Having finished putting everything away after this weekends fun, I thought I'd try and entertain you with some notes from the show. Nothing very structured, just random thoughts:
Getting in is easy if you arrive early enough. That means about 2pm.
The cash machine had a queue of 10 in front of it by 10:10am (10 minutes after the show opened) on Saturday. I was there because I had bought a bargain loco kit from a trader who didn't take plastic or cheque. An LNWR inspection saloon with integrated steam engine since you ask. And no I don't really have a use for it. It was still a bargain though.
Warley is a big show. Big enough to make the purchase of a show guide a necessity. Or you can wander around getting grumpy because you can't find the stand you want like quite a lot of visitors did. I'm not sure haring off in random directions helps.
The layouts looked excellent. Probably one of the best years ever. Needless to say I didn't get a proper look around them.
Every visitor seems to have a digital camera and wants to use it. About half ask first but this isn't the problem it used to be as the flash isn't used as often. Quite what happens to all these photos is unknown. Presumably they are used more often than the miles of video tape that were expended in the past. Incidentally, if you have posted any photos of Melbridge Dock online, let me know and I'll try and link to them.
Because of the above I took very few photos of layouts. Most of my shots are behind the scenes stuff showing the calm before the storm or the controlled chaos of packing up. You can see these pictures on Flickr.
A 20 year old layout can work as well as any other. We had no failures of the mechanical bits all weekend. In fact in this respect everything seemed very good.
The locos were a different matter. Despite having far too many for the model and filling the display case I think on Saturday we probably only had 4 or 5 I'd have been able to happily rely on to work the layout (we need 3). Not sure why as they all work normally. Perhaps the long lay-up between shows affected them more than expected.
Sunday night the fairies came in and fixed my 4mm scale Garratt. It ran beautifully (unlike its solitary appearance on Saturday) before opening.As soon as the crowds came in normal service resumed and it juddered away hopelessly and was returned to the ignominy of the fiddle yard. Apparently those same fairies also fixed the chips on a friends DCC layout for the second day.
If you miss the turn on the road to the NEC when arriving from Balsall Common it adds 25 minutes to a 35 minute journey and does nothing for the temper of the driver.
The 7mm scale Garratt went down very well. Everyone said nice things about it and I think Trevor sold a couple.
The Class 14 is too long to run around the layout. It's OK on the front road but that tight bend at the back defeats it. Pity as it looked great.
Lunch was lovely but on Saturday those in the last sitting were offered chicken curry or very little else as us early birds had eaten all the steak and ale pie etc. On Sunday all the meals looked fantastic (excellent lasagna) although I suspect people weren't as good at sticking to the times on the tickets. The guy in charge for the NEC looks and acts like Dale Winton but he really hustles things along and you don't have to wait long. No matter how he tried, the exhibitors were not convinced a ruby was the right meal...
There were bargains to be had but not that many of them. A couple of foreign caravans for a quid each and some American stuff half price from a retiring seller came home with me. I don't know about the mainstream RTR and didn't bother looking at the scrum by Bachmann's stand at the start of the show.
One of our earlier visitors had left home around 6am - in Scotland. he flew down specially for the show. Not a bad idea if you book early enough for a cheap ticket.
Saturday morning crowds were all being relieved of their tongues by cats outside as hardly anyone spoke. By lunchtime this was improving and we got to chat. Sunday there were people being invited behind the layout as they were being inspired to have a go and if inspiration is striking then anything I can do to help is worth a go. One of the best things about a 9ft long model railway is that people look at it and think, "I could build that".
Getting out was harder than getting in. Once packed up I took a look outside and decided to hang on getting the van as the queues of vehicles outside were huge. With such a short journey there was no rush for us to get out - better let those with longer distances to travel get away. At 6:30 I went out to the car park, drove to the hall and got very close before being pointed into another parking space opposite along with everyone else. There was by then lots of space in the hall and once parked, no obvious way we could then proceed in. At this point, despite the drizzle, we carried everything out. And then drove away cursing the jobsworth who was still sending everyone in to the holding area.
Numbers through the door were apparently slightly down on Saturday and looked about the same for Sunday. Some of the trade had done very well, others less so. There were a lot of people out there though and the wide gangways were welcomed.
Overall, even allowing for problems with illness and travel it was an excellent weekend. We enjoyed ourselves and so did those we spoke to who had paid to come in. I hope we get to do it again. Thanks must go to the Warley exhibition team who do a really excellent job. For more on the show, visit the website.
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