Chris M

Testing is going well so far, and I haven’t cleaned the track yet.

Yes I know it’s the wrong kind of DMU for the West Country. One day I might get a more suitable one.

My only trip out with Dawlish Warren this year is next month. I'm going to the Statfold Barn model railway exhibition on 13th & 14th April. Statfold Barn is a wonderful venue for a model railway exhibition and I do recommend visiting. You can now go to two shows a year there with Statfold Barn's own show in April and Warley at Statfold in October. Although I would not call myself a narrow gauge fan I do love seeing their large collection of narrow gauge locos. They run their narrow gauge trains all day at these exhibitions and you can have as many rides as you like.

I have decided to go back to my first love and run my 1968 stock at Statfold Barn. This allows for a good variety of colours with Warships in green, maroon and blue and Westerns in maroon and blue. The last green warship turned blue in 1967 so my green one isn't allowed even though it looks very nice in green. There is also plenty of mix and match between yellow warning panels and full yellow ends. I can run my motorail with 5 coaches plus six carflats; at this length it just fits my longest storage siding. My coaches will be mostly blue & grey but still with quite a few maroon all mixed together and of course the Cornish Riviera Express was hauled by double headed Warships at that time. I think this makes for a nice mixture of trains which will just run round once and then the next one will go. Some will stop, some will go straight through and some will be overtaken while sitting in the station loop. I think this is reasonably entertaining - but then I must do because I love running these trains and watching them go past at home. At the risk of sounding boring I already know exactly what trains I will be running because they will all be getting a good run at home this month, just to make sure everything is fine.

The trains will be:-

UP

Motorail, paddington express, engineers train, local passenger, milk for Kensington and clayliner for Etruria.

DOWN

Cornish Riviera Express, NE to SW express, long freight, parcels, DMU, local passenger.

One of the things I love about N gauge is that it is possible to run reasonable length trains on a reasonable sized layout. My long freight will be around 38 wagons and my clayliner 30. It takes quite a time to set the stock up on this layout. The first time out I ran different stock on the Saturday and Sunday but my fellow operators have since explained to me that it is a bad thing to do; it causes a lot of unnecessary work on Sunday morning. I get plenty of advice from my fellow operators....

8 hours ago, e30ftw said:

 

you can fit a lot in N gauge, not much colour in corporate blue era though

I hate those layouts where someone just plonks as much track as they can down on a flat baseboard.

3 hours ago, Porfuera said:

 

Really? Perhaps you should take a look at the following video. The "it won't be possible" has been done already.

 

But then I guess it is much easier for all those that don't like TT:120 to knock it by complaining about how small the range is or how slow Hornby are at getting it to market or how they've made the wrong choices of locos than it is to get on and do something about those things.

 

 

Call me picky if you like but I do like all my stock to be the same scale. 

Until the range increases dramatically TT:120 will be very much a train set scale; it won't be possible to build a serious model railway for the foreseeable future. I still haven't got over the Dawlish layout running nothing but LNER pacifics. Could have been a good layout if they had done it in N and used suitable stock.  The HSTs and 50s will improve that layout no end but that layout will still only have two classes of relevant motive power and there doesn't appear to be anything else suitable in the planning stages. You just can't make a proper model railway from the stock announced so far. TT:120 remains ideal for train sets though.

It will be interesting to see whether other manufacturers bring out any locos. It would be a big risk but it could just be a good move. 

1 minute ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

The "rules of the road" do - the Highway Code applies to all road users, including pedestrians - but speed limits apply only to motor vehicles, not to cyclists or horse-drwn vehicles.

Surely not to cyclists though.....

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

Plenty unmotorised vehicles can manage over 20mph; any decent cyclist, even me, can do it easily,

But the rules of the road don't apply to cyclists.

So how do electric cars get on through fords and floods? I guess everything is nicely sealed so they are ok.

The hope and intention is that Warley at Statfold will be an annual event. October was the traditional time for the Warley show. The NEC bumped us back to November because of other bigger shows they had at the time.

4 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

Just a reminder that two weeks before the Statfold Exhibition and GETS is Stafford Railway Exhibition over the weekend of 28th & 29th September with 50 quality layouts booked and around the same number of traders both big & small and of course free car parking for over 2500 vehicles and complimentary preserved bus service on both the Saturday & Sunday 

 

I also will be going to Warley/Statfold exhibition and I agree it's a excellent venue and wish it well.

 

 

And I’m sure members of Warley club will be Stafford either helping or as paying visitors. Stafford exhibition is quite probably the biggest club run event in the country and always well worth a visit.

8 minutes ago, arran said:

Playing games and now found out !!!!

 

I think people should declare and interest  in subjects like this 

 

Regards Arran

? Sorry I don’t understand this. If it’s referring to me I have mentioned that I am a member of Warley club many times over a many years in various threads. 

20 hours ago, mike morley said:

I've been to GETS three times and have always walked (I can see the football stadium from the end of the road) but the desire for quality means this year I'll be going to Warley @ Statfold.

As a long term member of Warley club and therefore likely to be biased in favour of Warley I have to say that I always thought the layouts at GETS were good quality. I rate GETS as a very good show.

I'm told that, in order to avoid any overcrowding, there will be a limit to the number of tickets available each day for Warley at Statfold. No doubt more details will emerge later on this.

1 hour ago, arran said:

https://www.statfold.com/events

 

I wonder what else is on in October to Force the dates selected ?

They have private functions there as well. You could get married there if you wanted.

8 hours ago, 2ManySpams said:

I personally don't see the clash with GETS as an issue. I've been once and don't think I'd bother going again. I can play the sardine game on my train trips to and from Birmingham or on the London Underground. 

 

The two events seem completely different and I think will attract different audiences. The Statfold event is certainly in my diary. I just hope they start beefing up the capacity of the catering to cope with the visitor numbers. 

 

Being only 5 miles down the road I'd happily offer my cameo layout for a show in 2025.

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of Jamie of this parish.

Great modelling. I will pass the photos over to the layout team.

27 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

Surely everyone becomes one anyway after visiting Statfold? Like @PaulRhB I enjoyed the 009 Society anniversary event at Statfold so I like the sound of this. The event space used for the layouts themselves is very good, and I thought the roundhouse was a very effective and interesting museum space. When I was there it looked as though a new building next to the main 2ft gauge station was being fitted out too so I don’t know if this will provide any extra space for layouts as well?

 

In general I think the combination of full-sized museum/heritage railway and model railway exhibition is a good one that has worked well at other sites as well. It would be good to ride on the 12 1/4” line as this didn’t seem to be running when I was there last year.

Before I went to Statfold Barn last April I had absolutely no intention of building an 009 layout, not even the slightest itch.  Some time last year I started coming up with plans for an 009 layout and now Warley club is building an 009 layout to my design. I am or course very much part of the team building this layout. Maybe the Statfold Barn visit provided inspiration for my change of direction. I might start a thread about the layout build.

On 23/02/2024 at 19:49, stan williams said:

Other events that weekend.

Hornby Magazine   Show,  Milton  Keynes,

Wakefield MRC Show.

Farnham & District MRC Show.

Cradley Heath Event.

 

Layouts and traders could be thin on the ground, as I presume these shows will have already booked them up.

I would agree it is not the best weekend but it was the only one available at Statfold Barn this year. Next year's date will almost certainly be better from this point of view. I know GETS and Farnham are great shows as I have visited and exhibited at both of them.  I am sad that I will inevitably miss GETS this year but I am really looking forward to spending the weekend at Statfold Barn. It will be my second weekend there as I am exhibiting at the April Statfold Barn model railway exhibition.

I don't think layouts for the Warley at Statfold exhibition will be a problem as there are plenty of high quality layouts around. Traders could be more of a problem but I'm told the emphasis will be on attracting the smaller specialist trade stand; the kind that generally could not do the NEC. I have not seen many of those smaller specialists at GETS so hopefully getting the right traders will not be a major issue either. As the proposal to put on this exhibition was only finalised during last week nobody will have been invited yet. I know there are a number of club members working hard on who to invite at the moment.

I know I am not taking my Dawlish Warren layout as it was at the NEC last year and will be at Statfold Barn in April. That's more than enough!

On 23/02/2024 at 17:20, Chris M said:

I’m not really a narrow gauge fan but I do love Statfold Barn Railway.

I’m also building an 009 layout . I must be more of a fan of narrow gauge than I thought.

33 minutes ago, banburysaint said:

Commendable to create a new event but this exhibition clashes with Great Electric Train show at Milton Keynes for 2024 and there is already a model event at Statfold earlier in the year. 

The clash with GETS is not a good thing. I normally visit GETS but the date we have was the only free weekend available at Statfold Barn. They are two quite different shows though. If I wasn’t involved I would probably go to one on the Saturday and the other on the Sunday.

Personally I would expect there to be two model railway shows at Statfold each year. They are 6 months apart and as a visitor I would happily go to both. In fact I am going to both as I am taking my layout to the April show. I’m not really a narrow gauge fan but I do love Statfold Barn Railway.

11 hours ago, keefer said:

Steam depot coaling stage out of action?

Nae bother tae the boys at Perth in 1958, job done!

A temporary measure by Kevin Lane, on Flickr

Love it!  One can't help feeling there may be a couple of minor heath & safety issues.

They are all toy trains really. Everyone will have their own set of wants to class their layout as a model railway. Nobody is right or wrong, just different opinions which are all equally valid. Everyone should do whatever makes them happy and nobody should criticise them.

having said that here are my criteria for a model railway:-

1 Rail sides must be painted. Shiny bright rail sides really does mean train set.

2. Weathered stock. Unweathered stock straight out of the box just looks plasticky and so train set.

3. Buffer details added. Locos on proper model railways have hoses and couplings on the front buffer beams. Train sets have holes in the buffer beams.

4. Reasonably believable train formations. Too many train sets at exhibitions feature a diesel hauling brightly coloured seven plank coal wagons. I’m all for folk doing whatever they want in the privacy of their own home but that sort of thing should never be seen in public.

5. This may be a tad controversial. A train set is where tracks have been laid on a flat board and scenery built around it. A proper model railway recognises that land is never absolutely level (except for the workers houses at Swindon) and land height is often lower than the level of the track. It appears to me that most train set builders are members of the flat earth society.

Well that’s how I judge things. Others will have different criteria and that is fine by me. I would never say anyone doing any of the above is wrong , they just have different equally valid criteria. The most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing.

In the UK the "normal" situation is as follows:-

Trade exhibitors pay for their space at a rate determined by the exhibition manager or team. Sometimes trade exhibitors can have free drinks at a show

Layout exhibitors get re-imbursed for fuel and van hire (if required) . Layout exhibitors are also usually provided with free tea & coffee (often made by themselves in a designated room) and lunch. Lunch can vary from a sandwich through mini fish & chips to a cooked meal. Warley provided a cooked meal at the NEC and Taunton club provide a voucher which goes a long way towards the excellent meals cooked by the catering staff at their venue. Where overnight accommodation is required a hotel is provided complete with breakfast. Layout exhibitors pay for their own evening meal and any incidental food etc. Some layout exhibitors will not want expenses if they think the show is for a good cause.  Club layouts going to other clubs shows will work on the same basis as individuals. The costs of the layout operators will be covered but no donation to the club is expected. 

Sometimes one club provides stewards for another club's exhibition and the exhibiting club may make a donation to the club that helped out in this way.

The above is the way it mostly works but are not hard rules. I know of one show where they do not provide food or drinks to layout exhibitors. I don't like this so the last time I was invited there I said no thank you.  Some layout exhibitors have tried to charge a lot on their expenses, for instance wanting 45p per mile for their car. If that happens they will not be invited again. Quite a few exhibition managers state a mileage rate which makes fuel costs clearer but I would often want less than that to cover my actual fuel costs.

The above arrangements seem to be quite equitable to me.

1 minute ago, irishmail said:

Nothing for that sort of money here lol,  you looking at over €100.00 for Dublin for a start, thats one of the reasons why I gave up exhibiting at shows was the cost of accomodation. 

Big organisations such as Key, Warners etc maybe can bear the cost of accomodation for exhibitors, but obviously smaller clubs that run shows may not which is why 'most' run exhibitions to raise funds for the club as well as promoting the hobby.

I would expect that Key and Warners need to make a profit on every show because they are businesses and profit is what keeps a business going in the long term. A club can afford to just scrape an excess of income over expenditure and be happy whereas a business must get a reasonable return on any investment. Businesses do have professional people who are organising exhibitions all the time which will help them put on a show that is highly cost effective.

A problem for exhibition managers is that exhibitors have very variable wants and needs. This year we are going to one exhibition where the layout operators are happily paying the cost of van hire ourselves. We decided we wanted to go to that exhibition and we also wanted to support the organisation putting on the show so why not? Conversely I have turned down an invitation to a commercially run show  this year simply because they don't provide a lunch or even a cup of tea to exhibitors. I have been to this show before and ramped up my expenses to cover tea and lunch but this time I couldn't be bothered - its their loss.   This sort of illustrates that the way a show looks after its exhibitors is likely to have an affect on the quality of the show.

An exhibition not arranging accommodation should be expected to put some layout exhibitors off attending.  On the other hand it would be preferred by me. Maybe, as suggested above, exhibition managers should offer the two options - arranged accommodation or an accommodation allowance. Could be best of both worlds for all concerned. 

I don't know where the £35 came from but that would equate to £70 per night for a twin room which is usually within Premier Inn and Travelodge prices if you book early. Just checking prices for my next exhibition (where I don't need a hotel) Travelodge would be £81 for two people in one room for two nights excluding breakfast but Travelodge would be £130 for the exhibition after that. Overall £35 per person per night could well be about right but might be a bit under if you include a full breakfast. If you do a lot of exhibitions it will be swings and roundabouts. If I was taking a layout with just one other operator I would probably go for a room each and pay the extra. I reckon that would cost about the same or maybe a little bit less than going for two single rooms via the exhibition manager.