snitchthebudgie

I use Wordpress and have been quite happy with it.  My blog is at esngblog.com, and I have just rewritten the club website on esngclub.com.  The free wordpress account will give you several years free blogging.  Now I have filled up the graphics allowance, and pay £3 a month for a larger volume and a few more benefits.

Come to Redhill, where we now have platform '0'.  At least it is on the 'up' side!

39 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

Some of the social distancing issues can be resolved by having the same number of layouts, but smaller.

 

A lot of the big 'roundy roundy' layouts take up a considerable amount of width - replacing them with 'long and thin' end-to-end layouts (or even N-gauge layouts which are small enough to fit a continuous run on a 2' baseboard) frees up extra aisle/circulating space with no loss in layout count.

Unfortunately, most venues already need 'long and thin' - or short and thin - layouts to use the available space.  Unless you are somewhere like the NEC with one big space, the rooms available don't have the space for very wide aisles - at least at every exhibition venue that I've organised.

26 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

I did enjoy it mind you. 

So did I!  I have a daughter resident in Berlin, and have been an annual visitor to Stuttgart for the N-Club International meet in November.  So I enjoyed seeing a couple of favourite places that I probably won't get to this year.  Some interesting history, and some good trains thrown in for good measure.

42 minutes ago, john new said:

Whether actual risk thereby increases over and above popping to your local shop is actually immaterial, it seems like it does, so will deter many.

I guess the point is that going to shop AND exhibition doubles - or at least increases - the risk.  Some risk in life is always there, but we can try to limit it.

N Gauge SouthEast - 2021

I'm sorry to have to announce that we have decided to abandon the 2021 NGSE show, originally planned for April 2021.

This is a long way ahead, and it was not a happy decision, but it actually turned out to be quite an easy one to make.  Our new venue of Reigate College were still unsure whether they could host us in April 2021.  They will not be renting the college out this autumn, as it will be forming its own 'bubble'.  It is possible that this will extend into 2021.  They were also planning building works next spring.

And of course we have no idea what Covid will be doing by then.  The last couple of weeks seems to indicate that 'normal by Christmas' is a little optimistic.  It still seems unlikely that all of the UK will have received a vaccination by April, and from the discussions on various forums including this one, running a show with distancing, masks and the like will be difficult - and of course expensive.  It is also debatable whether enough people will turn up to break even. 

Finally, having cancelled this years’ show at very short notice, I, for one, couldn’t face the possibility of having to do it again next April. 

So, we look to 2022 – Reigate College have been very helpful and they said they hope to see us then!

What we will do next year is to hold one or two open days / mini-exhibitions at our usual meeting place in Redhill.  Perhaps one in May, a little later than normal, and one in October.  We hope that these will work as a day to play trains, and a social opportunity for ESNG members and local enthusiasts.  These will be easy to set up - we hope to send out a few invites to exhibit - and cancel if things get bad again.

2 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

Know sweat: scientists solve mystery behind body odour

Model railway exhibitions will never be the same again!  Covid has nothing on this....

17 minutes ago, Stephenwolsten said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-events-and-conferences-given-go-ahead-to-resume-from-1-october

Usual caveats make it difficult and expensive?  Will it all just be too much hassle for us volunteer exhibition managers?

The guidance makes clear that the following measures should be considered to allow for safe resumption of business events and conferences:

• Attendees will need to pre-book and pre-register to attend events

• Contactless registration systems will be introduced at venues to reduce waiting times and limit contact between organisers and guests
• A digital first approach will be adopted to eliminate the need for physical badges and lanyards

• Paper handouts and gifts will no longer be offered
• Entrance to event or conference spaces will be staggered to reduce queuing and overall capacity will be limited to ensure social distancing can be maintained
• Events will be planned around one way systems for visitors

• Spaces between exhibition booths will be increased and aisles widened to achieve social distancing requirements
• All venues will also have enhanced cleaning procedures, with hand washing and sanitising facilities at frequent intervals


Borjormi, Georgia in 2000.  This is Stalin's personal station close to some beautiful forested and ski-ing areas.  The multiple unit is about to leave for Tbilisi.  There is an interchange with a metre gauge overhead electric line - unfortunately I was working and couldn't get any pictures of the stock there.

4 hours ago, Chris116 said:

I have been looking very carefully to find the information and I think I have got it totally wrong. I read "Trafford Centre" as "Telford Centre". Sorry to have mislead everyone. 

 

It is INTU who run Trafford Centre and Lakeside amongst others who are having problems. 

Off topic, really, but here's the confirmation....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53195980 

Perhaps the positive thing from the previous comments is the diversity of approaches to our hobby.  We all do it differently, and that can only be a good thing!

57 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Have any of you done any modelling in between worrying about shows? Unless you organise a reasonably sized show what have you to worry about? 

I've done more modelling in the past three months than the past five years!  And I'm an exhibition manager, who has valued this thread, red herrings and all, to get a feel of what people think - in all their extremes.

5 minutes ago, dagrizz said:

I lost my sense of taste for a couple of days in late March. At that time the medics were dismissing these symptoms, saying that you could lose sense of taste through cold or flu. I didn't have a cold or flu. Now, of course, loss of taste is a recognised symptom of covid19. Did I catch it? Until an antibody test is available to me, I won't know.

 

Graham

For railway modellers, the symptom of loss of taste shows itself as a sudden urge to model Kazakhstan Railways in Gauge 3 - or perhaps even the GWR.  (Hat, coat, rapid exit stage left and right.)

Thank you, Marc, for your open and honest post.

1 hour ago, Furness Wagon said:

The largest one in August hasn't because the venue is waiting for the government to say something.....

 

A decision about cancelling the show was supposed to be made 3 weeks ago then it was 2 weeks ago then it was last week, then it was yesterday and now it's next week. 

Surely, this is just irresponsible?  I assume the delay in cancellation is to try and limit liability for cancellation, or just to hope that the government will say COVID has gone away and it's all right to have an exhibition.  We have just dropped to COVID-3 alert level, I see, but that still means there is a pandemic about, and some measures are needed.  Doesn't such prevarication just push the risk of loss onto the traders, and the risk to life and limb on to the exhibitors?

Whatever the months ahead bring, and we hope that will include an effective treatment and perhaps a vaccine, it is prudent just to write 2020 off, as most people have, and regroup for 2021?

And remember context - statue thrown into harbour = nasty mob.  Chests of tea thrown into harbour = brave freedom fighters.  All depends who you support at the time.

Dangerous to get involved in this one, but here goes.....

16 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

None to remove, Edward Colston to replaced as a reminder of a significant part of the history of Bristol.    I'm sorry but kowtowing to flavour of the week mob behaviour is no way for a country to make decisions about its history.

I think the Mayor of Bristol got it exactly right.  It shouldn't have been pulled down - but it should have been moved years ago.  He'd have it placed in a museum - remembering the past but not celebrating it.

3 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

They're all dead, the people they affected would all be dead now even if it wasn't for them, and whilst the wrongs of the past are part of what has shaped the world today they are also firmly in the past, beyond our lives; we really should've moved on so that they have no more relevance than a statue of someone unpleasant like Caligula would. I'm afraid I see getting worked up about the statues as the sort of behaviour that keeps hatreds and divisions alive; they really should've lost their power to affect us now, beyond providing reminders of what not to do (or positive ones in the case of statues of more appealing figures).

 

Do we want to be slaves to the "I hate you because your country invaded my country hundreds of years ago" mentality?

Don't forget that most Confederate statues were put up relatively recently to reinforce Jim Crow laws and segregation.  Good riddance to them!

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

Magnet have not changed their T&Cs to my knowledge but there were already specific exclusions to the policy as below.

 

So, no; any event cancellation costs under the current situation will not be covered under their insurance.

In fairness, Magnet very kindly refunded premiums for cancelled shows (at least earlier in the year.)  But we can't guarantee that this will continue.

2 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Good point. We're all going to die. Everyone. If you are reading this you'll be dead by summer. "Realistic" enough for you? I promise not to exhibit any hint of optimism in the future.

 

So that was you I saw on the news, sardined on the beach at Southend?  

1 minute ago, Chris M said:

I thought the whole point of exhibitions was that you pay a fiver or so to spend a day chatting with people you haven't seen since the last exhibition.

Perhaps we could cut out the trains and just have a Zoom exhibition? 

Thank goodness so many people are taking a negative - or should I say realistic - view of the situation.  Things have got a lot better over the past month, but we're not out of this pandemic yet.  Some of the best articles that I have read on COVID are clear that the high risk areas are places where people are close together - for example restaurants, family gatherings and religious meetings.  Although railway modelling doesn't require hugs and kisses, and it's not religious (except perhaps P4) the scrum around traders stalls and the best layouts in show - even in quite small exhibitions - must be a high risk situation.

Please let's stay fluid in our response to COVID, and keep these discussions going.  Perhaps some good ideas may come up as to how to stage a show in future?

1 minute ago, Nick Holliday said:

For what it's worth Golden Arrow do (did) an all metal kit for these http://www.goldenarrow.me.uk/products.htm#southern

There are probably drawings in Russell's book on Southern Locos.

Many thanks,  Unfortunately, no drawings in Russell, except one side view.  And Golden Arrow is unfortunately the wrong scale!

Has anyone seen drawings of the various Isle of Wight 2-4-0T's, that were the mainstay of pre-Southern days, and kept running into Southern Railway days?  I've always wanted a model of one, as they were all most attractive little engines.  Many thanks, Jon

We've just started planning N Gauge SouthEast, aiming at our usual dates in April 2021.  In one way, it's easy to do as we will first be inviting all those who were coming to our cancelled show this year.  I'm sure a few will have to drop out, but are hoping that most will be available.  Yet who knows whether we can hold the exhibition then?  We just have to do the groundwork, and go ahead only if it looks safe to do so.

Please add N Gauge SouthEast, 4th April 2020

NGSE 2020 - CANCELLED

We are sorry to have to let you know that we have decided to cancel NGSE 2020.  This may beat any government announcement over public gatherings, but we wanted to give as much warning as possible to everyone.  We think this is the only way to go taking into account the safety of exhibitors, our members and the public.

We very much want to stage NGSE 2021 at Reigate College, at much the same time of year, and hope to invite all this years potential exhibitors and traders.