Andy@IvanhoeMRS

Good morning all, As mentioned at the end of my previous post (above), the future of the Ivanhoe exhibition was effectively in the hands of the Mountsorrel parish council and the venue management. Unfortunately, but as we sort of expected, the event will now not be taking place at the Mountsorrel Memorial Centre. This is a real shame, as the venue, whilst not completely suited to this type of event, was modern, light and airy, providing a great atmosphere for everyone to enjoy our hobby in, which, given the feedback we received over the course of the weekend, the majority of you all did. Given the circumstances, the society has taken the decision to take a sabbatical (hopefully it won't be a 25 year sabbatical like the last time) and look for an alternative venue for 2021 - This will put us on a par with Tonbridge West Yard for exhibition comebacks. Once again, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to see us in April, whether general public, exhibitors or traders. We hope to do it all again soon. In the meantime, you can still come and see us in Rothley near Loughborough, twice a year, at our Diecast, Toy and Train Fairs. Our next fair being on Sunday the 17th of November, 2019. Ta ta for now, Andy On behalf of the Ivanhoe MRS.

After having a couple of days to recover, I think that it's time that I sent out a note of thanks from both myself and also from the other members of the Ivanhoe MRS - Thank you to everyone who brought layouts, displays, trade stands and demonstrations, the general public and also those of you who have commented above, who have all supported us with our return to the exhibition circuit. A special thanks must go to Kevin and Brett of Coastal DCC for stepping in at the last minute (Thursday evening) to fill a rather large hole in the trade line up and also to John and Steve of the Alsager Railway Association for bringing Bluebell Cutting as a last minute replacement layout alongside Dunkow Road. I'm pleased to report that visitor numbers surpassed my expectations by some margin and I'm happy (Cheshire cat grin-style happy) that feedback from the visitors was largely positive with some constructive for us to take on board for next time (Yes, we want to do it again!) - hearing these comments from people around and leaving the exhibition, alongside reading them above and on here and on other fora, is worth its weight in gold! - The double doors at the club may well have to be opened on Friday so I can get my head through! Of course, I was merely the "organiser" and it was the Ivanhoe team and the exhibitors/traders who made the show the success that it was. On another note, we had a laugh whilst counting up the votes for the "Favourite Layout" award, whilst it's nice to read, "All of them" is not very useful when trying to pick one! As was announced at the exhibition at 15:00 hours on Sunday, voted as the public's favourite layout was David and Josie Bailey's "Karolina Falls" with its real waterfall! - Congratulations go to both David and Josie -Another slice of Rail (as seen earlier on in the thread) will be sent to you in the post (Eek!) to commemorate the event. Well done again. As alluded to before, the continuation of this event rests almost solely with the Parish Council who we will be in talks with in the not too distant future, we certainly want to do it again! Again, my thanks to all and happy modelling. Cheers, Andy.

Wild Boar Fell, thank you very much to you and your father for supporting the show in its first year and also for your kind words, we're glad you enjoyed your visit and also the bacon cobs. We hope to be back in 2020 but it all depends on our friendly local council's view on the venue's pricing structure.

Well, it's the big push tomorrow with setup beginning at 1200hrs, SHARP! Today (or infact yesterday now) began with a bit of shocker with Footplate of Kidderminster advising that due to an illness, they would be unable to attend - We hope you get well soon Derek! Fortunately, Kevin of Coastal DCC fame (and now Orwell Models) has stepped into the breach to fill the gap, ensuring that there will be plenty of PECO track and Hornby and Bachmann locos available to purchase! Unfortunately, Weslo Steel has also had to drop out - Dave, your dulcet tones and dry sense of humour will be sorely missed by all. Again, fortunately, our friends from the Alsager club have offered to bring a second layout to the show, although that does mean that we will now be in John Cox's pocket for the Alsager show. Wish us luck and I hope to see you all at Mountsorrel on Saturday and Sunday.

Hi Johann, yes, you are correct! I received information a few days ago from the Leicester Transport Heritage Trust confirming that they will be running a shuttle bus service between the two events on the Saturday only. I am hopeful that, for next year, we as the Ivanhoe are a little more organised and may be able to get something sorted for both days. The time table for Saturday 13th of April is as follows: Quorn & Woodhouse Station, dep 1200, 1315 and 1415 Mountsorrel Green (111 Leicester Road), dep 1215, 1330 and 1430 Quorn & Woodhouse Station, arr 1230, 1345 and 1445. We are extremely grateful to the LTHT for being kind enough to provide this service and I hope to see a good few people using it.

Good evening All, After going out to some of the big names in our hobby, I have been amazed by their generosity! PECO, Bachmann and Hornby have all kindly donated items from their ranges for us to offer as prizes. The prizes include a Hornby Junior trainset, a Hornby Highland Rambler, a Bachmann Ambulance Train pack and a year's subscription to the Railway Modeller magazine. Also from PECO came a number of small kits from the Auhagan and Wills ranges, so there is something there for almost everyone. We will be running a competition come raffle over the course of the weekend where all of these prizes will be up for grabs. Good luck and I hope to see you at the show!

With time ticking on, the date is getting closer. It is now just over a month before we host our first Exhibition as the Ivanhoe Model Railway Society at our new Mountsorrel venue. The line up draws closer to completion with the addition of a small, window sill layout by a member of our sister club, the Leicester Model Railway Group. The layout shows what you can do in minimal space. Also joining us are AirFramed, a business who specialise in bespoke framing and display cases, and Ipswich's DCC master, Kevin from Coastal DCC. Whilst I'm here, a special congratulations goes to Steve Farmer for being awarded "Best In Show" at this weekend's Preston Exhibition - Very much well deserved! Steve will be at our exhibition with another one of his layouts, Tanner's Hill, with Lymebrook Yard hopefully coming to Mountsorrel in 2020. Tune in soon for another update!

Cracking show, this. I'll certainly be paying you a visit. Cheers, Andy.

I'm delighted to announce that Buzz Models will be attending the show alongside BH Enterprises. This means that, along with S-Kits, we've got specialist kit suppliers/manufacturers in all of the three main scales; 2, 4 and 7mm! BH Enterprises: http://www.bhenterprises.co.uk S-Kits: (George is anti-website) Buzz Models: http://www.buzzmodels.co.uk Here's a photo of one of S-Kits' completed FNA, nuclear flask wagons at work on George Ansell's Lydd On Sea which can be seen at the Mountsorrel Exhibition. Cheers, Andy.

The exhibition certainly is on the same weekend as the GCR's Diesel Gala. This wasn't planned and was purely coincidental as we were trying to find a slot where we didn't clash with other shows in the area or the Bank Holiday. Nobody thought to check the GCR! Hopefully people will go to both, as you're planning to, Johann. We look forward to making you welcome. Cheers, Andy.

Good evening All, With just over two months to go before the Ivanhoe stages it's first exhibition in 25 years, we are very close to having completed the line up. The latest update on the show front are the confirmed attendance of BH Enterprises, Melton Mowbray Model Engineers and Mike Kelly with his OO layout, Northbridge. With just a couple of confirmations outstanding, the show is almost finalised. Here's a photo of Pete Latham's Wormhill - A wonderful re-creation of the Cement and Quarry sidings of Peak Forest, Derbyshire - Note the gradient! Cheers, Andy.

Alcoman424 - Some lovely photos there, especially the black and white one! I'm looking forward to seeing (and hearing) this layout now it's fully finished and operational - Another Debut layout!

Good morning (just) All, An announcement regarding another layout confirmed as attending the Mountsorrel Exhibition (and another 7mm one at that!), George Godfrey's "Buxworth". Buxworth is a small, imaginary town in the Midlands, located at the end of a short branch line off of the Midland Mainline to Derby. The Layout recreates the Midland Region scene in the 1930s with locos and stock being mainly of MR and LMS types.

Happy to provide excuses, MikeH_83, no problem at all, although there is a charge...... Looking forward to seeing you at the MMC and I hope you enjoy the exhibition. PS, you could ask S-Kits for a lift! Cheers, Andy.

Yes, I'm also happy to confirm that the Friends of the Great Central Mainline will be joining us at the exhibition and I'm also glad that Dava and the team have offered to support us. Thanks again!

Good evening All, I'm pleased to announce that Peter Smith and his beautiful 7mm scale layout, Saltdean, will be attending the Mountsorrel Exhibition in 2019! All photographs courtesy of Peter Smith.

As hinted at in a previous post, I'm pleased to confirm the addition of Karolina Falls to the list of attending layouts. This layout, modelled in On30, is based on a 1970s preserved line that serves a small town which originates from the gold prospecting days of the 1800s. When the gold seam ended, the line began moving logs, eventually turning to tourism. The layout also features a real water fall! Photograph courtesy of David Bailey.

Indeed it does, Anthony! Mr. Ansell will be in attendance with Lydd-On-Sea and also his S-Kits stand. That means that you can now pick up S-Kits products at two shows a year: Mountsorrel and DEMU Showcase! - We are honored!

Thanks to Nobby, Oulton TMD and Dava for their kind words, above. It's very encouraging to see these positive comments at such an early stage. Dava is quite right in what he says. The Mountsorrel branch and associated attractions are a mere 1.3 miles away from the exhibition venue and together would make for an excellent train-filled day out. There's also Stonehurst farm park in the village, too, if you really wanted a full day out for all the family. The GCR mainline stations at Quorn and Rothley are respectively 2.4 and 2.7 miles away.

Going through the process of inviting layouts to the show, I made contact with the owners of Avyn-a-Llyin, a lovely layout in its own right but also one that I can clearly remember seeing at the Rolls Royce show when I was about 7 (Sorry Andy ). I thought it would make a fitting tribute to the old Mountsorrel show and link it to the new one. Unfortunately, the layout was unavailable for 2019 however, I am hoping to have Andy's brother's layout, Karolina Falls attend in 2019 with Avyn-a-Llyin following in 2020. An unexpected find resulting from this process was this: The lump of flat bottom rail prize may well be back, too, but who will recieve it and will their layout be able to support it? Thanks Andy and David for supplying this peice of the Ivanhoe's history.

As readers might have guessed, the two gentlemen above will be bringing their excellent layouts to the Mountsorrel MRE in 2019 and hopefully more layouts in 2020 and beyond (if we carry on, that is!). - SF315 and carlw, thanks! Whilst individual exhibits will be announced on this thread, the main calendar entry will be updated as things progress to give a full and comprehensive list of those attending. Kind regards, Andy Porter Event Organiser Ivanhoe MRS

Further to the post above, a special thanks must be said to Peco, the Railway Modeller, and Bachmann, who although unable to attend, have kindly agreed to lend us thier support with our new show. I must also thank Footplate of Kidderminster, Book Law of Nottingham and S-Kits for agreeing to attend from the outset, thereby giving us a base from whence to start. The Ivanhoe MRS is extremely grateful for all of this support and we hope the show, after its initial return, will go from strength to strength in the future. Kind regards, Andy Porter Event Organiser Ivanhoe MRS

After much discussion (and indecision), The Ivanhoe Model Railway Society has finally, after a break of circa 25 years (now that's some indecision!), decided to once again host a model railway exhibition. We, then as the Rolls Royce Mountsorrel Railway Club, held our last exhibition in the early 90s in the canteen of the Rolls Royce Mountsorrel site, which closed and was subsequently demolished back in 1994. At this point, the club became homeless, until a nice farmer bloke gave us a wooden shack in his farmyard, situated quite close to the Midland Mainline near Loughborough, Leicestershire. From this point on, we assumed the name, "Ivanhoe Model Railway Society", as the Ivanhoe line between Loughborough and Leicester had just recently opened. Since we left Mountsorrel, we have held diecast, toy and train fairs at many local venues and are currently at the Rothley Center in the next village along. With a new community center being built in the village of Mountsorrel, I, along with the rest of the society, thought it would have been rude not to bring the old show back to life, so, in 2019, this is what we are doing. The Mountsorrel Model Railway Exhibition will be held in the new Memorial Centre located at the heart of the village, on Saturday and Sunday the 13th and 14th of April, 2019. We have a good number of top quality layouts on show, some of which are debuting, and trade to cover most requirements. The Ivanhoe MRS hope you can attend and we look forward to giving you a warm welcome and hope you will have a thoroughly enjoyable visit. The current line up is as follows: Layouts booked to attend (Final): Karolina Falls (On30) Buxworth (O) Lionel Vintage Collection (O) Saltdean (O) Weslo Steel (EM) Evington St. John (OO) Loughborough Midland (OO) Lydd-On-Sea (OO) Pedwardine Forest (OO) (Debuting) Redhill Up Yard (OO) (Debuting) St. John's (OO) (Debuting) Stratton (OO) Northbridge (OO) Ledge Road (OO) Dunkow Road (N) Hither Green PAD (N) Sutton St. Anne's (N) Tanners Hill (N) Wormhill (N) The Great Central Railway "Bridge to the Future" project (Z) Traders booked to attend so far: Booklaw Footplate / Flangeway of Kidderminster. S-Kits, OO/4mm kits. Finishing Touches, Tools and scenic supplies. Foghorn Models, Second hand. Jim Shearer, Second hand. Crosslands, Second hand. BH Enterprises, N/2mm kits. Buzz Models, O/7mm kits. AirFramed, Bespoke framing and display cases. Coastal DCC, DCC specialist. Orwell Model Railways, RTR N. Displays: Sileby Photographic Society. Leicester Model Railway Group. Friends of the Great Central Mainline. Melton Mowbray Model Engineers. Demonstrations: Tony Wright - The Loco Doctor. Roger Manton - The Weathering Wonder. Ivanhoe MRS - Layouts for beginners. Other: Competition Prize Display - Prizes kindly donated by PECO, Bachmann and Hornby. Morei information on... ...the exhibition can be found on our calendar entry, here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/calendar/event/2041-mountsorrel-mre-leicestershire/ ...our diecast, toy and train fair, here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/calendar/event/2039-ivanhoe-mrs-diecast-toy-and-train-fair-nr-leics/ ...the Ivanhoe Model Railway Society in general, here, on our website: http://www.ivanhoe-mrs.co.uk Kind regards, Andy Porter Event Organiser Ivanhoe MRS