Chris M

As an N gauge enthusiast there doesn’t appear to be much of interest.

My little fleet of over 20 Dapol locos all work hard. They require the odd bit of maintenance, especially the loco to tender wires, but non of them are shelf queens.

I can't understand placing an order now. They will get here eventually and there will be plenty of chance to buy one once they are on sale. Its like the 50s - I plan to buy one but I have every confidence that it will be possible to buy one once they are actually available. Has any N gauge model (except crowdfunded) completely sold out before it has arrived in the country? Judging by the struggle to get cash from people who said they would invest to get kings to a point where the tooling can be kicked off it seems unlikely that any new model will all be accounted for before they arrive or that all the pre-orders will turn into real sales.

LLS was better than some - that bus in the background never moved for the whole exhibition! The absolute definitive situation on size is that the exhibition has used the same amount of space every year since it has been in Hall 5. The void has always been there and always in the same space with standard walling put up by contractors. The exhibition slowly grew from the smallest hall in the NEC to the biggest one over a number of years. The space used is what the organisers at the time of the move to hall 5 thought was about the maximum size that was manageable for both organisers and visitors. The void is extremely useful during breakdown in helping tired exhibitors to get packed and away as quickly as possible. Everyone would of course like to get away quicker than they do.

I can confirm that the space used in hall 5 is the same as it has been every year the show has been in hall 5. The number of layouts is always around 90 and the space allocated for trade exhibitors has also remained the same. The proportion of floor space allocated to layouts is also about the same each year. I would have thought the 5" gauge and Warton Road layouts count as being large.

I think we need to agree that we are all different and enjoy different things. LLS is great modelling. I think it is a brilliant piece of work and I'm glad I saw it. I say that even though it isn't to my taste as I much prefer layouts such as holiday haunts. It's good to appreciate what the builder was trying to achieve and enjoy what has been built.

Apparently double headed kings were quite possible heading from Newton Abbot to Plymouth. At some point during the 1950s it was normal to take the king off the down Cornish Riviera at Newton Abbot and replace it with a pair of locos that could be used all the way to Penzance. The spare king would then work down to Plymouth by double heading the next westbound express to Plymouth. If the train engine from Paddington was a king on that next express then there would be double headed kings. So we all need to buy two kings!

I don't think anyone knows the answer to that. So far as I can remember all of those who organised the first show (and are still alive) are still giving many hours of their time for free to organise the show today. I can say that the date for 2019 is fixed and the deposit for the hall has been paid.

Dunno mate. All I know is there's a buz in the room.

As it is Birmingham corporation this is a buz not a bus. It's good to see a replacement bus service at a model railway exhibition.

Watch out for Sharks.

Warley special https://urbancarry.cc/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/OneBag-Ninja.jpg

Hawes Junction, Warley club's new N gauge layout is just about ready for its first show.

The timing of exhibitions is to some degree dictated by the venue. The Warley show when it was at the Harry Mitchell Centre was always the first full weekend in October. This was a good time as it was just at the start of what I see as the modelling season - when it starts to go cold and dark so playing outside is not so much fun. The move to the NEC caused a change and since then subsequent changes have occurred due to whatever else might be happening at the NEC. As you would expect, something like a whole week long booking for four halls will always get priority over a weekend booking for one hall. The current timing of the Warley show is good for me as it gives me plenty to keep me busy as the nights get darker and it brings us close to Christmas without thinking about it. I think there are more summer events now than ever before, possibly due to the risks of bad weather in the winter.

Ridgacre is off to the Warley show today! No not the NEC one which is next weekend but the St Hilda's Warley Woods exhibition which is a nice little one day show. I'm working on thoughts which will mean the end of his layout but we will shall see. I do have an idea for a replacement but it will be a fixed rather than exhibition layout. I've really enjoyed the exhibition scene and met some great people but maybe its time for a change. In the meantime the next exhibition is at Christ Church, Hagley Road West, Birmingham on 12th January 2019 so not far away. That just might be the last time out for this layout but you can never say never again.

Large exhibitions will of course do what the professionals in charge of the venue tell them to. It’s about managing crowds and keeping everyone safe and this is best left to those who do it for a living.

Show floorplan. http://thewarleyshow.co.uk/pdf/2018%20Hall%20Plan.pdf

The same pair in the summer, still working hard. It might be a tourist line but it still has the odd little freight train! These two must be my favourites as they seem to get filmed a lot.

My EMDs have to earn their corn. My line is a tourist line set in the present day and the locos have been painted in heritage liveries. Well thats my excuse anyway! These locos are dc and run off track power. Snow doesn't cause a problem but if the air temperature is below about 1 degree centigrade ice immediately forms on the cleared rails making running impossible.

One of my Alcos now has a cheap(£52) mylocosound chip. It does the job well enough for out in the garden. My line is partly a tourist line which explains the train she is pulling.

I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it applied. Sounds like the Toads were better made than most others

Rapido are bringing a real bus!

I wouldn't recommend going down the queue selling tickets, especially outdoors. What if someone with bad intentions spotted a couple of say 60 year olds holding a bag full of money they had just collected? Easy pickings for an opportunist. Even ten tickets at £5.00 each could be a quick and easy £50. Someone could see this on Saturday morning and come back prepared on Sunday morning. The collectors are potentially making themselves are target; you have to be very careful not to put yourself at risk when handling cash. The chances are that nothing bad will happen but there is an element of risk.

There has to be an opening time that everybody works to. If it says 10:00 then it should be ten. It has to be said that too many exhibitions put slow people on selling tickets. The first hour should have people who are effecient on the door.

In simple terms - yes. Urban locations would have been more cramped and have more industry and so more sidings than the rural location which is usually modelled. To run a typical GWR country branch in a prototypical manner you probably just need one small prairie, a couple of non corridor coaches and a small collection of covered, coal and open wagons. The loco would run a few passenger services, then leave the coaches parked for a pick up goods run, and then back to coaches. From what I have seen it would have been unusual to have an engine shed at the end of the branch, certainly from the early 1930s onwards but I am sure there are exceptions.