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Warley NEC exhibition 23rd & 24th November 2019


Chris M
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On 29/11/2019 at 00:10, melmerby said:

Here's a short video of Beijiao including a couple of stills at the start:

 

https://youtu.be/iMT46_X_aNY

 

Thanks for posting that.

 

I realise that I must appear paranoid when asking for feedback on how to make the layout more exhibition-friendly and thereby gain more invites. And the reason I appear paranoid about this issue is because I am paranoid about this issue.

 

You see this is an exhibition only layout, it has no home life, it has no purpose, no reason to exist unless it goes to exhibitions. So without invites it's 9 years work for a layout that has so far just operated on 9 days spread over 4 exhibitions - that's one day's operation per year's work!

 

So based on the feedback I have received in PMs I am thinking of changes I/we can make to broaden its appeal - but I can categorically guarantee that there will be no 'houses on fire' or 'road accidents with police and ambulances with blue flashing lights'.

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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14 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I can categorically guarantee that there will be no 'houses on fire' or 'road accidents with police and ambulances with blue flashing lights'.

 

Thank goodness!. Those cliches are rapidly overtaking the bus on the bridge followed by a wedding/funeral at any church or a new one I've noticed since Peco released the figures, a cricket game taking place!. 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Scottish-Exile said:

 

 a new one I've noticed since Peco released the figures, a cricket game taking place!. 

 

 

 

On a ground just about big enough for a game of bowls!

 

But back to Paul's question. I think that Beijaio is a great piece of modelling. But like most exhibition visitors, I don't have enough knowledge of Chinese railways for it to really be a big draw for me even though I am much more open to non-UK layouts than most.

 

Perhaps it needs more prototype info on display for people to understand the model. perhaps even some videos of the real thing running on a flat-screen monitor.

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3 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

But back to Paul's question. I think that Beijaio is a great piece of modelling. But like most exhibition visitors, I don't have enough knowledge of Chinese railways for it to really be a big draw for me even though I am much more open to non-UK layouts than most.

 

Perhaps it needs more prototype info on display for people to understand the model. perhaps even some videos of the real thing running on a flat-screen monitor.

 

I genuinely don't want to hijack this thread and make it all about my personal layout but I can make a few general points with regards giving the visitor info about the prototype and what the layout is about

 

1, We made info boards to cover both fiddle yard 'ends'. There was a view that the first versions (shown at Bristol 2018) were too long and wordy - nobody stood and read it all ...

 

31829838_DSC_0211(2).JPG.2e886b489be09aef66d24b9f934901af.JPG

 

So I made re-did them with fewer words and bigger print size to make things easier to read. I also invested heavily to make the displays more dramatic, more dynamic ….

 

IMG_20190930_160457.jpg.4c20a5a156fbf9debcfad4e02940fcf8.jpg

 

We still found that relatively very few people stood and read the boards

 

2. We tried to explain the theme of the layout in the exhibition guide write up - my view was that very few people looked at the layout and were seen reading the exhibition guide. 

 

I think the idea of a running video is a possibility  - unfortunately it would need to be silent as if it had steam sounds it would distract from the sounds from the model locos.

 

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1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

You see this is an exhibition only layout, it has no home life, it has no purpose, no reason to exist unless it goes to exhibitions. So without invites it's 9 years work for a layout that has so far just operated on 9 days - that's one day's operation per year's work!

 

Nine invites sounds like quite a lot of them - have you considered how you compare with other similar sized models then split that UK and Rest of the World.

 

I am sure most railways will have a finite number of invites, size will have a bearing on this too as your chosen prototype might limit which sorts of show will invite you.

 

Your model is very good, any investment now to try and gain more invites may not actually change anything unless there is something fundamental you have missed.

 

Take Liverpool Lime St - it's got a big footprint - how many shows has it been to, is it's chosen prototype more likely or less likely than an overseas layout to draw more invites and due to it's size how many shows will it fit into without dominating and leaving no space for anything else.

 

Would you be invited back to the shows you attend, what is their policy, if it is to always look for new layouts then each exhibition attended is one less potential future exhibition - what is your goal in terms of appearances of this model before you consider it has paid back the investment in time to build it.  Have you got a list of your target shows so you can gauge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, if there are shows which you'd like to be at, perhaps contact them, are they aware of your model, does it fit in with their criteria, do they have slots to fill in the future?

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3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Nine invites sounds like quite a lot of them

 

Apologies, didn't make it clear - it's been 4 exhibitions - 9 days

 

7 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

I am sure most railways will have a finite number of invites, size will have a bearing on this too as your chosen prototype might limit which sorts of show will invite you

 

Absolutely.

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4 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Apologies, didn't make it clear - it's been 4 exhibitions - 9 days

 

 

Absolutely.

And it has at least 2 invites for 2020 - London Festival of Model Railways and Railex - so that's another 4 days.

 

Have you looked at Perth and Model Rail Scotland, certainly the latter like overseas layouts.

 

I think you have to expect a slow burn for this model railway - the return on your time will be a marathon not a sprint.

 

A relative has written and published a book, it took 12 years for him to complete it, a friend reckons it will take him 15 to complete reading it.

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35 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

I am sure most railways will have a finite number of invites, size will have a bearing on this too as your chosen prototype might limit which sorts of show will invite you.

 

Your model is very good, any investment now to try and gain more invites may not actually change anything unless there is something fundamental you have missed.

 

Take Liverpool Lime St - it's got a big footprint - how many shows has it been to, is it's chosen prototype more likely or less likely than an overseas layout to draw more invites and due to it's size how many shows will it fit into without dominating and leaving no space for anything else.

 

The way that some layouts carry as many badges as a well travelled walking stick must demonstrate that they aren't shy of picking up invites or the will to see them through. I vaguely remember a GWR 7mm scale layout at Manchester celebrating its 100th show and since then a twee looking 009 layout way into triple figures, both probably at opposite ends on so many levels but obviously both capable of still recieving invites. But I doubt the Lime St team would even want to attend every single show that asks.

 

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Don't forget there are other ways to promote a layout- I think eLayouts on UK modelshops is still an excellent point of reference, and there is a Facebook group where layouts are plugged and exhibition managers ask for exhibits, but being old school means I've always found that someone's willingness to invite themselves to a show is inversely proportional to how good their layout is.

 

One problem might be that the world has changed since I used to help exhibit a large Beijiao sized layout and there are less of the traditional large club shows where recripocal "We'll invite yours if you invite ours" trades could be effected, yes there are more shows than ever but they're mostly one day/smaller manageable layouts who'se managers probably assume they couldn't afford your layout or don't have the time at either end of the day for a large layout to be built/packed away even before asking. 

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1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

Take Liverpool Lime St - it's got a big footprint - how many shows has it been to, is it's chosen prototype more likely or less likely than an overseas layout to draw more invites and due to it's size how many shows will it fit into without dominating and leaving no space for anything else.

 

 

Lime Street would definitely not fit into the Redditch MRC show, without a complete re-think of how the layouts/stands are arranged.

It's in two school halls where it is mostly traders around the walls with the layouts arranged in the centre.

Lime Street would have to break this arrangement to fit.

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4 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Lime Street would definitely not fit into the Redditch MRC show, without a complete re-think of how the layouts/stands are arranged.

It's in two school halls where it is mostly traders around the walls with the layouts arranged in the centre.

Lime Street would have to break this arrangement to fit.

 

Either that, or we’d have to move to a different venue, which wouldn’t be ideal for us (there’s only so many places in Redditch that could accommodate it) or for the school where we hold our exhibition. I can imagine that schools letting out their premises on weekends for model railway exhibitions and other events is how they increase their income. 

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29 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Lime Street would definitely not fit into the Redditch MRC show, without a complete re-think of how the layouts/stands are arranged.

It's in two school halls where it is mostly traders around the walls with the layouts arranged in the centre.

Lime Street would have to break this arrangement to fit.

 

I work in Redditch now, so you have a show?

 

 

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1 hour ago, 298 said:

 

The way that some layouts carry as many badges as a well travelled walking stick must demonstrate that they aren't shy of picking up invites or the will to see them through. I vaguely remember a GWR 7mm scale layout at Manchester celebrating its 100th show and since then a twee looking 009 layout way into triple figures, both probably at opposite ends on so many levels but obviously both capable of still recieving invites. But I doubt the Lime St team would even want to attend every single show that asks.

 

I think the letters GWR go some way to gaining invites and although 7mm it may not occupy the space Beijaio does.

 

That said Beijaio has everything a typical large modern image model railway would have - lots of trains, sound, passenger, freight, shunting, multiple exit points.  There is a similar Australian layout that's been on the circuit a few years, I wonder where that has been as it would be a good pointer to where Beijaio could go next.

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2 hours ago, MJI said:

 

I work in Redditch now, so you have a show?

 

 

How did you not know that?:scratchhead:

 

I've been going each year for some time now (I live further north in Worcestershire) as I can bus it there.

The first time I went was when they also had an exhibition at Cocks Moors Woods leisure centre in Birmingham, but that stopped when the Council jacked up the hire fee.

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49 minutes ago, melmerby said:

How did you not know that?:scratchhead:

 

I've been going each year for some time now (I live further north in Worcestershire) as I can bus it there.

The first time I went was when they also had an exhibition at Cocks Moors Woods leisure centre in Birmingham, but that stopped when the Council jacked up the hire fee.

 

Because I rarely went there before we moved offices.

 

Since we moved from rental to buying we had to move, unfortunately it is a slow route from Worcester.

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