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Midland Railex - 13th and 14th August 2011


Sam Moss

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Myself and Chris (our digital editor) will be there throughout the weekend, offering our BRM wares, the odd sweet and plenty of chatter. Chris will be trying to cover as much of the event as he can and I'll be looking for more layouts!

 

As the person charged with producing the show guide, here's a brief glimpse - not too much - we want your £1.00! Remember it's all for the Swanwick station building fund.

 

Further updates will follow!

 

Regards

 

Richard

 

 

Ah, so you did the guide then!

 

Alfreton Model Railway "Club" is a society and has been for the last 20 off years. There is also no detail on what our layout is about unlike all other layouts.

 

Just a small niggle but seeing as we are the first layout the public will see we would have liked a bit more of a mention.

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Only two days away now. Glenuig packed just need to clean umpteen wheels. I have had a sneak preview of the show guide and it looks well worth the £1.

Just a thought that may help other exhibitors, the floor may be uneven in some places to the extent of been out of range of leg adjusters, take some packing with you.

 

See you all

 

Gary

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Yes, there is designated walking paths around Swanwick site

 

Sam.

 

 

Is this place suitable for pushchairs? I realise there is the train shuttle to get on, but it will just be me and my son, who can't walk fully yet.

Thanks

Dave

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The event is taking place at Swanwick, but there will be NO public access to this site.There will be a shuttle service running from Butterley station toSwanwick, and this will be the way the public will enter the show. It is posible to walk from Butterley to Swanwick on a path that follows the line, this is about ¾ of a mile.

 

 

 

 

Hope this answers your questions

 

 

 

 

See you there

 

 

 

 

Gary

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I'm really looking forward to this event as being something different.

 

I'll be there with the site stand in building B, stand 31 next to the BRM stand; please feel free to drop by for a chat!

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Well 2 x Hull MRS layouts set up ready. Back to hotel in Ripley but power instantly gone off the moment we arrived... Better have the clockwork stock ready just in case!

:unsure: :rolleyes: :help:

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I would like to thank the organisers and sponsors for a really enjoyable and interesting weekend that was very much geared up toward fundraising for the railway and selected charities.

 

Saturday was especially busy without being crowded around exhibits whilst Sunday provided an opportunity for families and more casual visitors to enjoy the event. Mixing the prototype and the model is a significant draw above a pure modelling event and thankfully the weather was pretty much ideal for both aspects. There are elements which will be improved in future but these were outside the direct control of the organising team who were extremely attentive and supportive throughout the weekend.

 

It's not intended to wind up the visitors but the best part of the day (for me) came after closing with a chance for the organisers, traders and exhibitors to enjoy an evening of real ale, food and some runs up and down the line.

 

A personal thank you from to Suddaby for supporting the stand over the weekend and his hospitality!

 

Hopefully the organisers will be along at some point over the next few days to affirm the success of the event.

 

Well done all!

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Guest baldrick25

Absolutely stunning and enjoyable weekend. I can only repeat Andy's comments above. A real event with a big difference, in return very well supported.

 

...and a thanks to Sam for his very welcome 'burger' help..

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Excellent show and a very enjoyable weekend all round. Much thanks to all concerned, especially to Steve for the haulage behind 20048. Hellfire!

 

Looking forward to next year!

 

steve (on behalf of St Minions & Black Cat Baseboards)

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Went Sunday and found it an enjoyable event which was different and judging by the crowds, well attended. The one niggle I had as a paying punter was the shuttle service from Butterley to Swanick; just missed one train and after waiting for over 40 minutes for the next service (and a demonstration freight train appeared in the booked path!), I gave up waiting and walked the 10 minutes along the footpath. For next time, the train service proabably needs a little more thought. Incidently the platform at Butterley was heaving with punters waiting.

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The train side of things will be looked into if we do the event again next year. One problem we had was that the signal man for Butterley on Sunday couldn't make it due to a family emergency so in some cases where the goods would have been looped it had to run through Platform 1 at Butterley instead of Platform 2.

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Another weekend over,back home a couple of pints and a curry, to finish the evening. First, thanks all who supported the show in anyway, I have worked at the Midland railway centre a few days a month, for the last 20 years, and I have not seen the place so busy. Like most organizations these days, the railway has been struggling for money to finish projects, money raised will go a long way to finishing the station building at Swanwick.

 

Personal thanks go to my operating team, Wilf (Baldrick25) Martin, Dan91 and the other Dan.

Glenuig is now back home, not for long, we make the long journey to Tyneside a week on Friday.

Steve Smith and team have already started to organize next years event, I shall be there in some shape or form, so see you all again.

 

Ps.. Dan was last seen outside Johnson's buffet with his dinner ticket

 

Gary

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A bit more publicity for the path to Swanwick might have been wise for those who would rather walk than wait for a train, or when the trains turned out to be very full (the unsuspecting coach party having tea in the buffet car on Saturday afternoon looked a bit surprised!). Perhaps a sign at each station and near the West Shed confirming the path was open and how far it is?

 

All in all a very good way for my six-year-old and me to spend an afternoon on railways of all sizes - if it had been me on my own I would have spent all day. Shame it clashed with a very similar event not far away at Ruddington, not very well publicised in advance, which can't have helped the sales for either.

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Great Exhibition ... enjoyed myself immensely plodding round finding stalls and layouts located around the site ... on the other hand I was very disappointed by the performance the railway put on ... at times it was farcical on the Sunday.

 

At Butterley the car park was full with an overflow car park in use ... three coaches in the drive ... so what was happening on the railway?

 

A BedPan DMMU was providing an erratic shuttle to Swanwick via Hammersmith but NOT stopping at Butterley on route from Hammersmith despite late running inadequate services causing a build-up of waiting peoples. The advertised service to/from Riddings (platform boards) bore no resemblance to the one train service actually running ... this consisted of four vehicles ... two opens + buffet car + full brake ensured over-crowding of London Suburban proportions.

 

No station staff present at Swanwick (I was told by a guard that this was due to the railway being severely under-staffed) meant that reliance was made on the special event timetable boards on the platform ... sadly these were very misleading as to platform and times and with platform 4 not mentioned in spite of the fact that the shuttle ran from there! Also platform switch required passengers to exit the station and use an unprotected sleeper crossing with no staff on duty!

 

The shortcomings of the railway operation detracted from what was otherwise a most enjoyable event.

 

Nick

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Had a great day out with my father.

12" to 1ft scale J72 and Jinty were shunting wagons around this afternoon.

. Lovley photo of the steam locos I'd of got out of your photo if I'd have known I was in the way :) ( I'm leaning against the building and was firing joem on Sunday) cracking engine, cracking event... See you next year
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