York Model Railway Show - Easter 2010

[BigMal]

Slowly recuperating after 5 days in York, plus some frantic efforts in the preceding few weeks :icon_what:

 

Taking on the role of Treasurer and (temporary) Show Manager is NOT recommended for a Show the size of York. Definitely feeling a bit of pressure at times, but thanks to the rest of the organising team for taking a great deal of the load, we all ended up getting it mostly right - I hope :icon_question:

 

Many thanks also, to all the exhibitors, traders and demonstrators for your patience and help with the (inevitable) last minute problems.

 

Then there was the evening socialising which I had to take part in :icon_biggrin:

 

Signing off as Temporary Show Manager :icon_wave:

 

See you all next year I hope, possibly with a different title - no comments please :icon_mutter:

 

Mal

[RANGERS]

One thing I'd not mentioned which is worthy of praise was the idea of sending a team out before doors opened on Saturday to sell tickets to the queueing customers. My dad always warned me away from buying tickets from dodgy characters in the street, particularly at racecourses, but this speeded things up no end. Well done those men!

[peterl]

I am very pleased to confirm that the numbers through the door this year were higher than last year.  So Mike obviously did something right!

 

Will be seeing him tomorrow, all being well so will pass on all the good wishes.

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

 

[Jenny Emily]

One thing I'd not mentioned which is worthy of praise was the idea of sending a team out before doors opened on Saturday to sell tickets to the queueing customers. My dad always warned me away from buying tickets from dodgy characters in the street, particularly at racecourses, but this speeded things up no end. Well done those men!

 

They have done this in previous years too. It is certainly a good idea though, ensuring the initial rush moves in quickly and smoothly.

 

That means that we must have been stood almost side by side. I was the one with the old bloke whinging that the first thing he was going to do was go and get a bacon sandwich (my father). Aparently there was no-one in the restaurant. I mean, who would have guessed that with all those punters queuing to get in first there wouldn't have been a rush for a sandwich?

[60027Merlin]

Another great Show providing for a most enjoyable time. All the people involved in organising this Show each year do a fine job and their efforts are greatly appreciated, many thanks. Hopefully Mike Cook is making progress after his accident.

 

In addition to the layouts previously mentioned Thurston was also worthy of comment with excellent running and lovely stock. The coaching stock was most impressive and had just the right amount of weathering. It was also refreshing to see a lot of well built and painted loco kits running well.

 

Regarding the comments about the mix of traders there is possibly a missing link in the middle between the fine scale and r-to-r ends and it just goes to show how much George Watson (and Irene) of C & G is missed, gone but not forgotten with his excellent service and rapport with us all.

 

Long may the York Show flourish and continue.

[andykwilkinson]

Just to add Ely & District MRC's thanks to the whole York show team for a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying weekend. We sincerely wish Mike a return to better health so please pass that on.

 

We received numerous comments (mostly good!) about our Thurston and the crowds seemed to appreciate our efforts to keep a very high frequency of trains running through at all times. We always say that the public come to shows to see trains running and, unfortunately, there seemed to be one or two layouts at York this year where the operators appeared to have forgotten why they were really invited (at least when I went to view those layouts that's how it seemed to me). We sold quite a few of my Thurston OO DVD's too! (a real bargain at only 5 quid I think!). Thanks also to those of you who have given us such nice complements in this thread like the one above - cheers mate.

 

I think the aisle widths were much better this year as the flow of people was easier than when I was there last year (with Malcolm Hine's Stoney Middleton layout). I also agree with the suggestion for a Exhibitors Fast Track queing system for the meals on the top floor as a lot of valuable "operator availability" time was wasted with it as it is currently.

 

We had a really terrific weekend so thanks again to everyone in the York crew for inviting us and making it so welcoming. Hopefully you'll invite Thurston back to York in a few years time and we can do it all again!

 

Andy Wilkinson

Chairman Ely & District MRC

[Butler Henderson]

As one of the premier shows York needs to improve the range of traders - Rural Railways certainly would fill a gap but I can understand traders being reluctant as its a 3 day show - an extra nights accommodation to fund etc.

[peterl]

The big snag is room!  There is a finite amount of space in the stand and we do just about fill it!  We also have to comply with all the health and safety issues as well as keep the aisles as wide as we can. There are a number of traders who have indicated that they would like to be at the Show and their details are on record with Mike.  BUT!

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

It is getting harder to find the "missing link" traders - a lot seem to have retired/ moved on and I don't see too many people charging to the front to supply bits and bobs. Traders do have to make a fair bit of profit at a show to pay for the stand. travel, accomodation etc. Easier to do with pile it high and sell it reasonably cheap than with items which cost a lot to buy in and may take some time to sell.

 

 

Perhaps we need an RMWeb - "what do we need from Traders at a Railways Exhibition" list?

[john new]

As one of the premier shows York needs to improve the range of traders

 

As several York MRS organising team members read this forum your feedback will get back to those who need to know should a consensus emerge about the trader profile.

 

This is only my personal view but I thought Mike had the balance about right and if my budget had been more elastic more goodies would have come back in the car with me. Availability of items I would have happily bought wasn't the issue.

 

Again speaking personally, not as a YMRS spokesman, my wife and I recently visited one of the largish non-specialist shows for the first time as I had been told it was one of the majors in our region and a good one. I won't mention the show by name, but there traders seemed to outnumber layouts. We overheard moaning between the traders that too many had been invited and they weren't covering their costs. (IMHO justified moans) My memory a few months on is that there was only one really good layout! That show isn't that local to me so takes out a day if we visit. I very much doubt we will go to their next one. The % ratio of good layouts to traders too low and overall as value for money it is not worth half a tank of diesel and 2 x 2 hours in the car to get there & back.

 

I add the above comment as many punters go in order to see the layouts as objective one, not solely to make purchases. I for one hope Mike avoids any temptation to change the show from a railway modelling show into a model railway shopping mall plus a layout or two.

[Butler Henderson]

No way was I suggesting that York should be dominated by traders the same way as the BRM backed exhibitions are but the loss of C&G and Townsfoot really showed up this year as a number of items I hoped to find were non existant and talking to others they had the same view - heard one comment that you could not get a Peco point...

[Bomag]

- heard one comment that you could not get a Peco point...

 

I think the economics of the modern exhibition mean selling bulky, low to medium value products, such as points is not sustainable. I think this is partly due to a significant number of modellers having changed what they buy from exhibitions. To a certain extent it is due to impact of the internet in a way that mail order never achieved, coupled with the much shorter production runs. In the 1990's you could guarantee that you could get hold of a recent model at at least a couple of traders at each exhibition. I have been off for a week and found that the weathered Dapol megafrets have sold out on most of the websites! As waiting for the next exhibition may similarly mean models are sold out - the internet wins out. I try and get track, buildings etc from my local model shops which leaves specialists/small manufacturers and books as the main interest at exhibitions. With the smaller manufactures seeming to go to fewer exhibitions I think it is over a year since I purchased anything model related at an exhibition!

 

The reduced draw of the traders, which is felt by most modellers I know, means that we expect more from the layouts - which is why we are often exasperated by good layouts with poor/ineffective running.

[Michael Delamar]

any more shots of the show?

 

Mike

[LH&JC]

Aye I have a few photos from Saturday.

[gronk the shunter]

My thanks to all the organisers of the York show, I thought the layouts on display were universally excellant, (something that the good lady also said who has no real interest in these things but puts up with my obsession with toy trains), and there was a good mix of scales. I'd have liked to see more blue electrics and diesels but then even if they all were I'd still say that.

 

Layout of the show for me was the 2mm woodhead layout, small enough to sit on a dining table but absolutely perfectly detailed, and the 76's!! Gorgeous!

 

As for trade, well I still managed to spend all my money so it can't have been that bad.

[26power]

Mine now both up and labelled with name, gauge and exhibitor at:

 

http://devorgilla.fotopic.net/c1833999.html

 

Hope these are of interest to some.  If any layout owners daft enough to want full size copies please feel free to PM me.

 

Thanks to all exhibitors and the organisers for their efforts.  Despite being there for most of the Saturday there were plenty of layouts I would have liked to get a longer look at.

 

Cheers,

 

26power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

any more shots of the show?

 

Mike