Today was the day for my annual trip to the Warley show.
As the doors opened at 9.15, I made a beeline straight toward the Locomotion stand and was met by Bill in a very fetching APT-E Branded turtle neck. After revelling in what can only be described as an astonishingly good example of a 'rough draft' model for several minutes, I started chatting with Bill. Having followed the assorted APT-E/Rapido threads on here, I had the impression that both he and Jason would be very approachable and I was not disappointed on this front. After a short period of pleasant banter with Bill, we were joined by Mr. Tilt himself, who then joined in with the conversation and got his 'ongoing project' N gauge APT-E out for show and tell.
A slightly worse-for-wear Jason then showed up. Not quite sure whether it was the late night or the Indian food that did him in. He did seem to perk up somewhat after I (the first person on their visit to do so) shouted "GO HABS" in his general direction.
After much discussion about APT-E, the company's performance and philosophy and an upcoming project that they can't say too much about as it might upset one of the other manufacturers (sshhh!) and pressing my nose against the glass of the cabinet housing the model, I shook hands with the 3 stooges and and walked away from the stand, 45 minutes after I arrived and extremely comfortable with handing over a large chunk of money to them, knowing I will not be disappointed with the end result.
The level of information the guys at Rapido are constantly drip feeding us is phenomenal and in my eyes very important as without us the consumer, they would not survive, but also I feel that by being involved in every step of the journey, you get a deeper understanding and appreciation of the amount of time, effort, blood and sweat that goes into the development and production of what some people still view as a toy. Not only that, but the way that Bill and Jason interact with their public means that instead of dealing with a large, faceless company, you see the human side of it all which in my eyes is undervalued by a lot of people.
Mr. Spackman was very friendly and was more than happy to regale me with various stories of his days working on the various tilting projects. I particularly enjoyed when he was looked down upon for being in first class in mucky overalls whilst carrying a rather large spanner, the occasion of alighting from APT-E to go to a Rod Stewart concert and the communications headset that was modified to play the Three Degrees throughout the train.
Today was a good day.