Basingstoke Model Rail Show 2019

[Pendennis]

I thought it was a good show this year, much, much better than last year.  A good number of layouts, several new to the area and good trade support too, I picked up several bits and pieces I needed.

 

For the first time ever I was unable to park in either car park but found somewhere in the street about 400m away; it seemed like a normal residential area to me, nothing different to what you would find in any other UK town.  I think the derogatory comments made earlier were out of order.  The exhibition halls appeared busier than normal, the Great Model Railway Challenge effect?  If so, that can only be good for the future of the hobby.  The catering is always a bit naff, but it is not expensive.  In all honesty I'd rather pay a bit more for something better but I guess that the catering may well be out of B&NHMRC's control; why do they produce so many sandwiches with white bread, there always plenty of those left over.  

[rob D2]

Is it OK to have an opinion ? 

 

When I drove up the road and turned right, there were some dubious looking boarded up flats and a couple of police cars pulled over some dodgy looking people . I choose not to park there ...take it or leave it....or just scroll on by ....

 

theres dodgy bits of Swindon where I live, but I won’t get my knickers in a twist if someone points that out .

 

[DIW]

On 05/03/2019 at 21:26, SteveC32 said:

‘Readham’ is racked up ready for the journey to Basingstoke this weekend. The Tram, that has been ‘troublesome’ to date has tonight received a high capacity Zen Stay Alive so fingers crossed it’ll perform reliably at the weekend. Team Readham are looking forward to the weekend, if you’re going to the exhibition please say hello as it’s always good to meet fellow RMWeb’ers

 

It was certainly worth you taking the effort - congratulations on winning the layout of the show award!

 

 

On 09/03/2019 at 19:02, richard brown said:

hi all here is my video from the basingstoke model railway show

 

 

Thank you Richard for the super way in which you captured my layout in your film. Keep up the good work.

[PenrithBeacon]

5 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Is it OK to have an opinion ? 

 

When I drove up the road and turned right, there were some dubious looking boarded up flats and a couple of police cars pulled over some dodgy looking people . I choose not to park there ...take it or leave it....or just scroll on by ....

 

theres dodgy bits of Swindon where I live, but I won’t get my knickers in a twist if someone points that out .

 

I thought the estate looked just fine. Houses seemed to be well maintained, grass cut etc. I wonder about social attitudes some times.

[Geoff Endacott]

55 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

I thought the estate looked just fine. Houses seemed to be well maintained, grass cut etc. I wonder about social attitudes some times.

 

They must have been inhabited by antisocial types because none of them came out to offer the use of their driveways for parking.

 

Geoff Endacott

[richard brown]

18 hours ago, DIW said:

 

It was certainly worth you taking the effort - congratulations on winning the layout of the show award!

 

 

 

Thank you Richard for the super way in which you captured my layout in your film. Keep up the good work.

thank you I enjoyed watching your layout and I loved the tram I felt I did not catch it in best light as I could not film the left hand side that well

[Godfrey Glyn]

I went on Sunday soon after 10 am and had no problem parking. I think its the Scouts that provide the parking team and they seem to me to do a good job, certainly they deserve a donation to the cause. If you come by car and the school grounds are full its not that far to the roundabout where Axminster Tools and Hobbycraft are to be found and I always find something (I have) to buy in the former!

 I thought the exhibition was excellent this year, Arun Quay is worth a 300mile round trip (IMHO) and Copenhagen Fields is still looking good. I also enjoyed the Hornby Magazine Layout and it was good to pull their collective legs that they must spend more time modelling than they actually spend writing for the magazine. They took the comments in good part, well at least I think they did.  Trade support was good and the mix of layouts also.

 

Congratulations to the team who put it on and to the exhibitors. I think the dark corridors are more the responsibility of the County Council and indeed central governments.  It should remind people that the funding to schools has been drastically reduced over the last few years, despite what certain people might say.

 

Well done Basingstoke Club, look forward to attending again next year, perhaps you could persuade some of the school's neighbours to put gated entrances on their estates.

 

Godfrey

[NIK]

Hi,

 

The scouts provided the parking team and I think they coped well with the biting wind. The refreshments are limited to sandwiches at present as the School no longer rent out the kitchen. So our club has made a portable serving counter and portable stainless steel tables to make the sarnies on. Also the refreshments have become so popular in recent years that the majority of club members and other helpers work on refreshments. Recent health hygiene regulations also make sandwich making more demanding as they have now have to be made on the day and thrown away if they are unsold after 4 hours. Luckily only one sandwich packet out of approx. 800 had to be binned during the opening hours. All the unused crusts have gone to feed pigs on a local farm.

 

When we were planning this show three years ago the Great Model Railway Challenge hadn't been announced. The trend was towards less people visiting exhibitions. As far as we know the school we are renting now has the largest amount of on-site parking in the area.

 

Regards

 

Nick (a member of the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for new members)

[SteveC32]

On 10/03/2019 at 19:19, DIW said:

 

It was certainly worth you taking the effort - congratulations on winning the layout of the show award!

 

 

 

Thank you DIW. It was good to be chosen as Best in Show by someone who is respected in our hobby and good for a modern image layout to win as well  

 

[njee20]

I must say the street I parked on didn't look the most salubrious, but obviously my car was still there when I returned to it.

Good show, very crowded, but some good layouts. Good to see so many that weren't the ubiqutious OO gauge steam-era.

[Geep7]

Visited on the Sunday and had a rather enjoyable few hours at the show. With it being a bit quieter than a Saturday, it was much easier to chat with the operators, and get up close to the layouts.

 

Highlights for me were Leysdown and Hornby magazines layout Grovesnor Square. Copenhagen Fields impressed as usual, I just about remember the right hand section being exhibited as bare boards back in the mid-80's.

 

Roll on next year's show. Keep up the good work.

 

[NIK]

Hi,

 

This years show was probably a record breaker with a more than usual surplus (which will go into a fund to pay for a replacement clubhouse and also to pay some running costs).

 

Hopefully other clubs will have a similar experience - the Great Model Railway Challenge effect?.

 

Regards

 

Nick Murphy (a member of the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for members)