advance tickets, mainly because the 50p i save would be swallowed up by the P&P!!!!!!!!! The quarter hour early entrance is not really worth it either, to me anyway!

I well remember Warley where even the half hour early entrance was virtually swallowed up as the "early" queue was so huge!

These are not meant as criticisms as such, rather my own observations and opinions.

.

Cheers all,

John E.

[john new]

The quarter hour early entrance is not really worth it either, to me anyway!

 

Valid feedback John and I take your point. However one thing in response to a customer query I/we clarified recently on the website is that the "Advance Ticket" allows you to queue jump at any arrival time, not just for/during the early admission 15 minutes. We try to get the queues down as fast as possible, and will open an extra temporary pay table if necessary (we had to this morning for example), but the "queue jump ticket", aka advance, option helps if you have it especially if it is wet and windy!!!

[chrisf]

I enjoyed the show today. Among the excellent layouts I was quite captivated by Dingle and very pleased to see Calne, about which I had been reading in a very old BRM only a few days ago.

 

Something strange happened as well. I bought from Book Law one of each of the three volumes of "Dawn of the diesels" by John Spencer Gilks. When I got home I found that Volume 1 was missing! Clearly without it I have less of a bargain and, I suspect, precious little chance of replacing it. How it got out of the carrier bag in which the assistant placed it is anybody's guess but if it turns up in lost property I'd love to discuss how to get it back! Driving 160 miles each way is out of the question though.

 

Chris

[john new]

chrisf - Sorry mate - No lost books handed in to the Information Point as at closing time today but if it does turn up I can PM you. (Post probably a good option)

 

Reminder to all visitors - Help Line number to a mobile on the Show Info Desk is = 07866 526 639 The number will be on and live for a day or so after the Show but may not be answered immediately.

 

 

So far luckilly all lost property handed in, bar a pair of gloves, has been successfully reunited with the loser.

[Southernman46]

Could we have some photos please Gents

 

I couldn't go as I've spent / will spend the weekend installing miles of new running rail for "Notwork Rail" (see my unprofessional post earlier in reply to another poster)

 

Many thanks

[waggy]

Having been to York for over 20 years assisting a trader, there is a definite shift from "specialist" trade to RTR retailers and S/H. I also attend another 8 or so shows a year, and York is now one of those that I wouldn't visit on a personal basis as a 4mm kit modeller. I think it's part of the polarisation of both the hobby and shows.

 

If you make your models, then you will increasingly have to go to the society shows to find the traders who have what you want. That's because the societies (EMGS, S4Soc, GOG, etc.) run shows to support their members and make it viable for the specialist traders to attend by offering lower rents.

 

If you buy RTR and RTP, then the "big" shows are the place to go to find the products you want. Of course, discount prices are driven by the mail order and internet trsders mean that people are always looking for RTR bargains which makes it difficult for traders to cover their show expenses.

 

Arguably there are too many shows on the calender, both for visitors and traders. Perhaps fewer, in the more suitable venues (to include better catering, access, parking, etc.) would be better for the hobby. Of course, it'll never happen.

 

No shift to secondhand i think you will find that the two secondhand stalls, Ebor group sales and Milnsbridge models have been attending the show for over twenty years.

[Hugh Flynn]

hi

well i visited York show yesterday spent all day had a good chat to a few people which made it worth it for me,

on the layout side Rowntree halt,Driffield,Wheal Elizabieth,Great Burden,ullapool and a O gauge colliery layout on ground floor.

Bought a few bits for my new layout so overall a good day for me.

Hugh

[bluex5]

I went saturday. Charwelton / Rowlands Castle / Thurston were the layouts that caught my eye, in fact I'd go as far as to say Charwelton is my favourite exhibition layout bar none. Reasonable mix of traders / boxshifters and I was able to buy everything on my shopping list bar some stuff from Markits / Shawplan which I can always mail order.

[Rugd1022]

Grabbed a few pics as I went round yesterday, the new Bachmann goodies look very tempting...

 

The Robinson GCR 2-8-0 http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0321.jpg

 

The Cravens DMU http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0316.jpg

 

The station / subway building http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0312.jpg

 

The SR Signal Box http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x38/rugd1022/100_0309.jpg

 

The LMR Loco Shed http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0308.jpg

 

Other stuff...

 

Charwelton http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0332.jpg

 

D1000, from a beatifully done JLTRT kit (boy do I want one of these) http://i186.photobuc...22/100_0335.jpg

 

http://i186.photobuc...2/100_0347A.jpg

 

http://i186.photobuc...2/100_0343A.jpg

 

Nidge