Chris M

I found the early removal of stand numbers rather annoying as well. It made my task of visiting certain layouts to pick up forms almost impossible. I will certainly be having a discussion on that subject. In the other hand it has to be said that while these signs are not in fact made of reinforced titanium someone at the club has to print them out and then encapsulate them. Anyone fancy encapsulating 250 A4 sheets in their spare time?

I agree as well and it is a problem across all exhibitions. It is hard to run trains and chat at the same time but running trains for paying visitors should always be the priority. I have always tried to ensure there are plenty of trains running on my exhibition layouts. At home, running by myself, I run at about 1 train movement per minute on average and some trains take more than a minute to run through the scenic section. At an exhibition we have one person running the up and another running the down so we must be running at around two train moves per minute or probably slightly more over the whole day. I think a lot of paying customers appreciate that.

Warley accommodation guidance does mention this, it says "Accommodation is provided for up to SIX exhibitors in three rooms who have to travel a distance greater than one hour’s drive to or from their home." The number of exhibitors is going to be dependent upon the layout. Personally I would drive about an hour and a half to get home on Saturday night rather than share a room with one of my model railway friends. I'm sure they would say the same.

Thanks. We've not done too bad considering we are just a bunch of amateurs having a go at an exhibition in our spare time.

I'm going to give a tip to all exhibitors at all exhibitions. It is inevitable that from time to time an exhibitor will be at odds with a member of an exhibition team. This is thankfully rare but it does happen. It can especially happen after a long weekend at an exhibition when everyone might be a little tired and jaded. If you find yourself having an issue with a member of an exhibition team I recommend that you either phone or email the exhibition manager or maybe the club chairman after the event when things have calmed down and state your issue. These representatives of the club, even whilst believing their team member was right, could well roll their eyes and say ok lets just agree about the complaint and get it sorted. I do not recommend going on social media to make the whole thing public as this is far less likely to provide a happy resolution to the issue.

The limited company that runs the show does actually make a profit of loss. The company then donates any available funds to the club which can only have a surplus and not a profit. It is written into the Warley club rules that officers cannot be paid for their club work. It is considered normal across the layout exhibitor community that taking a layout to a show will cost the owner more than the expenses claimed. I think next year a few of us will be clubbing together to pay for van hire that will not be claimed on expenses. Its no big deal, we will do it because we want to support the organisation behind the exhibition, and we will enjoy it.

The comments on this page regarding the club set up are largely accurate. Whilst there is a limited company to protect the club it is far from a normal company as nobody gets any pay at all. I must point out that if it wasn't for many Warley club members giving hundreds of hours of their time for no reward over the whole year this show would have made a thumping great loss every year for the last 30 years. The cost of the time put in, even at minimum wage, would be hugely more than any excess of income over expenditure. Many of the members involved in the show are professionals who would command a lot more than minimum wage for the work they do towards the show. I'm sure this is appreciated by pretty much all the folk on this forum. The same applies to all shows put on by model railway clubs, its just that this one takes a lot more work to make it happen. I reckon I spend 2 or 3 hours a week on average every week of the year doing work purely for the Warley show and I am not one of the main exhibition committee members. Those of you of around my age may well remember that during the 1990s the hobby felt as though it was in the doldrums and slowly fading. The main driver behind Warley club creating the NEC show was to create a spectacle to show off the hobby and help to reinvigorate it. That's why so many of us have given so much time to it and continue to happily give our time.

Kytes Lights couldn’t come. They had a flood just before the show. Most unfortunate for them. I hope they have everything sorted out very soon.

I'm not involved in this but I can't help but wonder what you expect to gain by publicising this here. Also I can't help but wonder why you are so special that you deserve to get so much more than any other exhibitor. Some exhibitors quietly decline the offer of expenses which is very kind of them.

The small traders issue has been discussed many times. Fact is their margins are thin and the costs of hotels, van hire, fuel, their time, etc make for an expensive weekend regardless of the stand rental cost.

This year the cost was circa £0.00 thanks largely to Accurascale and the generosity of the Erlestoke Manor Fund & Severn Valley Railway.

I would just like to say thank you to all those who attended our show as paying visitors or as exhibitors.

The lack of glossy guide was due to nobody volunteering to edit it.

It would be great to have lots of small traders but the costs, especially when you include accommodation, van hire, fuel, eating out etc are just too high for many of them.

Parking. I sure I posted on here telling folk to buy parking in advance or park at international station more cheaply or park for free down the line. I can’t help but wonder how anyone can read my posts here, decide to pay full price at the NEC and then moan about it here. More seating - good idea. If there was more seating and fewer layouts it would cost a lot less to put on.

I agree about the kettle but have to disagree about the layouts. Quite a few layouts did “blow my socks off” . I may well be biased but I thought there were a good number of excellent layouts. As a layout exhibitor I do take offence that you describe my layout as either “average sort of stuff or even dog eared.”

There were actually fewer trade exhibitors this year than in recent years. Layouts were about the same as usual at around 90.

Don't forget the Peco N gauge wagons that are made here in the UK down in sunny Devon. Here is my clayliner train made from Peco 5 plank wagon kits running on Peco code 55 tracks and using some Unifrog points. I need to put new wheelsets in some of my wagons but I think this makes a fine train that looks great. The great thing for me about N is that I can run a train of this length in an ordinary sized room. That and the greater scenic development opportunities in a smaller scale.

My Dapol tender locos don't seem to be too bad.

The big weekend is here. Petty much everything was set up yesterday. My plan is to spend as much of the two days as possible playing trains and chatting. I dare say I will get called away from running trains to perform various duties over the weekend though. Apparently Modelu are going to scan me, I really can't see why. Something to do with me being Warley club chairman I guess. That will make for an odd shaped figure. I will have to speak with the exhibition sponsors on Sunday which will be a nice bit of hobnobbing for me. I shall have my layout t-shirt on all weekend. I did have a maroon jacket but I have passed that on to someone else. My jacket seems to have shrunk in the wardrobe over the years. I hope everyone who comes to the exhibition has a great time and spends loads of money. I said I wasn't going to buy anything but after a walk around the hall yesterday evening I can feel myself succumbing to temptation.

Hi Robert, could I have a spare table?

Different scales provide different possibilities. I went from 00 to N just over ten years ago. I would not change back. As in any scale Peco track is a good choice. I think all recently released stock from all manufacturers is pretty good. Enjoy.

The lorry has arrived at our clubroom to load up for the NEC. Blimey, that’s a big one! This should be loaded by around midday and will then make its way to hall 5 where the rest of the day will be spent unloading. The Luton van used yesterday will also go to the clubroom again to pick up anything that can’t be fitted on the lorry. I'm getting too old for all this! I know will feel ten years older on Monday.

Although club members are under a lot of pressure setting up the show one of them will speak to the Ticket Factory to see if it is possible to re-open sales.

I posted here yesterday at 10:00am to say that advance ticket cut off was 16:00 today.