Warley 2019

Warley this year nearly didn't start for me. Arriving on Friday afternoon on the train, I walked across the bridge connecting the NEC to the station. Passing through the security scanner, I set off the metal detector.

Not a real surprise, I've usually got metal things on me so I opened my bag to show the guards the collection of cameras and stuff I was lugging. All went well until they found my penknife.

Oh dear. It seems they had confiscated one earlier in the day.

I wasn't about to give it up. For a start, I bought this in Canada. It's a long way to go and get another.

Besides, it wasn't like I was going anywhere where sharp tools were rare.

Plan A formed. I could nip back to Wh Smith, buy some stamps and a jiffy bag and post it to myself.

Plan B. Just walk around the hall and go in the big doors.

Plan C - They radioed for someone to come and escort me to the hall. It seems that there was a kids event taking place, hence the enhanced security.

Anyway, once in the hall I met lots of people and did lots of chatting and took photos of models.

And I did the same on Saturday. Lots of chatting, and even more product photography.

On Sunday I processed all my photos and wrote many stories for World of Railways. With a Warley roundup newsletter going out on Monday, I needed to come up with at least 6 pages - I managed more than this!

All of which means I didn't see the show. At a guess, there is at least 1/4 of the hall I didn't find at all. There's a layout and 2 significant traders I missed entirely for a start.

So, all the photos I took were pretty much in passing. You can see them on Flickr.

Except, one job was to find some weird stuff - and you can read all about this here.

At least it wasn't an expensive show. I'll tell you what I bought tomorrow.