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North American layout "friendly" exhibitions in the UK?


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The age-old issue... I agree some shows are better than others than this.We took our Japanese layout to Wycrail last year, and it had a fantastic selection of layouts on show.

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Including mine.....

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That's easy. You need to convert to 1950s/60s British steam and green - ideally operating straight out of the box Bachmann and Hornby... :tomato:

What is it with these minority interest groups expecting everyone to cater for their tastes...? They ought to form their own specialist society and organise a show...

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  • 2 weeks later...

The NMRA British Region Convention at the Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth over the weekend of 17-19 October 2014, open to general public from 10.30 on the Saturday only, will be 100% North American with layoiuts in in N, HO, HOn3, On30 plus full trade support.

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Details at: http://www.nmrabr.org.uk/annual-convention

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Mike Arnold

Convention Chairman

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The NMRA British Region Convention at the Carrington House Hotel, Bournemouth over the weekend of 17-19 October 2014, open to general public from 10.30 on the Saturday only, will be 100% North American with layoiuts in in N, HO, HOn3, On30 plus full trade support.

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Details at: http://www.nmrabr.org.uk/annual-convention

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Mike Arnold

Convention Chairman

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By mandate?

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Andy

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I like American railways, always have. It must have come from watching all those film noir movies. But, I don't see these shows in the Exhibitions threads or the Calendar.

Why?

Regards

TVNAM was talked about at length...but on a topic in the US/Can section. You can see how it might be difficult to decide where to place such publicity, if it in the general section, you'd miss some who wouldn't go looking for general shows, but if it was only in a specialist area, you'd miss some general traffic those who don't specifically model the dark side, but would go to any show near them ( I got the impression that the Seaboard Southern Exhibition was good at attracting the latter... ).
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I like American railways, always have. It must have come from watching all those film noir movies. But, I don't see these shows in the Exhibitions threads or the Calendar.

Why?

Regards

The problem possibly is that they're not listed as "American Model Railroad" Shows. Of course TVNAM does have "North American" in it's Title, but as it's now just held it's fifth annual Show, most of us who are familiar with it know it by the initials, so a search of RMweb for "American Model Exhibition" isn't neccesarily going to throw up anything.
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"A punter" is English colloquial slang, mainly London or "Estuary English", for a customer - originally refering to those, aka "Johns", who frequented prostitutes, but now more generally for anyone who has paid, or is expected to buy something - eg "The punters were handing over their money like the stuff was going out of fashion" - Also originally one who "takes a flyer" or "takes a punt" and places a bet on an outside chance - rather like buying a poorly described item from ebay, hoping, and taking the chance, that it will turn out to be what your knowledge tells you it might be.

Possibly derived originally from Cockney rhyming slang - and I'm not going to progress that further on an open forum! I'm 99% sure that the forum software would censor it, and 100% certain that the moderators would ban me

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks,

Actually the explanation of "takes a chance" as the origin of the phrase may somehow tie into the position name on a football team.Β 

When I hear people use the term on podcasts it's not normally a compliment -

"We set up and run things for the 'punters'...."; or "...well you have to have somethingΒ to entertain theΒ 'punters.'"

And phrases like that.

In the States we often refer to those folks as the "goobers."

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More importantly, what's a "punter?" Other than the skinniest guy on the football team?

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One dictionary definition of "punter" is ".. a con-man's potential victim". So when we refer to punters in the customer sense, what does that make us? :O

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One dictionary definition of "punter" is ".. a con-man's potential victim". So when we refer to punters in the customer sense, what does that make us? :O

Well, we're obviously charlatans for trying to convince punters that the miniature worlds we create are nothing more than ground up foam and sawdust instead of some mystical trickery, even when they are charged a pittance for the privilege of seeing said items.

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I have heard that some of the models of steam and diesel locomotives are in fact electric worms with fake sound effects, but I think my electrics are vindicated on that count.

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My experience is perhaps more limited than most, but personally, I was appalled when I discovered the ratio of vendors stalls (huge)Β  to layouts (1-3 ish)Β  at the very few US "model railroad exhibitions", commercial or NMRA. It seemed to be the inverse of the few I had seen in the UK, where I thought the layouts were the majority by far.

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"Roll up! Roll up! This way to the egress"

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Andy

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Most model train enthusiasts are loyal to their country and their country's trains.Β  Especially over here, Americans have very little knowledge of other countries let alone other country's trains!Β  But as has been mentioned in this topic, most shows in Britain are UK centric and definitely most train shows over here feature American trains only.

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I have an O gauge tinplate layout which features both British and American trains which run in harmony together but one has to be a toy train nut to get away with that.Β  Imagine the horrified looks from HO/OO modellersΒ  :nono:

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Brian.

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....I have an O gauge tinplate layout which features both British and American trains which run in harmony together but one has to be a toy train nut to get away with that.Β  Imagine the horrified looks from HO/OO modellersΒ  :nono:Β Brian.

Often at Shows here the most popular layout - certainly the most action-packed - is the 'Toy Train' display of 60-year-old Hornby-Dublo stuff, all whizzing at breakneck speed around a few ovals of ancient track..!! ;)

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This is fairly common.Β  Toy trains because of their size, colour and clatter attract attention whereas scale layouts operate in virtual silence with 'prototypical' speeds and action.Β  No high speed stuff here!Β  The public rarely has a clue when operators with their radios 'operate miniature railways' as opposed to playing with trains.

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Brian.

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I agree with Brian.

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I have advocated for a long time that the show you put on for the "punters" is different to the one you put on at home or, say, the Freemo gathering, where you are entertaining yourself.

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How many of your average families who attend a UK show would appreciate the finer points of prtotypical operation be it UK, US or anything else?

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Having said that, you do of course get the shows, TVNAM* for example, which are targetted at like minded enthusiasts and therefore the audience would have a greater understanding of protoytpe operations.

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(* - sorry, couldn't resist the opportunity for a plug ;) )

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