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Warley NEC exhibition 23rd & 24th November 2019


Chris M
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Got back home in Chesterfield from the Warley show at 19:00 on Sunday evening after a long day - I was looking forward to a nice lie down!

 

Travelled there and back by train again, like I did last year and found the journey easy. I even travelled on two of my favourite trains - the brilliant HST's!

 

This year, I spent more money on stuff than I had ever done before, such as 3 Virgin Liveried Mk 3 coaches (for £50) and a Class 67 diesel (for £70), both items together totalling £120 from the Dapol stand - you would normally pay that for just one brand new loco! I also wanted another Class 20 as they normally run together in pairs - so I found one in London Underground livery, which I bought from a stand representing a model shop in Derby.

 

As like previous years I have attended this show, there were some great layouts to see, such as the big N gauge layout by the 'Railway Enthusiasts Club', and 'Sydney Gardens', depicting the stretch of GW line in Bath, 'The Spirit of Swindon' with its lighting and sound effects and the layouts from the 'Great Model Railway Challenge' - the futuristic scene from the winning team "The Railmen of Kent" with the collection of locos all round a turntable inside a dome - Would engine sheds look like this in the future?

 

The double decker Birmingham bus (which was there also last year) was good, and this year I got to board it and sit upstairs - the views of the surrounding exhibition from up there are great!

 

Sam

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Trojmiasto said:

Did anyone else see the guy in flip flops and a wheely suitcase that clearly took a wrong turn when getting off the train?

 

On a serious note - personally found this year to be quite unpleasant up to around 14:30. It was simply too busy, very stuffy and not very enjoyable at all, and that is from circa 20 years of Warley experience having not missed one from previous years. The space between exhibits in certain instances was tight at best given the amount of people trying to funnel through there. I am only thankful for the fact that I don't require mobility assistance - imagine it was horrendous for the people that actually do.

 

Why have conventional tables and seating been replaced with clunky, large wooden benches that take up an awful lot of seating room in an already tight space, with a large corner of the room left completely empty? 

 

Right at the end of the show with about five minutes left, a gentleman with a Welsh accent representing the club with the word STEWARD on his back rather unkindly and patronisingly ushered us to start making our way to the front as the doors would be closing promptly at 18:00. 

I agree to an extent, I do love going to the show and I try to make the most of it by getting there early and leaving right at the end, but I find it doesn’t start thinning out till around 4pm and it is not till then that I can really start browsing around stands such as Squires or Cheltenham Model Centre. But I still enjoy.

 

I went to Bristol for the first time this year and it comparison to Warley it is a better experience, imo.

 

Also I noticed that they won’t even let you have a sit down against the wall at the back now, which I’m more than happy to do - you’ve got to keep wandering around in the hope that you’ll find a free seat somewhere.

Edited by josh_will
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i went to the exhibition on Saturday. Drove from Somerset, bit of a queue to get into the car park at 10am, but nothing unusual. I paid £12 parking in advance - not sure why anyone would pay more on the day.

My impression was of an awfully large number of trade stands with model railways scattered around them. I saw no "wow" layouts this year. Although all were excellent, generally they were small to medium rather than large and exciting!

I also think that trains must run! All too many of the layout just had nothing running or some rather slow shunting going on. the exceptions were the two(?) live steam layouts and the vintage Hornby dublo sets.We do come to see trains running and the operators need to know they are putting on a public show, not there for a social. On some ,layouts the operators were just stood round chatting and not running trains. So please sharpen up.

All that aside, i did enjoy it and will go again!

 

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Well I have learned a lot about parking, transport to and from, rucksacks and awful food which I knew about anyway as a yearly visitor except this year. Thank you to everyone who posted photos and videos. Sad to miss out this year  but well done Warley MRC for another great show.

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11 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:


So what alternative to rucksacks is there ? Quite a number bring their own packed lunch.Many make bulky purchases.There is no provision made.....understandably.......for a secure crèche to deposit personal items.

Sorry but we all have to make do with what there is and give and take a little....always,of course,excepting bad manners.

I took a hessian shopping bag. Firstly, it folds up for carrying to the show. Secondly it takes sandwiches as well as a any rucksack (not if folded up on the way to the show of course, Thirdly it is oblong and thus takes magazines and leaflets and rectangular boxes rather well. And of course - all it does is take out people's ankles which as they are further from their brains than torso or arms one has longer to escape. I suspect some haven't even noticed yet.

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I went today (Sunday).

As others have said, it seemed far busier than other Sundays at Warley.

 

Jason Shron seems to be taking modelling the 1970’s too seriously.

He appeared to be wearing Flairs !!!!

 

Not many mentions for Sydney Gardens, which was one of the few standout layouts for me this year.

 

Whoever said there weren’t many D&E     layouts, well I saw plenty, most of which were very good.

 

The Warley club’s history of steam was very well done.

The section showing a cutting under construction was a reminder that with not much more than human labour and shovels, they created these massive undertakings in less time that our present day, technology equipped and highly mechanised processes can manage.

 

By the way, there’s no longer a price advantage to be gained from parking at Birmingham International railway station.

It’s gone up from £9 last year to the £12 you can pay for the NEC car park.

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Well a huge thank you to the Warley members in the hall and behind the scenes. We were greeted and helped to our spot fast during setup, had people pop round twice to check we were ok with everything and tell us expenses were available and the security on the door and ladies in the office promptly dealt with our expenses. The smiles and chat made it a very enjoyable show again. I struggled to see much this year with a large layout to monitor but  some cracking modelling. 

Also thanks to the NEC staff serving food who were also cheerful and fast, one young lady also helped out with a towel roll after a spill behind the layout. Great fun again and I’ll be back as a paying punter next year. 

 

One thing we did note is that our WiFi was crippled Saturday afternoon by the sheer volume of personal phone hotspots crowding out the channels. Some US kit on neighbouring stands was also ‘shouting rather loudly’ when we scanned the WiFi to see what was happening. The difference today was huge with only 3-4 stands in the hall showing above the general background but we were seeing hundreds at those high levels yesterday and most identifying as phones!

Fortunately once we discovered what was crippling the handsets I was able to get Sunningwell dcc to make me up one long wander lead to sort one of the wired throttles and James at DCC Automation had another compatible one I bought with lead to get us covered against future problems. Great help from both those traders. 

I chatted to a mate who runs networks and WiFi for a big telecoms company who’s going to lend me some kit to try out that can find quiet channels or power up to compensate. I don’t just want to up the power to the max as it’s going to wipe out others systems. 

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5 hours ago, Trojmiasto said:

Completely depending on who you are and if your face fits. A certain gentleman at the head of a large and well known model shop beside the entrance took quite a few models away from the Bachmann returns stand with him at a heavily cut price from the ticket. 

 

A few points to bear in mind about your comments above -

Manufacturers always sell to the trade at a lower price than they sell to the general public.

When you buy from the 'well known shop', you expect to be given a warranty so that if there are any issues they will be fixed / replaced / refunded.

The subsequent sale to customers will be subject to VAT.

The retailer has to factor these costs into the selling price and still make a profit to keep the business going.

.

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24 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

I

Not many mentions for Sydney Gardens, which was one of the few standout layouts for me this year.

 

 

Sydney Gardens is certainly well-modelled. However from a spectator point of view, about half the track in the scenic area is behind trees meaning the trains can only be seen on a very short section of track. So whilst it's a layout I always like to see, I'm afraid it misses out on 'best in show' for me.

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3 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

A few points to bear in mind about your comments above -

Manufacturers always sell to the trade at a lower price than they sell to the general public.

When you buy from the 'well known shop', you expect to be given a warranty so that if there are any issues they will be fixed / replaced / refunded.

The subsequent sale to customers will be subject to VAT.

The retailer has to factor these costs into the selling price and still make a profit to keep the business going.

.

 

And from Bachmann's point of view, they don't want to be taking stuff back to Barwell to sit on the shelves, so if a retailer comes along and says "I'll have ten" or however many, they'll bite his hand off!

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13 hours ago, fezza said:

I had an enjoyable day but there didn't seem to be so many modern image / contemporary layouts as some years. The overseas layouts were once again very good and often took different approaches than the typical British BLTs. 

 

I wish they would just ban rucksacks. They aren't necessary. There is something very wrong with (often very) mature adults who think it's OK to clobber other people with bags just so they can get to a stall first. What has gone wrong with a country that was once regarded as the most courteous in the world? 

 

13 hours ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

Crikey, how long have you got?

 

I agree though. People biffing me with their rucksacks this year got a little counter pressure applied to the rucksack and got spun round a few degrees...

It is neccessary for me to use a walker nowadays and its not allways easy to avoid people in a crowd. It usually ends up with various bags hanging from the handles which increases the width somewhat.

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3 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

FIrst reaction was not terribly impressed as the one of the operators couldn't read the number on the side of his loco and had to ask one of the spectators who couldn't read it either, and ended up having to try several different numbers until he found one that worked!

 

However shortly after that a train arrived and I followed it down the layout, and I was quite impressed with it. Considering how long the layout was, and that it was mostly single track, they did a good job of keeping things moving. Unfortunately none of my photos of it came out very well.

Perhaps you should go to Specsavers with the layout operators so you could read your camera/or/phone instructions on taking photographs.

 

just a thought 

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Ron Ron Ron said:

 

By the way, there’s no longer a price advantage to be gained from parking at Birmingham International railway station.

It’s gone up from £9 last year to the £12 you can pay for the NEC car park.

 

We paid £9 at the railway station on Saturday this year

Edited by steve45
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3 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

Perhaps you should go to Specsavers with the layout operators so you could read your camera/or/phone instructions on taking photographs.

 

just a thought 

 

No, just down to the camera not having a 'sport' setting, so moving trains often come out blurred, unless I pan, when the scenery blurs. And if I misjudge the panning speed, they both blur...

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Man, Warley 2019 was a blast! I'm so looking forward to Warley 2020!

 

But first...here's a list of things I've done (starting with the high-in-priority)...

*Renewed my Bachmann Membership, my LMS Patriot Project Membership and the Midland Railway Society

*Paid some donations to the LNWR Bloomer replica (which I also saw)

*Met Mr Laurie Calvert of Calvertfilms on YouTube in person

*Obtained a Pre-Grouping Steam Locomotive in N Scale as well as a Lima Class 20 body and two Hornby 4-Wheel GWR coaches (which became LNWR coaches; more on this as it develops)

 

One wonders what a new decade would hold in store, but it's wise to wait and see.

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1 hour ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

A few points to bear in mind about your comments above -

Manufacturers always sell to the trade at a lower price than they sell to the general public.

When you buy from the 'well known shop', you expect to be given a warranty so that if there are any issues they will be fixed / replaced / refunded.

The subsequent sale to customers will be subject to VAT.

The retailer has to factor these costs into the selling price and still make a profit to keep the business going.

.

These models are supposed to be marked up as returns. They were being sold with 'sold as seen' labels applied to boxes, hence the lack of need for such a returns procedure.

 

My issue is that a customer would have happily paid £80 for a returned model with £100 on the ticket, so to have then sold the models to a dealer for £50 for them to sell on at £100 at a later date is, once again, leading to a higher price for the end user and a continuation to the ridiculous inflation that we continue to see in the hobby. 

Edited by Trojmiasto
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Went to Warley on Saturday. I was very impressed with it; apart from the usual rucksack issues I had a most enjoyable day. I used my club's stand as 'base camp' and somewhere to leave my rucksack while I enjoyed the show.

 

Redgate Models of this parish most kindly gave my Hornby class 20 a service - Ian, if you're reading this, thank you very once again! Also had a good catch up with Phil Bullock, and exchanged comestibles. I probably bumped into several other RMwebbers, and a shoutout to those of you who I did but whose names (real/RMweb/both) escape me. 

 

It was a privilege to have a good natter with Phil Parker. He was undoubtedly in demand during the show, but I hoped he managed to take photos of as many unusual layouts as possible. That leaves just Andy Y as the one long-running BRM editor I haven't met..... ;)

 

I didn't spend a lot of money, as all I bought was a Bachmann bauxite 16T from Ellis Clark and a tidying organiser contraption from Squires. 

 

image.jpeg.048e5069bb50301a0380a075bce07910.jpeg

 

And as can be seen, the organiser has already been put to good use to, well, organise my paints and other accessories. Yes the area around my layout really was that untidy. If only those Humbrol 28ml bottles allowed the lid to close....

 

image.jpeg.1116db553b57561c36fbc182f6f04533.jpeg

 

I'll add some photos of the layouts in the morning.

 

Here's to next year! 

Edited by SVRlad
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Well thanks for all the comments and to end the thread I was last out of an empty hall at 23.30, a sea of rubbish and my table and chairs contractor just finishing loading 1400 chairs and 609 tables - one grew legs and walked out at the end of the show ... grr ! I expect to see invoice for this so club looses out. 

 

A big thank you from the club to all who traded, exhibited and stewarded, plus of course the NEC staff who really helped in hall. But the biggest goes to the thousands who came, saw, enjoyed and departed inspired.- I hope you were one of these !   

 

We were selling 2020 tickets at the  show with a brisk pick up so see you next year !   

Merry Christmas !! 

 

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As a PS to that the Shop and drop facility trialed last was repeated with over 100 items recorded and I did hear several announcements about in the hall Saturday and Sunday.  Three kind club members saw nothing of the show stewarding this facility.  So with a little planning some of the rucksack angst can be reduced.

 

A number of walkways were over 7m in width and many at 3.5 the narrowest being in the traders village in the D zone - something up for discussion for 2020 as they were clearly too narrow.   Keith and I put out in excess of 300 resting seats  in 7 places in the hall and the reason why catering facilities as organised by the NEC had differing seating is due to finding suitable seating for the larger axle loading gauged customers at shows they work. - Also less easy to throw about - go figure !!

 

Off to bed ! 

Robert    

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3 hours ago, sammyboy said:

I also wanted another Class 20 as they normally run together in pairs - so I found one in London Underground livery, which I bought from a stand representing a model shop in Derby.

Saw that 20, ive got one myself, you are pretty lucky to have found that. He had it up for £199 if i remember right? Usual sorta money for that one

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6 hours ago, steve45 said:

Ron Ron Ron said:

 

By the way, there’s no longer a price advantage to be gained from parking at Birmingham International railway station.

It’s gone up from £9 last year to the £12 you can pay for the NEC car park.

 

We paid £9 at the railway station on Saturday this year

 

 - and I paid £9 on Sunday.

 

Chris 

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