York MRS - Thank you

Great Show, all that's needed now is a model railway club in York.....

I know I live away now and only get up to York three or four times a year (including for the Show each year) but what about the Ebor Group? They had a Trade Stand over the weekend so must still be active in some form or another? Have they disbanded as an active club?

John New

Webmaster for Stephenson Locomotive Soc. -

I was in attendance with my dad as per usual and we had a very pleasant day. The queue outside was very long but moving quickly, and once inside we found it as spaceous and relaxed as it had been for the previous years. I thought the standard of layouts was especially high this year. If there was any disappointment it was that neither of us could find people selling what we wanted, but I reckon that's down to the trade stands and not the exhibition, obviously!

"Jim M" wrote

I too had hoped to find stuff which wasn't on sale, but as I was looking for USA outline HO-scale it wasn't too surprising. Surely there's some justification for a specialised non-British outline r-t-r retailer rather than just several selling Bachmann and/or Hornby?

John.

This obviously wasn't the same show I attended on Saturday the mezzanine floors particularly were over crowded and a fight to get through to see either layouts or traders or simply to get betwwen floors. Further a lot of the other layout were difficult to get to due to the number of people.

In regard to the layouts there were some good layouts but there were some layouts there that were starting to get long in the tooth and have been shown many times before (including at York).

Yes we went on the Saturday. We "split up" and I went straight to the top floor and worked my way down. I thought it was fine as long as patience was observed. However I have an advantage in that I'm quite tall, so standing *right* at the front was not always a priority.

Again, I would tend to disagree. While I have seen Tebay, Moorcock Junction and Sutton Wharf at least 3 times now, I could still stand and watch them all day (if I had time!). I suspect this is down to individual preference...

Similarly my dad was after USA steam and (early) diesel loco's, except in N scale. He couldn't find anything, save for a Pennsy sharknose.

I wanted Parkwood kits, and Peco 9' Iron Ore wagons (to model the Bulk Soda Ash that I've been asking about). No-one had any of those either. N Gauge Lines had Parkwood, but not the ones I wanted! *sigh*

I wanted some Lenz decoders and a box of code 75 track. Failed there as well!

Nigel

Snip

Unfortunately we couldn't make it to York this year but it does seem that DCC specialist traders tend not to be invited there. I don't suppose that ZTC or Sunningwell (Digitrax) were there either were they?

Dave W

Thanks for the feed back. However re the trader dilema - do you keep your regulars happy, and operate a waiting list system, or boot someone out to accomodate a new trend like DCC etc?

John New Webmaster for Stephenson Locomotive Soc. -

Re crowds - It is a balance. If you want rare items from the traders you will have to come on Saturday. However if you want to see layouts come probably on Sunday or even Monday and time your trip so you are in the hall until we close. As we say on the web-site Saturday is the busiest day.

John New Webmaster for Stephenson Locomotive Soc. -

"John New" wrote

There's not real dilemma with the amount of space available at York. You should have enough room to accomodate someone like Mackay Models who could supply DCC and a good selection of overseas equipment.

John.