RAILEX 2023

[david bigcheeseplant]

RAILEX 2023

27th & 28th May 2023

Stoke Mandeville Stadium
Stadium Approach
Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
HP21 9PP

http://www.railex.org.uk

Saturday 10.00-17.30
Sunday 10.00-16.30

Free Vintage bus from Aylesbury railway station to Railex and return both days.

Layouts Attending:

7mm Scale
Bridgewater (O)
Grindley Brook (O)
Kensington Addison Road (O)
Purgatory Peak (On30)

4mm Scale
Charwelton in the 80s (OO)
Hope Under Dinmore (EM)
Old Parrock (OO)
Wantage Tramway (P4)
Wendover (OO)

2mm Scale
Bath Engine Shed (2mm)
Freshwater (2mm)
Kyle of Lochalsh
Modbury (2mm)
Pebworth (2mm

Traders
247 Developments.
Alan Gibson.
Bill Hudson Transport Books.
Branchlines.
Brushes 4 Models.
C&L Finescale Track Building Systems Ltd.
Cheltenham Model Centre.
CSP Models.
Dart Casting.
D&E Video/Realtrack Models/DC Kits/Legomanbiffo.
Dingo Servo Mounts
Golden Arrow.
High Level Kits.
Ians Trains.
Inventio.
Isinglass Models.
Judith Edge Kits.
London Road Models.
Minerva Model Railways.
Model Railway Developments.
PenBits Model Railways.
Petite Properties Ltd.
Premo
Prickley Pear
Roger Carpenter.
Severn Models.
Squires/South Eastern Finecast
Stoneybridge Models.
Sunningwell Command Control Ltd: Digitrax. Soundtraxx.
Tim Horn Lasercut Baseboards.
Wild Swan Books Ltd.
WW Scenics.

Demonstrations
The 2mm Scale Association.
Gauge O Guild.
Missenden Abbey Railway Modellers.
Pendon Museum.
Paul Bambrick.
Scalefour Society.
The Scale Seven Group.

 

[BCN-Pete]

Hi David,

Next time you bump this thread please can you add my 2FS Kyle of Lochalsh layout to the 2mm list?

Many thanks and looking forward to the show…

Pete

 

[david bigcheeseplant]

Hi Pete
now added

 

[BCN-Pete]

Hi Pete
now added

Thank you David

 

[Lancastrian]

I'll be there on Saturday manning the Guild stand.

Ian

 

[Phil O]

It's in my diary.

 

[david bigcheeseplant]

Last week, we were informed the sports hall we usually use for the exhibition will not be available owing to the floor being replaced over a 2 month period commencing April 24th. We will now be holding the exhibition in the adjacent Indoor Bowls Hall. This is slightly smaller and we have worked hard over the last week to rearrange the floor plan to accommodate our booked layouts and Traders.

Regrettably it has not been possible to include everybody and we have had to withdraw invitations to Beijiao by Paul Stapleton and James Street by Steve Wright. We are grateful to both for their understanding in this unfortunate situation forced on us by circumstances beyond our control. Both layouts have been invited to attend in 2024.

As you can imagine the change of hall just a few weeks before the show is not want we planned but it was either use this alternative hall or cancel, but with adverts and diary dates having been published in magazines we decided to rearrange using the alternative space that was offered.

The bowls area is not one level space and is slightly raised around the perimeter on four sides which we are using to view the layouts from with the traders located in the centre area of the hall. James Street requires viewing on four sides which we would not be able to achieve with the way we have had to arrange the layouts.

After last year when the stadium double booked us and we had to cancel, we thought we were back to normal but with the spanner in the work this year with the change of hall forced on us on, we still have a great show on offer with all the Railex brand values you would expect.

David

 

[oldravendale]

Thanks for the info, David. It seems that so many of these halls can't even get their bookings sorted out. Surely they knew last year at least that the floor was going to be replaced. If not it's a pretty accommodating builder! As for double bookings.....

I wonder what the private diaries of the individuals managing the bookings are like? "Sorry, I know I'm the best man and all that and the wedding's only a month away but I've just realised I'm on holiday in China so would you kindly reschedule for next year?"

Bloody incompetents!

Brian

 

[david bigcheeseplant]

It is not the best thing to rearrange a show just a month before, I have had to narrow the gangways a bit and generally tighten things up, it is unfortunate that we have had to drop a couple of layouts, but I had thought it would be worse than that.
Here are some photos of the hall we are using.

 

[david bigcheeseplant]

Floor plan for Railex is below, hope to see you there.
David

 

[david bigcheeseplant]

Here is the free vintage bus timetable, the bus will depart from Aylesbury Railway station car park.

 

[d827 kelly]

The changes are of course beyond your control.

As a visitor who'll be using a wheelchair, is there access to the raised areas? and when you say you've tightened things up, what sort of tightness are we talking about here?

 

[ianmianmianm]

I attended on Saturday and was impressed by the pre-show information and the detail about the layouts. I hadn't been aware of the reasons for the change in hall and I do appreciate the effort put in. But I have to say that I stayed exactly 15 minutes. My £10 was not entirely lost as I was collecting items from Tim Horn which would otherwise have cost more to post to me.

Aside from the heat, the difficult situation was, in my opinion, exacerbated by the behaviour of the attendees. I was ruck-sacked in the face twice, constantly had to dodge round visitors who had decided to gather to have a conflab in the middle of the narrowest aisles (ignoring the stands they were blocking) and harangued by a complete idiot that waved his Ipad around taking 30 pictures of each stand including traders. Give me a show with well behaved kids attending any day rather than this.

Thank you to the club for putting on the show but I do hope you are seeking a better venue in future, considering they have dicked you over twice now.

Some of the best shows I have been to over the last year have been the ones in schools and academies, with lots of dwell space, little pockets of stands in break-off rooms, and of course most of the venues being fully accessible.

 

[d827 kelly]

Went on the Sunday and had a good day for my birthday. The ramps caused a little difficulty in my wheelchair and there were a few occasions where the aisles were not wide enough and I had to reverse to an area without chairs to let another wheelchair user get past. But overall all was pretty nicely laid out I felt. Got rather hot of course, but such buildings generally do.

Look forward to next year, when it will hopefully be able to return to the sports hall again.

 

[d827 kelly]

Some of the best shows I have been to over the last year have been the ones in schools and academies, with lots of dwell space, little pockets of stands in break-off rooms, and of course most of the venues being fully accessible.

My experience using a wheelchair is generally schools are actually worse for getting around than a single big room like a sports hall. The trade off is the higher temperatures however.

Whilst stands in little pockets in side rooms sound great, in reality they create choke points for crowding and especially if you're in a wheelchair or mobility device, harder to get through the doors.