Wycrail'14 - Saturday 1st November - High Wycombe and District MRS

[chrisf]

I visited yesterday and found much of which to approve.  The first familiar sight was that of St Simon on car park duty from which he managed to escape in mid morning.  [Note that I have been deliberately vague about the time lest he be busted for bunking off.]

 

The world was put to rights with tea, Stationmaster, Station Cat and an oblong of bread pudding.  The presence of that rare commodity fully justifies the enthusiasm accorded to the cake stall, promoted in an earlier post with a more liberal use of exclamation marks than a typical Warners announcement.   The nice people on the Squires stand were able to more than replace all the drills I broke last week and the equally nice people at H&A had a set of LNER buffers which had eluded me for many weeks.

 

An eclectic mix of layouts was to be viewed.  I do not share the enthusiasm of some for US outline but the small Japanese outline set-up, Yamanote Mura in Z, was refreshingly different.  DitD and Westcliff were to my mind equally worthy of the best in show award but there can only be one winner given that taking an X-Acto saw to a trophy is something that just isn't done.  Of interest also was the excerpt of Cardiff Canton in O, even better known since featuring in Model Rail.  The carefully weathered 70019 was at odds with my memory of Canton's Britannias being clean but I was only 13 when they left.  Then there was the ever-welcome 2mm presence comprising Queensquare's Tucking Mill and Julia's demo stand complete with 2mm scale watering can.  Yes, really.

 

As for socialising, lots of it took place but there were gaps.  I managed to forget which RMwebber asked others to make themselves known to him so I didn't.  I see from earlier posts that other members of my casual acquaintance came and went undetected by me.  Such is life.

 

The cover of the good value exhibition guide was emblazoned with the legend "Now with track plans".  You see, Kenton, it pays to complain.  Where are you by the way?? 

 

Chris

[Graham_Muz]

Many thanks for the positive comments and feedback provided above it is much appreciated and is very much read and considered by the exhibition team (hence as mentioned the track plans being an addition to guide this year). 

 

I also thank all the visitors, exhibitors and traders, along with the HWDMRS members whom all contributed in making the show such a success. 

 

Special mention must also be made to Dave Fryer whom has been our exhibition manager for the last *cough* years as this was his last show in charge, although I am sure his influence will continue and of course be very much welcomed by the new team whom have a very hard act to follow!  

 

Our best in show award is now(unknown to Dave until the presentation) the Dave Fryer trophy for best in show and 'Westcliff' were indeed worthy winners with 'Diesels in Duchy' runners up with 'That Dam Railway' in third. Once again the standard of layouts on show made such a choice very difficult indeed.

 

We are looking forward to next year already which will be maintaining the high standard of exhibits. 

[3rd Rail Exile]

^{Agree with everyone else - a thoroughly enjoyable, well organised show in all respects.  I made an "on the spur of the moment" decision to attend having read the "Diesels in the Duchy" team's RMweb posts regarding their journey to the show, and was extremely glad I did!  It was great to see their layout "in the flesh"  for the first time, and spend some time spotting all the features that  have been discussed in their thread (caravans, signal box etc.).  Similarly, I was particularly happy to get the opportunity to see "Fisherton Sarum".  All in all, a very good mix of high quality layouts.} 

 

^{Definitely agree with 2ManySpams about leaning on the barriers  - look forward to seeing what solution the organisers come up with next year!}

[TrevorP1]

Went to Wycrail with an old friend who I see once in a blue moon.

 

We had a thoroughly enjoyable day, admired the quality of work, marvelled at the eyesight of the 2mm folks and ate far too much cake! 

 

Both of us have been involved with railways - model and full size - for more years than we care to think about and we appreciated the nerve of many folks to weather their models. A particular favourite in this respect was 'Cardiff Canton' - gloomy, miserable and filthy, just like a real steam shed would have been!

 

'Stout Oak' was also much enjoyed and has reawaked my interest in the American scene. I just about have room for something like that - and I could see it as well!

 

However, as 12" to the foot folks we were also concerned about the high speed shunting on many layouts - there must have been a lot of smashed drawgear and passengers with broken necks! Perhaps a training course for model railway operators is an opening for a preserved line?

 

Also appreciated the chat about Lancia Stratos rally cars with one of the HWDMRS guys!

 

A great day out, roll on next year!

 

Trevor

[2ManySpams]

^{Agree with everyone else - a thoroughly enjoyable, well organised show in all respects.  I made an "on the spur of the moment" decision to attend having read the "Diesels in the Duchy" team's RMweb posts regarding their journey to the show, and was extremely glad I did!  It was great to see their layout "in the flesh"  for the first time, and spend some time spotting all the features that  have been discussed in their thread (caravans, signal box etc.).  Similarly, I was particularly happy to get the opportunity to see "Fisherton Sarum".  All in all, a very good mix of high quality layouts.} 

 

^{Definitely agree with 2ManySpams about leaning on the barriers  - look forward to seeing what solution the organisers come up with next year!}

If the nonsense on the DitD thread got just one more punter through the door then we're happy. Good to see so many folk from here at the show.

[grandadbob]

Great show and I enjoyed every minute of my time there although sadly I only managed one piece of cake but it was delicious. Managed to spend too much money but the good news is that the Boss is paying for one of my purchases for a Christmas present.

Many thanks to the organisers, exhibitors and the cake builders - I will return!

[bcnPete]

Likewise really enjoyed the show - Thanks to all involved who set it up.

 

A good mix of layouts and trade I thought and only wish I could have spent more time than the 2+1/2 hours I did.

 

Graham M - Sorry we didn't get to meet - I dispatched my kids to the central atrium armed with twix / pop and iPads to do another quick tour but must have missed you...unless you were standing next to me at DITD at some point

 

Resisted the cakes and opted for a Yorkie bar  

 

All good from me overall (agreed with the point re the barriers) and will certainly bookmark the show for next year.

 

Thanks again, Pete

[steve fay]

Thanks for the comments about Canton, when I built it I set out capture the run down look of BR's engine sheds in the latter days of steam

As for 70019 I knew once I had her weathered she would cause a stir.

So ;

Here's he is in all her filthy Glory on a South Wales express. You have to remember this is just before she migrated north to the midland, Canton had received its kings by now and the higher mileage Brits had lost there lustre of previous years.

I suppose those who remeber them gleaming would rather remember them like that than in the more run down condition they did get in too.

I even had the correct A11 triple reporting number on the front.

 

Great show I thouroughly enjoyed it and it was a good one for canton to bow out on.

[queensquare]

Well we had a very enjoyable day out with Tucking Mill. The cakes were well up to standard, there was even a gluten free selection which pleased Kim no end.

 

Many thanks to all involved with putting on an excellent show, in particular Dave Fryer on his last show as manager. There are some pictures of visiting locos over on my Tucking Mill thread - see link in signature.

 

Jerry 

[RedgateModels]

I've finally managed to get to adding my thanks to all at the HWDMRS for their hospitality to me and my layout Fourgig East. A big thanks also go to my capable assistant Mr Chris Nevard who braved all the DCC trickery, getting to grips with the Powercab within the first 5 minutes

 

The layout performed really well, one issue with the servos dropping off the baseplate on the 'box signals, but the locos didn't miss a beat - the two 4700uF capacitors added to Ivor made all the difference.

 

Back to reality today, moving electric sockets and building wardrobes in the boys bedroom!

 

I only took a few snaps of 4gig, so here they are, hope you like them

 

 

 

 

 

Roll on next year, I hope I can be of service

[eldavo]

Congrats to the organisers for a well run show with a good selection of interesting exhibits. The Waton team had a good day playing trains and the trainset even behaved itself despite having a bunch of changes made to it recently.

 

Good luck to the new show organisers, they have a hard act to follow.

 

Cheers

Dave

[paulr1949]

I'll echo the comments although not all of the layouts were to my taste, they looked good - just one or two seemed to have very little moving when I hovered. Managed to buy nerarly everything I had on my list, which is even better. Enjoyed looking at DItD - sorry Chris I didn't manage to say hello, and Graham Muz was always busy when I passed ;-) Good cakes too ;-)) - I (just) managed to restrict myself to one.

 

I agree about the barriers, they didn't look quite as solid as they might have been.

 

Sorry to have to make a slightly negative comment about the bus service: someone in a high-vis vest, so it must have been a steward, apparently decided that the bus couldn't go to the bus stop (which was empty) and made the driver turn at the entry roundabout - where there were about 4-5 cars parked. No-one actually came to tell the people waiting, although we guessed by the sudden deluge of new arrivals. There were people waiting who had difficulty in walking and it took them quite a while to make it to the bus...

[PenrithBeacon]

There will always be a risk that a visitor will find layouts that they don't like for one reason or another. I would have preferred more non GWR steam! But that is just a personal view. All the layouts here were of a very high standard even if there were too many diesel based layouts for my taste.

 

My only real problem was the absence of proper food. Cakes are all very well, and they looked lovely but the inner dragon needed nosh. Not cooked nosh (don't do that for lunch anyway), but a show version of the finger buffet would have been nice. As it was I left because hunger drove me home.

 

Regards

[Graham_Muz]

Hi David

 

With respect to the food offered to visitors, I accept that hot meals were not available but in addition to: hot and cold drinks, cakes, confectionery and crisps; a variety of sandwiches were available over the lunch time period although I do understand that these were sold out by 2pm (we do not make them on site but are pre ordered in from a catering firm so we are always a little in the hand of the gods with respect to judging numbers)

 

I apologise that we did not meet your inner dragons needs on this occasion.

[s182ggu]

Hi All

 

As part of the organising team for this event, we are delighted to see so many positive comments about Wycrail - we're really pleased that so many of you come along and enjoy the show.

 

We are always interested as to where our visitors travel from to attend Wycrail. We were made aware of two particularly long distance visitors at the weekend - one from York and another from Bradford. 

 

If you visited us on Saturday and came from further afield, would you be kind enough to let us know, please?

 

Thanks in advance and please put Saturday 7th November in your diary for next year.

[The Stationmaster]

Hi David

 

With respect to the food offered to visitors, I accept that hot meals were not available but in addition to: hot and cold drinks, cakes, confectionery and crisps; a variety of sandwiches were available over the lunch time period although I do understand that these were sold out by 2pm (we do not make them on site but are pre ordered in from a catering firm so we are always a little in the hand of the gods with respect to judging numbers)

 

I apologise that we did not meet your inner dragons needs on this occasion.

And very nice sandwiches they were too.  The catering at this show takes a lot of beating and it's only possible shortcoming compared with some other shows is that nothing hot is available for visitors.  But I can understand the logistic etc problems in managing that and the cakes are a more than excellent substitute - far better than you will find at any other show I have ever visited and there was plenty of sustenance in the bread pudding.

 

Oh and the tea was pretty good too (thanks ChrisF).

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

I think I've managed to recover from the weekend, so I can now give my view and a few pictures.

 

From the clubs point of view, I think it went well, for me doing the car parking in the morning, it was kind of hectic as we were trying to find a space for everybody, but we managed to do it, I don't think we forcibly turned anybody away to go and park themselves elsewhere.

 

 

 

Sorry to have to make a slightly negative comment about the bus service: someone in a high-vis vest, so it must have been a steward, apparently decided that the bus couldn't go to the bus stop (which was empty) and made the driver turn at the entry roundabout - where there were about 4-5 cars parked. No-one actually came to tell the people waiting, although we guessed by the sudden deluge of new arrivals. There were people waiting who had difficulty in walking and it took them quite a while to make it to the bus...

 

Don't worry about the negativity, these kind of comments help to make a better show! The reason for the bus turn around was due to a parked car blocking the road down to the Bus Stop, so it was decided to turn it back at the roundabout. However, your comments have been passed on to the exhibition team.

 

The show itself was excellent as usually and well attended, here's the view in the main atrium:

 

 

It clearly shows the catering going down a storm, we managed to see all the cakes, we are sorry for running out of sandwiches, and we'll review the number purchased for next year. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a cake during the day, so I can't comment personally on the quality, but judging by other comments, they went down well!

 

The view in the Sports hall:

 

 

I'm afraid that the picture of the main hall didn't come out too well!

 

Now, some layout pictures:

 

Ian Mellors Fourgig East:

 

 

Pendennis:

 

 

Diesels in the Duchy:

 

 

Waton:

 

 

I'm afraid I was too busy to take too many photos, but the in addition to the Best in Show list below, I thought I thought that Georgemas Junction was very nice and Pendennis was good because of the signalling!

 

As said, there was a Best in Show, which I helped to judge as I have done in the past few years, once again it was very difficult and a close call, so once again the result was:

 

1. West Cliffe
2. Diesels in the Duchy
3. That Dam Railway

Here's the photo of the winners with the new Best of Layout Trophy, the Dave Fryer Best in Show Trophy:

 

 

I won't embarrass Dave by posting the photos of him being shown the new trophy

 

It was good to catch up with a few familiar faces and some old ones, I'm sorry to those I had to cut short, I managed to be rushed off my feet all day!

 

That's it for another year, I hope that everyone enjoyed the show and next year will be even better!

 

Regards,

 

Simon

[2ManySpams]

Looks like a rare photo of all three of us on DitD in the atrium shot.

[RJS1977]

 

 

8961_780097472032299_9078324130709436339_n.jpg

 

 

Funny thing is - while I was eating my lunch I remember looking up and seeing you take that picture.... but I'm not in it!

[PenrithBeacon]

I was surprised that 'Horse Thief Bridge' didn't even get a mention in the awards. I thought the scenic modelling was stupendous.

 

Regards

[station cat]

Funny thing is - while I was eating my lunch I remember looking up and seeing you take that picture.... but I'm not in it!

 

I am- and so are a number of other RM web members

[The Stationmaster]

Funny thing is - while I was eating my lunch I remember looking up and seeing you take that picture.... but I'm not in it!

I am, but from a very unflattering angle

[grandadbob]

Me too!

[station cat]

I am, but from a very unflattering angle

 

Unflattering for you but conveniently concealing for me.