No books and No kits. There was a plan. We would go up to York and enjoy the show, talk to some trade stands about taking space at the L&WMRS show 2010, but we didn't need any more modelling materials or literature. None at all. Definitely not.
First stop on arrival was the restaurant where on the "When in Rome" basis we munched on roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Very nice it was too with especially huge puds and excellent meat & veg. I know you probably don't care about my lunch but I mention it in case you are reading this in 2010 and wondering if there is food at the show. This is public service blogging.
As usual the show fills the three floors and two mezzanines of the racecourse - 113 stands in all. York's a modellers show - there is ready to run for sale but not huge amounts of it. Instead this is a good place to find specialist traders and people selling those hard to find bits and pieces. For me this is more important in many ways than the layouts. My shopping list was short - a new bit for my hard worked soldering iron from Squires - but that hasn't ever stopped me in the past from leaving with a light wallet and heavy bag.
For layouts, this was a particularly good year. In N, I really liked Bassenthwaite Lake - a small layout mostly given over to a decent sized bit of water. To forestall the regular questions, instructions are attached to the front explaining how this is done. Something to do with artex and varnish apparently.
Moving up scale, East Lodge is nice - a rural backwater in great Eastern territory. Good Class 15 diesel haulage in evidence - give me a weirdo loco and I'm happy - and nice atmosphere. The construction was interesting too with flexible MDF used for the 
backscene. This allows curves to be formed in the corners, something I've aspired to but never managed to build.
I could go on and on but you'd be better off looking at the photos I took and making your own mind up. I have ignored some of the better known layout as these have appeared on the blog before and concentrated on details that appealed to me.
Chatting to Tony Hill in the demonstrations area, he mentioned that he has filmed some scenery construction pieces for a new on-line magazine: http://www.modelrailway.tv/ which sounds interesting. It's not launched yet but you can sign up for a newsletter with more details. The idea is interesting so we'll see how it develops.
Still in the demos area I learned a bit more about lettering private owner wagons. As with lining locomotives it seems that the skill is not so much in the initial application of the paint, but in the touching and tidying up that goes on afterwards. The results spoke for themselves and I when I get around to doing some new wagons for the Hospital Railway I hope I can put the advice to good use.
5 hours after we arrived it was chucking out time. A thoroughly enjoyable show that was worth the looooong drive to visit. I stuck to the "no new kits" mantra although if the demo from NG trains had had some of the amazing laser cut kits for Argentinian coaches from Maiten Shops in stock this might have changed ! The bag did seem surprisingly full of books though including Futers new Scottish modelling one, something on micro layouts, Oban and Calender for the photos of Ballahulish and several magazines from various stalls.
Monday, April 13, 2009
York Show 2009
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