Lost Exhibitions

[arran]

7 hours ago, ngtrains.com said:

I don't think that is true at all. The ones I used to attend as a trader, all be it they were mostly narrow gauge shows stopped because: -

• A decision by the ageing organisers to finish on a high at a landmark 25th (NGSW)
• Lack of new blood/Ageing organisers (SWING)
• Loss of venue (EXPONG and DERBY)
• Not enough organisers (or the same few got fed up) (Chiltern NG)

I dont think many have Failed as such but then I may be misunderstanding what you mean by failed. I see failed as "gone bust" or "made a loss" whereas I think failed here is being used to describe the concious decision to not put a show on in the current financial climate. Not quite the same thing.

HI 

 

All of those reasons for packing it in a valid to a point .

 

What has to be figured out is how to bring on new shows,  Pre Covid the exhibition calendar was fairly full and this has thinned it out and like a forest that's had a fire "to be topical" and now has clearings New vigorous growth will appear and the strong will survive .

 

Regards Arran

[009 micro modeller]

8 hours ago, ngtrains.com said:

I don't think that is true at all. The ones I used to attend as a trader, all be it they were mostly narrow gauge shows stopped because: -

• A decision by the ageing organisers to finish on a high at a landmark 25th (NGSW)
• Lack of new blood/Ageing organisers (SWING)
• Loss of venue (EXPONG and DERBY)
• Not enough organisers (or the same few got fed up) (Chiltern NG)

I dont think many have Failed as such but then I may be misunderstanding what you mean by failed. I see failed as "gone bust" or "made a loss" whereas I think failed here is being used to describe the concious decision to not put a show on in the current financial climate. Not quite the same thing.

Agreed, although I seem to remember there were other factors mentioned for ExpoNG as well (similar to some of the other shows) but the loss of venue was the main one. I don’t think sudden loss of financial viability was the main reason for any of those mentioned so far (even though it is obviously an important thing to consider). With my group we did have an issue in that the venue we used to use was still available but no longer at the cheap rate enjoyed by a former member and organiser who was a local resident, but that wasn’t the only factor and isn’t quite the same as the costs naturally going up. I don’t think you could describe these shows as having ‘failed’ because when they did run they were successful; in many cases the decision to stop seems to have been partly about the pressure to maintain the high standard visitors to previous years’ shows have come to expect.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by 009 micro modeller

[298]

A recent Continental Modeller editorial lamented the cancellation of the European Railway Society show later this year and with the German Railway Society's broader Globalrail not continuing and Derby no longer alternating between North American and European themes for one smaller room, there aren't any specialist shows for these themes outside of society AGMs. Furthermore, a number of the larger shows that are financed by British interest magazines rarely feature layouts that wouldn't be of direct interest to their readership, leaving non-UK layouts at the mercy of invites from the club circuit.

Edited September 5, 2023 by 298

[TEAMYAKIMA]

21 minutes ago, 298 said:

A recent Continental Modeller editorial lamented the cancellation of the European Railway Society show later this year and with the German Railway Society's broader Globalrail not continuing and Derby no longer alternating between North American and European themes for one smaller room, there aren't any specialist shows for these themes outside of society AGMs. Furthermore, a number of the larger shows that are financed by British interest magazines rarely feature layouts that wouldn't be of direct interest to their readership, leaving non-UK layouts at the mercy of invites from the club circuit.

 

Interesting and informative. Maybe a bit worrying for those of us who have  VERY foreign layouts (China), but having said that my layout has been invited twice to BRISTOL and once (so far) to Aly Paly both BRM sponsored.

[Chatham.mrc]

On 28/08/2023 at 15:06, wainwright1 said:

Many thanks for the information.

 

At least the Chatham club seem to be on the up and bringing back their show at the Dockyard next year.

 

All the best

 

Ray

We as a club have had a big lot of new members. The Clubs average age has dropped from over 60 to around the high 20s low 30s now we have over 60 members.

 

I shall also be updating our show page in the next week. We currently have over 80 exhibitors so far and still searching for more we will have over a 100 all in

[Mike Bellamy]

On 04/09/2023 at 00:10, ngtrains.com said:

• Loss of venue (EXPONG and DERBY)

 

15 hours ago, 298 said:

 Derby no longer alternating between North American and European themes for one smaller room,

 

Derby has actually lost three venues . . . . . . 

 

The last Derby Show with the smaller Darwin Suite used for American or Continental was 2008 which was an American year organised by the NMRA. By this time we knew we could no longer afford to continue running exhibitions there - we never made a loss but were getting very close to the break-even point. When we first went there in 1980, the City Council were running John Huntley archive railway films in the Great Hall and had tried (and failed miserably) to organise a small model show. At the very last minute, DCC contacted the club for help and within a couple of days had got a few layouts together and put on a bit of a show. In the aftermath, it was politely suggested that they really should have asked us to get involved. I understand the conversation was something like "You made a right f"*k up of that, we can do better" and the response was "Go on then"

 

For the first couple of years the show was still in support of the DCC film show but as it became more popular, we swapped the show to the Great Hall, with films in the smaller room, then dropped the films all together when we took over the whole complex, which allowed us to alternate between American and Continental. It was interesting over the 20 years or so that we had this show inside a show how the attendance fluctuated - for a number of years American years were more popular and then Continental took over (or was it the other way round?)

 

When we first started, the 'profit' was split between DCC and MMRG - they provided the hall and we put on a cost neutral show. When we had the whole building we were then charged for its use and what we didn't realise was that we had been given a bit of a concessionary rate as we were a local organisation bringing a few thousand visitors into the city centre. many years later, new management realised this and wanted to charge is the full commercial rate. After a lot of argument, with support from local councillors, this was capped at a 10% increase each year but we knew by then that we couldn't continue using that building.

 

A new exhibition manager took over and we moved to Moorways Sports Centre in 2009 but had to move from there due to the closure and demolition to build a new swimming pool. 2015 saw us at Derby Roundhouse, a well know iconic railway building which had just been fully restored by a Heritage Lottery grant and was now part of Derby College. When we went into lockdown in 2020, the College closed their separate "Events" company, shut the website, made staff redundant and refunded us the deposits we had paid for the next three years amounting to several thousands of pounds. They said they wanted to use the building more for the benefit of their students, whatever that means. many wedding receptions, craft fairs, antique fairs and the beer festival were also cancelled.

 

Although the Assembly Rooms is still standing in the Market Place, the plant room was destroyed in a fire in 2014 and so the building has no power, water or ventilation and almost 10 years later the City Council still can't decide what to with it . . . . . . . . 

 

We still run our local "village hall" show just with club members' layouts in Mickleover Community Centre on 7th/8th October when our Clubroom will also be open.

.

 

 

[AY Mod]

18 hours ago, 298 said:

Furthermore, a number of the larger shows that are financed by British interest magazines rarely feature layouts that wouldn't be of direct interest to their readership,

 

That's not true in the case of Warners' shows. One show, Doncaster, does only include British layouts as it's billed as The Festival of British Railway Modelling whilst Ally Pally, Bristol and previously Peterborough, include overseas layouts.

[5944]

On 02/09/2023 at 18:10, 009 micro modeller said:

I might have missed this, or just forgotten, but what happened with the Stevenage venue? I’m not sure if it’s affected by the current redevelopment of the town centre. Ironically I was in Stevenage earlier to visit KS Models in the old town. Would it have been possible to go back to St Albans instead? This wasn’t the most accessible or easy to navigate venue but presumably better than nothing. Appreciate if there are other reasons that haven’t been made public of course.

The new bus station is built to the side of the leisure centre, where the car park used to be that was used for the exhibition. It means access to the hall is restricted, so nowhere for vans to unload.

 

The new location for the bus station isn't great - it's tucked away from the town centre rather than right in the middle like before, though it's handy for the railway station. The change in road layout also caused massive tailbacks as traffic leaving Tesco's has to cross the path of buses entering the bus station.

[Invicta Informant]

Is an exhibition lost even before it ever took place? Because I remember in the early 2010s (2011 I believe) of what promised to be quite a large show that was meant to be happening at the Kent County Showgrounds in Detling, but it was then abruptly cancelled. Does anyone know more about this?

 

Another lost exhibition is the Wilmington Charity Model Railway Exhibitions, which took place in the Church and Church Hall of St. Michael's & All Angels in Wilmington, just outside Dartford. The now retired Rev. Richard Arding played a part in the organisation of these shows and he now a volunteer down at the Spa Valley Railway. My club, the Erith Model Railway Society (EMRS), gave material and other support for these shows. We were also involved in the exhibitions that took place in early June at Firepower - The Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich between 2008 and 2012 (the museum closed in July 2016). The EMRS also had a smaller exhibition in September until after the 2018 show, when the Committee took the decision to cease organising it because increasing costs and falling visitors numbers. The EMRS still organises a big exhibition on the final full weekend in January, currently at Longfield.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Invicta Informant
grammar

[fulton]

8 minutes ago, Invicta Informant said:

Is an exhibition lost even before it ever took place? Because I remember in the early 2010s (2011 I believe) of what promised to be quite a large show that was meant to be happening at the Kent County Showgrounds in Detling, but it was then abruptly cancelled. Does anyone know more about this.

I understand it was due to personal reasons, of the organizer. 

[009 micro modeller]

5 hours ago, 5944 said:

The new bus station is built to the side of the leisure centre, where the car park used to be that was used for the exhibition. It means access to the hall is restricted, so nowhere for vans to unload.

 

The new location for the bus station isn't great - it's tucked away from the town centre rather than right in the middle like before, though it's handy for the railway station. The change in road layout also caused massive tailbacks as traffic leaving Tesco's has to cross the path of buses entering the bus station.

Ah, I see - hadn’t realised about the parking situation. I can’t remember where visitors parked and whether that one is still there because the only time I went to it in Stevenage I went there on the train. I did attend St Albans as a visitor for a number of years before that though and enjoyed it very much. Is it theoretically possible to go back to St Albans, even though the layout of the venue there is a bit awkward?

 

As someone who’s in Stevenage every now and again (I live nearby but don’t need to go there for work or anything) I agree about the new bus station. While it’s a very nice and well-designed building compared to the previous cluster of shelters it’s a bit odd to see it moved away from the town centre (although I understand this may have given them a little bit more space to work with than there was before). Even for the railway station, the previous town centre bus station was connected to the railway station concourse/entrance by a straight, completely step-free route (lifts/steps to the trains themselves though), whereas the new one has lots of steps down from the footbridge and is off to the right (as you leave the railway station). That seems like a bit of a downgrade both in terms of accessibility and in terms of making the route to it easy to navigate for those arriving by train who may not know their way around. Unless, as some have suggested, the wider regeneration is going to eventually tie it back into the rest of the town centre a bit more.

[Chatham.mrc]

6 hours ago, Invicta Informant said:

Is an exhibition lost even before it ever took place? Because I remember in the early 2010s (2011 I believe) of what promised to be quite a large show that was meant to be happening at the Kent County Showgrounds in Detling, but it was then abruptly cancelled. Does anyone know more about this?

 

Im not sure on that show but i contacted Detling regarding the return of the return of the Cdmrc show and the price was eye watering but we have managed to get a good deal back at Chatham Dockyard

[MyRule1]

On 04/09/2023 at 07:39, arran said:

Loss of venue (EXPONG and DERBY)

Until I read the later post with EXPONG as ExpoNG I thought this was an exhibition related to the comments often made on RMWeb about the washing habits of certain exhibition visitors.

[melmoth]

31 minutes ago, MyRule1 said:

Until I read the later post with EXPONG as ExpoNG I thought this was an exhibition related to the comments often made on RMWeb about the washing habits of certain exhibition visitors.

 

I refer my honourable friend to the the post I made as the 20th reply to this topic on  page 1 of this thread.

[John M Upton]

One show I cannot understand why it disappeared was the Brighton ModelWorld show usually held every February half term weekend.  Held in the Brighton Centre, it encompassed numerous modelling disciplines, not just railways and was a hugely popular event. 

 

The bunch of clowns running Brighton Council (and therefore The Brighton Centre) have had plans to demolish the place and build "something" in its place almost from the moment the last brick was laid building it.  Still hasn't happened but I think one of the regular suggestions it was about to happen (it hasn't) may have been the reason for ModelWorld getting the boot?

 

Also, cannot seem to find the Crawley/Horsham show or the Ewell East show (often the same weekend in April) they seem to have gone too?

[Nick Holliday]

12 hours ago, John M Upton said:

Also, cannot seem to find the Crawley/Horsham show or the Ewell East show (often the same weekend in April) they seem to have gone too?

See the third post re the Epsom and Ewell exhibition.

[acg5324]

14 hours ago, John M Upton said:

One show I cannot understand why it disappeared was the Brighton ModelWorld show usually held every February half term weekend.  Held in the Brighton Centre, it encompassed numerous modelling disciplines, not just railways and was a hugely popular event. 

 

The bunch of clowns running Brighton Council (and therefore The Brighton Centre) have had plans to demolish the place and build "something" in its place almost from the moment the last brick was laid building it.  Still hasn't happened but I think one of the regular suggestions it was about to happen (it hasn't) may have been the reason for ModelWorld getting the boot?

 

Also, cannot seem to find the Crawley/Horsham show or the Ewell East show (often the same weekend in April) they seem to have gone too?

The Brighton Centre show was originally organised and run by SAMRC the Sussex Association of Model Railway Clubs, prior to using the Brighton Centre it had been in the Corn Exchange and the former ice rink in Queens Sq. The council over the years took more control and it morphed into Modelworld to try and halt the drop in attendance………and I think towards the end the SAMRC organisers effectively went to work for the council.  SAMRC no longer exists.

 

Found a link on Google which gives the reasons for Modelworlds demise.

HERE

 

Shameless plug….the Brighton MRC show is in its 43rd year and on in November….I’m still one of the organisers despite living in York and will be at the show, because there aren’t enough people to assist for the whole weekend…….and I can get some Harvey’s Beer!

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by acg5324

[Tartaruga]

When did large Model Railway Exhibitions start? I presume they were started by MRC's and grew from there but were there many pre-war?

Edited September 14, 2023 by Tartaruga

[Titan]

30 minutes ago, Tartaruga said:

When did large Model Railway Exhibitions start? I presume they were started by MRC's and grew from there but were there many pre-war and?

Which war? Model railways have been around a while...

Edited September 14, 2023 by Titan

[arran]

16 hours ago, Tartaruga said:

When did large Model Railway Exhibitions start? I presume they were started by MRC's and grew from there but were there many pre-war?

OR associations put them on as it spreads the risk and reward .

 

And something I said earlier about Clearings in forests after the fire !!! rumors abound about an April show at the NEC!!!!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

31 minutes ago, arran said:

rumors abound about an April show at the NEC!!!!

Can you clarify please?  As the owner of a large exhibition - only layout I have a vested interest in such rumours. 

[arran]

17 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Can you clarify please?  As the owner of a large exhibition - only layout I have a vested interest in such rumours. 

All I was told Sorry . 
 

 

[298]

4 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Can you clarify please?  As the owner of a large exhibition - only layout I have a vested interest in such rumours. 

 

I was told that the Warley Club had an agreement that gave them the exclusive rights to organising a model railway exhibition there. So either that has expired, or it is more of a general modelling show which the NEC has hosted on a number of occasions.

[Chris M]

The agreement has not expired so there will not be an additional model railway exhibition at the NEC. There is nothing to stop a more general modelling exhibition that includes model railways happening. I guess this rumoured exhibition in April must therefore be a general modelling exhibition.

Edited September 15, 2023 by Chris M

[Not Jeremy]

Mike Bass's Bristol model railway exhibitions in the old train shed at Temple Meads were terrific events, all quite a few years ago now. Anyone got any photographs or memories they'd like to share?

 

I used to attend with the books and Peter and Ginny Barnfield were also regulars, I think.

 

Simon