Warley National Model Railway Exhibition 2018 - 24th and 25th November

[long island jack]

I remember one year helping Jon Grant at Glasgow exhibition with Sweethome Alabama, we had a major fault on the DCC side of the layout (think it was extension cable) just as it opened

 

Lucky enough we had a back up,we sent John Banjo Wright out front to keep the crowds happy (most were happy when train started running 10 mins later)   

 

You never know when those gremlins will attack, but I think it's good policy to let the public know there's a problem

[dasatcopthorne]

Oakley Green Working well.

Have a chat with them directly rather than taking to the internet to display your capacity to grumble about individual layouts as you make your way around the show. Alternatively tell us about all the ones that are running well that you haven't mentioned between any that may have an issue.

[dasatcopthorne]

Th trouble is, is that the layouts that 'stick out are the ones where little or nothing is happening.

[RJS1977]

Fortunately the size of the show is such that even a dozen non-working layouts still leaves getting on for 80 running.

 

(Although I did feel a little dejected in the morning when several of the 'non-working' layouts were in  close proximity to each other. Fortunately the rest of the show was much better in that regard).

[Chrisr40]

Had a fantastic Saturday at the Warley show. Thank you to the organisers and to the layout owners who attended. There was some hand of God going on for a few layouts but just move on as there was plenty of other quality modelling to see and every body has trouble with their layout sometimes. It could just be me but it seemed a bit less packed this year and some traders I spoke to were a bit worried that they were not keeping up with previous years takings. What was nice to see was that there were plenty of people around the model railway challenge TV layouts and more families in general. I think we need an Ian Allen guide for that shows participants as I kept seeing them as we made our way around the stalls and layouts. Something else I noticed was that the shortfall in seats for bums at lunch time actually forced strangers to talk to each other which cannot be a bad thing. We had a very nice conversation with a chap called Malcolm whilst we enjoyed our fish and chips before continuing our shopping. Already looking forward to next year's show.

[john new]

Fortunately the size of the show is such that even a dozen non-working layouts still leaves getting on for 80 running.

 

(Although I did feel a little dejected in the morning when several of the 'non-working' layouts were in  close proximity to each other. Fortunately the rest of the show was much better in that regard).

Our little (SLS) under construction shunting plank for example. A point tie bar broke on Saturday morning after working fine in testing during set up and about 10 minutes after public opening. Fitted a brand new, bought at the show, replacement and that is also intermittently faulty although not enough to stop operations. It is however the most critical one on the layout! If this can happen on small, four points only layouts, with just one power feed and still be problematic the bigger one's will have little chance.

 

Don't forget that bouncing things around in a van for four hours on route to a show is not ideal prep' for a running session with a critical audience. 

Edited November 25, 2018 by john new

[maq1988]

On the Saturday morning there were power issues down one of the sections, down by Denton Brook. Seems to be a bit of a reoccurring theme in the last few years.

 

Also, might just be me but it looks like the lighting in Hall 5 has finally been changed, now using white lights rather than yellow.

 

Some great modelling, Liverpool Lime Street was near impossible to get near along with some others during the day.

 

I went to try and get some modelling motivation back, it's been missing for a while. Came home with a few laser cut buildings to do some small dioramas with.

 

Well done to the organisers, I'm sure it's always a huge logistical challenge every year.

 

I could not see any progress on the Dapol Sentinel in O, but the bubble cars looked impressive.

[Butler Henderson]

The extent of a fault at an exhibition often depends on how the operators cope with - I had a point on a station crossover go faulty during an exhibition of an end to end layout, the simple answer was obviously to use another loco to draw the train out of the station so releasing the loco that would have otherwise have used the crossover. Speaking to another exhibitor when I mentioned the fault I got the response "Oh, so you cannot run anything either". When I explained what I was doing  I got a puzzled look and "but that will foul up your schedule". Struck me that one was exhibitor intent on running trains in prescribed order or not at all.

 

Having an emergency back up pays off - I always made sure I had a complete spare control system (relatively easy with a dcc handset one) and a set of long croc leads to jump wire any fault, the latter works equally well with dc layouts even if its means a isolated section is always live and operators have to think around it.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Well braved another visit.

 

Watching Sidmouth but nothing moving yet again.

 

Always the same with this lot.

Very prototypical. Most West Country branches had 6-8 passenger trains each way and a couple of freight trips.

[pirouets]

Well braved another visit.

 

Watching Sidmouth but nothing moving yet again.

 

Always the same with this lot.

I sense the copthorne conspiracy must be in full swing as been by sidmouth twice and a train leaves as i type

Edited November 25, 2018 by pirouets

[caradoc]

Well I had a most enjoyable day at Warley yesterday, many thanks to the organisers, exhibitors and traders who make it all possible. Even my train journeys to and from Birmingham International were painless (although I can't help wondering why people going to Birmingham cram themselves onto an already heaving Pendolino or 350 when there is a half-empty 323 waiting to depart from the adjacent platform !).

 

My only issue, which is in no way the fault of the organisers, was once again the catering and seating within Hall 5; I fancied a coffee at lunchtime but gave up due to the queues, and while I did eventually find a seat it was not ideal for dining, with people walking past my shoulder and right in front of me. Others were less fortunate and were sat on the floor eating, not really acceptable for what calls itself the National Exhibition Centre.

 

Edited; Spelling mistake.

Edited November 25, 2018 by caradoc

[JohnDMJ]

Not just Warley Club. Groups with  a tradition of a volunteer workforce across many areas of society are finding that those younger than the current doers have a different lifestyle and don't/aren't able to volunteer. I know from my own daughters situations this is not down to laziness etc., but social changes, shift patterns, the seven day working week etc. However, it doesn't help those groups and organisations that have established an operating model based on free labour input to reconsider a revised business model where tasks may have to be bought in commercially or as a half-way house pay the volunteers an honorarium. Our own society (SLS) is about to enter our 110th year, what worked for the Edwardian social scene is not how we can work in the C21.

 

The Aberdeen group looked relatively 'youthful' at both of their layouts but, compared to European shows, the hobby in this country is still a bit 'in the closet'; at Utrecht and Cologne, for example, you see not only fathers but, usually, sons, daughters and wives as well all participating in the layout operation.

[adb968008]

Not much to report that hasn’t been said, today was a lie in, then a family day.

My wife was very impressed at the collection of layouts, exhibits and even the stands, and she’s somewhat agnostic to the hobby (though she works on the construction of a well known line).

 

However for my little one she’s had a party today.

She was spellbound by the GMRC layouts, she’s seen them on TV.

But also the hands on, with the Thomas layout, and a shunting plank offering kids a go.

But the highlight of the day for me and her was the live steam layout, after diligently watching for some 15 minutes she had a go at driving live steam, managed to top out at 160mph on the MRc speed checker (well they did challenge her to see if she could beat Mallards run !), but got great adulation from the crew who asked her to if she was able to slow it to a stand perfeclty in front of the controller, which she duly did first time and from a more than realistic slow down to a crawl as she brought it in.. even got a little clap from the audience.

 

Proud dad.. not half, and I got it on video, girls done good for an 8 year old, first time on a live steam regulator ! - it’s a lot more closer to the real thing than just turning down the power on a DC / DCC controller, you do need to calculate speed / distance to figure where it will stop itself.

 

Really impressed with the layout quality, a lot of thought provoking moments looking at the WW1 layouts, especially the layout running into the derelict town. G Scale 37 was cool, I also watch a little mesmerised at DCkits class 55 sound on O gauge... I really thought that it was real.

 

I need to look up some layout names when I get chance what I saw today but it was a great day, currently heading back home on a Virgin train thoroughly knackered.

 

11 locos in the rucsac, plus 5 steel wagons, and 5 coaches assisted by courtesy a secret meeting a man on a bus who had a bag to exchange with me at noon in the middle of the hall - misses saw nothing, she thinks I was carrying it al the time.

 

Under pressure tonight to consider a layout with scenery from the misses and daughter, little one wants a sea wall, wife wants a junction with fields, i kind of like the 1980 Rainhill trials idea.

Edited November 25, 2018 by adb968008

[lmsforever]

The NEC needs to rethink the car parking took us an hour from the M42 to park  but watching the people going to the comic show passed the time they are real enthusiasts.Trade stands very good layouts I saw all good well done to the organisers it must make you want a long holiday afterwards all the hard work you put in ,thank you.

[Captain Kernow]

Sounds like all of you who went had a great time.

 

Unfortunately this is a show that I can't normally get to.

 

Out of interest, and thinking about new products, did anyone happen to notice the new hardback book on the Bala Jct to Blaenau Ffestiniog line on sale, please (Lightmoor Press)?

 

Thanks.

[lmsforever]

I have noticed the same with sports clubs. Nowadays people go for pay'n'play, whereas in the place we lived 30 years ago our tennis club needed a better clubhouse so we cut the back off the old one and built a new bar, kitchen and shower rooms. It needed extra power so we hired a JCB and dug a trench from the road. 12 of us pulled in the new gas and water pipes and electricity cable, put in a duct with a new phone cable and built a brick cublcle at each end for the utilities to install the meters and connect to our side. We had architects, surveyors, solicitors and time-served tradesmen who directed everything and looked after the legal/technical aspects for free. Nowadays it's difficult to get members to sweep the court at the end of play but they don't want to pay a realistic membership fee to cover the true cost of running the facilities.

 

Totally agree our bowls club did similar with new changing rooms and before that a bar people now don't have the ability to help themselves only to moan about the cost of membership.

[MarkSG]

Just got back from an enjoyable day there with my daughter. She was thrilled to see the GMRC layouts, having seen them on TV, and even more thrilled to be able to talk to the people who had made them. Judging by the throng around all three, and the amount of chatter between operators and visitors, the same was true for a lot of younger (and not so young!) showgoers.

 

I don't really go for the shopping experience - I accept that most of the real bargains will have gone by the Sunday, and most of the rest of the stuff on offer I can buy online or down the road at Cheltenham Models - but I did pick up a few bits and bobs, including a couple of kits to give me something to do on the dark winter evenings.

 

In terms of models, I was impressed by all of the WWI themed layouts. It's obviously topical this year, and I thought it made a good feature for the show. Liverpool Lime Street gets better every time I see it; unfortunately it also has bigger crowds every time I see it so, with a rather impatient 12-year old in tow, I didn't linger as long as I would have liked.

 

If there was one disappointment, it was that there wasn't a standout overseas layout. Warley is noted for bringing in the best of non-UK modelling that we don't normally get to see in this country. But this year, none of the foreign visitors really had the wow factor, at least for me. That's not to say they weren't good, but they weren't blow-your-socks-off good.

 

I did take some photos, so I'll post a few later when I've had a chance to go through them.

[melmerby]

Some pictures from Warley

The first batch are the GBMRC layouts

The winners Aberdeen taking one of their many photocalls followed by some shots of the winning layout:

 

Aberdeen MRC's other entry from the heats:

 

 

Lastly Santa and the Elves.

 

 

Camera was playing up today so I'm not sure whether it was focussed as best it could (it kept freezing)

 

Keith

Edited November 25, 2018 by melmerby

[Scottish-Exile]

I need to look up some layout names when I get chance what I saw today but it was a great day, currently heading back home on a Virgin train thoroughly knackered.

 

 

That was something that was bothering me yesterday. Whilst every stand had a very prominently displayed Reference Number, very few - Both Layouts AND Traders - had a display name.

 

It's impractical to carry  the guide around and keep referring to it all the time. Indeed, I bought my copy as I was leaving rather than carry it all day, and read it on the train going home.

 

I had printed off the floor plan and list of exhibits from the website, but that didn't help as the index was in Alphabetical order, so if you were at say E12 (Random number) then it was not easy to go through a list of exhibits to see what stand or layout you were at.

[melmerby]

That was something that was bothering me yesterday. Whilst every stand had a very prominently displayed Reference Number, very few - Both Layouts AND Traders - had a display name.

 

Really?

 

I didn't find that at all.

Only one layout I looked at had no name or info whatsoever and I believe they were a last minute addition.

 

I'll be posting several more batches of photos and all had their name up.

 

Keith

[Bonafide]

. . .  currently heading back home on a Virgin train thoroughly knackered.

 

Oh dear!  It's disappointing that a Virgin train is in that condition.   

[Willie Whizz]

I'm not attending.

 

But if you asked me which layout I would say is unmissable, then I would say Liverpool Lime Street. It really is impressive. I saw it a few years ago when it wasn't even quarter built and it was jaw dropping then.

 

 

 

Jason

 

As a piece of architectural modelling, I would certainly agree that it's quite stunning. 

 

As an operational model railway to stand and watch and enjoy as a spectator, though, I find it much less impressive.  You can (and I did) stand there several minutes at a time peering over the shoulders of the crowd admiring the architecture and nothing moves ... then when something finally does move, you can barely see it from most positions because the scenery and structures get in the way; and you're viewing from so far back because of where the barriers have to be positioned that you can hardly make out what it was anyway.

 

The quality of the modelling has remained just as high since I last saw the layout as a 'work in progress' a couple of years ago.  The quality of the viewing experience of it in operation has got no better.  And yes, of course I know the 'real thing' didn't have something constantly in motion every second of every minute; but that's hardly the point and not what I'm talking about.  This is surely meant to be an exhibition model of a working railway terminus and its trains, rather than a semi-static architectural museum exhibit; and on that level I deeply regret to say that, although I wish it didn't, it leaves me cold.

[tractor_37260]

Picture of Dapol next 121’s, delivery in Q1.

Saw also Oxfords N7 today, that front coupling pocket is right under the buffer beam, needs closer inspection.

Heljan announced a re-run of Class 27’s, sealed end doors and a 27/1.

A 27/1 is good news, a 27/2 would be even better.....

[ruggedpeak]

 or someother comic themed railway character. Best of both worlds !

Your favourite character from the BRM DVD's?

[melmerby]

Re: Lime Street

I agree, it's structurally awesome.

Those canopies made out of individually soldered components.

The realistic depiction of the throat of a major station is also impressive as are the mechanics of the sector table with built on turntable but as a operational spectacle it's dull.

 

Keith

Edited November 25, 2018 by melmerby