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Warley NEC exhibition 23rd & 24th November 2019


Chris M
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25 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

 

Apologies guys.

£12 is for Mon-Fri

Sat & Sun is still £9

I got the wrong price car when looking the charges up last week.

I didn’t didn’t even notice what price came up on the ticket machine when I paid, I was that knackered at the end of the day.

 

I consider that a reasonable charge by UK standards. 

Try parking at an airport for a day, or in London and see how much that costs.


Up to 24 hours in Peterborough station car park is now £15. 
 

Makes NEC look like a bargain. 
 

Paul

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1 hour ago, RedgateModels said:

 

Not a problem, it was good to chat, although I didn't do much apart from taking it apart and having a good poke around inside. Hope that buffer holds on :)

I had a father and son bring their DCC sound fitted  Dapol OO scale 68 to me on Sunday that apparently was stopping when running at speed so body off checked connections, checked wheel pick ups then  put it on the rolling road for some time and the loco ran fine. Hopefully doing nothing has cured their issue but it can be like taking the car to the garage with an intermittent fault!! Theirs had a missing buffer so I pointed them to DCC Supplies.

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29 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Try parking at an airport for a day, or in London and see how much that costs.

NO!!!:D

Edited by TheQ
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6 minutes ago, Fenman said:


Up to 24 hours in Peterborough station car park is now £15. 
 

Makes NEC look like a bargain. 
 

Paul

When I used to commute from Stockport  before retiring 15 years ago my regular parking spot was £3 all day and free from 6pm to midnight. Since they built the multi storey it has gone up to £17.50 for over 4 hours.

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On 23/11/2019 at 20:46, Andymsa said:

On a slightly negative point on the venue not the actual show. The fiasco of buying A ticket first thing this morning it was like they were herding cattle. 

 

This is, unfortunately, one of the things that Warley has always been pretty poor at handling. The NEC doesn't supply events with ticketing staff, instead the exhibition organisers have to provide people to sit in the ticket booths and take the money. But when it's done by volunteers, as Warley is, it can be difficult to get enough people who are competant enough at doing it. This is exacerbated by the lack of any EPOS system, so the ticket sellers are having to manually calculate prices. Even with the aid of a lookup table,  that's slower than just tapping a screen.

 

I don't think there's a lot that Warley can realistically do about that, though. Volunteer staff are always limited by the people you have available, it's not like a commercial operation where you can always hire more staff next year if it turns out you don't have enough this time. One thing that could improve throughput at the ticket windows would be to invest in a low cost tablet-based sales system from the likes of SumUp or Izettle, but that would only deliver a relatively small improvement.

 

One thing where Warley really could do a lot better, though, is advance ticket sales. Every other event I've been to at the NEC in recent years allows you to buy tickets online and either print them out at home or carry them on an app on your smartphone. Warley still sends out paper tickets in the post. That's incredibly inefficient, it's timeconsuming for the people handling the ticket sales, it's costly in terms of postage and resources and there's always the risk to consumers that the tickets may not arrive in time. Switching to an online system from a supplier such as Eventbrite or WeGotTickets would solve that - the cost of the system would almost certainly be justified by the hugely greater convenience for organisers and customers alike (and it would save on the cost of postage, so it might even come out cost-neutral overall). And the other big advantage of a print-at-home or app-based ticket is that you can buy it in the morning on the day you visit the show, so you can still leave it to the last minute before deciding whether to go or not (which is one of the things that puts people off buying tickets in advance) while avoiding having to queue to buy tickets when you get there. Which in turn reduces the number of people who do pay on the door, thus also reducing the queues. So everyone benefits.

Edited by MarkSG
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I bought my ticket in advance, not to get in at 9:15 and race to the sales but so I didn't have to queue on the way in.

 

I guess a lot of people either don't like ordering online or simply don't want to plan too far ahead with things.

 

But an advance ticket also availed of cheaper Virgin fares (this little benefit will probably go on the switchover).

 

If I am going by train to an event now I tend to plan it advance and get all my tickets sorted, if I am driving then I do the on the day purchases but any big exhibition like a BRM, GETS or NEC I will book in advance.

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I enjoyed the show again, every year I say to myself "never again" and then get persuaded to go and find it really is worth it!

 

This was pretty spectacular modelling (behind the Scalefour soc stand);

49115714438_1d19da0a0b_b.jpg

 

The NEC (North East Corridor) at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre)!

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A knockout for me was Halland;

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Operated by a knowledgeable young man, if the builder is of a similar age, here is some really fantastic talent.

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Stunning display, the lighting was exquisite imho.

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It was great to see some nice variety on here;

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The scenery on Mauch Chunk was utterly outstanding;

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I always like to see "cross modelling" in effect (the Phantom!);

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I think this is Sydney Gardens, it was hard to get close. Very spectacular display and beautifully presented;

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China! Impressive indeed.

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Apologies for not posting more, there were at least two I meant to go back and get shots of but I just forgot (and ran out of energy).

Very impressed with a Belgian layout, the operator was very happy to chat away and spoke excellent English, which is probably just the thing for exhibiting here! Great to catch up with others too.

Cheers,

John.

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9 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

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

I got mine yesterday for about £110 - which was to me, a decent affordable price. I would have never paid £199 for one!

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9 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

I bought my ticket in advance, not to get in at 9:15 and race to the sales but so I didn't have to queue on the way in.

 

I guess a lot of people either don't like ordering online or simply don't want to plan too far ahead with things.

 

But an advance ticket also availed of cheaper Virgin fares (this little benefit will probably go on the switchover).

 

If I am going by train to an event now I tend to plan it advance and get all my tickets sorted, if I am driving then I do the on the day purchases but any big exhibition like a BRM, GETS or NEC I will book in advance.

 

I also bought my ticket in advance (sadly not from Ian Allan in Birmingham this year) and for the same reason; Arriving soon after 0930 on Saturday I was able to get straight in. Regarding transport to the NEC, I would recommend considering taking the bus, I did that this year from Solihull, and it was easy and cheap (£4 for a day ticket); For those with a pensioner's bus pass it would of course be free ! (it wasn't for me however as my bus pass is Scottish).

 

I got my tickets for next year's Model Rail Scotland at Warley (an excellent facility, thanks), but not for next year's Warley; I felt that was just too far away to be certain of going, although I certainly hope to; The show is so big that surely no-one can fail to find something of interest ?

 

As always, many thanks to all the organisers and exhibitors.

 

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16 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.

Well - there are solutions - first one is called spectacles, a bit old fashioned but working. Second, more sophisticated but once set up very easy - use a modern system like Zimo z21, then you can have a picture for every loco on your controller. May help, but not always, especially if you are a fan of a certain type and you have 20 class 37 all in BR blue.... then you need to go to back to solution one.. Photos: I had a quick scroll through, and yes, it seems you need a flash or a stronger flash so the exposure times could be reduced. 

As I couldn't come I am happy if somebody makes himself the work to put 400 photos online.... 

Vecchio

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A big thank you to everyone posting about the Warley exhibits: critiques, photos and videos. 

Although my daughter lives close by, I don’t think I could ever cope with the scale and crowds of the NEC.  Somewhere like York race course is plenty big enough for me! 

 

It was fascinating seeing the range of layouts.

I go along with those that enjoyed the extraordinary modelling skills that lay behind the North Wales slate quarry, the depiction of its geology, the ingenuity of the working incline and the robotic analysis of the quarry worker’s movements in receiving and turning the tubs onto the gallery.

And also the more modern freight depot with working machines busy loading and unloading the different wagons and cargoes. 

 

As an old town planner, an aspect of layouts that often grates is the lack of comprehension about the surrounding environment: 

  • I noticed short rows of no more than 4 by-law terrace houses on a flat base-board at right angles to a busy steam location; truly a living Hell! They are usually parallel, or maybe longer terraces.
  • spec. housing that it would have been impossible to build or ever to sell on - even in one case, over a cut and fill tunnel ! 
  • impossibly tight urban and rural road layouts.
  • ill-observed post 1950s commercial development;. 

I’d honestly prefer abstraction/nothing at all but the railway to such irritating distractions from otherwise outstanding observation of the railway .

dh

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We were back home by 9pm and North Ballachulish put to bed until its next appearance at Model Rail Scotland in February 2020. A rather good show with the layout running very smoothly apart from the occasional "operator error" , the soldering iron never left the tool box and in fact the only tool to come out was the fibreglass brush for track and wheel cleaning. The set up and strip down were seamless, after last years debacle of waiting a hour and 45 for the van to get in the hall we were gone by 7pm.

 

Like most of the exhibitors I saw relatively little of the show other than the traders I needed to see, most of the time out from behind was spent chatting, you cant wander round the show without bumping into dozens of people you know! This was the scene at around 10 am on Saturday morning, it seemed a bit quieter until around 11ish when all of a sudden large crowds gathered.

 

Warley.jpg.7b3e4301aa67d8b2585c9723af971782.jpg

 

We had some really good comments and some unusual ones as well, with having one side of the L shape open to the public view, folk could see behind the scenes and of particular interest was the cassette system in the fiddle yards, as well as the usual queries about the scenics and the Faller car system. What we did notice though (and they can be seen on the photos) was that the hall lights cast a shadow of the lighting pelmets onto the layout, which was disappointing, something I've never experienced before.

 

1659179802_NBatWarley.jpg.979756ada14415e57e6424cb9625f3e8.jpg

 

 The great thing about the show though is the ability to pick up everything you need in one spot, and most of Greenbooth's building requirements were obtained this weekend including one of Hornby's new 0-6-0 Pecketts, just need Gordon Ashton to etch a chassis for EM and P4 for that one now!

 

Thank you for all of the team at the Warley club for a very enjoyable weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

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Modbury is safely back at base. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, didn't see too much of the show but what I saw was excellent.

Modbury behaved quite well, a couple of gremlins crept in over the weekend, but the layout received a great many positive comments - thank you to all who took the time to share those (it's always nice to see enjoyment on those we are providing entertainment for).

Ian

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13 minutes ago, Ian Smith said:

Modbury is safely back at base. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, didn't see too much of the show but what I saw was excellent.

Modbury behaved quite well, a couple of gremlins crept in over the weekend, but the layout received a great many positive comments - thank you to all who took the time to share those (it's always nice to see enjoyment on those we are providing entertainment for).

Ian

 

For me Modbury was a very appealing layout so thanks for bringing it along!

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1 minute ago, Ian Smith said:

Modbury is safely back at base. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, didn't see too much of the show but what I saw was excellent.

Modbury behaved quite well, a couple of gremlins crept in over the weekend, but the layout received a great many positive comments - thank you to all who took the time to share those (it's always nice to see enjoyment on those we are providing entertainment for).

Ian

It is a lovely model 2mm FS never fails to impress me.

 

As I was looking at various 2mm models in N and Finescale I was conflicted, when it is modelled well, 2mm is excellent but I just don't think I can do it justice and I see myself in the rough N department.  There may be an issue for me when it comes to lighting and my eyesight, Modbury was well lit and at a nice height so I could see the detail - other layouts in N not so well lit and I struggled to be able to distinguish wheels/gears from the gloom, the other excellent 2mm model though in N was the WCML one which again was lit and positioned in a manner that I could see it all clearly.

 

But in mentioning Modbury, you may have given me an idea for one last throw of the dice in N.  Grainge and Hodder had a prototype end of fiddleyard turntable - a couple of those and a short 3 foot board would make a very nice little branch line model - short trains, short locos.  I've had this yearning to do a Boscarne Junction type layout for years.

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3 hours ago, Allegheny1600 said:

 

China! Impressive indeed

 

49115870996_1556b09a96_b.jpg.405fe0d5828cb834ca063c31b293d10b.jpg

 

Cheers,

John.

 

John

 

Thank you for your comment. I do not know if you visited Saturday or Sunday. If it was Saturday I would like to apologise to you and everyone else for the quality of operation. We have 18 fiddle yard roads and four lines and there are many different routes for stock to take around the layout. Early on I decided we must have route selection hardware/software or running the layout and changing points individually would be a nightmare.

 

The first time we used the route selection was at the Fareham show six weeks before Warley. We had a major issue straight away  - one of the DCC point modules caught fire!! So Friday at Warley was the first time we could run the layout since repairs were carried out - one of the problems of building a 26ft x 10ft layout in a small UK semi-detached! We arrived later than planned at the NEC due to awful traffic and after we set up we discovered - NO ROUTE SELECTION!

 

So we laboured away on Saturday as best we could - one follow-on issue being that we could not deal with other issues because all our time was taken up firefighting the lack of route selection.

 

None of us are DCC experts, but on Sunday morning before the show opened we managed to borrow Ted Smale of SCC Ltd to come over and review things. I showed him the set up - he said 'personally I always plug my loconet cable into the socket in the back of that unit rather the (identical) socket on the front of that unit.' So we did - and suddenly all the route selection worked!!! And TBH I don't think anyone knew why it suddenly all worked, we were just happy that this simple change had made a huge improvement to running.

 

So Sunday was far better than Saturday and had there not been heavy traffic on Friday which delayed everyone we could have had Ted over on Friday evening and he would have sorted our problem in time for the first day's opening. Anyway, we did our best on Saturday - although two of my operators have now have had to have counselling!!!

 

 

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Had a wonderful weekend at the NEC helping my friend operate Lindon Road. The Warley club certainly looked after us well and were all very friendly and helpful, as were the staff of the NEC. We were also very well fed for breakfast and lunch - thank you to all the club for their kind hospitality. Enjoyed the opportunity to look around the trade stands and found several bargains. Some really impressive layouts as well - Northeast Corridor provided plenty of action and first time I've seen a North American layout featuring OHLE.  All in all, a very enjoyable weekend. 

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Some video from a very enjoyable visit on Sunday. While busy, didn't struggle to get a good look at any of the layouts from a few different vantage points. Some excellent layouts Tarrant Valley and the Stodden Hundred Light Railway being two of my favourites.

Edited by leeadavo
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9 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

We had a major issue the last time we ran the layout at a show in October - one of the DCC point modules caught fire!! So Friday at Warley was the first time we could run the layout since repairs were carried out - one of the problems of building a 26ft x 10ft layout in a small UK semi-detached! We arrived later than planned at the NEC due to awful traffic and after we set up we discovered - NO ROUTE SELECTION!

 

So we laboured away on Saturday as best we could - one follow-on issue being that we could not deal with other issues because all our time was taken up firefighting the lack of route selection.

 

None of us are DCC experts, but on Sunday morning before the show opened we managed to borrow Ted Smale of SCC Ltd to come over and review things. I showed him the set up - he said 'personally I always plug my loconet cable into the socket in the back of that unit rather the (identical) socket on the front of that unit.' So we did - and suddenly all the route selection worked!!!

 

So Sunday was far better than Saturday and had there not been heavy traffic on Friday which delayed everyone we could have had Ted over on Friday evening and he would have sorted our problem in time for the first day's opening. Anyway, we did our best on Saturday - although two of my operators have now have had to have counselling!!!

 

Paul, i was conscious there must have been some sort of technical glitch when I stopped by the layout a couple of times on Saturday, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the layout too much.

 

I did chuckle at your team saying they managed to run more trains when they'd packed you off to lunch though!

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1 hour ago, MarkSG said:

 

This is, unfortunately, one of the things that Warley has always been pretty poor at handling. The NEC doesn't supply events with ticketing staff, instead the exhibition organisers have to provide people to sit in the ticket booths and take the money. But when it's done by volunteers, as Warley is, it can be difficult to get enough people who are competant enough at doing it. This is exacerbated by the lack of any EPOS system, so the ticket sellers are having to manually calculate prices. Even with the aid of a lookup table,  that's slower than just tapping a screen.

 

I don't think there's a lot that Warley can realistically do about that, though. Volunteer staff are always limited by the people you have available, it's not like a commercial operation where you can always hire more staff next year if it turns out you don't have enough this time. One thing that could improve throughput at the ticket windows would be to invest in a low cost tablet-based sales system from the likes of SumUp or Izettle, but that would only deliver a relatively small improvement.

 

One thing where Warley really could do a lot better, though, is advance ticket sales. Every other event I've been to at the NEC in recent years allows you to buy tickets online and either print them out at home or carry them on an app on your smartphone. Warley still sends out paper tickets in the post. That's incredibly inefficient, it's timeconsuming for the people handling the ticket sales, it's costly in terms of postage and resources and there's always the risk to consumers that the tickets may not arrive in time. Switching to an online system from a supplier such as Eventbrite or WeGotTickets would solve that - the cost of the system would almost certainly be justified by the hugely greater convenience for organisers and customers alike (and it would save on the cost of postage, so it might even come out cost-neutral overall). And the other big advantage of a print-at-home or app-based ticket is that you can buy it in the morning on the day you visit the show, so you can still leave it to the last minute before deciding whether to go or not (which is one of the things that puts people off buying tickets in advance) while avoiding having to queue to buy tickets when you get there. Which in turn reduces the number of people who do pay on the door, thus also reducing the queues. So everyone benefits.

It wasnt the actual purchase of the ticket but before the ticket offices opened everyone was initially queuing in an orderly fashion, but then the nec staff pushed everyone down towards the ticket booths so it was one big mass of people with no order to it. Then once tickets was obtained again the nec staff pushed everyone into a fenced off section and it looked like a stamped was waiting to happen. I decided to wait on the steps to the side. As to advance tickets I only decided to go the night before but online tickets in advance was £2 extra in this day and age of digital transactions this is a rip off. But I know you can get a postal advance ticket with no extra charge. But your point on advance ticket sales I do agree with and other events I go to do this and it’s no extra than on the day. 

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Must admit I did chuckle at the guy who must have thought he was a drill instructor ushering people to the pay desks before the doors opened, personally I thought they did a good job when you consider the footfall that’s was coming into the lobby at 09:15 for both warley and the bike show 

 

anyone else notice when the blinds went up on the pay booths they couldn’t get them to stay open, that made me laugh too, I’m easily pleased! 

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3 minutes ago, big jim said:

Must admit I did chuckle at the guy who must have thought he was a drill instructor ushering people to the pay desks before the doors opened, personally I thought they did a good job when you consider the footfall that’s was coming into the lobby at 09:15 for both warley and the bike show 

 

anyone else notice when the blinds went up on the pay booths they couldn’t get them to stay open, that made me laugh too, I’m easily pleased! 

Yes I did notice and made those of us waiting laugh:D

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