RMweb Premium ELTEL Posted September 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 30, 2017 Just to add my congratulations to Steve and all the organising team. A great exhibition (as always) a absolute must on my list of exhibitions to visits. Kind regards to Eltel (Terry) Stafford Railway Circle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarb Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 (edited) HiThoroughly enjoyed my time - I went with several tasks - things to purchase, advice to obtain and managed to cover all so very happy. Personally I would have liked more modern image UK layouts but I spent a lot of time at Coppell and Euxton - very entertaining and had a few useful chats. I also really enjoyed Gweek North Quay - thought it looked very realistic - excellent attention to detail. Thanks to the organisers and exhibitors for all their hard work and for another great show. Edited September 30, 2017 by PaulWarb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
long island jack Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Called in for a few hours this morning, been a few years since my last visit, some good modelling on show, bit disappointed there was no American HO present, nor anyone selling any HO models or track Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted September 30, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 30, 2017 Thanks to the organisers from me too. A really enjoyable day, spent too much time talking and not enough looking at the excellent models (only me to blame!). Paul. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ELTEL Posted September 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 30, 2017 Called in for a few hours this morning, been a few years since my last visit, some good modelling on show, bit disappointed there was no American HO present, nor anyone selling any HO models or track Ray Should have gone to Halifax last weekend. Loads of HO both layouts and trade Eltel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
long island jack Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Should have gone to Halifax last weekend. Loads of HO both layouts and trade Eltel couldn't in Madrid! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ELTEL Posted September 30, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 30, 2017 couldn't in Madrid! There's always Halifax next year or Warley Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djp76 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Here is a link to some video of Coppell the star of the show imho Davie 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Being fairly early at the exhibition yesterday, a quick look around the stalls, and I saw this very niceley made scratchbuilt signal box for a tenner on the Wigan club stand. looked a bit LNER to me, just the job to replace a cheap Hornby one on my goods lines. Interested to know a little more about this signal box, last night I did a bit of googling and found this info about a new layout Wigan FRM are building. Seems a change of track plan rendered this signal box "redundant" hence the reason for it's sale on the club stand. https://www.wiganfrm.co.uk/eaton-arches By the way it seems to be a Cambrian railways box, nether the less it fits in well on my layout. It still resides in Wigan, a couple of miles from the exhibition venue. Glad I went early. Brit15 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free At Last Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 (edited) Well that was the shortest visit to Wigan I have done, I missed the comment that the free car park is now pay and display and only had just over £2 on me so £12 for a two hour look around whilst keeping an eye on the time was not VFM for me this time. I know car park charges are out of the control of WFRM but they add to the cost of the entrance. I didn't mind when the ticket price increased to £10 as Wigan is a good show but now with £4 car park to pay I may consider giving it a miss in future. Edited October 1, 2017 by Free At Last Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Enjoyed the show, car park around the corner from the venue was free as usual on a non event day (5 min walk). Another vote for Coppell from me, superb layout and faultless running (which couldn't be said for all sadly). Refreshments good value too. Well done to the organisers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaton Posted October 1, 2017 Author Share Posted October 1, 2017 Well that was the shortest visit to Wigan I have done, I missed the comment that the free car park is now pay and display and only had just over £2 on me so £12 for a two hour look around whilst keeping an eye on the time was not VFM for me this time. I know car park charges are out of the control of WFRM but they add to the cost of the entrance. I didn't mind when the ticket price increased to £10 as Wigan is a good show but now with £4 car park to pay I may consider giving it a miss in future. If you visit on the Saturday morning or on Sunday there is still a free car park. If you stand with your back to the Sports Centre and go further down Loire Drive with the DW Stadium on your right you come to a small mini roundabout take the left turn and on your right is a large car park that was free on Saturday provided you arrived before 11.30 (before the security staff arrived to charge the football crowds, and I did check to see what they would do with the cars that where already in the Car Park and they assured me that they were only interested in people arriving from 12 onwards as they presumed them to be football supporters) and on Sunday as the Model Railway Exhibition does not class as an event, it was free. However, and I hope you are still paying attention, because you cannot claim a refund on the Council Car Park in front of the Sports Centre because we are an event. This explains why you see a lot of people wandering around Wigan with a slightly bemused look on their faces, we have got used to such contradictions. Being fairly early at the exhibition yesterday, a quick look around the stalls, and I saw this very niceley made scratchbuilt signal box for a tenner on the Wigan club stand. looked a bit LNER to me, just the job to replace a cheap Hornby one on my goods lines. DSCF8571rszd.jpg Interested to know a little more about this signal box, last night I did a bit of googling and found this info about a new layout Wigan FRM are building. Seems a change of track plan rendered this signal box "redundant" hence the reason for it's sale on the club stand. https://www.wiganfrm.co.uk/eaton-arches By the way it seems to be a Cambrian railways box, nether the less it fits in well on my layout. It still resides in Wigan, a couple of miles from the exhibition venue. Glad I went early. Brit15 Pleased my Signal Box went to a good home. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free At Last Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Eaton, on 01 Oct 2017 - 17:16, said: If you visit on the Saturday morning or on Sunday there is still a free car park. If you stand with your back to the Sports Centre and go further down Loire Drive with the DW Stadium on your right you come to a small mini roundabout take the left turn and on your right is a large car park that was free on Saturday provided you arrived before 11.30 (before the security staff arrived to charge the football crowds, and I did check to see what they would do with the cars that where already in the Car Park and they assured me that they were only interested in people arriving from 12 onwards as they presumed them to be football supporters) and on Sunday as the Model Railway Exhibition does not class as an event, it was free. However, and I hope you are still paying attention, because you cannot claim a refund on the Council Car Park in front of the Sports Centre because we are an event. This explains why you see a lot of people wandering around Wigan with a slightly bemused look on their faces, we have got used to such contradictions. Thanks for that information, now looking forward to next year then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben04uk Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 What did people think of the modified Newhaven Harbour layout that was exhibited? Any photos would be appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mr.S.corn78 Posted October 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 1, 2017 Hi, Just wanted to say a big thanks to Steve and the team for inviting me to come and play trains with the train set over the weekend. Had a great weekend and a great show with lots to look at and I spent way too much time chatting to people. What did people think of the modified Newhaven Harbour layout that was exhibited? Any photos would be appreciated. The Newhaven layout looked great and I know they have more to do to it. They always had a crowd round it every time I passed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
APOLLO Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 What I liked about the Newhaven Harbour layout was it's height - almost rail level viewing - but this would not be OK for everyone. Brit15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Newhaven was good as were the rest of the exhibits, another excellent Wigan show. Parking, well I did stupidly join the big queue for the one working machine outside the sports hall at 11am, the one by DW wasn't taking coins, of course if I had thought on, it would have still accepted cards which is how I paid. Sometimes I do wonder about my intelligence. Would I have preferred free parking, probably but the show was still worth it if I have to pay again in the future though it is good to know there are still some free car parks round the corner to check out next year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crantock Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 An excellent exhibition. Arrived at 13.00 and parked opposite as I did last year. Most impressive to me was Pen y Graig and it's incline. I suspect many missed it but here was a model with auto uncoupling of wagons, loading onto a table incline, raising the table to the top, rotating the wagon on a turntable 90 degrees and then have a bloke appear to walk the wagon offset and then return pushing a loaded. All in 5.5mm to the foot. Well done Mr Johnson! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caradoc Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 My second visit to this excellent show this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed it; Lots of excellent layouts, both large and small, and a good selection of traders too. This is not of course a criticism of the show in any way, but anyone unhappy with the car parking charges has clearly not tried the alternative 20 minute walk from the rail stations; Numerous roads to cross, at almost every one of which there is no provision for pedestrians who have to take their life in their hands, and at one point the pavement was completely blocked by vehicles parked outside a car showroom ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
87023Velocity Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 My second visit to this excellent show this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed it; Lots of excellent layouts, both large and small, and a good selection of traders too. This is not of course a criticism of the show in any way, but anyone unhappy with the car parking charges has clearly not tried the alternative 20 minute walk from the rail stations; Numerous roads to cross, at almost every one of which there is no provision for pedestrians who have to take their life in their hands, and at one point the pavement was completely blocked by vehicles parked outside a car showroom ! Hi, there was the free bus service aswell running between the stations and the show as another alternative, 2 buses were in use all weekend. Cheers Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 What did people think of the modified Newhaven Harbour layout that was exhibited? Any photos would be appreciated. The layout (and the show) was excellent, what I didn't like was the operator with the radio hand throttle that walked along between the barrier and the layout blocking your view of anything that was moving. Ok for the club room, but when exhibiting in my opinion the viewing area should be kept clear. It wasn't the only layout that had this problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted October 2, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 2, 2017 Hi all, Safely back last night - a bit delayed as M^ went from 3 lanes to 1 lane with little warning! Took nearly an hour longer than usual due to this. I got home at about 10pm but Ray (Pepsi) still had getting on for 3 hours more travel time. Anyway.... Great show, good food, great banter, good layouts, plenty of traders and loads of other demos to look at. Will we bring the Scottish Modellers banner south again? Most definately - can't wait for the invites to drop into the email inbox. Thanks 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eaton Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 (edited) WIGAN 2017 is now well and truly over and we can now relax a little before we have to contemplate doing it all again in 2018. It was certainly exhausting and at times we where a little thin on the ground but we survived. We are of course very grateful to the support we received from those who helped us over the three day weekend, putting it together on the Friday and taking it apart on Sunday evening as well as doing those tedious tasks, issuing pass outs, manning tills, standing at barriers, meeting and greeting and the like that so easily go unnoticed over the two days we where open. Needless to say we are also grateful to the layout owners and operators who braved the motorway system to be with us in the Northern Powerhouse and graciously gave of their time as without them the show would not go on. The irony is that you are so busy at your own exhibition that you see very little of the exhibits. On more than one occasions I have visited an exhibition with our Exhibition Manger and have stood with him in front of a superb layout and suggested we invite it to Wigan only to be told 'we had it last year'. It is therefore imperative that our efforts are appreciated and that this must be reflected in the footfall through the door as you would not want to expend all this effort to produce a product that nobody wants. Much more enjoyment could be gained in visiting someone else's exhibition or better still taking a layout to someone else's show. It is the buzz to be gained in knowing that you have improved on last years exhibition that makes it worthwhile. Whilst there are a lot of factors that come into play in such an evaluation and some of them very subjective, visitor numbers is usually a reasonable indicator that, if nothing else things are heading in the right direction. I should say that we where more than a little pessimistic prior to the exhibition as things seemed to be conspiring against us, a slight change of date (again), football on the Saturday and the recently instigated car parking charges all seem designed to make our life difficult. It is therefore very pleasing to report that the attendance increased and that both the Exhibition Manager and Treasurer are carrying the broadest of similes. It would therefore be very remise of us not to thank all those visitors who supported our efforts and to hope that the visit to our exhibition was an enjoyable experience. This Friday we will be holding a debriefing meeting and looking at improvements we could try and implement next year and as such suggestions are most welcome, but please be aware that some 'problems' are beyond our control but we can certainly bring them to the attentions of 'the powers that be', whether they take any notice may be another matter. Edited October 3, 2017 by Eaton 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caradoc Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Hi, there was the free bus service aswell running between the stations and the show as another alternative, 2 buses were in use all weekend. Cheers Simon Thanks Simon, I did notice an old bus operating but to be honest I need the exercise ! My concern is more with the total lack of consideration shown to pedestrians, both in road layout design and by (some, not all) motorists. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted October 8, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 8, 2017 WIGAN 2017 is now well and truly over and we can now relax a little before we have to contemplate doing it all again in 2018. It was certainly exhausting and at times we where a little thin on the ground but we survived. .......................................... Glad you got through the show relatively unscathed. The layout standard was as I have cone to expect and the arrangemnet in the halls made it easy to pick the traders to visit. I agree with the difficulties of getting aroung the Northern Powerhouse, engineering work curtailed my usual route so it was the endurance test of a Stagecoach bus to Stalybridge and train via Victoria. Wallgate station seemed absolute chaos when I arrived and the usual Saturday morning traffic made it easier to walk to the venue. Took the special bus on the way back but nearly got scuppered by a bit of dodgy parking by whitevanman. Despite the travelling it was worth the effort and will be interested to see who is on the 2018 list. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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