** WARNING IF EASILY OFFENDED STAY AWAY Oh dear the person who started the cake thing off thinks I’m offended by their posting – no i’m not offended at all, I just find it all rather rather amusing and a good subject to have one of my wry looks at life !
One of the highlights of the model railway world for me has always been the Easter Show at York. I first exhibited there in 1987 (conversely enough, that year it was in May) and had visited many times prior to that.This Easter I had to miss it for the first time in a long while due to family celebrations over the weekend. There were quite a few layouts there that were well worth making the journey for alone. Portchullin is one of my personal favourites on the circuit at the moment and demonstrates that you can use sound on a layout in a subtle and very effective manner without deafening the audience, so I was a bit dissapointed at not to be able to see Mark’s masterpiece again, and Leicester South, a big well modelled layout in the days when big layouts are an endangered species due to the costs and the difficulties of transport in a 7.5 tonne van.
Of course you can always read about it on the various forums and see what you missed and that’s what I did for York. So on goes the PC and what do we have. Well someone bought the whole of their shopping list. Bleeding great lad, I really needed to know that. Oh good, there’s some nice cake on offer. Someones bought some boxes. Excellent move to the front of the queue on the forum, just whats it’s all about really buying boxes and opening them. Oh hang on a minute the cakes not that good after all, its padded out with carrot. Now someones bought something else, but next along we are starting a full-scale cake war, move over Sue and Mel, this knocks the Great British Bake off into a cocked hat. Oh the ice creams OK. Can someone please post some pics please, please please. Hey up another shopping list fully satisfied plus some extras. Cake wars still going on though. CAN WE HAVE SOME PICS PLEASE, oh OK here’s some – but its only one layout, MORE PICS PLEASE. Now its cake recrimination time, someones going to get a soggy bottom from this.
So what have I learned about the show. Well not a lot of any relevance really. I’ve got to say I find the posts described above excellent proof that there is still life in the shallow end of the gene pool. Whatever happened to a good honest review of a show, warts and all which actually focusses on what a model railway exhibition is all about, principally the layouts but also the traders and the demonstrators? What really really irks me about all this crap that’s being spouted is that it generally ignores the sheer hard work and graft that the organising committee has put in to stage the show, apart from the actual people who exhibited who appreciate that work and always say thanks. I know how much goes in, been there seen it, done it, and have the T-shirt. Mel and the crew who stage the show since Mike Cook’s sad death a few years ago deserve better recognition than a few crumbs off the plate.
New Hey to North Ballachulish 
Jeezuz! I just read the post that inspired this thread. ‘Peurile’ doesn’t even begin to describe it!😱
In November last year, it was the big show at the NEC, and I decided to put a question out on our club (Cradley Heath Model railway club) face book page asking what the highlights of the members visits were. I expected comments like “ had a look at Gresley beat and though Portchulen was nice” instead I had a page full of “ I won this on the Bachmann stand got this second hand, a bargain, but it doesn’t work”. One of the lads asked me the question back, my answer was, spent a full 5 hours looking at layouts, and the only trade stand I managed to get to was MSE for some signal
Admittedly I did get quite excited about the fact I was able to get the bits for my 2P project at S4N!
i think thats a bit different, than the endless comments about the box pushers, you were buying bits to actually use to construct a model!
It gets even better now, the thought police are saying we shouldnt be making any critical comments at all about a show, presumably including the layouts et al now. Thats me guilty of a high degree of heinous thought crime in my life then 😉 Room 101 for me.
Phil Parkers, just thrown in a corker!
I believe most of this sort of aggro is caused by lack of understanding, and as ever, there’s a balance to be had; one that’s sadly lacking on that forum. On the rather quieter and more urbane LNER Forum this week, I’ve had a small chat wit two chaps who managed to put across their criticism of the show in rational terms, and who I think also accepted that any show/venue would always be a compromise.
Im party to a debate going on elsewhere about venues and the thread in question is neither use nor ornament in informing that discussion other than that the catering arrangements seem to take precedence over layouts traders and demo’s. Perhaps it would be better and return a better profit matgin to run a small but bijou cafe instead of a show 😉
Hilarious Andy! Best laugh all week!
Glad its appreciated Simon, it was a bit of an open goal!
One though about lack of images – the one time fad to run round a show poking a camera at everything but never otherwise actually looking at the exhibits seems to have passed. I found that pretty bizarre from behind the backscene. Perhaps that’s why there’s no longer as many pictures on the internet post-show.
I’m not going digging now, but I don’t recollect seeing much from the Glasgow SECC show on the web when I looked to see what I missed. And there’s no cake to distract folk there, not even “parodies” of cake.
Difficult to say Jamie – at Rochdale the other week there was one guy who did nothing but view the layouts through his camera, although the majority seemed just content to observe what was going on. I do wonder if the constant baying of people for pictures, when they had no intention of going to the show in the first place, is making those who take pictures think twice and giving them a freebie of the show when they have paid to get in. Got to say thats my feeling, if you want to see the layouts, then go and see them in the flesh and give the club some money.
I did wonder when I was running Manchester if there was a possibility of making them pay to view – and get some money off the buggers for the pleasure!
I do wonder if that’s one area where the ‘forum contributor’ mindset has finally wised up – like any contribution of worth, it takes time and effort to take, process and post pics like that, and that contrasts strongly with the ‘take it all for granted’ expectations of constant free entertainment that come from other parts of the readership.
That sent me off to re-read my own exhibition reviews
http://apavalley.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Railway%20Exhibitions
They might fail the cake and boxes test but I guess they do reveal personal biases, such as a liking for narrow gauge and an aversion to some of the big crowd pleasers.
Talking of narrow gauge the oo9 world is well supported by the exhibition reports from http://micksrovingreporter.blogspot.co.uk/ whilst the 16mm Assoc actively support getting video and pictures of their one day show out on social media during the event itself. That’s even more useful for two day shows when it can persuade waverers that a visit on the second day would actually be worthwhile.
I think exhibition photography is partly less obvious now, because you don’t need a hulking great 35mm SLR or a SLR to take decent pictures, but also less prelevant because most layouts are already well documented in maagazines and on the web.
Pingback: The Future of Exhibitions | Albion Yard
Nicely taking my theme forward – love it!
This is my favourite post
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/76248-york-2014/?p=1427696
What I can’t understand however is why there’s no mention of floor covering specifications in their exhibitors info pack with at least three S4 layouts, one 2FS and one S7 in this years line up. This from a club that really should know better.
Really? and after their font of all knowledge cuntry member goes public and decries any show organiser that doesnt mention floor covering in their info packs? Double standards!
How can anyone say there was no “wow” factor when layouts like Leicester South and Portchullin were there….
And then to dismiss the small layouts as “ironing board set ups” even though that was where some of the best modelling of the show was.
I despair sometimes……………………….
And with every reason too Dave. I have long since come to the conclusion that the majority of those attending model railway shows wouldn’t know good modelling if it came and hit them over the head.
If I can remember the Bring and Buy stall at next year’s S4N will have home made cake behind it but only for the consumption of the organisers and selected traders.
Sorry – I brought the cake up as a joke, not expecting it to start a rant. I shall now refrain from posting about exhibitions at all.
Don’t be sorry about it Phil, its me who should be thanking you for a succesful blog entry – and to be brutally honest it wasn’t your original post which caught my eye – it was the gentleman who didnt like his cake who inspired it all. Thats not least as it was he who started all the S4North bring and buy debacle off, and really calling into question the honesty and integrity of my good friends in the MMRS and the S4 soc who run it. Those with the shopping lists and what boxes they had got to open when they got home just gave it the extra impetus. The cake has provided a cracking theme for the blog for my somewhat wry look at the hobby and its participants and given me some brilliant viewing stats – but I still have yet to top this one: http://wp.me/p2ZKK4-6n – Tweed. Say no more.
The York show thread is becoming like the MRJ thread – a 75% guaranteed bunfight (pun intended)! I’m not sure though that any blame attaches to any particular individual tbh; the real problem is a forum culture that long ago abandoned any semblance of objective discussion on such matters.
That is perhaps because all those who are capable of producing any objective discussion have actually either left or no longer wish to contribute to discussion. When you have a moderator like #3 making his usual belligerent posts to all those who disagree with him or ignores his “advice” (for advice read dictat) then its hardly surprising the rest of the idiocracy follow suit.