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The London Festival of Railway Modelling, Ally Pally-24 to 25 March 2018


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As an attending Society fully concur that finish times need to be early enough for folks to load up and get home.

 

We were luckier at Ally Pally this year as the trolley out via the Rose exit was quicker and simpler despite the extra haulage distance to the loading point. As a seasoned exhibitor for nearly 40 years now load out is an issue much more often than the get in as everyone is doing it at roughly the same time. Last year (first one attended at AP as a stand holder) we were at the organ end of the hall and with the queuing hassle to get out of the car park, and then nearly another hour queuing in the van to get up the slope to the hall entrance, load out at LFoRM in 2017 was such a stress we were borderline for not taking a stand this year.

Edited by john new
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Being a native North Londoner, I look forward to the Ally Pally show. I normally walk, takes about an hour from Holloway, with the two climbs of Hornsey Rise (straight over the disused platforms at Crouch End) and the north face of the Eiger from racecourse to palace (good test for a heart attack, if you make it to the top, then you've survived for another year). This saturday morning was a bit cold and damp, so I resorted to buses, Clever-cloggs here thought he'd change to the W3 in Crouch End Broadway, then discovered that it takes a different route. So it ended up a three-bus-job, but still only £1.50 with the one-hour hopper fare, that's cheaper than walking. I have no problem with a short queue for a bag search, after all the threat is still officially "Severe", it was also good that the inspection was on the outside doors, rather than within the foyer/Palm Court, remember the Manchester atroscity was within the venue concourse. Some good layouts this year, although it was difficult to ask questions on Fortress Mostyn, with it's high backscene (which I reckon should be castellated!), until you could collar someone to come around the front. For a simple, but very impressive double-track layout, there was some fierce concentration in their operations bunker, and for exhibition display the well-detailed trains were very frequent, even ignoring block section rules at times! Kensington (Addison Road) and Leighton Buzzard were a joy to see, well worth the entrance fee alone. It was hard work gleaning information from the MRC demonstration bench as usual, I got the impression half of them would rather the public weren't there, although the Belgian chap showing the silhouette cutter was much better, despite our Cockney v French language barrier. One of the joys of shows, is bumping (literally)into old friends and meeting new ones, a good natter was had by all. BK

 

Dear Brian, 

 

Thanks a lot for the comment about our "demo" at the MRC stand. I know it's not often easy to "break" the barrier and start to speak to visitors as an exhibitor. I may be also guilty of having it easy as I have worked for 20 years in a Library and now 5 years in a book shop in a major Belgian city. But if I'd have an advice to give you for when you arrive at a demo stand, is to first look what the chaps do, then get away a moment to think about the questions you'd like to ask, then ask them to them. often, as you show interest to what they do, they'll be more inclined to engage in a friendly chat about their modelling & techniques; but also do not forget that it's sometimes hard for people to get over their natural shyness there... 

 

Hope you've enjoyed your chat with us and we hope we'll see you next year.

 

Eric, one of the two "Belgian chaps with the silhouette"  :bye:

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