Leaning on/touching Exhibition Layouts.

[Neil]

I assumed you had Phil, but thought it worth mentioning for others who might just have rocked up on the day with a set of barriers.

[The Johnster]

Crowd control barriers are heavy and awkward things to lump around when the show is setting up, and more so at the end when everything is being taken down and you’re tired and want to go over the pub.  I’ve done my share of this joyful activity (remind me; why am in this hobby again) and objected vociferously to being told (not asked) to do it at one show back in the 80s by an officious and entitled member of another club, who got told where he could shove his barriers for his pains.  
 

Barriers are like putting the chairs away after meetings, or car park duty; the same faces get roped in every time and eventually it becomes their job, at which point they are likely to leave the hobby or at least the club.  Not good enough; there will always be jobs nobody likes, but these need to be a) fairly shared, and b) seen to be fairly shared.  
 

Of course this happens in other hobbies as well; in my percussion band we found that the same people were putting the drums away at the end of practice workshops, which takes about 5 minutes if everyone pitches in and the better part of half an hour because they’ve got to be stacked properly to protect the heads with only 2 or 3 of you.  When we’d had enough and refused one Saturday, the excuses poured in; got to pick the kids up from footy/ballet class/whatever, essential I get away before the traffic, meeting so&so up the pub in ten minutes, the match is starting, some relly is visiting &c &c &c.  So what, Saturday’s my only day to do all that sort of stuff as well, I’ve got a life too and it’s just as important to me as yours is to you, if you can’t make the full commitment join a different band, what did your last slave die of (hint; now is a seriously undiplomatic moment to reply with ‘answering back’, even if that is a really cool answer!)

Edited April 23 by The Johnster

[F-UnitMad]

3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

what did your last slave die of (hint; now is a seriously undiplomatic moment to reply with ‘answering back’, even if that is a really cool answer!)

Best answer I ever heard to that question was "Disobedience". 

[PMP]

7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Usually not set up properly.

 

They should be able to resist quite a few tons of weight at the front of a music gig or similar if used correctly.

 

 

Jason

They most certainly creep when set up ‘properly’ as you can see here.

One of the key front of house jobs with Heaton Lodge is making sure the gap is maintained, usually with a wander down the perimeter pushing the barriers back every half hour or so when it’s busy, sometimes more frequently.

[philsandy]

and it all fits in to the back of a hatchback.

[RichardT]

On 23/04/2024 at 13:08, Phil Parker said:

In my experience, "enthusiasts" are no better than the general public, and older people no better than children, in their respect for the models on display.

Absolutely. The adult enthusiast community contains a fair proportion of special people and more often than not it’s they who have problems with concepts of personal space and respect for other peoples’ property. I particularly relish comments from these people about how they don’t like barriers or screens getting in the way of their expensive camera kit.

And given that there have been articles and editorial comments about “finger-poking” adults in railway modelling magazines from at least the 1950s onwards, can we drop the inter-generational blame game? This isn’t the Daily Mail.

 

As usual, the people who will read and respect a “please do not touch” notice are the ones who don’t need the notice. The others will ignore it.

 

RichardT

 

 

Edited April 24 by RichardT
Spelling

[009 micro modeller]

17 minutes ago, RichardT said:

And given that there have been articles and editorial comments about “finger-poking” adults in railway modelling magazines from at least the 1950s onwards, can we drop the inter-generational blame game? This isn’t the Daily Mail.

Besides which, who are these people defining as ‘the current generation’ (as used earlier in this thread)? If it means ‘the current generation of young adults’ then I haven’t noticed that anyone in this group is any more likely to poke at or damage a layout than older people are. So perhaps they mean ‘the current generation of young children’ which for reasons covered earlier is a rather spurious group to blame for this sort of thing and a bit petty anyway. So they must presumably mean ‘everyone who is currently alive who has ever visited a model railway exhibition’, which is certainly an interesting take…

[PMP]

1 hour ago, 009 micro modeller said:

. So they must presumably mean ‘everyone who is currently alive who has ever visited a model railway exhibition’, which is certainly an interesting take…

It is at least, ‘inclusive’.

[BR traction instructor]

...easy...DON'T

 

BeRTIe

[YT-1300]

2 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Besides which, who are these people defining as ‘the current generation’ (as used earlier in this thread)? If it means ‘the current generation of young adults’ then I haven’t noticed that anyone in this group is any more likely to poke at or damage a layout than older people are. So perhaps they mean ‘the current generation of young children’ which for reasons covered earlier is a rather spurious group to blame for this sort of thing and a bit petty anyway. So they must presumably mean ‘everyone who is currently alive who has ever visited a model railway exhibition’, which is certainly an interesting take…

Current generation of a@@eholes?

[Chris M]

Interesting discussion and something I have recently been musing over. The weekend before last I took my layout to an exhibition with no barriers and had absolutely no problem at all. Everyone stood at a reasonable distance and just one or two youngsters touched the static grass. This set me thinking. Over the past 12 years or so I have taken various layouts to around 40 exhibitions, some with barriers and some without. At just one show without barriers I had to ask someone to not lean on the layout. The only slight damage to just one layout from a visitor was when a youngster made a grab for some fencing and there were barriers at that exhibition. In my experience barriers do move towards the layout because people lean on them. I recall moving them back a number of times at most exhibitions with barriers. Last weekend, where there were no barriers, I noticed that everyone was automatically keeping a reasonable distance from the layout despite being two or three deep at times. This set me thinking that maybe barriers are the problem. Without them people exercise self restraint and there are no problems. With barriers visitors lean over the layout as the barrier slowly moves closer and closer to the layout. I reckon people will usually be further away from the layout when there aren't barriers than when there are.

 

I know I will be a lone voice on this one but I am very happy to not have barriers at an exhibition; in my experience it just isn't a problem. 

 

 

[BR traction instructor]

...at the point at which you may decide to place an elbow, tripod, hand or other such appendage onto someone else's beloved project you have no inkling of the work/effort involved in creating same/importance attached to it by the creator, or the potential damage that you may inflict. If you can't remain upright/unassisted whilst briefly attending such a feat then go and recline in the cafeteria until you have the energy to resist denigrating the efforts of others with your bulk,

 

BeRTIe

Edited April 24 by BR traction instructor

[fulton]

38 minutes ago, Chris M said:

 

 

I know I will be a lone voice on this one but I am very happy to not have barriers at an exhibition; in my experience it just isn't a problem. 

 

 

You are not alone, I'm happy either way, nearly all the damage has happened during setting up/ taking down and transporting, as for people leaning on the layout or touching that is just ignorant, I do tolerate children touching if they are careful, most parents are good at controlling them. Not a great believer in signs, but this one caught my eye.

[YT-1300]

2 hours ago, Chris M said:

Interesting discussion and something I have recently been musing over. The weekend before last I took my layout to an exhibition with no barriers and had absolutely no problem at all. Everyone stood at a reasonable distance and just one or two youngsters touched the static grass. This set me thinking. Over the past 12 years or so I have taken various layouts to around 40 exhibitions, some with barriers and some without. At just one show without barriers I had to ask someone to not lean on the layout. The only slight damage to just one layout from a visitor was when a youngster made a grab for some fencing and there were barriers at that exhibition. In my experience barriers do move towards the layout because people lean on them. I recall moving them back a number of times at most exhibitions with barriers. Last weekend, where there were no barriers, I noticed that everyone was automatically keeping a reasonable distance from the layout despite being two or three deep at times. This set me thinking that maybe barriers are the problem. Without them people exercise self restraint and there are no problems. With barriers visitors lean over the layout as the barrier slowly moves closer and closer to the layout. I reckon people will usually be further away from the layout when there aren't barriers than when there are.

 

I know I will be a lone voice on this one but I am very happy to not have barriers at an exhibition; in my experience it just isn't a problem. 

 

 

I operate from the front so prefer no barriers, I find, like you, that people seem to keep a distance

[Phil Bullock]

We also operate on a wandering basis …. So have gone for eyebolts with cord through them. 

 

Mind you that gang of criminals should be enough to deter any potential learners or tinkerers. That 4 doll bracket causes angst though… and red cord next time i think! 

Edited April 24 by Phil Bullock

[009 micro modeller]

11 hours ago, YT-1300 said:

I operate from the front so prefer no barriers, I find, like you, that people seem to keep a distance

Also if operating from the front you can keep an eye on what’s going on at the front, which otherwise perhaps isn’t as easy.

 

With my layout as described above it is difficult to see what’s going on from the back because of the enclosed box, and I need to get to the front every so often to swap stock over, but otherwise it largely runs on its own and I just need to monitor it and engage with the visitors. But equally I can’t stand right in front of it as that obscures their view.