Warley National Exhibition 26th & 27th November 2022

[RedgateModels]

All ready 😁

 

[adb968008]

Measuring up the queue

[AY Mod]

  

12 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

The World of Railways stand is all set up at Warley - you can find us on A18, not far inside the hall.

 

Howard, Debbie, Ruth and me will all be there to chat during the weekend. There are models from past issue to view, and loads of offers for you to take up. If you have £4.99, then that's good news as we'll have something for you...

 

Are you signed up for the free email newsletter? No? Well, do it at the show and you can have a dip in our lucky bin of goodies. Who knows, you might pick up a Metcalfe kit, brand new book, or a miniature Andy York? How can you resist?

 

Oh, and there will be free sweets too.

 

See you at the show!

 

 

[woodenhead]

It seems everyone has parked at the station. 
 

Nice early arrival, need some breakfast now

[big jim]

Just waiting to get my ticket, ticket office opens at 09:30, met up with @adb968008 beforehand and we cabbed Britannia

 

[Ely_South]

22 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Measuring up the queue

It’s filled up since then; I’m currently in a queue to join the queue :-)

[MarkSG]

Have a good time, all those of you going today. Don't forget to report back later with your "must see" layouts for the benefit of those of us who will be there tomorrow 😀

 

 

[ELTEL]

1 hour ago, MarkSG said:

Have a good time, all those of you going today. Don't forget to report back later with your "must see" layouts for the benefit of those of us who will be there tomorrow 😀

 

 

Here Here 

[Strathwood]

23 hours ago, bourneagain said:

You mean Pontins, who wore the blue coats, Butlins wore red, Warners wore green, and Haven wore yellow. 
Hi-De-Hi,  Hello Campers!!!

It was nearly sixty years ago when I was still a lad, but I thought the Butlins security staff wore blue coats and the "entertainers" were the red coats, likewise morning Campers..........

[Not Jeremy]

Warleyreport, a great atmosphere, lots to see...

 

Corwin in full flow over at Rapido..

 

 

Kevin and David are to serve you on the Wild Swan stand...

 

 

And the great and the good in conversation on the Peco stand..

 

 

But fancy exhibiting a part finished kit at the premier National show!

 

 

 

 

[Nile]

19 minutes ago, Not Jeremy said:

But fancy exhibiting a part finished kit at the premier National show!

 

Is someone going to try and finish it by Sunday night?

[Nick Gough]

That will need a big soldering iron.

[AndrueC]

I had to queue for a while before they opened but after that it was free flowing. Was getting a bit busier by the time I left. The left aisle in particular seemed to be attracting attention. But I managed to nab a Dapol DMU so that was okay. Lots of interesting models on show.

 

One thing struck me again as with other shows though. N scale/2mm was well represented in models (at least a third if not a half) but when it came to shopping it was difficult to find anything other than OO/HO.

 

It feels like the sellers are only selling to one scale. N and O were both under-represented. At Warley it felt like a real disconnect between what was on sale and what was on show. I assume retailers know what they are doing but it felt like they were out of step to be honest.

[MarkSG]

1 hour ago, AndrueC said:

One thing struck me again as with other shows though. N scale/2mm was well represented in models (at least a third if not a half) but when it came to shopping it was difficult to find anything other than OO/HO.

 

It feels like the sellers are only selling to one scale. N and O were both under-represented. At Warley it felt like a real disconnect between what was on sale and what was on show. I assume retailers know what they are doing but it felt like they were out of step to be honest.

 

OO is still far and away the most popular scale/gauge in the UK, and even more so when you extend that to 1/76 in general. So it's the display, rather than the retail, which is skewed - the show organisers deliberately aim for a spread of scales and guages rather than just concentrating on the most popular. If the show accurately reflected what most of us are building (and buying), then it would be mostly OO with just a scattering of other gauges. But it doesn't; there are a lot more layouts in other scales and gauges than a representative sample would give.

 

That's not a criticism; even as an OO modeller I like seeing layouts in other scales and gauges and I think most people do, too. So an unrepresentative selection actually makes for a better and more interesting show from both an exhibitor and visitor perspective. But, of coures, the traders know full well that, whatever we're looking at when it comes to the layouts on display, the chances are we've got something in OO back home. So that's the market they're selling into.

[Willie Whizz]

1 hour ago, Nile said:

 

Is someone going to try and finish it by Sunday night?

Where’s Tony Wright when you need him … 😉

[Phil Parker]

 

The railway elves are on tour!

[AndrueC]

Well I did my bit buying a couple of things in N. The layouts were all great but as a shopping opportunity it fails unless you're into OO/HO. Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. People mostly buy OO/HO because OO/HO is what is mostly on sale. The well known names had all scales covered. But the 'odds and sods' stands, the places where a modeller might go for something custom or for assistance pretty much had signs up saying 'OO/HO or go away' :(

 

Thank you to Warley club for at least giving the rest of us something to enjoy.

Edited November 26, 2022 by AndrueC

[rogerzilla]

Are Rapido showing any painted Metrovicks?

[AY Mod]

8 minutes ago, rogerzilla said:

Are Rapido showing any painted Metrovicks?

 

Yes, look at the appropriate topic here.

[ELTEL]

1 hour ago, AndrueC said:

Well I did my bit buying a couple of things in N. The layouts were all great but as a shopping opportunity it fails unless you're into OO/HO. Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. People mostly buy OO/HO because OO/HO is what is mostly on sale. The well known names had all scales covered. But the 'odds and sods' stands, the places where a modeller might go for something custom or for assistance pretty much had signs up saying 'OO/HO or go away' :(

 

Thank you to Warley club for at least giving the rest of us something to enjoy.

I suggest you read MarkSG reply to your previous post.

[Ian J.]

1 hour ago, AndrueC said:

Well I did my bit buying a couple of things in N. The layouts were all great but as a shopping opportunity it fails unless you're into OO/HO. Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. People mostly buy OO/HO because OO/HO is what is mostly on sale. The well known names had all scales covered. But the 'odds and sods' stands, the places where a modeller might go for something custom or for assistance pretty much had signs up saying 'OO/HO or go away' :(

 

Thank you to Warley club for at least giving the rest of us something to enjoy.

 

I don't tend to think of model railway shows as shopping opportunities these days as so much that I might need effectively needs to be bought online when I need it. I first noticed this when Ally Pally effectively stopped their 'finescale corner' many years ago. I might buy something on an off-chance, if it fits any of my suitable era/geography combos, but little in the way of planned purchases. So shows these days are really just for that for me - showing the layouts.

[big jim]

Just got home after an exhausting morning, parked in the railway staff car park, saw Britannia then went to the show and queued for a ticket from 08:45, ticket booths opened at 09:15 then public doors opened at 09:45 and I ended up walking round until about 14:45, it wasn’t until I started walking back to the station that I realised my feet were really aching, didn’t have the comfiest of work boots on, being as I’d been up most of the night I was ok early on but the tiredness hit me about 2pm and I’d have happily curled up on the back seat of the bus on display for a kip if I could have! 

 

saw plenty, probably not everything though, a few bits and bobs bought, Bachmann GBRf 08, Heljan rail adventure barrier wagons, realtrack 144 unit non runner and a couple of modelu figures for my double fairlie and little England, Alan also rescanned me for his ‘modern staff’ range as I’m now a lot thinner than his original scan from about 6 years ago, be interesting to compare waistlines between the prints! 

 

In all enjoyable, not over busy until about midday when it began to fill up a couple of the isles were a bit cramped along the left wall where layouts were opposite traders (Trains4u side) 

 

things I enjoyed seeing were the KR models ‘bellarophon’ and ‘British steel’ shunter, the palbrick model was rather nice too, think I may well be ordering those some time soon, Bachmann quarry Hunslet ‘Alice’ was a beauty, so glad I’ve got that on order already, looks better than I could ever imagine! 

 

escaping the venue wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I was expecting, less than 5 mins from getting in the car by the station to being on the motorway then home in just over an hour and 20 mins 

 

Glad I went, saw people I knew off here, weirdly when I was queueing up the 2 guys alongside me were also GBRf staff in uniform, never met them before though, had driven from Tyne dock in the middle of the night after their job was cancelled! 
 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by big jim

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, AndrueC said:

Well I did my bit buying a couple of things in N. The layouts were all great but as a shopping opportunity it fails unless you're into OO/HO. Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. People mostly buy OO/HO because OO/HO is what is mostly on sale. The well known names had all scales covered. But the 'odds and sods' stands, the places where a modeller might go for something custom or for assistance pretty much had signs up saying 'OO/HO or go away' :(

 

Thank you to Warley club for at least giving the rest of us something to enjoy.

 

The traders have done this once or twice before and will know from experience what to bring along if they don't want to be taking it home again.

 

John

[Willie Whizz]

1 hour ago, Ian J. said:

 

I don't tend to think of model railway shows as shopping opportunities these days as so much that I might need effectively needs to be bought online when I need it. I first noticed this when Ally Pally effectively stopped their 'finescale corner' many years ago. I might buy something on an off-chance, if it fits any of my suitable era/geography combos, but little in the way of planned purchases. So shows these days are really just for that for me - showing the layouts.

Do take the point, but sometimes you don’t know something exists to be bought at all (on-line or otherwise) until you see it in the flesh on a retailer’s display at a show. This, I think, is one reason why people get so disgruntled about shows which only seem to attract OO box-shifters and ‘tat stalls’ and little else; and why commentators moan that too many layout exhibits feature the same old same-old. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Willie Whizz

[ELTEL]

1 hour ago, Ian J. said:

 

I don't tend to think of model railway shows as shopping opportunities these days as so much that I might need effectively needs to be bought online when I need it. I first noticed this when Ally Pally effectively stopped their 'finescale corner' many years ago. I might buy something on an off-chance, if it fits any of my suitable era/geography combos, but little in the way of planned purchases. So shows these days are really just for that for me - showing the layouts.

The problem is that if you buy everything online  you risk model railway exhibitions going the same ways as model railway shops have done over recent years.

 

Model Railway exhibitions can not exist on the paying public only, they need the revenue from the trade stands.

 

 

 

So please do support the traders.

 

Terry