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CHATHAM CLUB ANNUAL EXHIBITION 3rd-4th JUNE 2017


fulton

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       The Chatham and District Model Railway Club is very pleased to announce our exhibition will be held Saturday 3rd June 10-5 and Sunday 4th June 10-4, entry £6, children under 16 free with a paying adult, to be held at Victory Academy, Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent, ME4 5JB. We will have around 15 high quality layouts and around 20 specialised traders.

       This exhibition is staged by the same team and club as the former CHATHAM SHOW we expect to keep the same standards but now a smaller exhibition. The reasons for the change of date, venue and size are various, our former venue had a number of issues which we have been told will only be worse next year, plus our normal weekend is unavailable anyway, we are getting older and our enthusiasm for running such a big show was not what it was, we have therefore taken the opportunity to "downsize".

        Our new venue being a school, for us to have access Friday for setting up, it would have to be half term week, so the date was set. Victory Academy is a splendid new build secondary school, with excellent catering facilities, its own free parking for over 200 cars plus free on street parking nearby, a local bus route stops outside, good access from the M2 and M20. Full details to follow, our Club website will also carry details nearer the time, we are looking forward to our new exhibition and welcoming regular and new visitors.

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 We now have a good list of traders booked to attend, as follows:

ABC

Invicta

Plus Daughters

Aspire Gifts & Models

MRSG

Footplate

Ray Morris

 

Finishing Touches

Cambrian

Coastal DCC

Euromodels

Golden Arrow

Kytes Lights

Mike Thorp Photos

Railbooks

SE Finecast

Roxey

Chalk Garden Rail

Heritage in Motion

Doug's Tools

Branchlines

Debris of War [scenics]

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Sorry, but the only reason to compare with Manchester is that it is well known to be a high quality show [not necessarily all 'timescale'], of the standard we hope to maintain at Chatham. There are reviews on RMWeb to enable you to compare & contrast if you want.

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Confirmed layouts.

Muach Chunk 34ft x 16ft HO American 1st time SE

Sankley 10ft x 6ft P4

Staindrop 35ft x 2ft 6in O

Hatch End N

Halte Tombroekstraat HOm Dutch 1st time UK

Coney Hill 9ft x 6ft O

Kadeleigh 16ft x 5ft OO

Portwenn O-16.5

Valencia Harbour 4mm. Gauge 21mm Irish

Tidworth OO

Daheeme HOe Dutch 1st time UK

Greenfield Sidings OO

Kucken TT German

Mouville HOe French 1st time UK

Vereina 19ft x 6ft HOm Swiss

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  • 2 months later...

 We now have a good list of traders booked to attend, as follows:

ABC

Invicta

Plus Daughters

Aspire Gifts & Models

MRSG

Footplate

Ray Morris

 

Finishing Touches

Cambrian

Coastal DCC

Euromodels

Golden Arrow

Kytes Lights

Mike Thorp Photos

Railbooks

SE Finecast

Roxey

Chalk Garden Rail

Heritage in Motion

Doug's Tools

Branchlines

Debris of War [scenics]

 

Sadly Legomanbiffo / DC Kits will not the there, no call for Digital Sounds & DVDs in Kent !!!!!!!!!!!      Charlie

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 Sorry Charlie, there are quite a few regulars from previous years who we can no longer accommodate, due to it being a smaller venue. Medway Park hire costs were topping five grand and with other events going on at the same time, the lack of parking spaces cost us at least 200 visitors on the Sunday, so something had to give. Our only other option was going back to the Covered Slip at the Dockyard, which was not exactly popular with many exhibitors due to its semi-open nature, leaky roof, uneven floor, etc etc. Just as expensive too...

 

 However, digital sounds are available from Coastal DCC and DVDs from Heritage in Motion. I also missed Gramodels from the list. Fingers crossed, there is still something for everyone, including several layouts making their debut - either in the south-east, or indeed nationally.

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Less than a week to the new Chatham Club Annual Exhibition.  Car park is just up the road from the school gates, the gates will be opened for disabled parking, if no steward is present use the intercom, pedestrian gates will be remain open, the surrounding roads have unrestricted parking. Anyone using the 164 BUS service from Chatham Bus Station to Victory Academy, note the return service goes from the same stop you alighted from as it is a circular route.

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Hi all

 

Just to say that Tidworth was tested successfully today in preparation for this weekend's show and looking forward to our first outing since January. We're a bit thin on the ground again so if you're passing say hello and you might get to drive!

 

post-6922-0-44599300-1496167840.jpg

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I actually liked going to the exhibitions there. :)

 

So did I; much better than the Leisure Centre that was used for the more recent Shows. Won't be going this year as there is only one N Gauge layout listed & the remainder aren't of much interest to me. I've decided to go to the GCR Event in a couple of week's time instead.

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Each to their own & we appreciate that everyone has the right to spend their hard earned cash in the way they want. Can't please all the people all the time.

However, and you might guess there would be, an exhibition is very dependent on what is available at the time of the show and when you are booking, so it is what it is. All I can say is that, much as we appreciate that some people's taste may favour as particular scale/gauge/prototype, what Chatham exhibitions will always aspire to is quality. We hope to inspire, engage and illuminate and just because it isn't your thing, it doesn't mean it isn't worth seeing and there are some excellent layouts making their debut.  We have a fine range of traders too.

 Nevertheless, time is precious, so if somewhere else is a priority, so be it.

 

 For those coming along tomorrow [sunday], please note, there is a short walk [i paced it out at 300 yards] from the car park to the exhibition hall. No worse than Allypally or several other venues, but if you do have mobility problems, let the stewards on the gate know and they will let you drive in closer. 

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I actually liked going to the exhibitions there. :)

The Covered Slip was a fine place to visit, but not at all popular with exhibitors. The floor was so uneven that house bricks were needed to level layouts, plus the roof leaked and [at high tide] water could seep up through the floors in places. Plus, being semi open, it could be both cold and breezy if the weather was bad. Add the fact that the floor was unsealed concrete [you feet were black by the end of the day] and it is easy to see why it was getting more and more difficult to attract exhibitors. The older venue [in the Fitted Rigging House] was made unavailable back at the end of the '90s -hence the moves since. AND it was both expensive and a long walk from the museum entrance. There is no perfect venue, I'm afraid...

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The older venue [in the Fitted Rigging House]

 

I remember going there as well. :)

 

If I still lived in Kent, I would go to your show wherever you staged it, being local-ish and all but I'm 10,000 miles away now, so not much chance.

 

Anyway, I wish you all the best over the weekend.

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The Covered Slip was a fine place to visit, but not at all popular with exhibitors. The floor was so uneven that house bricks were needed to level layouts, plus the roof leaked and [at high tide] water could seep up through the floors in places. Plus, being semi open, it could be both cold and breezy if the weather was bad. Add the fact that the floor was unsealed concrete [you feet were black by the end of the day] and it is easy to see why it was getting more and more difficult to attract exhibitors. The older venue [in the Fitted Rigging House] was made unavailable back at the end of the '90s -hence the moves since. AND it was both expensive and a long walk from the museum entrance. There is no perfect venue, I'm afraid...

My OH was less than keen on the portaloos too..... :(

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Excellent 'downsized' exhibition by the Chatham Club; 2 friends and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Several layouts in various gauges to please the British Railway fans, but for us it was 'Mouville' (HOe) and 'Tombroeekstraat' (HOm), visiting from Europe that stole the show. Closely followed by the US layout 'Mauch Chunk' (HO), which was so different in being Central Railroad of New Jersey, first time I've ever seen that modelled, and I've been to many specialist American themed exhibitions. Really worth seeing, I hope the group from Barrowmore feel the long journey 'south' was worth the effort; my friends and I certainly enjoyed seeing their exhibit. Several other layouts very close behind these, Tidworth (OO) and Vereina (HOm) to name but two. Quality all around in a pleasant venue and the catering was excellent with 'proper' bacon rolls, always well received !!.

 

An enjoyable visit, we shall return.

 

Thank you to all concerned.

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Well our new exhibition is now over, a big thank you to all the exhibitors, traders, societies, members, friends and helping clubs who made it all possible, positive feed back from visitors. The new venue was liked and the school staff went out of their way to be helpful, catering worked well. The slightly out of town centre location meant parking was never a problem, but public transport was a problem and recent cut backs in services did not help especially on Sunday. Apologies to any disabled or infirm visitors who parked in the school car park which is just out side of the gates and walked, not knowing (our signage could have been better) that access was available to park right out side of the halls. Our aim for a much more manageable, enjoyable, quality exhibition, with the bonus of a pleasant venue I think was fulfilled.

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Hi Fulton

 

Just a quick thank you from the Tidworth team for your hospitality this weekend I know that we all enjoyed the weekend and the show and hope that we didn't disappoint.

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BMRG had a great time at Chatham Exhibition with our newly rebuilt (mostly) HO layout Mauch Chunk. We would like to thank The members of the Chatham club who , as usual, made us very welcome.

On the Sunday afternoon the layout had a visit from a light blue interloper who was joined by friends with the help of members of the Farnham & District Club who had their layout Greenfield Sidings at the show.....
Luckily we managed to capture video of the event:
 
https://youtu.be/RqeaJDVdjuw

Edited by Gavin Liddiard
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