Chris M

I can say there will be 146 trade exhibitors, 58 modelling or railway societies, 13 railway preservation societies and 20 demonstrators as things stand today. I have heard there will be about 1,000 seats provided for visitors. Despite having all that information I have absolutely no idea how many food stands there will be .

It's free entrance for everyone!

Here's a chart showing the number of layouts in various scales. The label shows scale, number of layouts,percentage of total layouts. The total layouts, as currently planned, is 91.

Maybe I didn't search properly but I couldn't find mention of this year's NEC show on the forum.

I really liked my Montego Advantage in pearlescent red because it looked snazzy. There weren't many made so if there are any left I can see it might be a classic - loved the white alloys which were part of the original spec. Sunroof and rear spoiler as well so it all felt pretty good at the time.

I find a magnifying lamp is an essential for N.

I think the best compromise was the one that failed to make it mainstream - 3mm. Nearly as compact as N but still somehow keeps the same presence as 00. The size of N does mean you can run express trains in a smallish space which is useful. You can also build a viable layout (for running trains rather than just shunting) on just one board that can be moved around the house by one person - this can be important for some. It is good that you don’t need much space to store a lot of stock. I think storage space is likely to be a problem in 0 as your collection of locos grows. One further advantage of N is that it is much easier and cheaper to transport a main line N gauge exhibition layout than an 00 one. The big downside of N is the couplings which are huge and look orrible on the front of a loco.

My other N layout is 44in by 27in and provides plenty of operation as it is a branch line with two passing stations and a terminus. Ok I had to use R1 curves in places but it is really nice to run.

To a degree it is "horses for courses". Very few people can run trains in the country in 0 due to space and equally an MPD works better in O than N. Personally I think N is great and deserves to have a greater following. I have two N gauge layouts which I love running but my other railway is G. You can get some nice scenes in a small space in N . This layout is 7ft by 3ft 2in

Whats all this rumour about certain societies and maybe other stands being dropped after booking a space in favour of a large retailer/manufacturer? I was going to go but parking on that field after all this rain - I don't think so.

At Tower Station. This is a present short line. There are a couple of working F units in Santa Fe livery and there is a preserved short Zephyr train. There is no reason why a short line in the USA couldn't trial the original PPM so this scene is perfectly possible.

I’ve now got a gen10 civic because I like the styling. This has proper rear suspension and with the 1.5 petrol engine is very nice to drive. It is more Accord size than traditional Civic size though and so maybe not so “chuckable”. Nevertheless it could be a classic in 20 years time when we are all driving around in EVs.

I see it as a big loss to the hobby, especially for those of us involved in N gauge. Not so much DJ Models but Dave Jones, the designer, is a keen N gauge supporter. As I understand it, he played a significant part in the design of a number of excellent Dapol models. I hope he might end up being in a position to design more models in the future, but it is probably best if he does this working for someone else's business.

That spoiler was standard on the 180

I wouldn't like to state any show was the best but it is nice to appreciate the special aspects of various shows. Taunton for lunch, closely followed by Warley although I love the one local show that takes your order for either mini fish or sausage and chips for lunch. Swindon Museum for the most interesting venue - a couple of days running my layout with a statue of IKB looking over was strangely intimidating. Exeter for the accomodation (single rooms) in the Uni and an excellent breakfast . Stafford for being a very good and rather large exhibition which remains personal and friendly.

To a large degree the quality of the visitors can make a show for an exhibitor. Some shows nobody seems to notice any of the finer points of my layout . Some shows there are very few good conversations. Other shows you can have lots of interesting conversations and discuss aspects of both the layout and real railways. The ones where you have the most interesting conversations are the best shows for me.

I agree about the S2000. I would love one but don't have £10k floating around to invest in a frivolous way. One fairly affordable, but I think maybe starting to go up in price potential classic is the MG ZS180. I had a couple when they were new and they were great fun while still being a practical family car. They were especially good fun on the mountain roads in Switzerland because they handled so well. Its surprising that what was a reasonably sporty car in its day (16 years ago) with a 2.6 litre V6 would now only count as a warm hatch and most modern 1.5 engines are more powerful thanks to the big turbos they fit.

Oh well that’s £67.50 that I will never see again. It was always a risk. I’m disappointed but not surprised. I think Dave tried but he just isn’t a businessman. The web site is currently open and I guess accepting payments.

One wonderful thing about garden railways is that sometimes it does its own thing. I didn't plant anything but I like the effect.

I don't have that problem - I cheat with my ebike!

I love old railway lines for cycling. One of the best, but also the most crowded, is Wadebridge to Padstow. The route of the Leek & Manifold railway is a nice one as is the one at Bakewell (also love the tarts here). Perhaps we could all take pictures next time we go out?

My well used Thomas appears at the 1 minute mark on this video. The “exploding” wagon goes down well with youngsters and could also be seen as a starter towards model construction as it has to be put back together every time. I find youngsters enjoy rebuilding the wagon.

Playmobil is probably best. The other way is to try to gently teach little ones to treat the model railway stuff with respect. This is not easy but my three year old grandson is pretty good. He knows that N gauge stuff has to be handled extremely carefully. He also understands that deliberately crashing garden railway stock is not a good thing. I have never told him off, just explained things carefully. I have found the Bachmann G scale Thomas has been very tough so far. He has a few battle scars but is still completely intact and runs perfectly despite the close attention of two grandchildren. He has another one to survive yet....

Some models do seem to suddenly disappear very rapidly. A lot of 80s and 90s cars drive reasonably well and should be fairly reliable. They tend to have fairly basic electrics and so are relatively easy to fix. More recent cars will be better in all ways but are very vulnerable to a failure of just one piece of electronics stopping the whole car. I had a Metro 1.4 cvt back in the day. Went very well but drank a lot of petrol. I used to love the way pushing the loud pedal to the floor caused the engine revs to hit peak power and stay at the same revs as the car rapidly accelerated. It also made for a relaxed motorway car as it would cruise at 70 on the motorway at very low revs compared to most other cars of the same era. Only problem was that if you put your foot down at 70mph the engine revs would rise dramatically but you wouldn’t accelerate.