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Longfield Model Railway Exhibition - 27th & 28th January 2024


Invicta Informant
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The Erith Model Railway Society's January Exhibition, one of South East England's largest shows, will return to The Longfield Academy for our 7th show there. The show will encompass over 30 layouts, extensive trade and society support, demonstrators, static exhibits and charity raffle (in aid of the Association of Bexley Charities '78), making about 100 stands in total.

 

Venue Address: The Longfield Academy, Main Road (B260), Longfield, Kent, DA3 7PH.

 

Opening Times: Saturday 27th January 2024 - 10:00am to 5:00pm & Sunday 28th January 2024 - 10:00am to 4:00pm.

 

Entry Prices: Adults - £9.00. Accompanied Children - £1.00.

Entry price includes free exhibition guide.


The venue can be reached by Longfield railway station (5-10 minute walk away), Arriva bus services 423 (from Dartford and Bluewater), 433 (from Bluewater, Sunday only) and 489 (from Gravesend), and Go-Coach bus services 474 and 475 (both from Bluewater). The buses stop within a 5-10 minute walk from the venue. Some services may stop at Longfield Academy itself, but ask the driver for the nearest stop to the venue. Please be aware that there are NO Sunday services for the 423, 474 and 475 routes.


There is a sizeable free on-site car park, full disabled access (including toilets), a large refreshment area (circa 200 seats) and an extensive range of hot and cold food and drinks at reasonable prices.

There is some off-site parking available at a day nursery in Brickfield Farm just up the road from the venue (5 minute walk away), should we run out (and we usually do) of on-site parking.


There will be a FREE Shuttle Bus service running between Longfield Railway Station and the Longfield Academy on BOTH days of the show.

So if you cannot get parked at the venue or the day nursery in Brickfield Farm, you can park at Longfield Railway Station Car Park (88 spaces, Pay-and-Display - £4.00 all day Saturday, £3.50 all day Sunday) and catch the shuttle bus to the venue.

 

List of Attendees (correct as of 14th December):

Layouts:

Ashenden Junction
Blindheim
Blitz 1940
Brooks Bridge
Cato Infero
Cedar Court Wagon Yard
Daisyfield Traincare
Depot de Camions
Downlands

Dublingham
Elbow Lane

Foldham

Hatch End
Jongreg
Keithley Valley
Kingsnorth
Kinlochewe
LB&L Line
Molehill Green
Newchapel Junction
N E Where
Plant City
Plugstreet
Plumstead Arches
Portwey – Wessex Trains
Quarry Falls
Queen Charlotte's Dock
Scarlington
Shillingstone
Southwark Bridge
St. Peter's Square

Staple & Ash
Tramlink
Two Bridges Up Sidings
Upton Lacey
Vine Street Riverside
Volks Electric Railway
Wandleford Junction
White Meadow Quarry
Other Exhibitors:

Bachmann Collectors Club
Charity Raffle
Double O Gauge Association
East Kent O Gauge Group
Gauge 1 Wagon Building Demonstration
Kitorama
Orchards (Junior) Scale Model Club Display
Weathering Demonstration
Trade Stands:

3mm Scale Model Railways
All Wheels
Andy Lynch Railways
Brooks Models Ltd
Cambrian Model Rail Limited
Carriage & Wagon Models
Coastal DCC
Colin Penn
David Wills
Dingo Servo Mounts
Dixon Upcott
Euroscale Models
Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop
Flexxgenix Ltd
Harrison-Brown Models
Heritage In Motion
HobbyTools4U
Invicta Model Rail
JB Photocards
Joe Lock Model Railways
Keith Weblin
Kent Garden Railways
Kent Model Exchange
Layouts4U
MDNdesigns
Michael Land
Models U Drive
Online Models
On The Rails
Plus Daughters
Railway Memories
Roxley Models

Southern Scale Models
Sudbury Model Railways
Supercast
The Wagon Yard
Thunderbolt Models
Transport Collectables Ltd
Trainsporters
W.M. Collectables
Society Stands:

British 1:87 Scale Society
Charity Transport Models & Books
Class 47 Preservation Project
EMRS Information Desk
EMRS Members Sales Stand
EMRS – Scott Tregunno
EMRS – Steve Riley
EPB Preservation Group
Network SouthEast Society
N Gauge Society
Railfuture
South Eastern & Chatham Railway Society
Southern Electric Group
Spa Valley Railway

 

Please check our website for further details (directions etc.):

https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/erithmrs/exhibit_january.html

There is also an Access Statement available to view or download on this thread.


Thank You.

January 2024 Show Flyer.jpg

Longfield Academy Map.jpg

Access Statement for the EMRS Longfield Show.docx

Edited by Invicta Informant
We now can take card payments on the entry desk
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  • 4 weeks later...

The Show Guide has been finalised and is available to view or download.

 

For those travelling from East Kent, there is planned engineering works between Rainham and Faversham on the weekend of the show and replacement buses will be running instead.

Show Guide 2024.pdf

Edited by Invicta Informant
Forgot to attach the Show Guide
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On 11/01/2024 at 20:58, dasatcopthorne said:

Looking forward to bringing Elbow Lane along for the weekend.

 

Come and say hello.

 

Dave.

Elbow Lane is Stand No. 67 in the Sports Hall.

On 11/01/2024 at 21:19, fulton said:

A busy couple of weekends, out with Plant City.

Plant City is Stand No. 59 also in the Sports Hall.

 

I shall look forward to seeing you folks in a few weeks.

Edited by Invicta Informant
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I have done a rough guide to the car parking arrangements at the venue. The public can park in the main car park and, when that gets filled up, the tennis courts. And then the pavement area in front of the main entrance. I very much doubt we will be able to use the field behind the school like we did last year on the Saturday.

 

Blue badge holders will be instructed to park diagonally to try and maximise the number of cars parked as possible.

 

I shall be out car marshalling in the mornings into the early afternoon, along with another club member and members of a local scout group.

Exhibition Car Parking.jpg

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Show day tomorrow so thought I did remind everyone of a few things.

 

  1. We will now be accepting card payments on the door (providing the tech works).
  2. A free shuttle bus will be running between Longfield station and the venue on both days. 
  3. For anyone the smokes, vapes or uses an e-cigarette, these are not permitted to be used ANYWHERE on the academy site, this includes outside spaces. You will need to leave the site.

I hope that everyone that attends enjoys the show, I'll be helping out in various places this year and will be on hand to answer any queries along with the rest of the members of the club. 

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Setting up has gone pretty well this evening.

 

Unfortunately the Academy only told this afternoon (Friday) that we cannot use the tennis courts for parking. From what I was told, they had installed new heat pumps under the tennis courts and subsequently they cannot take the weight of parked vehicles.

 

So due to things beyond our control, we now have even less car parking space than we did in previous years, and we did not have enough space even then.

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As usual an entertaining show, My favourite layout was 'Two Bridges', a riff on the Three Bridges area of the Brighton Main Line, circa mid 1990s and the transition to privatisation. This worked for me as it ticked a number of my favourite themes - plenty of EMUs, a stretch of line that absolutely captured the character of the area and timescale; continuous running with no lengthy gaps, colouring just right, not too garish and nicely toned. But the one other thing I loved was that apart from the kit built EMUs the diesels were all detailed and weathered Hornby and Lima 1990s models running on their original mechanisms. I've always said that properly cared for and lubricated and fitted with extra pickups these can still do a fine job so it was great to see the proof in a smooth running and reliable manner!

PXL_20240127_131025569.jpg

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PXL_20240127_131813936.jpg

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Thank you to everyone who attended over the weekend. It is very much appreciated. Attendance was better than I thought it would be. We were slightly up on the Saturday from last year, but up significantly on the Sunday from last year (who says the hobby is in decline).

 

Feedback has been mostly positive. Bachmann, who attended for the first time, were impressed.

 

One thing I might suggest to those coming by car in the future, is to make 'Warley'-style plans, i.e. park at a railway station car park en route and then catch the train to Longfield itself (don't forget we do have a shuttle bus running between the venue and the station). We will need to look at other parking options going forward. Being dealt a curveball on the Friday before the Exhibition, as previously mentioned in this thread, did not help at all, and I was fearful of the effects that would have had.

 

The two trophies we award went to Scarlington (by Nick Skelton and the NoEL Group of Railway Modellers - Scarborough) and to Cato Inferno (by Laurie Calvert).

 

Please don't hesitate to share any photos, video, feedback, constructive criticism, etc. of the Exhibition on this thread, and I shall pass on your comments to Paul, the Exhibition Manager.

IMG_20240128_134133533.jpg

IMG_20240128_134409535.jpg

DSC_0410.JPG

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, dasatcopthorne said:

Lost Chair.

 

Hi Guys.

 

Has any other exhibitor ended up with an extra high stool?

 

Mine seems to have disappeared at the end of the show.

 

Cheers

 

Dave.

stool.jpg

 

Hi Dave,

 

Have you emailed Paul to get an email sent out to the exhibiters just in case they aren't on here.

 

Shaun - EMRS Member 

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On 16/02/2024 at 12:09, dasatcopthorne said:

Lost Chair.

 

Hi Guys.

 

Has any other exhibitor ended up with an extra high stool?

 

Mine seems to have disappeared at the end of the show.

 

Cheers

 

Dave.

stool.jpg

Hi Dave, I met you at the Tonbridge Show. Your chair is in the Erith MRS Clubrooms and Paul, the Exhibition Manager, has confirmed this with me. You can pop down on a Wednesday evening (our club night) to pick it up. How it ended up in our possession, I don't know.

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On 16/02/2024 at 12:09, dasatcopthorne said:

Lost Chair.

 

Hi Guys.

 

Has any other exhibitor ended up with an extra high stool?

 

Mine seems to have disappeared at the end of the show.

 

Cheers

 

Dave.

stool.jpg

 

Thanks to the Erith Club for their help.

My seat is back home safe.

 

Anyone wishing to meet said roaming chair, it will be at Abrail in March.

 

Cheers.

 

Dave.

Edited by dasatcopthorne
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