The National Festival of Railway Modelling - 8&9 December 2018

[Andy Y]

Thanks to everyone who visited at the weekend! Thanks to the layout crews, Bournemouth West had a full barrier until the last service headed for Waterloo on Sunday afternoon. Callum was swamped on Amiens 1918 all weekend and made quite a few youngsters' days. Great layouts this year and I was really taken with the new end board for Faringdon, a superb street scene. Thank you too to the stewards of Masrket Deeping MRC who make it all possible.

 

The date change had a good outcome I'd say and I feel it was the best quality Peterborough show we've had so a well done to Sam for booking that range of layouts.

[Brian Indge]

I also thought the show was really good, although it would have been nice to have had a major trader for bits and pieces such as Squires in attendance. The Bournemouth layout was superb and every time I looked there were huge crowds at the barrier. With the space in the isles being so wide there was never any problem of being squashed. The only thing SWMBO said to me was that with all the space in the main hall there could have been more seating for those that wanted to rest their feet. Some years ago there were bench seats for people to do this, so perhaps that could be looked at. Anyway, roll on next year!

[88C]

I visited on Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. There were many layouts which for various reasons appealed to me. Bournemouth West was very impressive and was always running when I looked at it, no doubt the operators will have gained a lot of experience over the weekend. Hope-under-Dinmore is always worth a look and I like to see the kit built stock. Kensington Addison Road is another layout with unusual stock and the row of terraced houses at the back really sets the scene. Farrigdon is superb, modelling at it's best, Dentdale uses N gauge to it's best advantage and to finish I liked the railcar on Christmas Eve. Lots of other well modelled layouts, not neccessarily to my taste but any show needs variety.

 

Thanks to all involved and I got everything on my shopping list and a nice mince pie from 247.

 

Brian

[Phil Parker]

I'd agree with those who said the layout selection was excellent. From the little I saw, I'm sure I wouldn't have been disappointed to have paid to come in. 

 

Thanks to everyone who took the Christmas theme to heart and placed little festive models into their scenes for the youngsters to spot - and the traders who festooned their stands with lights and tinsel.

 

[polybear]

Thanks to everyone who visited at the weekend! Thanks to the layout crews, Bournemouth West had a full barrier until the last service headed for Waterloo on Sunday afternoon. Callum was swamped on Amiens 1918 all weekend and made quite a few youngsters' days. Great layouts this year and I was really taken with the new end board for Faringdon, a superb street scene. Thank you too to the stewards of Masrket Deeping MRC who make it all possible.

 

The date change had a good outcome I'd say and I feel it was the best quality Peterborough show we've had so a well done to Sam for booking that range of layouts.

 

Excellent show.  Two comments:

 

1. Can we have the round table workshops back again next year please?  I missed Tony's demo but have heard it was excellent; I was lucky to have had a soldering teach-in from Geoff Haynes on the Saturday - first class

 

2.  Turn the heating up a bit - the hall was pretty cold.....

[LNERandBR]

Having things too hot could cause running problems though. Especially if the temperature plummets overnight then heats up considerably during the day.

 

Personally I kept going back to Bournemouth West and it seemed okay running whise for the most part. Although I did see some derailments which I'm sure the operating team will be fault finding after the show. It's a really excellent layout overall.

[Roger Sunderland]

Thanks for all the comments on our Bournemouth West layout, both positive and negative. This was our first big show so we were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately 2 of our operating team were struck down by some evil bug that laid them (very) low. However it is fair to say we did have some running issues that weren't apparent at our shakedown outing to Poole show some 4 weeks previous. We will do our best to get these sorted by our next outing.

 

As far as the train formations go, those who visit our thread on here will be aware we are still working on these to ensure accuracy but we have some way to go. All in all we were thrilled by the public reaction and the crowds that we drew. We had some very pleasing feedback and the "steam" was well received so onwards and upwards!

[ruggedpeak]

Back home after the Peterborough Show and putting my feet up after a long weekend. Once we got rid of the gremlins on Saturday Remagen start to behave itself. Sunday it ran loads better, but still a few issues to iron out.

 

Unfortunately I got almost no photos of the layout. If you took some, please could you post up here or in the Remagen thread.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not great pics as my phone camera isn't good indoors but a good flavour of an excellent layout.

[woodenhead]

Thanks for all the comments on our Bournemouth West layout, both positive and negative. This was our first big show so we were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately 2 of our operating team were struck down by some evil bug that laid them (very) low. However it is fair to say we did have some running issues that weren't apparent at our shakedown outing to Poole show some 4 weeks previous. We will do our best to get these sorted by our next outing.

 

As far as the train formations go, those who visit our thread on here will be aware we are still working on these to ensure accuracy but we have some way to go. All in all we were thrilled by the public reaction and the crowds that we drew. We had some very pleasing feedback and the "steam" was well received so onwards and upwards!

I think the word is niggles when it came to operation on the day, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  Most Southern layouts seem to have big engines on little trains (well far west LSWR ones) so it was nice to see an LSWR theme where the trains were long.  As soon as I got home I was on Google maps trying (and succeeding) to place the curved building just by the station entrance.

 

I look forward to seeing it again (and again).

[TEAMYAKIMA]

It just goes to show how we are all different and have different 'issues' that tick our boxes ……………….. so far no-one has mentioned the layout that was IMHO the best layout at the show - IRAQ in WW2 - just about the cleverest layout I've ever seen and yet not one mention in dispatches.

Edited December 10, 2018 by TEAMYAKIMA

[pete_mcfarlane]

I thought it was a good show, with some excellent layouts. As well as those layouts already mentioned, I thought the Launceston Steam Railway OO9 layout was really good, with prototypical locos and decent slow running.  

[SDJR7F88]

Had a wonderful weekend with my WW1 Trench Railway - Amiens 1918 over the weekend on the BRM Stand.

Here a short video of Amiens 1918 in action at 'The National Festival of Railway Modelling', Peterborough on the - 8th & 9th December 2018.

The show was the layout's furthest outing to date, and certainly one of the busiest too, only managed to get a very brief look around the show. Was great to finally get to put some names to faces too.

Well done to all involved!!!

Edited December 10, 2018 by SDJR7F88

[sb67]

Had a fantastic day at the show on Sunday, it was good to meet people and chat. There were some fine layouts there, and the space inside the venue was good. I got a couple of bargains and came away really pleased I'd gone. Here's a few pics.

 

Amiens 1918

 

Launceston Steam Railway

 

Lomond Street

 

Caroline Concrete

 

Byway MPD

 

My favourite Dock Green.

 

As I said there were so many great layouts and it's hard to pic photos to post, sorry if I've missed anyone.

A big thanks to everyone involved, well done for putting on a great show.

Steve.

Edited December 10, 2018 by sb67

[kipford]

We had a great weekend with Hope - under - Dinmore, it ran fine except for a few niggles which were not evident on the run through on the previous Tuesday, like tie bars failing, soon fixed, sllde chairs disintegrating causing gauge widening on one of the goods yard points , not fixable but just about operable, some spurious shorts which need looking at and a couple of locos which decided to not to want to work properly. Luckily we have more loco's than trains. Hey but that is a peril of exhibition running.

 

There was a nice selection of layouts to look at. Bournemouth West when they get over the very small teething problems will be fabulous, it already looks stunning, pity they will not do a one day exhibition though. Dentdale is a lovely slice of the Settle and Carlisle, Faringdon, bucolic branch line etc etc

 

The Bridge at Remagen is another lovely piece of modelling, but could they please please put lighting on it (proper lighting not a couple of spots), it would then be a stunner.

 

All in all great time.

[bourneagain]

I also thought the show was really good, although it would have been nice to have had a major trader for bits and pieces such as Squires in attendance. The Bournemouth layout was superb and every time I looked there were huge crowds at the barrier. With the space in the isles being so wide there was never any problem of being squashed. The only thing SWMBO said to me was that with all the space in the main hall there could have been more seating for those that wanted to rest their feet. Some years ago there were bench seats for people to do this, so perhaps that could be looked at. Anyway, roll on next year!

I`ve often thought it strange that a company such as Squires Tools has never been in attendance at any of the Warner arranged shows. Is it that they have never been invited or they don`t on principal attend these type of magazine sponsored exhibitions, as they didn’t attend the recent Hornby Magazine show either.

[Grasslands]

Hi folks, me and my bro had a great time operating Brewery Pit in Peterborough, although my Coca-Cola train caused me a few operational headaches on Saturday, so I decided to shift it into a static display format for Sunday which gave me some time to explore the show. There were some really great layouts, some of the best I've seen. The steam effects on Bournemouth West were great and the model as a whole is incredibly realistic. My fave layout was certainly Habbaniya, Iraq 1941; it was absolutely stunning!!! The Bridge at Remagen is also so, so, so good.

 

A special shout out to John Gay and Chris Leigh who provided me with some VIP locos including John's noisey USA Dock Tank and a lengthy test run of the pre-production J70 tram.

 

I had a lovely chat with Chris about J70's and Y6's and his early memories of pioneering diesels and steamers in the waning hours of Sunday.

 

I even met someone who has a vague memory of seeing J70's at Great Yarmouth docks when he was a nipper!

 

I had so many nice comments about Brewery Pit, so thanks all. I'll post up some photos and videos soon.

 

Grasslands out!

Edited December 11, 2018 by Grasslands

[Dragonboy]

I am a regular at this show and it is one that I always find to be a most enjoyable experience, but I feel I must say that I think you guys at Warner’s have raised the bar this year to such a high standard you’ve now made a bit of a rod for your own backs.

 

The quality of layouts this year was phenomenal, and it was a joy to be able to get to see 3 or 4 layouts which I’d not seen before which were of stellar quality, and to see an old favourite in Bradfield. I thought Bournemouth West, and Kensington Addison Road were both examples of all that’s best in our great hobby, although if I was a little picky and if KAR was mine I would do something to disguise the modern cars on the street scene between the 2 blocks of houses.

 

It is layouts like this that cry out to me for the old style one off DVD’s that you used to produce such as Over Peover and Gresley Beat rather than the few minutes in the current style hint hint.

 

Thanks for such a superb show.

[peterl]

I`ve often thought it strange that a company such as Squires Tools has never been in attendance at any of the Warner arranged shows. Is it that they have never been invited or they don`t on principal attend these type of magazine sponsored exhibitions, as they didn’t attend the recent Hornby Magazine show either.

 

Could be one of costs!

Peter

[Grasslands]

Here is a video I made from my footage of the show: