The Great Electric Train Show

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'The Great Electric Train Show 2016' will be held at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon (CV35 0BJ) on Saturday 8th October (10am to 5pm) and Sunday 9th October (10am to 4pm). Advance ticket holders can gain entry from 9 30am both days. There will be 25 layouts and 30+ traders. Entry to the show also permits entry to the Museum.

[gwrrob]

Always a good show with some decent traders present.A bit of a rabbit warren room wise and I always fear I miss something but worth the visit all the same.

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layouts at exhibition.pdf

'The Great Electric Train Show 2016' will be held at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon (CV35 0BJ) on Saturday 8th October (10am to 5pm) and Sunday 9th October (10am to 4pm). Advance ticket holders can gain entry from 9 30am both days. There will be 25 layouts and 30+ traders. Entry to the show also permits entry to the Museum.

list of layouts:

[Kelly]

Worth a visit, entry to the Gaydon musuem isn't usually cheap on its own either. Will be there helping on a layout.

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2 weeks to the show. Some pics of 'The Maxwell Colliery Loading Point' which will be present. Photos courtesy of Nigel Burkin. Max

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one week to set-up. There is a very good selection of layouts that will be there. Max

[tractionman]

Thinking of taking my dad and son along on Saturday - the old cars at the museum will keep them both happy while I look at the layouts and go around the trade stalls :-)

 

I'd like to stock up on paints while I am there but I imagine they'll not be allowed back on the plane in my hand luggage...

 

all the best,

 

Keith

[Kelly]

Thinking of taking my dad and son along on Saturday - the old cars at the museum will keep them both happy while I look at the layouts and go around the trade stalls :-)

 

I'd like to stock up on paints while I am there but I imagine they'll not be allowed back on the plane in my hand luggage...

 

all the best,

 

Keith

Possible they'd be allowed in the hold, but you would be best checking with the airline before buying. They might well say no just to er on side of caution though.

 

The museum is definitely worth a look, it not long ago had a multi million pound refit. Most of the ticket price is taken by the entry costs you would pay for the museum usually as it isn't a cheap one to visit on its own iirc.

[tractionman]

Thanks Kelly, so the exhibition entry charge covers the museum too?

 

You're right, I reckon airport security will err on the side of caution. I once took some modelling clay through Birmingham airport security but they looked at it very suspiciously!

 

All the best,

 

Keith

[Kelly]

Thanks Kelly, so the exhibition entry charge covers the museum too?

 

You're right, I reckon airport security will err on the side of caution. I once took some modelling clay through Birmingham airport security but they looked at it very suspiciously!

 

All the best,

 

Keith

Yes, entry to the model railway show gives entry to the museum too.

[gwrrob]

One thing I like about this show is the good lighting, something you don't always get at big shows in the Midlands.

[Kelly]

One thing I like about this show is the good lighting, something you don't always get at big shows in the Midlands.

Perhaps related to it being a fairly modern museum, and the cars being polished to a high shine so the lighting helps with that appearance.

 

Obviously one of the worst is the nec with those horrible sodium yellow causing lights, which requires calibration of the camera first or carefully editing afterwards.

[gwrrob]

Any visitors thoughts from yesterday here ?

[Phil Parker]

Perhaps related to it being a fairly modern museum, and the cars being polished to a high shine so the lighting helps with that appearance.

 

Obviously one of the worst is the nec with those horrible sodium yellow causing lights, which requires calibration of the camera first or carefully editing afterwards.

 

Nothing to do with the cars - the show is held in the conference centre above the museum, which has modern lighting so bright and white.

 

The NEC is an exhibition centre so the lighting is designed to get you between stands but not to light up the stands themselves. Those at a normal (for the venue) event will supply thier own lighting to make the stand appear at it's best rather then relying on something 40 feet above them to do the job.

 

The show itself was excellent as ever, I didn't get a chance to have a look at the cars - too much time spent chatting to people!

[hockeyshooter]

Very impressed with this - busy but not over-crowded, lots to see - and learn from. I was there principally for ideas for my own layout and took loads of photos. Sorry I wasn't clever enough to make note of the names/clubs:

 

Goods yard:


A really nice coal yard:


Station building on a bridge:


...and:


Coal drops:


Arches with tracks visible:


LED buffers:


Also found out about the Model Electronic Railway Group and they've introduced me to low-cost (actually very low cost) servo-driven point control and computer control too. Will be joining their organisation later in the year when I've (finally) made a start on building my own layout. This is an 8-servo board and a couple of these will be enough to control all of my points.

[Redford73]

I went yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Bit more space than last year although still very cluttered at the 'left' side of the gallery and the lecture rooms beyond though not a lot they can do about this.  It would help if certain inconsiderate people didn't stand in the middle of the aisles when it is clear people are trying to move back and forth. 

 

I like the fact that programmes are handed out before the exhibition starts so you can have a look at the plan and work out where you want to go (other exhibitions also do this now).  Bought a lot from traders and in fact spent almost the entire first two hours going round the traders before moving onto the layouts.  One thing I am noticing about most exhibitions now is the fewer second hand traders/stalls.  There seems to be a gap in the second hand trade of the stock which was released from 2003 to about 2007 perhaps because modellers are keeping their purchases given that this was when the better detailing started in earnest but I digress.

 

Some cracking layouts and good to talk with the HM team who are always so friendly and ready to chat.

 

Will be going next year and would recommend it to anyone in/near The Midlands.

[Kelly]

An excellent show as usual. Was lots of fun, but very tiring operating Maxwell Colliery.

 

I took a fair few photos when I got the chance, and some video. Will sort those tomorrow or tuesday probably.

 

With regards MERG, it is well worth joining. The forum and the archive of past journals and technical bullitins is well worth the joining fee alone. The support given at MERG area group meetings (the Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire group meet every few months, next on 12th of November, held at the leamington mrs clubrooms, prospective new members are usually welcome, but numbers are sometimes limited, so best to email the relevant coordinator (the website should provide that)).

 

The kits are well priced, and most of them are fairly simple to assemble. The DCC ones involve surface mount soldering, which is a bit harder to do, but going to a meeting is the best place to learn how to do these.

[Phil Bullock]

Went today with Peter

 

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, always good to see more RMWebbers - and some excellent layouts and demos, we had our souls captured by Modelu too

 

The aircon is another bonus - was good today, and excellent when we were there a couple of years ago with Abbotswood

 

Came away with Precision paint cans, some Oxford vehicles pending the carflats, and a Bachmann D338 that will become D326 so well worth the trip

 

Phil

[Kelly]

I went yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Bit more space than last year although still very cluttered at the 'left' side of the gallery and the lecture rooms beyond though not a lot they can do about this.  It would help if certain inconsiderate people didn't stand in the middle of the aisles when it is clear people are trying to move back and forth. 

 

I like the fact that programmes are handed out before the exhibition starts so you can have a look at the plan and work out where you want to go (other exhibitions also do this now).  Bought a lot from traders and in fact spent almost the entire first two hours going round the traders before moving onto the layouts.  One thing I am noticing about most exhibitions now is the fewer second hand traders/stalls.  There seems to be a gap in the second hand trade of the stock which was released from 2003 to about 2007 perhaps because modellers are keeping their purchases given that this was when the better detailing started in earnest but I digress.

 

Some cracking layouts and good to talk with the HM team who are always so friendly and ready to chat.

 

Will be going next year and would recommend it to anyone in/near The Midlands.

It would be better if they were able to find a bigger room (assuming it is available) and not use those small rooms, as the doorways are too narrow for wheelchair users to get through properly (which is a failing on the venue's part, and could possibly fall foul of various laws relating to disability access when used for conferences), especially so with a crowd. I couldn't get into the rooms on my scooter so had to abandon it in the corridor to be able to look at what was in the rooms as the doors were too narrow to turn in without catching the frames.

 

Aside from that, it is a very good venue, with plenty of parking, plenty of space, lots to see and the air con previously mentioned.

[Phil Bullock]

Can see what you mean about the scooters - isles are generally quite narrow

 

Phil

[tractionman]

Any visitors thoughts from yesterday here ?

My first visit to this exhibition and certainly enjoyed it, as did my dad and son, though both were more interested in the cars than the trains. No probs there as kept us all happy!

 

We arrived at what was probably the busiest time on Saturday morning, lengthy and slow queue to get in. I'd have done an advanced booking but we didn’t know which day we'd be there.

 

Anyway, by doing the gift aid we get free reentry for a year, which apparently includes next year's show!

 

Really excellent layouts and friendly feel to the whole thing. The museum staff were all brilliant, very professional. Just wish I could have bought the paints I wanted but wasn't going to risk getting them confiscated on the way home at the airport...

 

I got a few other things instead :-)

 

All the best,

 

Keith

[Phil Parker]

It would be better if they were able to find a bigger room (assuming it is available) and not use those small rooms, as the doorways are too narrow for wheelchair users to get through properly (which is a failing on the venue's part, and could possibly fall foul of various laws relating to disability access when used for conferences), especially so with a crowd.

One of my friends uses a wheelchair and was able to wheel himself in and out of the rooms so I'd assume they comply with the relevant regs. Of course more space is always desirable.

[40F]

A good show as per usual with excellent layouts and a good spread of trade

[Kelly]

One of my friends uses a wheelchair and was able to wheel himself in and out of the rooms so I'd assume they comply with the relevant regs. Of course more space is always desirable.

Your friend's experience seems in contrast to my own and a few others using wheelchairs over the weekend. My scooter is a rather small one and wouldn't fit through the doors due to a variety of factors. The bigger ones would be terrible for such a venue (and why I switched to a smaller one).

 

Most powered wheelchairs wouldn't fit through those doors either I'd suspect as they tend to be longer than manual ones.

[Kelly]

Have finished going through the photos from the weekend now.

 

 

A small (random) selection.