Tonbridge MRC 38th Exhibition Saturday 16th Feb 2019

[Gareth Collier]

Overall a good exhibition although as already touched on not all the layouts were up to the standard of previous years but would have still appealed to many visitors. My only real gripe was space. In the smaller hall with the round layout in the middle there did seem quite a lot of space whereas the small room where Freshwater was situated was ridiculous. I understand there were 6 layouts in there, I say understand as I visited the room 3 times before I had to leave and it was impossible to get in, a dozen people at a time max and most seemed to be in there for the duration. I did chat to an acquaintance who had managed to get in but found himself in the corner and struggled to get out again!

[KDG]

19 hours ago, ColinW said:

The exhibition is now over, and has proved to be successful again. The club would like to thank the layout owners & operators, traders, demonstrators & members of other model railway clubs who were assisting us by stewarding, and hope they have a safe journey home.

 

I will pass on the concerns about the exhibition to the exhibition manager.

 

Colin

If success is measured by the number of people who are crammed into a hall then the show was a resounding success.

 

It was uncomfortably busy for me and very difficult to move around any of the halls. Too many people, too narrow aisles.  We left earlier than planned.

 

If I go next year, and there would have to be a specific reason e.g. layout to see, or trade stand to visit, I'll wait until mid afternoon in the hope that it's quieter

[Ian Morgan]

It did not get quieter in the Jubilee Room until nearly closing time.

 

There were 3 of us to operate Freshwater at this exhibition, so hopefully it was operating continuously while someone else was available to answer questions, etc. Escaping from the layout, and subsequently returning to it was quite difficult.

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, Ian Morgan said:

It did not get quieter in the Jubilee Room until nearly closing time.

 

There were 3 of us to operate Freshwater at this exhibition, so hopefully it was operating continuously while someone else was available to answer questions, etc. Escaping from the layout, and subsequently returning to it was quite difficult.

Indeed, I thought it was a mistake to put Wendsleydale into a corner of the Jubilee Room. With the large number of young children present such a layout needs plenty of space.

[ba14eagle]

I completely agree with Bonafide' comments.

This was a first time exhibition for me and probably the last - sorry. It was ridiculously busy and too cramped, as people have said. Perhaps it needs to be a 2 day event.

There were some brilliant layouts on show, which I would have loved to have been able to spend more time in front of, but when you cant actually get a good viewpoint, you can get bored - I did. Some of this comes about due to the old problem of people just standing in front of an exhibit and chatting - paying no attention to whats in front of them, just being a pain in the posterior. There were a few layouts that just didnt having anything going on, or werent functioning well, or as Bonafide said, were being operated by people who just didnt know what they were doing - Its a shame.

Agree with Col. Stephens, some of the layouts werent quite what id expect to see at a show, but agree with others comments that all levels of skill should be on show.

Anyway, here are the links to the video I shot:

 

 

 

[ColinW]

First of all can I thank those people who have commented on here, good or bad, and for the video clips.  The criticism's have been passed onto the exhibition manager and the club's committee.  We are already looking to rectify some of the problems highlighted, for next year's show.  In regards to the quality of layouts, we had two club member's debuting their layouts at the show, these being Southwark Bridge and Hazelby, otherwise all the other layouts would have been seen at an exhibition by the exhibition manager.

 

Colin

[Invicta Informant]

Having visited this exhibition on a number of occasions, the only issue I have is there are too many exhibits in the Jubilee Room for its size. I struggled to get out of there this year.

 

Nonetheless, it was another excellent exhibition with many quality layouts and congratulations to the Tonbridge MRC for their hard work.

[Ian Morgan]

That makes a change, Freshwater behaving itself with a camera pointed at it. Cameras usually have a strange effect on the running of the layout.