Spalding Model Railway Exhibition 2018

[ColinK]

Today I made my first ever visit to Spalding. Have to say it was an excellent exhibition, good range of layouts and traders. I was there from opening until 1500hrs and really enjoyed it. Well worth the long journey from Lancaster.

 

What really impressed me was the organisation, especially the parking (thanks guys). As we have a small campervan parking is always a worry, I drove in and one of the parking stewards directed me in a different direction to the cars to ensure I was on hardstanding, so no worries about sinking into the grass - excellent.

 

I managed to purchase everything on my shopping list, plus a few extra items. That is important these days as getting glue and paint by mail order is expensive. The traders should be happy.

 

Our day started by dropping my wife off in Spalding to have her hair done then a wander round the shops. She then walked to Springfields via the canal for more retail therapy. I thought she would be back at the van well before the agreed 1500hrs and getting impatient to leave. But no, she didn’t have enough time there. As we drove away from the show she said, ‘I really enjoyed Spalding, we’ve found a brlliant camp site, can we come back next year?’

[Clive Mortimore]

I had a good day, thanks.

 

The layout which impressed me the most was Addison Park and why not? Can't go wrong with 3mm, EMUs, scratchbuilt, London Underground and modelled extremely well.

[LNERandBR]

Back home after a fantastic weekend helping Matt on Nearly Done. We had some really nice comments from people and really felt it was a privilege to be invited alongside so many other wonderful layouts.

 

A big thanks to the Spalding Club for having us, Tom especially for all his hard work and organisation. They were shooting in and out of the office all weekend so we know they were all really busy. 

 

It seems Sunday is starting to get just as busy at times as Saturday does. We certainly didn't spot any easing of the crowds over lunchtime!

[fluff]

EISENGEBRAU back home safely. A broken tiebar to deal with before NFRM at Peterborough in early December.

 

Many thanks to Tom and his colleagues for looking after us during a most agreeable weekend. Well organised show.

[Webbo]

Aisthorpe back at base with one or two problems that need to be solved. The John Brown Trophy was a surprise and an honour as I knew John and his partner and was gobsmacked when Aisthorpe won the award. All in all it was a great weekend thanks to Tom for all the effort he has put into making it a very good and enjoyable weekend.

Alan and the Aisthorpe team.

[70000 Britannia]

Sue and I really enjoyed the Spalding Exhibition. Excellent show with impressive numbers of visitors throughout both days and we appreciated the kind comments about 29th Street.

 

Well done to Tom, and the team (esp. Fiona and “Shaun”), for organising and delivering a great weekend experience.

[TheQ]

I enjoyed the show, It seemed more popular than it's normal great popularity. Very crowded at Saturday lunch time, so taking the precaution of going for bacon rolls early was a good idea as the Cafe was heaving by lunch time,

 

I particularly liked the Portchullin layout. The only odd thing on that is although the layout is comparitively high, the pelmet is a little low and I found I had to bend down below it to see ( I'm only 6 ft ) while trying to study various bits of the layout.

Almost all my modelling tokens were spent, on second hand stuff. The Spalding club stand is always good for bargains.

[CUTLER2579]

Enjoyed my visit yesterday to one of the best shows on the circuit. Some lovely layouts but I thought Addison Park just edged it for me, although Kings Park was very close.The usual "OO" layouts Leicester South,Twelve Trees Junction and Heanor South all impressed whilst in "O" Gauge Ainsthorpe was good enough to win the John Brown Memorial Shield. A special mention for the Host club's layout Gosberton

which ran faultlessly whilst I was there. Easy parking, just enough space in the halls, which is a show of how well the show was attended

Regards,Derek.

[John Tomlinson]

I went on Saturday afternoon. An excellent show, as ever. It seemed to me that after 3pm it wasn't too busy at all, and I had no problems seeing all the exhibits.

 

Lots of good layouts, although Leicester South always stands out for me, with a totally convincing setting and a lot of fabulous hand made stock and locos. Must have spent 30 plus minutes viewing the running and the delightful warehouse with wagon turntable. 

 

John.