Great Electric Train Show 2021

[Pete the Elaner]

13 hours ago, Gilbert said:

My understanding is that masks tend to protect others rather than the wearer so its slightly more than a personal choice...

 

I was exhibiting all weekend & did not even consider wearing a bandana over my mouth.

My reasoning is that it was an environment where masks were not required, so many would not be wearing them & nobody didn't need to go if they felt uncomfortable in such an environment.

 

I also find it a hollow gesture to wear it for a period of time then take it off for 5 minutes to eat or drink. Once it is off, any germs or bacteria have had a good chance to spread.

 

I popped over the road to Asda for a few things both days. People have no choice but to shop for food, so for me, this makes it a totally different situation.

I have no problem with wearing my bandana for the few minutes I will be in there & it becomes automatic for me to do so. Unlike in the show, I can & do keep it on for the entire time I am inside.

[7013]

This should not become a debate as to whether you wear masks or not. In this country, at present we have a choice, but bearing in mind we still have the worst record of infections and deaths in Europe (and a good part of the world), that should tell you that this pandemic is not over buy any stretch. Common sense should be your guiding principle. I am a retired health care professional with experience in both respiratory and intensive care settings and I have to say some of the logic for not taking sensible precautions I have seen expressed on this thread beggar belief. And yes, I wore a mask to GETS, I wear a mask in any shop, and I will be wearing a mask to the Gaydon show, but you are free to decide, all I would say is make your choices wisely because you may not get infected badly, but you could infect someone else, even one of your family, nobody is immune double jabbed or not. Thats my penny worth I will concentrate on Model railways now.

Edited October 4, 2021 by 7013

[Phil Bullock]

2 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

I feel that in this respect, GETS was consistent with how it has been in the past. I don't intend this as a criticism. It just seems to be aimed at a different market to fine scale modellers.

H&A were there so stocked up on Red Panda chassis with bearings and wheels for banana van train project

[Compound1000]

A big thank you to all involved in organising this show, which I visited on Sunday with friends. I hope it was enjoyable for those exhibiting their fine work and worthwhile for the traders in attendance. Our first show since March 2020 as well and it felt good to be back (generally). 

 

I can't comment on Saturday attendance but some friends who did attend that day thought much the same as us, numbers back to somwehere near normal  not crazy crowds, only isolated incidents of crowding and occasional sense of discomfort COVID wise.

 

Some people's notion of social distancing clearly differs from mine. Opening up more catering space was a good move, felt more comfortable than I expected to eating in an enclosed room like that at that level of patronage. On a more general point on COVID security I wasn't too impressed, the mask wearing discussion has been had and people are going to do what they want it seems, but some 'encouragement' of it would have been helpful IMO. 

 

Layout wise, seeing the fuller extent of Old Elm Park was a treat, Dentdale did a lovely job of a "railway amid the scenery" in N gauge and my personal favourite I think I'd go for Wimborne which I enjoyed seeing again very much. 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, David Bigcheeseplant said:

The layout of the show seemed strange with having to go through lots of trade before getting to any layouts. I prefer to have headline layouts as you enter the hall which gives you a wow factor of what the show is about. 

 

I disagree.  If the big name layouts are at the entrance, what happens is there is a big cluster of people around it blocking the entrance, especially at the start of the day.  Far better to have them at the back of the hall and people who gone only to look at that won't block the doorway but will go straight past the trade stands and disperse from the entrance.  Most start at the first stand they see and gradually work their their way round, moving on to see the ones of most interest to them. 

 

Organisers need to think about the likely flow around the hall and should try to balance things out.  They are of course constrained on where things like seating can go in many buildings such as the fixed location of bars, kitchens, toilets and by limits on what sort of stuff it is reasonable to take to ask exhibitors to take to any side rooms, balconies etc.  And Covid only makes it more desirable to minimise  crowding & obstruction with the consequence of pushing and shoving. 

[Roy L S]

20 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Out of the 400 mentioned above, I think only three had less than £5 in their pocket and we had a cash machine over the road so they were back in 5 mins with cash in hand.

 

The point of the card machines was not about how much cash people did or did not have on them to pay, it was to give people the choice of paying contactless should they wish to in order to avoid having to use cash which gets handled repeatedly thus increasing the risk of transfer of Covid by contact. Again a choice and not something we made mandatory, although I did happen to notice that the bar/canteen at GETS on Saturday was contactless only for all transactions regardless of value.

 

As I mentioned previously it had the added benefit as it transpired of facilitating impulse purchases when people did nor have enough cash too.

 

Roy 

[Phil Bullock]

Just now, Roy L S said:

The point of the card machines was not about how much cash people did or did not have on them to pay, it was to give people the choice of paying contactless should they wish to in order to avoid having to use cash which gets handled repeatedly thus increasing the risk of transfer of Covid by contact. Again a choice and not something we made mandatory, although I did happen to notice that the bar/canteen at GETS on Saturday was contactless only for all transactions regardless of value.

 

As I mentioned previously it had the added benefit as it transpired of facilitating impulse purchases when people did nor have enough cash too.

 

Roy 

There are still some traders with whom plastic transactions of less than £5 are not popular! 

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hello all,

 

GETS was our second major show of the year, after The International N Gauge Show three weeks ago, but it felt considerably busier.

 

 

It was great to meet people and it felt to us like there was a considerable amount of ‘pent up’ interest in products that had been developed over the last 18 months or so but had not been shown in public before due to Covid.

 

 

 

We had a great time and are now looking forward to Model Rail Scotland in February next year, and the London Festival of Railway Modelling in March.

 

See you then!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Revolution Ben

[ardbealach]

Our layout 'Whithorn' was invited to GETS over the past weekend, and the three operators had a great time, with the layout being very well received.  

 

The three of us have all been double vaccinated,we brought along a load of face masks, along with the plastic visors, not really knowing what to expect.  We had no cause to wear them the whole time of the exhibition.  

 

My only criticism was the crash barriers had a life of their own and were continually moved closer and closer to the layout as the numbers viewing increased.  At least they all had a good close look at the layout until we gently moved them all back to a respectful distance.  From what I observed the walking barriers appeared to be quite a common occurrence on other layouts too 

 

Thank you to the organisers holding their nerve and going for it to make a start in getting the confidence back again for shows.  (Alisdair) 

[dagrizz]

12 minutes ago, ardbealach said:

 

 

My only criticism was the crash barriers had a life of their own and were continually moved closer and closer to the layout as the numbers viewing increased. 

 

I lost count the number of times I knocked the barriers and moved them a few inches. The barriers had 'feet' that stuck out and it was easy to nudge them. 

[Chris M]

As a visitor I spotted the barriers seemed to be so close to most layouts that they offered zero protection.

[Grimleygrid]

Good morning,

 

Thank you to all those involved in organising The Great Electric Train Show last weekend, this was the first show that we had attended for over 18 months and it was great to be back.

Certainly to us it felt busy and good to see the hobby starting to return to some sort of normality.

 

Meeting people face to face and talking about modelling made you realise just how much we have missed shows. 

 

Thank you to everyone that took the time to visit our stand and say hello. We had a very enjoyable weekend.

[Jenny Emily]

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Pete Waterman about his OO layout featured at the Great Electric Train Show. Showing on Youtube from 6pm:

 

[franciswilliamwebb]

On 04/10/2021 at 21:49, Revolution Ben said:

 

 

 

 

Wow!  Your own official shrine!

Edited October 6, 2021 by franciswilliamwebb

[LNERandBR]

Walking barriers at shows are pretty normal I find. It just depends on the type of barriers and what state they are in.

 

I exhibited at the last GETS before covid and can confim the barriers moved then too.

 

One thing I noted on my visit to this years show on Sunday was the guys walking round with big tubs of wipes ensuring the barriers were sanitised.

[ardbealach]

Should there be barriers in place to stop the barriers getting too close?  (Alisdair)

[ardbealach]

12 hours ago, col.stephens said:

The previous picture of the hall (shown above) must have been taken on Sunday, judging by the long line of chairs against the left-hand wall which were absent on Saturday.  It's nice to see that somebody obviously noticed the visitors dossing on the floor and did something about it.  

 

Terry

Yes I can confirm the chairs arrived over Saturday night for the Sunday opening.  And they were well used. Our layout was next to them. (Alisdair)

[7013]

I have had a ping from the Covid police to say I have been in contact with someone with Coronavirus. Given that it was after GETS and I have not had any other close proximity contacts I am a little disappointed. I feel fine but it is an inconvenience.

[rob D2]

1 hour ago, 7013 said:

I have had a ping from the Covid police to say I have been in contact with someone with Coronavirus. Given that it was after GETS and I have not had any other close proximity contacts I am a little disappointed. I feel fine but it is an inconvenience.

Best not to have that app, ive found 

[Phil Parker]

23 minutes ago, rob D2 said:

Best not to have that app, ive found 

 

Also not to wear a mask or bother with any testing, Just pretend nothing is happening. After all, who cares about anyone else? If you get a sniffle, don't even bother with that boring old hand over the mouth stuff. As for washing hands after using the toilet, what's the point of that?

[rob D2]

13 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Also not to wear a mask or bother with any testing, Just pretend nothing is happening. After all, who cares about anyone else? If you get a sniffle, don't even bother with that boring old hand over the mouth stuff. As for washing hands after using the toilet, what's the point of that?

 Wow, aren’t you sarcastic ? It’s my opinion that the app is over done, this is based on the people I’ve seen isolate for no reason 

 

If you are a moderator Phil, shouldn’t you “moderate “arguments , rather than get involved , like a nightclub bouncer looking to kick a few heads in 

[dagrizz]

Friends of mine got 'pinged'. They had been visiting friends whose daughter was isolating. The daughter was upstairs in her bedroom, they were downstairs in the lounge and they did not meet, but the app decided they were close enough to be contacts. Cost them a few days pay from work.

 

I know quite a few people who have switched off the app because of false alerts.

 

Graham

 

 

[Melly]

40 minutes ago, dagrizz said:

Friends of mine got 'pinged'. They had been visiting friends whose daughter was isolating. The daughter was upstairs in her bedroom, they were downstairs in the lounge and they did not meet, but the app decided they were close enough to be contacts. Cost them a few days pay from work.

 

I know quite a few people who have switched off the app because of false alerts.

 

Graham

 

 

Yeah we've all heard the story of the the neighbours, phone on bedside table, either side of a party wall, one Covid the other getting pinged due proximity with ZERO chance of infection.  More fool them for actually having their phone upstairs - god forbid my employer can get hold of me that easy when I'm resting :-)

Edited October 8, 2021 by Melly

[jonhall]

43 minutes ago, dagrizz said:

Friends of mine got 'pinged'. They had been visiting friends whose daughter was isolating. The daughter was upstairs in her bedroom, they were downstairs in the lounge and they did not meet, but the app decided they were close enough to be contacts. Cost them a few days pay from work.

 

 

Surely the point is that they shouldn't have been visiting a household that was isolating?

 

Not much sympathy here!

 

Jon

[Melly]

1 hour ago, jonhall said:

 

Surely the point is that they shouldn't have been visiting a household that was isolating?

 

Not much sympathy here!

 

Jon

Depends John.  Equally plausible scenario is visiting friends for tea and catch up; 30 mins after arrival.  Oh How's (Child X?)  They're upstairs isolating with Covid !!!   Yes some people are that . . . . .  . !!