RAILEX NE 27 and 28 July 2019

[26power]

See Exhibition and Events listing for details:

 

[PenrithBeacon]

I attended this show for the first time last year and I'm planning to repeat the experience this year too. The only fly in the ointment was the catering, so what are the arrangements for this year, please?

Regards

[lippy]

The same will apply, as we have no access to a Kitchen as we hire the Sports Hall not the school, therfore we have to use a catering van.

 

There will be tables and chairs provided if you want to bring your own food. 

 

Morrisons have a large supermarket over the road with a Cafe. 

 

https://my.morrisons.com/storefinder/64

 

 

[lippy]

Slight change to club layouts attending 

 

Z Gauge
Franceville - Z Gauge, American - BTMRS

HO Gauge
Klausenston Junction - BTMRS

 

£1 off admission voucher to download and print off too. 

[John-Miles]

We are doing the long drive north from South Wales to exhibit Ynysybwl (there will be lessons on how to pronounce it). Pre-grouping Taff Vale so something different for you Geordies (and maybe a few Mackems if they are allowed over the Tyne?). Really looking forward to this. We have heard this is a really good show and we get to stay in Whitley Bay which I am told is the Monaco of the North East.

[south_tyne]

On 13/07/2019 at 16:29, John-Miles said:

......we get to stay in Whitley Bay which I am told is the Monaco of the North East.

 

Oh it is!  You will have to get yourself down to the Spanish City when you are there. It's dead snazzy now that it has been refurbished! 

[silverlink]

Very much looking forward to our visit with 'Falcon Road' please come and say hello!

[lippy]

Layouts4U have had to Withdraw due to ill health. We wish them a speedy recovery. 

 

See you all at the weekend. 

 

Spanish City is really posh!!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Well we're here after a 6.5 hour journey. Set up and after breakfast we will go back and get the stock out - Bridge at Remagen.

[26power]

Enjoyed my visit.  Some really good layouts, including some that are maybe unlikely to be seen this far north too many times.  Well worth a visit if you haven’t been yet and can manage today.

[Two_sugars]

Cracking show again chap . . . and chapesses.. 

 

I don't "do" favourite layout, but I was looking forward to seeing Remagen and I wasn't disappointed.

 

John

 

(also known as the PRATT who left his car lights on)!

[MarkC]

Great show, as always. Met up with some old friends and also made some new ones. Some great layouts on display too. Thanks all.

 

One caveat though - oh for wider trade support. It would be nice to be able to stock up.on wheels, motors, gearboxes etc...

Edited July 28, 2019 by MarkC

[lippy]

19 hours ago, Two_sugars said:

Cracking show again chap . . . and chapesses.. 

 

I don't "do" favourite layout, but I was looking forward to seeing Remagen and I wasn't disappointed.

 

John

 

(also known as the PRATT who left his car lights on)!

 

All I can say is good job we had a PA system this year we borrowed or you'd have a flat battery!!

[Two_sugars]

It was pretty close. . . . . . It wouldn't  start when I switched the lights off, but had recovered by the time we'd finished at the show, about half an hour later .

 

Thanks to all involved.

 

 

John

Edited July 29, 2019 by Two_sugars

[lippy]

15 hours ago, MarkC said:

Great show, as always. Met up with some old friends and also made some new ones. Some great layouts on display too. Thanks all.

 

One caveat though - oh for wider trade support. It would be nice to be able to stock up.on wheels, motors, gearboxes etc...

 

Hello MarkC and others, thank you for attending RailexNE

 

It would be nice if those kind of Traders would come, but after approaching them over the years, they have all said it is too far for the little sales they get. Even High Level from Chester Le Street won't attend!

 

Wider Trader feedback this year is the Specialist Traders had a very poor year, but the Box shifters i.e new and 2nd hand dealers who sell RTR had a good weekend. So it is down to those visiting to buy from the specialist traders or more of them will say it isn't worth their effort. I did bring Model Railway Developments in as a new trader this year, I will be asking him for feedback once he returns home after his extended stay on Tyneside visiting family. Also Finishing Touches for Scenic materials, but they are retiring at the end of the year so doubt I can replace them

 

I have just received the figures for attendance. we are down 10 Adults on last year but Child and Family up compared to previous years. The club took the decision to target the local community with additional advertising and the £1 off admission, this has had a good result for the family tickets but has come at a cost in that we have not covered our expenses. 

If the exhibition makes more than it costs, that money is used by Me The Exhibition manager to bring in fresh new layouts never seen before in the area and ones that will probably not be seen unless you visit the larger Glasgow, York, Warley type exhibitions. So as I look at 2020 I have to now decide who I can afford to bring and who I cannot, the club is Blyth and Tyne Model Railway Society BTMRS not a huge club with less than 100 members but probaly the largest in the NE. 

 

The traders will also tell me if they are going to come back in the next month or two when I send out invites, we lost some last year, Ten Commandments, Legoman Biffo due to poor sales. So if I do lose Specilaist Traders who do I replace them with? More of the Box shifters and turn it into more of a swap meet with a few local layouts due to budget restraints or do I keep it how it is? 

 

The exhibition might have to move dates to avoid the Sunderland Airshow and other things going on, but it would then probably clash with another exhibition which wouldn't be popular with the Traders. 

 

I brought the local Lego Trains group in to attract the younger generation to Trains, I haven't heard anything negative about having them yet, but I did get told I had only 4 steam era layouts and none of them were NE era, that is down to 2018 being all NE era as part of the clubs 50th anniversay and 50 years since the end of steam. One Steam layout had to withdraw due to ill health

 

A bit of feedback I have received from Layout owners:-

Legotrains:- Many thanks again for the warm welcome we received from BTMRS members at RailExNE, and especially to you for your help with planning, over the weekend, and the invite to the social night. 

 

We all had a fantastic weekend, and really appreciated the organisation for exhibitors! We have quite a few jealous members wishing they came now...

 

Derby Freemo:-On behalf of the 'Derby' crew I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for a fabulous weekend.

We all thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and hope that our small contribution added to the overall success of the weekend.

In discussion on the way home we could not fault the levels of organisation, friendliness and helpfulness extended to us before during and after the event.

I had several discussions with your treasurer, who just happens to model HO American at his home! Apparently we just missed out going to it on the Sat evening - another time maybe. (He did clear our expenses as well - thank you)

We do hope that the weekend was a total success (financially as well) and that you are all not to worn out - back to work for a rest perhaps!

 

Ynysybwl:-Thanks for inviting us, we have enjoyed the weekend and your company. Hope it was a profitable weekend for you
 

I am the Exhibition manager on a Voluntary role, I do have a full time job and a family so if I miss something it would be helpful if people told be rather than go on social media and moan not that these comments are moaning but requests for different things. 

I do however have a handwritten letter from someone in Jarrow about how The Parks was a better place for him to get to by bus and that the number 11 is no longer the Blue Arrow from May 2019 but our posters and flyers still say that, they get printed in September 2018 and I have no control over GoNorth-East buses changing the bus names!!

He did however point out we still show Tynemouth as being the nearest Metro station on some adverts, that will be addressed for future and I thank him for that. 

 

The winner of the Best Layout awards were as follows:

 

Best DCC Controlled layout (Ian Carty memorial) Shelvington

Best Diesel and Electric layout (David Anderson memorial) Shelvington

Best layout as voted by the public Shelvington 

 

 

[Paul Cram]

Hi Lippy I am one of the 10 adults as I couldn't make it this year having visited the previuous 2 years.  it is disappointing that the specialist trade do not find it worthwhile but naybe that is down to the profile of the visitors. It is unlikely that familieas from the local area are going to be into kit building. Hopefully I will be able to make it next year.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Paul Cram

[MarkC]

Hi lippy. Thanks for your detailed report. I now understand the lack of sales being why traders aren't keen to attend. That does surprise me, seeing as there are very few large shows in the NE, but then again, it seems that us traditional modellers are declining in numbers. Such is life...

[lippy]

1 hour ago, Paul Cram said:

Hi Lippy I am one of the 10 adults as I couldn't make it this year having visited the previuous 2 years.  it is disappointing that the specialist trade do not find it worthwhile but naybe that is down to the profile of the visitors. It is unlikely that familieas from the local area are going to be into kit building. Hopefully I will be able to make it next year.

Hi Paul

 

A few regular faces where missing too.

 

Definately not the profile of the Visitors as the families have only been attracted this year with lots of local promotions, prior to this our attendance has fallen by 200 per year for the last 5 years, so we had to do the promotion or the exhibition woudn't have been viable this year. It is the instant gratification brigade who want to buy RTR and not bother building anything, we (modellers) are getting spoilt with the amount of new RTR stuff to buy that we had to either build a kit or scratch build in the past. 

Modelling is changing and we have to see how it evolves, hopefully that TV series can reverse that.

[Coach bogie]

It was a good show and I enjoyed it. There was less of the historical displays, such as the coal wharf display I had seen in recent years.

 

I did enjoy the logo as a big kick to remind to stop taking it all too seriously.

 

The date is challenging as schools have just thrown out for the summer and many will be going away. I SHOULD have been going away, but did attend in the morning and delayed my departure, not popular at home. I chatted  to a couple of families, I know, who came because of the bad weather, otherwise they would not have been there but sat on Sunderland sea front watching the air display. Clearly the air show is competition within families. As for trade, I came with spending money and left with it as I could not find anything I needed, but then I have progressed beyond rtr and maybe it is a bit too specialist.  I did take a set of kit built frames to buy bits from High Level, but as you say, he did not attend.  I do buy rtr but with limited finances, at this time of year with holidays etc,  my local model shop will always take a priority from shows for out of the box items.

 

Hopefully I can make next year

 

Mike Wiltshire

[D9020 Nimbus]

One issue with this exhibition is that it has moved around, both in time and location, more than any other I'm aware of. Whist I've been attending it's been at Seaton Sluice, Blyth Community College at Newsham, a school further into Blyth, the Parks Leisure Centre at North Shields, the Quorum Business Park and now the current location, and has taken place in November, August Bank Holiday, December and now the end of July.

Other shows have moved location but not time (Newcastle), others time but not location (Wigan) but none has moved around as much as this! You may well have lost people as a result.

I attended on the Saturday afternoon and was surprised just how quiet it was—I remember it being much busier when it was at the Parks. I don't think coinciding with the Sunderland Airshow, or the busiest time of the school summer holidays is going to be good for attendances. Yes, you need to find a weekend that is relatively clear, but there is a reason why there aren't many exhibitions in the summer...

[jamie.dunn]

I was part of the ‘Falcon Road’ operating team and throughly enjoyed my weekend at the show. 

 

I believe overall the scope of layouts was fantastic ( not including ours ). I’m not a southern region fan however  ‘Shelvington’

was worthy of the awards and was a pleasure watch for the short time I could between operating the layout. 

 

I believe Sunday afternoon I made one young attender of Durham School very happy when we allowed him to drive V2 60860 ‘Durham School’ for a little before letting him take control of Mallard for a bout 10 minutes... He left with a smile on his face and that’s all we ask for.

 

I spent quite a bit on books ( as I normally do) but as my own personal layout is on hold I didn’t need to visit any traders, but from what I did see a good selection was available. 

 

Again to to finish off I’d just like to thank the club for allowing us to exhibit and I know the other members of the layout team share the same views as myself.

 

jamie

Edited July 29, 2019 by jamie.dunn
Corrected 60860's Number

[John-Miles]

As one of the Ynysybwl crowd, I would like to add to Graham's thank you. Two of us arrived in the van at 3.15 having driven from Cardiff. The following car was hours behind due to inept navigation but not a problem, the club members rallied round and we had the layout in and erected before the rain started. That got the weekend off to a good start. We thought the show was great and also we liked Whitley Bay where the hotel was. Spanish City is spectacular. We also had a great night out in Tynemouth. We just went there to see the station but the place also impressed. Sorry the specialist traders had a bad time. I did ask Hobby Holidays about a chassis jig but I am just too tight to spend £170 when I have been getting by with bodging things for decades.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Paul Cram said:

Hi Lippy I am one of the 10 adults as I couldn't make it this year having visited the previuous 2 years.  it is disappointing that the specialist trade do not find it worthwhile but naybe that is down to the profile of the visitors. It is unlikely that familieas from the local area are going to be into kit building. Hopefully I will be able to make it next year.

 

I guess it's a vicious circle - few modellers seeking kitbuilding supplies attend due to lack of specialist traders; specialist traders don't attend due to poor support from modellers.  Short of managing to persuade lots of specialist traders to attend (special terms?) and advertising it as a specialist finescale show accordingly then I'm not sure there's a way out.  Manage it one year and, assuming all other ducks are in a row (location, dates, good layouts etc) then it could take off.  Not easy I know, as you've got to pay the bills....

[TEAMYAKIMA]

The 'Bridge at Remagen' team thoroughly enjoyed the show and many thanks to the club for inviting us...……...

 

 

 

[87 101]

Very enjoyable weekend away with Wemblesden. Met some new people and and caught up with some I have known for a while. The layout performed well and received quite a lot of positive feedback from the public. We did have a few issues with one of the main lines and an electrical short developed on one of the points in the depot on sun afternoon. Our next outing will be Stevenage in Jan so plenty of time for more improvements before then. Big thank you to organisers for the invite and I wish them well for next years show.