woodenhead Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, John M Upton said: Lose the bag search nonsense, utterly pointless and quite frankly as any form of anti terrorist measure, completely useless. I think it's standard for any large venue that does multiple types of exhibition, they have detection machines you have to pass through on the way into the NEC from the station. Strangely, I don't notice them near the doors past Starbucks from the car park, so perhaps ner do wells only come by train or use the Avanti parking lol. Given what occurred at an Ariande Grande concert I don't have any objections. 2 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 19 minutes ago, woodenhead said: I think it's standard for any large venue that does multiple types of exhibition, they have detection machines you have to pass through on the way into the NEC from the station. Strangely, I don't notice them near the doors past Starbucks from the car park, so perhaps ner do wells only come by train or use the Avanti parking lol. Given what occurred at an Ariande Grande concert I don't have any objections. They're still got anti-terrorism announcements on the train but not on the bus, because terrorists obviously don't travel by bus either! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 9 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said: They're still got anti-terrorism announcements on the train but not on the bus, because terrorists obviously don't travel by bus either! Maybe it's part of government policy to put people off trains and onto buses again, clearly pricing people off them hasn't worked so they need to scare people off them. 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Darius43 Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 No rucksack no bag search just walk in… It’s a discourage-rucksack measure. Cheers Darius 3 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 16 minutes ago, Darius43 said: No rucksack no bag search just walk in… It’s a discourage-rucksack measure. I'm sure it was just to see what camera I use and my meal deal of choice from Morrison's. 1 1 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post The Fatadder Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted March 17 Obviously exhibitors are all trustworthy as we could walk straight in. of course getting through the bag search upon re entry to my house without my wife noticing I was returning with more boxes than I left with was a trickier task… 3 1 29 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Portpatrick Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Interesting to see comments on the car parks. I drove in at c 8.30 on Saturday and was directed by marshals into what was signed as an exhibitors area. Well I was not going to debate that one. I asked about the parking fee and how to do it and was told it was free. I supposed it might be for exhibitors? I was not going to disillusion him! Anyway up the hill I found a quite short advance ticket holders queue and was in just after 9.30. When ~I left c14.30 I noted the pay point so duly set to . It picked up my car once I had got as far as inputting the opening letters and digits and the machine completed my registration plate, so somewhere an auto reader had noted my arrival, and asked me for the £8 fee. Which I duly paid. This leaves a question in my mind about whether exhibitors were not charged and how that was achieved, as the implication seems to me that if I had not paid I would have received a rude letter! Arriving when I did, I could have been a trader or layout operator. Any way I have never had problems with the principle of paying for car parking. I do though consider that applying the £8 rate after exceeding only 4 hours is a bit excessive. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted March 17 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 17 I often say to folk that talk about Parking fees, " How much do you pay for a couple of Pints?" or "What's a Costa Coffee cost these days?" OK it's more to do with the, "Bl00dy Council Car Parks should be Free!" jobbies. P 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT-1300 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, Portpatrick said: Interesting to see comments on the car parks. I drove in at c 8.30 on Saturday and was directed by marshals into what was signed as an exhibitors area. Well I was not going to debate that one. I asked about the parking fee and how to do it and was told it was free. I supposed it might be for exhibitors? I was not going to disillusion him! Anyway up the hill I found a quite short advance ticket holders queue and was in just after 9.30. When ~I left c14.30 I noted the pay point so duly set to . It picked up my car once I had got as far as inputting the opening letters and digits and the machine completed my registration plate, so somewhere an auto reader had noted my arrival, and asked me for the £8 fee. Which I duly paid. This leaves a question in my mind about whether exhibitors were not charged and how that was achieved, as the implication seems to me that if I had not paid I would have received a rude letter! Arriving when I did, I could have been a trader or layout operator. Any way I have never had problems with the principle of paying for car parking. I do though consider that applying the £8 rate after exceeding only 4 hours is a bit excessive. Parking at the Hydro for Model Rail Scotland is £11 after the first hour!!! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 97406 Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, Darius43 said: No rucksack no bag search just walk in… It’s a discourage-rucksack measure. Cheers Darius I found a folded up Tescos carrier bag was fine for the bits and bobs I bought today. In hindsight I needed 2 as it got a little heavy as the morning progressed. Admittedly I didn't bring any scran with me, though! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Nile Posted March 17 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, The Fatadder said: of course getting through the bag search upon re entry to my house without my wife noticing I was returning with more boxes than I left with was a trickier task… You need to plan your packing better, take some empty boxes with you to fill up. 1 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arran Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 7 minutes ago, YT-1300 said: Parking at the Hydro for Model Rail Scotland is £11 after the first hour!!! Or £3.00 at the science center for a day and walk no further . Regards Arran 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBL Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 6 hours ago, John M Upton said: Lose the bag search nonsense, utterly pointless and quite frankly as any form of anti terrorist measure, completely useless. A bag search may have stopped me from losing my leg a few years back. I'm all for them. 5 1 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I thought the show guide a great improvement over last year. However, finding your way around would be considerably improved if Stand Number display cards could provided to each stand. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun66 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 minute ago, Jol Wilkinson said: I thought the show guide a great improvement over last year. However, finding your way around would be considerably improved if Stand Number display cards could provided to each stand. I did see some stands with numbers but they was only on an A5 size piece of paper which made them difficult to spot depending where they get displayed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted March 17 Administrators Share Posted March 17 27 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said: I thought the show guide a great improvement over last year. However, finding your way around would be considerably improved if Stand Number display cards could provided to each stand. They are in the packs handed out on arrival. It's up to the exhibitors if and where they display them. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 Yep they were there on many layouts but quite small type only about an inch tall. What I found most disturbing today was the cake stand filled with a model railway on the BRM stand and Phil standing around not making sure there was ACTUAL CAKE! You’re slipping Mr Parker😁 Thoroughly enjoyed my day, could have done with the sign for the shuttle bus stop being visible at the top of the steps as we left as it was down hidden, as was the queue, at the bottom of the steps completely out of sight as you exited 😉 The whole point is to save our aching feet by being lazy and using the bus not hunting for it 😝 Good selection of layouts if a bit light on current day, I only found two, but plenty of variety to keep me entertained and the folks on Newchapel Jn just never stop running do they?!? 👍 The HST was genius, Mad but fun! Favourite of the show 😀 lovely modelling, well operated and thanks for the info. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 13 minutes ago, PaulRhB said: and Phil standing around not making sure there was ACTUAL CAKE! Look what had to offer up at Waterloo to make amends to the Cake Dietees 😉 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted March 17 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 17 11 hours ago, BluenGreyAnorak said: 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. Got home not long ago and I would endorse the above almost word-for-word. My only problem was not getting there early enough, just under four hours left me rushing round towards the end, obviously I'm entirely to blame for that. It quietened down a lot after about 1430 but there was one 009 layout I had to miss as the crowd didn't clear. Not really a problem for me as it's often scenic detail or static stock I'm looking at, but I noticed a few layouts appeared to have given up operating by mid-afternoon with nothing moving. If I did see a common theme this year it was a lot of long and narrow layouts representing very little beyond the railway boundary; I find that "width" greatly helps with creating a sense of place so a few of them didn't grab my attention for long, but the quality of workmanship was consistently high. Keeping with tradition at model railway exhibitions, I found that the layout that kept my attention longest (and it would have been longer but I was trying to make sure I'd been right round both halls) was one representing an era other than one I'm modelling myself and in a different scale: Newchapel Junction. It was wonderful to see an "old-fashioned style" operating-biased layout with trains being signalled from place-to-place and to hear bell codes between operators. A round of applause to the group exhibiting this. Compared to the "vast volumes of overpriced tat" all too common with traders, there were some genuinely good prices being asked. As it is I've limited myself to one HO locomotive I've wanted for about 40 years and a single pot of paint, but if I weren't being so strict at NOT buying more projects, I could have come home with bag-fulls. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold simon b Posted March 17 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17 Sadly work commitments meant I couldn't attend this year, but it looks to have been a great show. Could anyone help me with the name of london underground cameo layout, near to the Double o gauge association stand please? Just caught a glimpse of it in a show video. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT-1300 Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, arran said: Or £3.00 at the science center for a day and walk no further . Regards Arran That where I usually park, this year though I needed a quick getaway to the West End so plumped for the Hydro. I don't grudge paying, was just surprised at the options of 1 hour for £5.50, £11.00 thereafter! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianmianmianm Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 25 minutes ago, Northmoor said: If I did see a common theme this year it was a lot of long and narrow layouts representing very little beyond the railway boundary; I find that "width" greatly helps with creating a sense of place so a few of them didn't grab my attention for long, but the quality of workmanship was consistently high. I just finished a micro layout which is 4 x 16 inches. The track plan is literally a tuning fork, partly because a chunk of the layout space is intended for working road vehicles; but also the majority of my buildings are full depth with ultralow relief on the backscene for any buildings there (instead of flat pictures) and only 2 low relief buildings out of a total of 10, and these being on the ends. It's the first time I have built anything in this way and I find it much more immersive than previous thin layouts. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Phil Parker Posted March 17 Administrators Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, PaulRhB said: What I found most disturbing today was the cake stand filled with a model railway on the BRM stand and Phil standing around not making sure there was ACTUAL CAKE! You’re slipping Mr Parker😁 Cake was a bit of a disaster. There is a promising independent baker in Muswell Hill where I was staying. I stocked up on giant cookies, as they are easily transportable. Each was like eating dust. They went in the bin! 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD85 Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 I went along today for the afternoon. Newchapel Junction really is great to watch. Seen it many times but it's always so impressive because something is always on the move, it's fully signalled and well operated and it runs absolutely flawlessly which is the key to exhibiting successfully. Harton Gill was good, not seen that before. Most ingenious layout though had to be the US harbour one where the fiddle yard was the train ferry which would move on and offstage with its load. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 On 16/03/2024 at 19:29, 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. Ah - became the victim of a new weapon on Sunday - the shopping trolley ....................... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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