Nicktuk159 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 (Merseyside Model Railway Society) Birkenhead 2011 Model Railway Exhibition - October 29 & 30, 2011 at Pacific Road Arts Centre, Pacific Road, Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside CH41 1LJ (link to map - but note that Queensway is under the ground in a tunnel !) 20 layouts, traders, demonstrators and Society stands, hot and cold refreshments, licensed bar, tram rides, free vintage bus rides! Saturday 29th Oct. 10am - 5pm Sunday 30th Oct. 10am - 5pm Layouts include to date: Ardson (OO); Barmouth Bridge (O); Brocklebank Dock (OO); Bishop Wearburn (N); Coed Helen (N): Dolgellau (OO); Gillan & Brown (O); Jacksonville Yard (American HO); Margam TMD (2mm); Maloja (Swiss HO); Pexhill (OO9); Shake the Box (OO); Steiglitz (Z); St Giles (OO); St George's Quay (OO); Threeson's Bridge (O); Wassenen (Swiss N); Western Avenue (O); West Lancs 'O' Gauge running track (O); Widnes Vineyard (OO) Traders: Dave's Railway Videos, Finishing Touches, Freestone Model Accessories, Hoyle's Models, MMRS Club Books and Magazines, MMRS Club Shop, Model Roads & Tramways, Nick Tozer Railway Books, Penketh Model Railway Centre, PL Models, The Trainman, Ultimate Allocations, Warrington Totems, World of Motion Societies: 201 Bus Group, GWR Society, Help for Heroes, MerseyRail, Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society, New Brighton Model Boat Club, Rainhill Model Railway Club, West Lancs 'O' Gauge, Wirral Model Engineers The Society locomotive clinic and stand will be there so bring your casualties along. Free parking in our off-street car park, disabled Access. Prices unchanged for 3 years Adults £4.50; Children £2.50; 5 & under FREE; Concessions £3.50 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted October 20, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 20, 2011 Really looking forward to it - I'll be there helping Ian Morton with "Shake the Box", travelling over with the St Giles boys, so I guess I'll be helping them set-up too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFonz1 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 All being well I will attend it is just across the border in England from where I live I have business to attend to on Friday but all being well this won't deter me from going! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 All being well I will attend it is just across the border in England from where I live I have business to attend to on Friday but all being well this won't deter me from going! Note this year IT IS NOT open Friday evening Regards Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted October 27, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2011 Getting ready for the long drive North - hopefully see some of you over the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 If all goes to plan I should be visiting on Saturday afternoon. The London Midland £10 fare promotion should get me up from London, then ferry across the Mersey, and tram to outside the venue! Hopefully the whole lkength of the tramway is open now, when I visited earlier in the year the bit to the ferry terminal was out of use whilst the Police gate was under repair. I hadn't even heard of the Birkenhead trams until about this time last year... well worth a visit - although I no nothing about trams - perhaps someone could enlighten me to the origin of this pair? and for those who enjoy a bit of dockside furniture, how about this? Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Hopefully the whole lkength of the tramway is open now, when I visited earlier in the year the bit to the ferry terminal was out of use whilst the Police gate was under repair. I hadn't even heard of the Birkenhead trams until about this time last year... well worth a visit - although I no nothing about trams - perhaps someone could enlighten me to the origin of this pair? Jon Yes the whole line is now open again - it was only closed for a few weeks. The Blue/Cream double decker is Birkenhead 69. One of a pair (69 and 70) built specifically for the Birkenhead Heritage Tramway by Hong Kong Tramways in 1992. They are a double ended version of the then standard HK Body design. The yellow tram is Lisbon 730. Originally brought to the UK for the Seaton Tramway, but never used there. It was moved north and regauged from metre to standard gauge around 2004/5 ish. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 9f's used to run across that bridge on freights Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 The Blue/Cream double decker is Birkenhead 69. One of a pair (69 and 70) built specifically for the Birkenhead Heritage Tramway by Hong Kong Tramways in 1992. They are a double ended version of the then standard HK Body design. Thanks Paul - so presumably these were paid for by the local council? was there an intent for the Birkenhead tramway to be a public transport system? Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Thanks Paul - so presumably these were paid for by the local council? was there an intent for the Birkenhead tramway to be a public transport system? Jon The tramway was always to be a "heritage" project. The council ran it at first but now the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society do so. They also have trams from Birkenhead, Wallasey and Liverpool running with another two (from Warrington and Liverpool) under repair. Their website is (if I've got it right!) http://www.mtps.co.uk/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLD Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 The tramway was always to be a "heritage" project. The council ran it at first but now the Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society do so. They also have trams from Birkenhead, Wallasey and Liverpool running with another two (from Warrington and Liverpool) under repair. Their website is (if I've got it right!) http://www.mtps.co.uk/ Operation is by the MTPS who also own the historic cars, but the two HK cars and the permanent way are still assets of Wirral Borough Council. There is an on-off-on-off proposal for Mersey Travel to take over the line from WBC and Mersey Travel also have Blackpool Railcoach 626 in store in connection with this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Operation is by the MTPS who also own the historic cars, but the two HK cars and the permanent way are still assets of Wirral Borough Council. There is an on-off-on-off proposal for Mersey Travel to take over the line from WBC and Mersey Travel also have Blackpool Railcoach 626 in store in connection with this... I had heard of the various proposals but I'm not quite sure how far they've got with them. It does explain why 626 has been outside the Pacific Road complex for a while with Woodside on the indicator. A few pics from the exhibition. Brocklebank Dock,built in an old seafarer's chest (not really the best way to show it, I think). Coed Helen a N scale layout featuring standard and narrow gauge (on the higher level) Pexhil 009 gauge Shake the box 00 gauge Jacksonville Yard HO gauge Dolgellau 00 gauge Outside Birkenhead bus No10 was giving free rides Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinty3f Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Each year, I visit just a few local shows, but in spite of only living the other side of the river, today was the first time that I have visited the Birkenhead show. I have to say it was excellent, - great value for money, with every layout of a high standard, and all the operators seemed to be very approachable to talk about their layouts. The venue was good, and I will definitely have this show on my calendar for next year. Congrats to all the organisers and layouts - first class. JD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ian Posted October 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 30, 2011 As an exhibitor I'd just like to say thank you to the MMRS team for making me feel welcome. Shake-the-Box had a continual stream of 'guest operators' from the children at the show (and a couple of adults). Given that each driver got a jelly baby and four packets were consumed over the weekend I think it was well received! And big thank you to Redgate Models who helped out over the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted October 30, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 30, 2011 More thanks for the MMRS team for their hospitality. Widnes performed impeccably over the weekend and we had several guest operators, including a few who needed to stand on the stools to see over the backscene, hopefully they will go away withg a pleasant memory and may one day build their own Widnes* Amusing moment of the show was a chat with someone who remembered VineYard station - and nice moment was chatting with a guy who was a signalman in Widnes No.1 box (our derelict box is a model of Widnes No.1) * other layouts are available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted October 31, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 31, 2011 A great weekend for me too. Big thanks to the MMRS, Dave Harrison of St Giles for the lift and Ian Morton for letting me play with his trainset all weekend. great to meet up again with some familiar faces and meet new ones. Beast's comment about guest operators seems to have been a common thread throughout the show, Ian's layout was primarily operated by kids and St Giles had several guest operators too - especially on Sunday afternoon when two girls from the digs operated whilst the chaps started packing away stock that would not run again that day. We saw more of the area than we should have as the Sat-nav took us through the Queensway Tunnel to Liverpool, thanks Beast for explaining that the tunnel actually goes under the building we were in, so the stupid box took us right to the spot, albeit a few metres too low here's a couple of pics taken from the balcony on Sunday and my next project if George gets his way .... and to think I could have been in a caravan all weekend with the mother-in-law ........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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