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Impressions of Ally Pally Show.

  1. The parking (and the marshalling of parking) was atrocious. Despite the car park at the top of the hill being jam-packed, they were still allowing traffic to approach it; traffic which then had to try to turn around in the face of the press of traffic trying to approach. A bit of management here to direct cars to the other car park would have been better, rather than waiting for each car in turn to stop, wind down window, and ask what was going on, a process which only added to the delays and frustration!

  1. I went to the car park at the bottom of the hill, whence there ought to have been a bus service, but it was not apparent in the bit of the car park in which we were. Still - a brisk walk up the hill is good for something!

  2. Ally Pally is a huge place, and those that approached the entrance to the hall were then faced with what seemed like (after toiling up the hill!!!!) a further half-mile trek to get to the ticket office and back.

  1. The press of people inside the hall was appalling. Why, then, wasn't the full capacity of the hall being used? There was about a further 100 feet partitioned off at the end underneath the organ which could have been used to space it all out.

  2. The catering facilities were excellent. Plenty of room to sit down; and enough caterers to ensure that at peak lunch time, the queues were almost non-existent.

  1. There were a goodly few traders present, but Myfords were noticeable by their absence.

  2. For a national show, the models weren't well presented, and the number of model stands seemed smaller than the number of traders. The displays were poor, and seemed to owe more to being a store-room with objects stacked up rather then being an expose, as such. Because of the way in which things were stacked up, the only locomotive which looked any good was the live steam 9F going around the Gauge 1 track; but this was supposed to be a model engineering show and not a toy railway show! There were far too many boats!

  1. The one stand showing quality engineering was the BHI stand - two of those clocks had such a high polished gloss on all the brassware that it gave us all a standard of perfection to be aimed at!

Reply to
Airy R.Bean
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This space is used during set up and tear down of the event. It's mainly for exhibitors like Warco and Chester to park their lorries so they can be un/loaded. Dragging ten's of tons of equipment to the outside car parks is not practical.

Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen Woolhead

Then it is a simple matter of logistics to arrange that such heavy and awkward loads are first-in and last-out, when the encumbrances of the infrastructure of stalls is not present.

A simple matter for those who are competent to arrange exhibitions, that is.

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

I started to write a reply to this and then remembered that given the poster, there really is no point.

Anyway, if you think you have some useful advice, then get in touch with the organisers I'm sure they will be interested to hear what you have to say given you extensive background and experience in these matters. That way you might actually achieve something and save the rest of us here from having to listen to you pathetic whinings.

Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Woolhead

Why make such a silly comment? I have consistently made a positive contribution to this NG, including chastising those, seemingly now including you, who bring the group to its knees by using the group as a vehicle for indulging in gratuitous and unnecessary personal remarks.

Shame on you.

Grow up, Mr.Woolhead.

Stupid boy.

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

So your considered you reply to be well thought out, taking into account the layout of the build in the availability of vehicle access, the time frame in which the process has to take place and the various other variables which need to be considered; and you come up with a blindingly obvious solution that the people who do this over and over again somehow managed to over look? If this is the case then your comments would be most effective if directed to the organisers ( snipped-for-privacy@meridienneexhibitions.co.uk), your feed back might make a difference for next year.

Or was it just another failed attempt to flex you battered ego to show that you know best while belittling the people that put a lot of time and effort into pulling off a show that was on the most part very enjoyable.

Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen Woolhead

Why make such a silly comment? Now you're behaving as though you've been caught out and are trying to save face.

Why not give up while you're still behind?

Shame on you.

Grow up, Mr.Woolhead.

Stupid boy.

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

Stephen Woolhead writes ..........

Stephen,

I fear you may be mistaken. I do not believe that the organisers would willingly set aside such an expensive covered area for this purpose. It is more likely that there were insufficient entries to fill the hall - which is sad.

The lorries you mention may actually have used the floor space for a couple of hours to unload because it was available; but only because it was unallocated to stands. I cannot really believe that the organisers would turn away good stand revenue simply to make it easy for the exhibitors.

If they did I would expect that it may have been reflected in the price of the entry ticket.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Whittome

Could well be the case. I did wounder if that was the case why not just spread the event out a bit more? I guess it's to do with the locations in the floor for the electric hook ups and to make it look more popular than it might other wise have looked.

Either way, was very handy at the end of the show to have a bit of space!

Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen Woolhead

So, after your childish outbursts, you now utter the very same comment that I made.

How strange of you!

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

Dickhead!

FWIW. Large scale model trains tend to fall in-between model engineering & model railways, & are generally welcomed by both fraternities.

Try the Merstham Show in May for examples.

DC

Reply to
David C.

Grow up, David C!

Stupid boy.

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

The childish broadcast quoted below from "David C" would seem to indicate that the railways with which he plays are _TOY_ railways, would it not?

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

The reason why I, and others, went on up the hill was because the only way to get into the bottom car park when going up the hill was to turn right across a double white line - illegal and dangerous.

Reply to
PH

It's not illegal to cross a double white line to turn off the road.

(It's not always illegal to cross a double white line if you are driving along if you are passing a pedestrian or, ISTR, an agricultural vehicle (or a road maintenance vehicle) travelling at less than 10MPH)

Reply to
Airy R.Bean

In article , PH writes

Eh? What on Earth makes you think that?

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Reply to
Nigel Eaton

I stand corrected - the Highway Code has obviously been modified on this point since I learnt to drive over 30 years ago. I remember very clearly the inspector during the test asking under what conditions it was possible to cross a double white line and acknowledging as correct my answer "None"

Reply to
PH

Obviously never had right turns 30 years ago, don't times change

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

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Reply to
John Stevenson

Must be something to do with New Labour

Regards, Tony

Reply to
Tony Jeffree

I think the inspector was wrong. I don't have a copy from all thos

years ago but did compete in Highway Code competitions at school in th late '50s and don't remember not being able to cross to turn int drives, etc. In any case, if instructed by a 'police officer' one was able to do al sorts of bared things

-- elj221

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