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Warley NEC - All over for another year. Feedback so Far.


wollastonblue

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My wife is Fantastic. I posted a while back that she is trapped at home with a titch who has chicken pox so was not 100% sure if I would even make it.

 

She has arranged for a Grand parent to take our eldest to his music lesson in the morning so I am free to set off early and hopefully be there for 9:30. This is on top of the news that i will be spending next week in Redditch.

 

If you want to get in at 9.30 (thats is in then you need to get there before to que)

 

It would seem so Chris, I fail to understand the froth, its a model rail show not the holy grail. Mind you its not quite as bad a the ****er with all the emoticons last year though.

 

I am not excited just was in a rush and poining out my shopping list was expensive

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hello me again lol,, will there be any trade stands where i can buy some wagon kits, as i prefer to build my own as i like to add the little extra detail. :)

 

Loads and loads of trade stands, still more wagon kits to purchase!

 

Virtually everything and everybody who is a part of the hobby will be there - except me :(

 

Brams

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Not going now on both days, a 13 and a half hour shift today and an overnight one tomorrow sad.gif Looking forward to getting my hands on the REX Fastline 66 (hopefully!)

Simon

 

Yes, it'll be interesting to hear back later today if it's there (Fastline 66) or not.

 

Brams

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Went today and what a scrum!!!

 

The prepaid ticket holders who get in at 9:30..................the queue was huge, bigger and longer than I've ever seen it since it's been in hall 5.

 

They have used more of hall 5 but the amount of people was incredible.

Looked like some good layouts but as it was 5 deep to try and get a look, it made it hard work.

 

Everywhere you turned be it traders the layouts.......buying a brew it was 3-5 deep.

I think Warley may have gotten too big!!

 

Nice to meet Ian he who is Mercig studios.

John Russell......Bromsmods.

Richard Jennings...editorial director from ashdown who does Modelrail TV.

 

Had a good chat with everybody.

I think for me it's now got too busy, I think I would prefer the smaller exhibitions which don't get too mad.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

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After reading Ian's post I'm glad I'm going tomorrow. Hopefully everyone went today and we will have the place to ourselves!

 

TBH glad I didn't go full stop - doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

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Just got back from Warley - The post from "Traction" - bit of an exaggeration - yes it was busy but not a scrum at all - a little bit of patience will help - I had no problem getting served at any of the stands / coffee or watching the layouts. There are plenty of chairs & places to rest - the layouts are grouped by scale and all the continental stuff is grouped together also - a distinct improvement. The inital marshalling by the NEC stewards at 8:30 for the advance ticket holders was perfectly adequate too. If you were intending going but have been put off by that post - dont be - go tomorrow and enjoy it.

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I didn't find the 3-5 deep that bad this year. But I was hit 6 times by rucksacks and not 1 apology, or even a glance!! But i had fun and spent a good amount. Well worth it imho! Don't not go because someone here say its busy.

 

I was going to go but I thought about it long and hard. It is 300 mile round trip for me, to get there and have to stand in a queue for ages and then being in a mass of people really made me think. One report said they were expecting 20,000 visitors if half went each day, that would be 10,000 people a day! With less than 200 things to look at (75 layouts and 120 traders) what chance is there of seeing anything?

 

I think I might get a bit more organised next year and make a weekend of it. That way I can buy some advance two day tickets and get in early and have a good mooch without the thought of having to battle my way back through the traffic.

 

I am sure it is a splendid show but is big necessarily beautiful? With today's Internet savvy suppliers, the wealth of good information on the net and in magazines the only reason I personally want to go to a show is to see the layouts and talk to the builders. This I think would be hard at a show of this size...

 

...or am I wrong?

 

I hope if you did go that it was worth the effort and maybe I will find out for myself one day.

 

Ralph.

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I didn't find the 3-5 deep that bad this year. But I was hit 6 times by rucksacks and not 1 apology, or even a glance!! But i had fun and spent a good amount. Well worth it imho! Don't not go because someone here say its busy.

 

 

I've NOT said that anybody shouldn't go at all!!

I've just said it was very busy, it's worse than when I went last year, IN MY OPINION.

 

Just got back from Warley - The post from "Traction" - bit of an exaggeration - yes it was busy but not a scrum at all - a little bit of patience will help - I had no problem getting served at any of the stands / coffee or watching the layouts. There are plenty of chairs & places to rest - the layouts are grouped by scale and all the continental stuff is grouped together also - a distinct improvement. The inital marshalling by the NEC stewards at 8:30 for the advance ticket holders was perfectly adequate too. If you were intending going but have been put off by that post - dont be - go tomorrow and enjoy it.

 

It was a scrum at the Bachmann stand, I know it always is, but again I'm only saying from my opinion that it was busier than last year, and didn't seem to thin out later, again unlike last year.

Christ make an observation and now it's been turned in to me telling everybody not to go!

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When we got there at about 9:45 we were able to more or less walk in with our advance tickets and then get a good look at a lot of the layouts. The main problems seem to be in the areas with a lot of trade stands which were very full with people, the layouts generally ok. (Mind you we didn't try getting near County Gate). Liked teh way they organised the layouts too.

 

Great to meet a few RM webbers

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Well, I've decided, daughter and I will be there tomorrow. Probably won't spend the whole day there, since she'll get bored long before then, but we'll aim to be there for the 1pm meetup. See you tomorrow, those of you who are going.

 

Mark

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Just got back with the boy. Thought i'd write a bit about what was/is available, perhaps for those going tomorrow:

 

Bachmann return stands: 37's at ??43, 66's at ??50+, coaches at around ??14. Must admit, apart from the 37's (I bought 693) I thought the prices were a little on the steep side for returns. (My opinion!)

 

Heljan have loads of colas 47 bodies at ??10 each or 3 for ??25 (both Rebecca and Demelza).

 

Rail Express had all three Ltd Edition packs with the sign saying that there were around 10 37507's left.

 

Cheapest 4CEP was at Hereford model centre for ??100. Quite a few around at ??105 and higher.

 

Parked the car at Tile Hill and thank those who recommended this option - i'll remember it for next time.

 

It was a bit wedged in one of the corners (farthest left corner from the entrance) but was OK elsewhere.

 

Really enjoyable day for me as my son is now at an age where I could leave him looking at a layout for 5 minutes whilst I made for a trade stand or two!

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Just back after a long day concluded with an appaling run back down the M6/ A14, rain was dreadful but well worth the effort. I've never been Warley's biggest fan in recent years but on the layout and organisation front it was one of the best ever. I still miss some of the smaller traders who used to go but there was a good selection this year and it was good to see some new ones

 

I've long admired the Road Transport Images range and it was good to see them on display, first time I'd seen them in the flesh and bought some bits to add variety to my road transport.

 

Hard to say what was the best on offer but Vauxhall Rd and East Lodge were my personal favourites.

 

'Didn't think the crowds were as bad as past years, using more of the hall helped but the lighting is still dreadful.

 

Overall a very good day and congratulations to those whose efforts have made it.

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On the whole it was ok but by 12.00 it was getting very busy and very crowded where there were narrow aisles - my only real grouse about the show. Why on earth there is a space behind one side of the show effectively blocked off by the big panels I simply cannot understand as the aisle immediately inside was murderously crowded at times, which made it difficult for people to move past while others were trying to look & buy at trade stands.

 

Where there were the wide aisles - even with layouts high in the popularity stakes for viewing movement was fairly easy even at the busiest times today.

 

But it was easy to miss some stands or not even find them in the first place and I think I was not the only RMWebber there today who found it difficult to locate some stands (sorry Beast - couldn't find you mate and that was even after Natalie had kindly given me some directions).

 

I think the point has now been reached that a visit to a show this size has to be a two day event, especially if like me you have dodgy ankles and knees and can't manage a whole day. There simply wasn't enough time, or freedom from crowds, to see everything when we wanted to - so I might re-plan my pattern for visiting next year.

 

For us rail travelling folks the departure was somewhat upb*ggered by the presence of a failed train at Marston Green which duly demolished the rest of the timetable in both directions (couldn't quite fathom why it should hit both Up & Down but there you are). Having been informed it was Down train which had failed I duly replanned to return south via London but then it turned out it was the Up that was blocked so we diverted via New St where a Reading train was actually held for us! (and was further delayed waiting Driver). Must say too that XC seem to be at least one up on Virgin Cross Country with ticket checks both ways and the refreshments actually arriving at our seats in both directions - whereas Virgin CC used to chuck in the towel on Saturdays. So not only do they have a nicer class of vinyls but they are seemingly doing a better job on-train (and even our reserved seats weren't double booked).

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