It's nearly here! The London Festival of Railway Modelling - March 16 & 17

[97406]

1 minute ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

When I looked the other day, there seemed to be 2 links - one saying that tickets were no longer available - the other allowing ticket purchases.

 

I wasn't in a position to order at the time - but I believe the link allowing ticket purchases is still active.

 

You might need to look around different parts of this site to find the "real" link.

 

 

 

Brill, I must have gone down a rabbit hole before. Thanks for that - they are available up until 8:30am on the day of the show.

 

This is the link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-london-festival-of-railway-modelling-2024-tickets-727397915747?aff=erelexpmlt

 

[pete_mcfarlane]

Google gave me this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-london-festival-of-railway-modelling-2024-tickets-722011956197 which I used to buy a ticket about an hour ago. 

[amieca]

Here is a floorplan to plan your weekend. Hope this helps!

[CF MRC]

York Road all set up on the MRC stand 47. Lovely view of the rose window. 
 

Tim

Edited March 15 by CF MRC

[tc]

The show is just about set up - here's our pre-owned stall with hundreds of items from the common, through rare to the frankly down right odd. Including a huge collection of complete Parkside, Ratio, Kirk etc kits - in the West Hall

 

The Club stand is set up including York Road:

 

 

Where you can also find out more about joining us - with our special show offer of a reduced rate for the rest of 2024 and a free gift.

 

And we've got our layouts Putnam (HO) and Lacey Dale (N) alongside under-construction Orchard Wharf (EM), alongside the layouts from our Young and Junior sections, and the kid's-can-drive layout too...

 

Plus the huge selection of layouts we're delighted have accepted our invitation to attend, a range of demonstrators that can pass on their tips and ideas, and some very tempting items for sale on the trade stands.

 

Do come and say hi to us on our main stand just inside the entrance of the Great Hall... and if you're on socials #LFORM

 

Tom

[Gilbert]

Spent a pleasant few hours at AP today - catching up with a few old friends (layouts and humans). Bought a few bits from Squires, collected a loco from Digitrains and stocked up on paint brushes....sadly I was too late for the Park Run.....

My swiftly thrown together album of mainly phone photos is here - and there some pictures of the big railway as well- click on the fot:

I'll add captions asap.....

Edited March 16 by Gilbert

[woodenhead]

Looks like a good selection of layouts and KX looked quite full too.

 

Pity my trip past London is not till Wednesday otherwise I might have taken an earlier trip down to do the show as well.

[Ian Morgan]

Pretty busy this morning. Lots of interest. Record count was seven mobile phone cameras tracking the same train at the same time. Not bad for a ten foot frontage. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

[EmporiaSub]

Exhibition was ok but something seemed missing but can’t quite put my finger on it.

First visit since 2019.

Good selection of layouts and traders, but they seemed to be thrown into the hall in such a random way. 
Plenty of space between some stands and others were cramped.

And rucksacks should be banned…..

[polybear]

I was there today as well; if anyone is going tomorrow and fancies a Locomotion ES1 in NER Green (they had 1200 and 1201 Locos) they're doing a special offer @ £99.95 (normally £220).  Did I?  What do you think....

Oh yes, and many thanks to the guys driving the MRC Test Track for testing it for me 😃

[sjp23480]

27 minutes ago, EmporiaSub said:

And rucksacks should be banned…..

I agree - they are an pain. 

 

I ended up pushing them out of the way whilst saying "excuse me", got some filthy looks but it was ridiculous.

 

I will confess that I also had a small backback, but I carry it by my side so as not to inconvenience others.

 

 

 

 

[fezza]

39 minutes ago, sjp23480 said:

I agree - they are an pain. 

 

I ended up pushing them out of the way whilst saying "excuse me", got some filthy looks but it was ridiculous.

 

I will confess that I also had a small backback, but I carry it by my side so as not to inconvenience others.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't mind rucksacks. What I mind are people who seem to be either (1) oblivious of the fact they are wearing one and that other people are standing next to them or (2) use their rucksack as a weapon to barge in. Mrs Fezza gets particularly annoyed at this rudeness - I though she was going to hit one chap out today...!

 

The show was enjoyable, but the layouts were a bit mixed. Port Washington (US) and the Great Eastern Colne valley branch layout were absolutely outstanding. The 009 Welsh layout was great too. There were a few that seemed "models of models" and a lot of out of the box stock.  We missed Paradise Fields and there was no standout modern image Finescale layout. But it was still very worthwhile.

[Darius43]

A few pics from today 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited March 16 by Darius43

[The Fatadder]

Question to the Warners team, I was told today when I arrived (as an exhibitor)  to park in the exhibitors marked carpark section and parking would be free.  
 

when leaving we noticed the ticket machines (and the ANPR mast), and checked the reg which showed as owing payment for parking.  Several other exhibitors saw the same same thing and went and paid (not wanting for fall foul of the dodgy parking company) and I did the same. 
 

would be good to know from anyone in the organising team what should have happened.

 

other than that slightly sour end to the day I had an enjoyable day out with DEMU.   I didn’t get much of a chance to see any layouts unfortunately,  (I’m not a fan of the separation of trade into one room and layouts in the other.)  We had a few people at the stand who hadn’t realised there was another hall hiding all the layouts 

[Phil Parker]

7 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Question to the Warners team, I was told today when I arrived (as an exhibitor)  to park in the exhibitors marked carpark section and parking would be free.  
 

when leaving we noticed the ticket machines (and the ANPR mast), and checked the reg which showed as owing payment for parking.  Several other exhibitors saw the same same thing and went and paid (not wanting for fall foul of the dodgy parking company) and I did the same. 
 

would be good to know from anyone in the organising team what should have happened.

 

other than that slightly sour end to the day I had an enjoyable day out with DEMU.   I didn’t get much of a chance to see any layouts unfortunately,  (I’m not a fan of the separation of trade into one room and layouts in the other.)  We had a few people at the stand who hadn’t realised there was another hall hiding all the layouts 

 

That's interesting because I was also put in that car park, and didn't spot a flag about a fee owing, but I might just have missed it. I wonder if a letter will follow?

 

What should have happened? Exactly what did as far as I know. There was a list of those who could go down into the North car park, the rest are normally put into the one with a concrete base at the side, but the gate stewards didn't point anyone in there, directing us to the Ice Rink car park. 

 

I'll chase this up tomorrow. But for the moment, I'm in the same position as you. 

[Greengiant]

We were not allowed in the North car park we were in yesterday when we set up and were directed to exhibitors parking in the Paddock car park and got the shuttle bus back. Was not expecting to have to pay for parking and so far haven’t.

We had a busy day with The Yard, on the go all day. Very pleased with the feedback we got.

Martin

 

 

 

[Phil Parker]

Parking: @SteveCole is on this and trying to get it sorted.

 

On the positive side, several people have commented how pleasant and helpful the Ally Pally stewards are. I can't disagree, even the guy on the gate in the rain this morning was brilliant. 

[polybear]

2 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

Parking: @SteveCole is on this and trying to get it sorted.

 

On the positive side, several people have commented how pleasant and helpful the Ally Pally stewards are. I can't disagree, even the guy on the gate in the rain this morning was brilliant. 

 

Certainly the Guy outside the main doors yesterday was very good at informing people what queue to be in (pre-paid or no tickets)

[The Fatadder]

8 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

Parking: @SteveCole is on this and trying to get it sorted.

 

On the positive side, several people have commented how pleasant and helpful the Ally Pally stewards are. I can't disagree, even the guy on the gate in the rain this morning was brilliant. 

Thanks Phil, would. Completely agree on the helpfulness of the stewards this year. 

[SteveCole]

11 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Question to the Warners team, I was told today when I arrived (as an exhibitor)  to park in the exhibitors marked carpark section and parking would be free.  
 

when leaving we noticed the ticket machines (and the ANPR mast), and checked the reg which showed as owing payment for parking.  Several other exhibitors saw the same same thing and went and paid (not wanting for fall foul of the dodgy parking company) and I did the same. 
 

would be good to know from anyone in the organising team what should have happened.

 

other than that slightly sour end to the day I had an enjoyable day out with DEMU.   I didn’t get much of a chance to see any layouts unfortunately,  (I’m not a fan of the separation of trade into one room and layouts in the other.)  We had a few people at the stand who hadn’t realised there was another hall hiding all the layouts 

Hi. Traders should have been directed to a different car park which would have been free. We've been made aware of a steward making a mistake which has meant a small number of traders being charged. Can you please message me your car registration and we'll get you refunded. I'm really sorry for the confusion. 

[gwrrob]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Certainly the Guy outside the main doors yesterday was very good at informing people what queue to be in (pre-paid or no tickets)

 

Even though advanced tickets holders were held back due to the queue being too long with all the bag searches.

[BluenGreyAnorak]

I and a group of friends visited yesterday and had a great time. Quite crowded in the morning but had thinned out considerably after lunch and it became much easier to move around and see layouts.

 

I was struck by the large volume of second hand stock that seemed to be on offer from several traders and, on the whole, the sensible pricing. Picked up a couple of coaches and a loco for very reasonable sums compared to, say, eBay at the moment!

 

Thoroughly enjoyed The Yard, West End Drift, Wantage Tramway and the Abingdon Branch. Also enjoyed chatting to one of the guys on the work in progress Orchard Wharf about the trials and tribulations in their approach to inset trackwork.

 

It's always nice to see something genuinely new and the toggle switch that's been developed by TrainTech for switching solenoid point motors was very neat. For those that like analogue control panels but don't relish wiring, this could be a real game changer. 

 

Thanks to all involved in organising, running and displaying for a very enjoyable day.

[Michael Hodgson]

15 hours ago, EmporiaSub said:

Exhibition was ok but something seemed missing but can’t quite put my finger on it.

First visit since 2019.

Good selection of layouts and traders, but they seemed to be thrown into the hall in such a random way. 
Plenty of space between some stands and others were cramped.

And rucksacks should be banned…..

I thought the show was better laid out than in previous years - there did seem to be more space between the layouts so the other visitors made getting from stand to stand seem less of a scrummage, despite it being pretty well attended, particularly in the late morning when I evenutally got there having just missed my train because the ticket machine kept refusing to read my credit card and having to wait nearly an hour for the connecting shuttle bus.  For once I didn't encounter the usual rucksacks, though there were the usual individuals who could usefully take a shower, even if only once a year for the show!  Unlike a lot of recent shows, there was lots of seating albeit mostly around the food outlets, although it was still very hard to find an empty place.

 

But my main gripe was the free shuttle bus from the station to the show just wasn't up to the job - though the drivers were clearly doing their best to cope.  The service frequency would have been adequate, except that most of them arrived at Ally Pally station already full and standing so sailed straight past without stopping.  I'm pretty sure the driver of the one I eventually managed to board was turning a blind eye to overloading well beyond what he's supposed to limit it to.  And this was mid morning, so it wasn't a case of the usual peak period of enormous queues for the start of the show.  In previous years I've driven in, but I have what should be a particularly easy journey by public transport, as I don't even have to change trains.

 

[Darius43]

We got the W3 bus near Wood Green station.  I already had a travel card as I had trained it up from West Worthing so it didn’t cost any more.  We would have got to Ally Pally earlier but we spotted a Turkish Cafe near the bus stop and popped in for an impromptu breakfast.  That way there were no queues to get in when we did arrive at Ally Pally.
 

Seconded on the friendliness of the Ally Pally stewards.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited March 17 by Darius43

[John M Upton]

Just left after an enjoyable visit.

 

Sunday definitely quieter and far less hassle than my previous year's Saturday visits but the downside was that the second hand stock had been well and truly plundered compared to last year and the train service up from the Sussex coast is pretty abysmal. 

 

Lose the bag search nonsense, utterly pointless and quite frankly as any form of anti terrorist measure, completely useless. 

 

Do feel the layout of stands and layouts, particularly in the main hall needs a complete refresh, lots feel like that they have been just plonked down and there was no real cohesion between the various stands.

 

Every year it seems notable who isn't there, Dapol no longer attending was a big loss as far as I am concerned (half my shopping list effectively wiped out) but noticeable how those small new entry manufacturers now have big professional stands and a friendly approach which is refreshing. 

 

Will I go again next year?  Trouble is, most of the traders I used to visit Ally Pally for have gone, Dapol being about the last one of my must visit traders so, somehow I think, after twenty or twenty five years, I have visited my last Ally Pally show.