The future of Model railway Exhibitions

[Chris M]

My favourite catering is when the organisers come round and ask do you want fish & chips or sausage and chips for lunch. As these are mini fish and chips from the local shop they could well be cheaper than sandwiches.

[Neil]

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

....

If volunteers don't help with the show it won't happen.. ever tried volunteering to check the floor markings, put up and place 400+ tables and chairs,run your layout or demo, queue for lunch, then dismantle the show at the end? Well, if you haven't... try doing it sometime.

 

Baz

 

Over the years I've been exhibition manager for a local club show, part of the organising team for the York Easter show, and I've helped out with my local show in mid Wales for the last fifteen years of so, both in the planning and over the weekend. I've lugged large club layouts to exhibitions, on occasions one of my smaller personal projects, I've helped with trade stalls and though I pick and choose I go to exhibitions as an ordinary paying punter. I still think that it's healthy to question what we do, what we prioritise, who we pitch the event at and whether bigger is always better.

 

 

[08221]

2 hours ago, Chris M said:

My favourite catering is when the organisers come round and ask do you want fish & chips or sausage and chips for lunch. As these are mini fish and chips from the local shop they could well be cheaper than sandwiches.

Cradley Heath club get theirs from ‘Ivans’ - renowned for their fish and chips locally and better than having expenses for exhibiting!

[ardbealach]

17 minutes ago, 08221 said:

Cradley Heath club get theirs from ‘Ivans’ - renowned for their fish and chips locally and better than having expenses for exhibiting!

Ideal lunch to add atmosphere to a layout setting by the seaside.  All that is then required for full effect are seagull sounds. (Alisdair)

[TheQ]

Dive bombing seagulls, nicking your chips, that would be something to model..

 

We've always had unlimited free tea and coffee for the exhibitors, traders and us.

When we had our big show (16 layouts plus) they got a bacon roll for breakfast and a 2 course lunch as well. Sadly that's gone with the hall withdrawn from use.

 

We are still sorting out our replacement small shows... But now we have a club member who's wife is a professional  caterer😀 .

So our First post covid small show had Very good food at cost to the club, with a small profit to the club instead of an outside group .

 

 

[GeoffAlan]

A Wargames group I have contact with have missed 'their show dates' in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Due to obvious reasons. They tell me their 2023 show is unable to use 'their date' due to some venues not taking bookings, presumably due to the energy price insecurity, and those taking dates being booked solid for every weekend , thus pushing other local (<50 miles radius) shows and exhibitions into venues and dates, including 'their date' that they have not used before.

 

I suspect energy costs, even if capped will increase costs too.

[RedgateModels]

we were fortunate to just get the Mansfield Show 2020 under the wire before lockdown and had ours this year in March too. Even though we only missed one year it seemed like much longer!

[D9020 Nimbus]

For me, accessibility through public transport generally determines whether I can go to a show or not. For anywhere outside the immediate Tyneside area, that means rail. Including Hartlepool which — though not that far away — cannot be reached easily by bus. But Middlesbrough, though further away, can be reached by bus.

 

The last year before COVID (2019) for example, knocked Perth off my menu. Train cancellations plus a lightning strike on the signalling meant I only just caught the last train south from Edinburgh to Newcastle. And getting to and from the Redcar exhibition by train—something I'd done many times—was a nightmare due to numerous Northern Rail cancellations. Three successive afternoon cancellations left a two-hour gap in return trains from Redcar. In the end I travelled by bus to Middlesbrough then express bus to Newcastle, arriving oven an hour before the time I'd have got back if travelling by train, though costing a few pounds more of course.

 

The entry fee to the event is never a consideration in itself for me, though the total cost of attending the event, including transport, and the ease of getting there are factors.

[Chris M]

2 hours ago, ardbealach said:

Ideal lunch to add atmosphere to a layout setting by the seaside.  All that is then required for full effect are seagull sounds. (Alisdair)

 

[Andrew1974]

On 20/09/2022 at 16:08, Phil Parker said:

 

£20 is the same as the cheapest ticket to see Hull City vs Luton Town…

 

For their £20, football fans will get 90 minutes (plus stoppage time) or entertainment.

 

As a long suffering Hull City fan I’d love to get 90 minutes of entertainment for my £20…but I do agree with your underlying point.

[guzzler17]

8 hours ago, LNERandBR said:

The biggest issue is finding different layouts each year which are local

They're out there alright.

 

How often at a show do you see a poster saying that if you've got a layout to contact the exhibition manager?

 

9 hours ago, LNERandBR said:

Conversely, getting a layout invites to shows tends to be difficult

The pandemic hasn't helped.

 

I did a couple of shows pre-pandemic, one with each of my two layouts, but didn't receive any invites for future shows (OK so there might be issues with the layouts or they're not to people's taste but we'll not have that debate now).

 

So now I need to break into the show calendar again but there's only been one near me this year and I was double-booked that day.

 

Chicken and egg!

[Colin_McLeod]

13 hours ago, Gilbert said:

......from C***d have seen far fewer people prepared to commit to roles. (the impact of C****d we....

 

Is "C***d"  the new "B*** P*****n"?

 

It's ok to say Covid.

[t-b-g]

I am sure that many exhibition managers go round to other shows hoping to spot suitable layouts to invite to their own show.

 

Of course just lately, there really haven't been many shows for them to visit.

 

It has always struck me that a relative newcomer to exhibiting layouts doesn't have it easy unless they are a member of a club and have a first outing at their own club show. I started exhibiting layouts at my own club show around 40 years ago and once show managers get to know you, details of new projects can be exchanged and "Will you bring the new one next year?" keep the invitations coming.

 

It should be easier in these day of the internet to have a thread somewhere like RMWeb and to give details and say "layout available for bookings" but I haven't seen it very often.

 

I have heard of a couple of shows where the organisers are dipping their toes in by inviting a good number of local or club member's layout to keep the expenses for their early post Covid shows down and that seem entirely sensible to me. 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

18 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

Is "C***d"  the new "B*** P*****n"? 

Apologies for being thick but what is B*** p*****n? If it's too obscene, you can always send me a PM. 😉

[Phil Parker]

19 hours ago, guzzler17 said:

How often at a show do you see a poster saying that if you've got a layout to contact the exhibition manager?

 

Umm. Never? I must be going to the wrong shows - I don't recall ever seeing this.

 

18 hours ago, t-b-g said:

It has always struck me that a relative newcomer to exhibiting layouts doesn't have it easy unless they are a member of a club and have a first outing at their own club show. I started exhibiting layouts at my own club show around 40 years ago and once show managers get to know you, details of new projects can be exchanged and "Will you bring the new one next year?" keep the invitations coming.

 

 

I started out helping other operate their layouts at shows, then exhibiting at local events. You get known on the circuit and things move from there. Opportunities like that are a good reason to join, and join in, at a local club.

[t-b-g]

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Umm. Never? I must be going to the wrong shows - I don't recall ever seeing this.

 

 

I started out helping other operate their layouts at shows, then exhibiting at local events. You get known on the circuit and things move from there. Opportunities like that are a good reason to join, and join in, at a local club.

 

Sounds like we had a similar start in our modelling careers. I started off operating a club layout. Then I built a few locos and items of rolling stock to run on the club layout. After a couple of years and learning by helping with the construction of the next club layout I had enough knowledge under my belt to build my first exhibition layout. That was nearly 40 years ago and I have enjoyed taking part in shows with either layouts or as a demonstrator ever since.

 

Nowadays, my modelling activities centre around a bunch of friends who make up a very informal "gang" rather than a formal club but the ideas are the same. If somebody wants some help with anything at all, or needs somebody to come and help run a layout at a show, there are people around who are willing to help out.

 

My view is that the exhibition circuit will carry on, perhaps not quite in the same way as it has for a while but maybe how it used to be some time ago. I recall when we put on shows with perhaps one trader and a second hand stall, maybe one or two visiting layouts and the rest of the show was a chance for club members to show their work. The shows were smaller than a lot of shows nowadays but there would be one or two club layouts and maybe four or five private layouts built by club members or their friends. The costs of putting on a show were tiny compared to the present day, when there may be many layouts from afar requiring travelling costs and maybe rooms for the night.

 

The shows were not like the larger ones we see today but they were very enjoyable, much less hassle to arrange and always ended up making a good contribution to the club finances.

 

Shows built up over many years to becoming the large scale operations that many are now. I think that missing a couple of years worth of shows represents a step backwards but not something that the show circuit can't recover from.

 

I hope so anyway. I have a couple of layouts under construction that will be for exhibition use as I don't have room to set them up at home. 

[298]

21 hours ago, guzzler17 said:

They're out there alright.

 

How often at a show do you see a poster saying that if you've got a layout to contact the exhibition manager?

1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Umm. Never? I must be going to the wrong shows - I don't recall ever seeing this.

 

 

Not a poster, but I have previously seen such a request in exhibition guides.

 

Unfortunately the quality used to and still seems to be inversely proportional to the willingness for the person to make their layout available.

[ardbealach]

Contacting an exhibition manager for possible exhibiting?   A couple of thoughts.

 

1   Exhibition managers tend to be a bit savy on what they are looking for for their exhibitions.  They are the best judges on what the visitor wants to see.

 

2   Operating layouts in a exhibition enviroment is totally different to playing trains at home.  At an exhibition you are putting on a theatrical performance which goes on all day without a break.   As a first timer exhibitor are you really up for that?

 

3   Is the layout being offered to an acceptable standard for reliability?  Layouts can often take a bit of a hammer at exhibitions.  Regular derailments and sloppy running doesn't go down well at exhibitions. 

 

4  As Phil says, if you have a layout which you think is suitable for a show, then go along to a show  - ideally being run by a club locally to where you live - and find the exhibition manager, and talk to the manager.  Take along photos and the layout details, its size and number of operators required.  Even better it has been featured in a model magazine.   You might strike lucky and get booked.   

 

5   If you get a negative response - read Paragraph 1 above again.
 

(Alisdair)

 

 

 

 

[Nile]

23 hours ago, t-b-g said:

 

It should be easier in these day of the internet to have a thread somewhere like RMWeb and to give details and say "layout available for bookings" but I haven't seen it very often.

 

Isn't that what this is for ?

[Northmoor]

On 20/09/2022 at 23:05, newbryford said:

There is no congestion charge for Ally Pally.

It's in the ULEZ zone that any reasonably modern vehicle won't fall foul of.

 

Admittedly TfL's ULEZ/CC info isn't exactly clear to understand and some people have thought they had to pay when they didn't.

It's not that complicated to put your car's registration into the website, which then instantly tells you which charges it will incur, or not.  If you make the mistake (as I've done) of entering the ULEZ without expecting to, you have until the end of the day (possibly the following day) to go on line and settle up without penalty.

 

Others have rightly said that many modern venues have been built out of town (since the car became king), so access via public transport often isn't easy.  I would also suggest that what some railway enthusiasts are prepared to spend (or not) on their hobby is remarkable.  Not necessarily model railway exhibitions, but when some preserved railways have tried to limit members' free travel on "their" railway, there has been uproar.  This is from people who are quite prepared to travel 2-300 miles round trip to visit, but refuse to pay a fiver to the railway because they've already paid £20 for membership......

[t-b-g]

2 hours ago, Nile said:

 

Isn't that what this is for ?

 

That is a bit of RMWeb I have never found! Well spotted.

[060]

If you buy your locos on the internet from a man in a shed and don’t support the dwindling number of model shops, then they will all be history. If you don’t go to exhibitions and support the local model railway club, they too will be history.

I have an exhibition layout that I haven’t the space to use at home so look forward to taking it to exhibitions as an opportunity to operate it. Fortunately, I have my own van to transport it and this figured in my design of layout. Otherwise, I would build a layout of a size to fit whatever vehicle I had available.

I do not charge for any expenses, petrol or accommodation, as the exhibition is for my enjoyment of the hobby.  If I go out somewhere for the day, I either take a packed lunch and a drink with me or I buy it from a local source. I do not expect exhibitions to provide this to me for free and don’t see why they should. You wouldn’t get this if you went anywhere else for a day out.

Every hobby or leisure pastime requires an investment of your time and money. If you can’t or don’t want to, then our hobby doesn’t have much of a future as we know it.

[RANGERS]

Was at Boston MRCs show earlier today, it’s held in a village hall with half a dozen or so layouts and a couple of traders, most of them local, so I guess the whole show was assembled at minimal cost and with good support from what I saw in my hour or so there, should return a profit of some sort to the Club’s coffers.

 

Warley it ain’t, The format for this show hasn’t changed much, same place, same month, for some years now so it must be a formula that works for the club.

 

Warley is a very different affair of course, a cast of thousands and a turnover many small businesses can only aspire to, but the thing that both shows have in common is their respective formats work well for those clubs and as long as there are enough clubs able to stage events of whatever size, model railway exhibitions have a future.

 

The other thing all shows have in common is they offer a view of the hobby to the general public and hardened modellers alike, the internet and printed press can go a long way to bringing model railways to a wider audience, but there’s nothing like seeing it in the flesh and getting that engagement with the audience

[LNERandBR]

18 minutes ago, RANGERS said:

Was at Boston MRCs show earlier today, it’s held in a village hall with half a dozen or so layouts and a couple of traders, most of them local, so I guess the whole show was assembled at minimal cost and with good support from what I saw in my hour or so there, should return a profit of some sort to the Club’s coffers.

 

Warley it ain’t, The format for this show hasn’t changed much, same place, same month, for some years now so it must be a formula that works for the club.

 

Yep, it certainly does work for us. Whilst we aim to break even we're indebted to the local layouts which offer to come at a minimum cost. It allows for a small surplus to be made which goes into the clubs coffers. We're very much a small 'grassroots' show, put on by a small club for the enjoyment of all. Really glad to hear that you enjoyed your time at the show.

 

If anyone is wondering, the show is open tomorrow as well, details on our website: http://bostonmrs.50webs.org/Exhibitions.html

Unfortunately, that doesn't have a layout or trader list as it got confirmed very late this year due to our Show Manager having to step down due to ill health. Fortunately, we were able to pull together and get the show organised in time.

[Pete the Elaner]

42 minutes ago, RANGERS said:

Was at Boston MRCs show earlier today, it’s held in a village hall with half a dozen or so layouts and a couple of traders, most of them local, so I guess the whole show was assembled at minimal cost and with good support from what I saw in my hour or so there, should return a profit of some sort to the Club’s coffers.

 

Warley it ain’t, The format for this show hasn’t changed much, same place, same month, for some years now so it must be a formula that works for the club.

 

Warley is a very different affair of course, a cast of thousands and a turnover many small businesses can only aspire to, but the thing that both shows have in common is their respective formats work well for those clubs and as long as there are enough clubs able to stage events of whatever size, model railway exhibitions have a future.

 

The other thing all shows have in common is they offer a view of the hobby to the general public and hardened modellers alike, the internet and printed press can go a long way to bringing model railways to a wider audience, but there’s nothing like seeing it in the flesh and getting that engagement with the audience

 

Club shows do not make big profits for the organisers to buy themselves new TVs or spend it down the pub. I have helped at many shows & never been paid anything, not would I expect to. I have occasionally been given some expense money but this has never actually covered the cost of my expenses.

Any money made will help to keep clubs alive by helping to keep subs low while also hopefully providing funds for building & maintaining layouts.

Many of us learned a lot & made friends from clubs, so I don't begrudge any exhibition profits from being put into club funds.