RAILEX (Aylesbury) 27th & 28th May 2023

[43110andyb]

A good first day at the show! Rather warm in the hall operating 😅😅!

[nest]

Smashing modelling as always. Could turn the heating down a tad though… 

Bring on next year!

[polybear]

An excellent day at Railex - the team did well and the hall change didn't spoil things; I did miss the Full English brekkies in the Cafe though 😒 which seems to have disappeared this year.

Excellent trade support and layouts - for me the award went to "Old Parrock" which, despite being small, showed a superb standard of modelling; I took several photos (only on the iPhone though, so not the best).  It also appears in MRJ 284:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2023 by polybear

[nest]

A few more photos from yesterday. All the layouts were delightful but personal favourites would be Hope-Under-Dinmore and Kensington Addison Road.

 

 

Nestor

[TEAMYAKIMA]

10 minutes ago, nest said:

A few more photos from yesterday. All the layouts were delightful but personal favourites would be Hope-Under-Dinmore and Kensington Addison Road.

 

 

Thank you for your nice comment. You can see more about Twickenham & District MRC's ADDISON ROAD project in its dedicated RMweb thread in the 'layout topics' forum.

 

BTW, we take the '& District' part of our club's name very seriously - the ADDISON ROAD group has 'country members' in Belgium, Cyprus a and the USA and some of the smaller layout features were made in California and posted over to be planted on the layout.

[Gilbert]

A very enjoyable day manning the Missenden stand - I also managed to see most of the show including my favourite "Old Parrock".

My hastily assembled album of mainly phone photos is here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/103471893@N02/albums/72177720308616327

Photos include Charwelton, Wantage, Kensington Addison Road and Grindley Brook

Chris H

[tapdieuk]

My first visit to the show. I Really enjoyed it, a fantastic range of scales, sizes of layouts and periods modeled.

Thank you 

[ColinW]

Having made the journey over from Kent yesterday, I was not disappointed.  the standard of modelling on display was of the highest standard, as expected.  I particularly liked Old Parrock, Penworth & Bridgewater.  Also a good selection of traders being available, was slightly (!) bad for my wallet.  Hopefully the pre order tickets will be available again for next year's show.

 

Colin

[Mike_Walker]

Went yesterday.  Excellent show, congratulations to all involved. 

[Gilbert]

I particularly like this diorama by Paul Bambrick..who also gave me a very useful chat on tree building.

[Re6/6]

10800 and I made the long trip up from Devon and it proved to be very worthwhile. Fine layouts were on show and it was good to see 'useful trade' there rather than box shifters.

 

The only issue for us was with the catering . The glass food cases were all empty by 1300 and all that seemed to be available were biscuits and the like.

 

Thank you David and the team.

[Dragonboy]

This show has been my “must see” show for many a long day and I must say today didn’t disappoint in any way. I think one of the strengths of this show is that it is for modellers layouts and not for train sets hurtling around at breakneck speed past every flickering or blinking light effect available.

 

I was particularly pleased with a higher than usual percentage of 2mm offerings all of which were in a word. Exquisite. 
 

The only downer has been mentioned above but leaving home early and arriving around 9.30 I too was disappointed to find no breakfast offerings - which I fully understand is not in the clubs control but, a few beans and some remnants of tinned tomatoes being the only option at 9.30 other than sandwiches or sweets. Really?

 

I do remember a few years ago being told that breakfasts finish at 8.30 but more recently the stadium had sorted that but I’m guessing I’m not going to be alone in thinking something better is needed for the travelling public next year

[Dunsignalling]

4 minutes ago, Dragonboy said:

This show has been my “must see” show for many a long day and I must say today didn’t disappoint in any way. I think one of the strengths of this show is that it is for modellers layouts and not for train sets hurtling around at breakneck speed past every flickering or blinking light effect available.

 

I was particularly pleased with a higher than usual percentage of 2mm offerings all of which were in a word. Exquisite. 
 

The only downer has been mentioned above but leaving home early and arriving around 9.30 I too was disappointed to find no breakfast offerings - which I fully understand is not in the clubs control but, a few beans and some remnants of tinned tomatoes being the only option at 9.30 other than sandwiches or sweets. Really?

 

I do remember a few years ago being told that breakfasts finish at 8.30 but more recently the stadium had sorted that but I’m guessing I’m not going to be alone in thinking something better is needed for the travelling public next year

Circumstances dictated I wasn't able to get there this year. In the past we (travelling up from Devon) have adopted the practice of starting a bit earlier and stopping for breakfast en-route. 

 

Despite the effortless cruising ability of my Yeti, I've decided I'm past driving 168 miles up and the same back in the day, and being mainly on my feet in between.

 

 Next year, it'll be a hotel job!

 

John

[Gilbert]

I know its not to everyone's taste but based on previous experience I took advantage of the McDonalds on the way in from the Bicester direction for a breakfast bite early on Saturday morning......

Chris H

[Dunsignalling]

20 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

I know its not to everyone's taste but based on previous experience I took advantage of the McDonalds on the way in from the Bicester direction for a breakfast bite early on Saturday morning......

Chris H

We use the one at Tothill on the A34. Their breakfast offering is quite distinct from their standard fare.

 

John

[Dragonboy]

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

Circumstances dictated I wasn't able to get there this year. In the past we (travelling up from Devon) have adopted the practice of starting a bit earlier and stopping for breakfast en-route. 

 

Despite the effortless cruising ability of my Yeti, I've decided I'm past driving 168 miles up and the same back in the day, and being mainly on my feet in between.

 

 Next year, it'll be a hotel job!

 

John

I remember the good old days of turning off into a Little Chef on route. Always had to be An Olympic breakfast and a coffee. Now that was a breakfast. 

[Gilbert]

6 minutes ago, Dragonboy said:

I remember the good old days of turning off into a Little Chef on route. Always had to be An Olympic breakfast and a coffee. Now that was a breakfast. 

We were recently at a show on the South Coast where the layout teams were put up in a Travel Lodge (no breakfast)......we were gutted to find out later in the day that one of the teams had driven to a Premier Inn on the way back to the show and just bought breakfast...

Chris H

Edited May 28, 2023 by Gilbert

[Siberian Snooper]

I didn't make the trip this year, as the combined hotel and train cost was prohibitive. Fingers crossed for next year.

 

 

[TomE]

Popped up to Aylesbury this morning and it was well worth the the trip, a really excellent set of layouts all round! Nice to see a strong 2mm FS showing too, although thatsaid I was very taken with Grindley Brook! 
 

Congratulations to the organisers on a superb show. 
 

Tom. 

[bcnPete]

Big thank you to Tim, David and all the team for hosting a great show and looking after us all weekend.

 

A very enjoyable two days and I was very pleased to see Old Parrock win the best layout in show award which had got my vote.

 

Great layouts and good selection of trade too so a great balance.

 

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on Kyle too and those that helped out run a few trains so I could stretch my legs!

 

Pete

[Paulrhodes]

Thank you for the kind comments about my layout, Old Parrock, which really are very much appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed exhibiting at Railex and had a wonderful weekend; it was just great to spend time chatting to people about trains and model railways. I thought all the layouts were super and each had their special quality. It's very inspiring to see all the different ways that people approach our hobby.

 

A special 'Thank You' must go to the organisers for coping so well with the difficult circumstance of the late venue change and all the challenges that it presented -  despite that we felt very welcomed and supported. 

 

The job now is to get everything with thew layout sorted out and stored safely away ready for our next sortie which is at the Oxford Show on 17th September!

 

Paul

[Ian Smith]

A big thank you to Tim, David and team from the Modbury team too.  A thoroughly enjoyable exhibition despite it being a bit warm and sticky!  Our vote was also for Old Parrock - a very deserved "best in show".

Ian

[The Stationmaster]

Another vote for Old Parrock - beautiful job and i was happy to explain to one of the operators why it could easily justify not having any signals 👀.  I also got the chance to have a really good look ar Addison Road which was mighty impressive - but then so was every other layout.  And great to see the progress being made with Aylesbutry - thst is going to be really something when finished and good to hear that the club will have the accommodation to enable a ,ollot of work to go more easily in the future.

 

The hall was alittle warm but not too bad.  The built-in 'crowd barriers' used for many layouts was a brilliant idea to make best use of the arrangement of the hall.  Oh and my advance ticket, dated 2020 was acceprted as had been advised further upthread.

 

One poor spot was entirely beyond the control of the show organisers and those involved in it and that was the 'catering' which appears to have fallen off the edge of a cliff with the new contractor.    Alas I realise that when it comes to catering the club can't do at this venue what it does so excellently at Risex but a lukewarm, largely incomplete, 'grilled' breakfast served on an ice cold plate is b not my idea of catering competence.  In fact the caterers seemed to totally overwhelmed in their stock levels to cater for this sort of event - maybe a word in their ear in advance next year?

 

But that apart as far as the show itself was concerned = welcome back and it was good to have you back.

[Gordon A]

An excellent show.

A bit cramped and a hot day but well worth the run frim Bristol, according to my wallet.

 

Gordon A

[Jol Wilkinson]

55 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Another vote for Old Parrock - beautiful job and i was happy to explain to one of the operators why it could easily justify not having any signals 👀.  I also got the chance to have a really good look ar Addison Road which was mighty impressive - but then so was every other layout.  And great to see the progress being made with Aylesbutry - thst is going to be really something when finished and good to hear that the club will have the accommodation to enable a ,ollot of work to go more easily in the future.

 

The hall was alittle warm but not too bad.  The built-in 'crowd barriers' used for many layouts was a brilliant idea to make best use of the arrangement of the hall.  Oh and my advance ticket, dated 2020 was acceprted as had been advised further upthread.

 

One poor spot was entirely beyond the control of the show organisers and those involved in it and that was the 'catering' which appears to have fallen off the edge of a cliff with the new contractor.    Alas I realise that when it comes to catering the club can't do at this venue what it does so excellently at Risex but a lukewarm, largely incomplete, 'grilled' breakfast served on an ice cold plate is b not my idea of catering competence.  In fact the caterers seemed to totally overwhelmed in their stock levels to cater for this sort of event - maybe a word in their ear in advance next year?

 

But that apart as far as the show itself was concerned = welcome back and it was good to have you back.

Mike,

 

sports venue caterers rarely, if ever, do a proper job. ExpoEM at Bracknell was another "prize" example. The best catering, in my experience, is invariably done by those shows where dedicated caterers can be brought in. Scalefour North at Wakefield (no sadly no more) and Scaleforum at High Wycombe 2022 showed how it can/should be done. There are doubtless others, but I am not aware of them.

 

The problem with local sports facilities and schools is that the management are happy to take the hire fee, but not recognise that they should be providing a proper service for it.

 

I was there on both Saturday and Sunday (assisting one of the traders). The hall climate on Saturday was distinctly uncomfortable. Less so on Sunday but there seemed to be far fewer visitors.

 

Jol

Edited May 29, 2023 by Jol Wilkinson
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