Phil Parker

Normally, how much fuel will be used, plus a few quid to cover fuel price rises. Many times, I came in under budget, making for a happy treasurer! This seems normal, I understand almost every layout at Doncaster came in under budget too.

That's a pretty serious accusation. In all my years exhibiting, I never over-claimed, and didn't know anyone else who was looking to rip off the organisers. Generally, we ended up out of pocket slightly. I must have been doing the wrong shows. I certainly never invited the wrong people though as none of that happened at any show I was involved with. And if it had, the layout owner would have found their invites dry up pretty quickly...

The downside to working from home, is your home has to work. The sockets in the older part of our house went pop on Friday. My office and workspace is in there. I rigged a cable up to get the PC and broadband back on, but it's not ideal, and the photobooth and workspace remain dark. Two days of electricians, and over £500 so far, and sockets were back last night. And went off again this morning. So, what to do? WFH, I can't call the Facilities department and have them fix it, it's down to me. I can't DIY any of it, because I'm WFH and it has to happen fast as I can't take even a day off right now. If the house suddenly needs a rewire, that's going to be expensive, need to be done fast (WFH, no DIY), and still knock me out for several weeks as rooms are ripped apart. I'll need to hire space to carry on working, at my own expense. Arguably, it might be cheaper to bin my job and stack shelves at Poundland. WFH can be good, but you need to remember you'll need to give a room over in the house (no, you can't balance a laptop on the kitchen table, you'll get back problems, the sort HR will blame on your incorrect workstation setup, and see you leaving the company) which means a bigger house at "enhanced" UK prices. And everything is down to you to make work and pay for. Absolutely everything. It's not a panacea. Update: And now there is sewage bubbling out of the manhole cover behind the house. Call to Severn Trent, they will be here between now, and Friday. Call to emergency drain clearer, who should be here in a couple of hours. Hopefully, before the garden disappears under sh*t. I am still trying to do some work. Deadlines don't respect house issues.

No, because Georgevonse has been escorted from the building.

Does anyone actually have anything useful to add - or it this just a handbags at dawn argument? Do you want the thread locked?

Except at Ally Pally where it's successfully run by the MRC. You see loads of kids walking around carrying Dapol kits, and little scenic dioramas from the Woodland Scenics stand. And it still comes down to space. The Young Modellers area in London isn't far off the size of the upper floor at Doncaster, so even if a group WAS willing to run it, you have to bin four layouts and the society stands.

Punters don't have to get up at silly o'clock, drive to the show and spend best part of a couple of hours setting up, before working for 8 hours, then reversing the process. So it's a thank you. If you don't think they deserve a little thanks, that's your opinion.

They do, but not normally at exhibition venue prices. Besides, it's a bit of a thank you for many ours on their feet entertaining the public, without which, there wouldn't be a show.

Yes they do. Everyone was handed a free BRM sampler, into which was slipped the exhibition guide, with plan. It's a single room with layouts and stands around the edge. Navigating from the car park to the show would be harder, and that was simple. I notice you've not taken up the challenge of how we might better signpost upstairs. After all, you tell us we've been doing it wrong for years, so other ideas are appreciated. Tony Wright always covered fixing locos - he even offers a clinic where he fixes them for a donation to charity, so I think we have that covered. Chris Mead and I both did some basic scenery talks, but the best people doing this at any show are Bachmann with the Woodland Scenics hands-on demos. They will be at Ally Pally. It still comes down to space though. That hall is full, and not getting any bigger. Maybe we might squeeze an extra table into the difficult-to-find and navigate upstairs, but otherwise, a large demo area would come at the cost of layouts, so a decision has to be taken which the public would prefer.

Apart from the banners at both escalators and the plan in the show guide. I'm intrigued to know what you would add to this to improve matters. That said, for somewhere no-one could find, my experience of trying to take some snaps of Tytton Hall Yard was that all weekend, including Sunday afternoon, it was at least 2 deep the full length of the layout. The rest of the floor was pretty busy too. Apart from Chris Mead and Tony Wright's demos, which went down very well. I'm sorry you think the specialist societies are doing such a poor job of advancing the hobby. They want to be there, the hall isn't going to get any bigger, so to add extra tables of demos, we'd have to drop a layout. Looking at the audience, I think they would rather see Copper Wort than some grumpy bloke prodding a brass kit with a soldering iron. (and if you need that, Tony will oblige and do a good job).

I found someone suitably attired.

It's all happening! And the pick'n'mix man is all set up.

The kit is definitely 4mm to the foot (OO). I was assured it would be on the website by the time the article appeared - I'll chase Phil to update things. Cracking kit too!

The lump IS a magnet, and the trigger is a length of steel rail. As the wagon passes over it, the magnet is attracted to the rail, causing the giraffe to duck her head. I'd use a small electromagnet to pull the "lump" down. Something like this should work - https://www.first4magnets.com/electromagnets-t220

By a contributor to Garden Rail no less. We featured Richards line a few months ago.

What do you think we do all day? Once a loco is reviewed, it's very rare there is any time to put a lot of miles on it - we have more than enough to do! We certainly don't spend hours running layouts. Realistically, you'd need at least an exhibition-worth of running to prove anything, so around 16 hours, or in BRM terms, 4 hours a week to make the issue that follows the one with the review. With more than one loco appearing every month, it's easy to need 24 hours to be found in that 4-week period. All this would need to be carried out under reasonably controlled conditions - so no just accepting feedback from anyone else. You can't tell if they have been running the model on a 1960s H&M on track that has been fixed down with a nailgun. Even then, what people want is the model to get a good slagging off. Anything other than "this is the worst model in the world" would be seen as a betrayal.

Sadly, MORILL was sold to an unscrupulous person, who published an issue without paying anyone. That included Jim Wood, who was hugely out of pocket from it all. He did look at alternative publishing models, but nothing came of this. Sad, as it was an excellent magazine, and Jim was a really nice bloke. It wasn't his death that brought about the end of the magazine though. And before someone suggests it, the time for MORILL has passed. The sort of articles it published, including the ones I wrote, have been superseded by changes in the hobby. I guess everything has its time, and for MORILL, this was the 1990s.

I've had a little play, and, as per last time, it seems the promoted fares don't actually exist. Pity, as I like the idea of being able to put in a start point, and be offered several options when I just fancy a day out with a train ride.

I can recommend this website for excellent telephone box information and stunning illustrations - http://www.the-telephone-box.co.uk/

If there had been enough people buying, rather than just looking, they wouldn't have been "priced out". The hobby has changed over years after all. You are also making quite an assumption. With online sales, how many simply decided a weekend at the NEC didn't suit the aging business owners? Perhaps you could give us a list of small suppliers who could have been at Warley and stood a chance of selling enough to cover their petrol and accommodation. That would be helpful to other shows wondering who to approach.

A rather more positive title here: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12974117/amp/Hornby-shares-steam-ahead-sales-new-customer-numbers-rise.html

https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/news/hattons-model-railways-to-close-doors/?utm_source=acs&utm_medium=email&utm_email=phil%40pagenumberone.co.uk&utm_campaign=News0_MRR_240118_MRTH00_0000000000&eid=phil%40pagenumberone.co.uk

I can honestly say that without joining a club, and then taking part in the exhibition circuit, I'd not be in this hobby, or have my current job*. I've never enjoyed operating a layout without a live audience, and during lockdown, I found the absence of the social side of the hobby incredibly hard to deal with. I appreciate that there are plenty for whom watching stuff on telly, is as good as being there, but not me. *I appreciate that this would please a large number of people.

Buy the train. You aren't doing it because you want a new train, it's charity work and helping the economy. Good works like this will ensure you get to heaven. My problem isn't that I have too many toy trains, it's that I am such a kind-hearted soul. There should be an award in the next New Year's honours list, I'm so good. But, obviously, I don't like to talk about it...

Dapol used to make as much profit from a Postman Pat van as a 12-wheel dining car, and they sold a lot more of the former. They are still in toy trains though.