THE Christmas show - Manchester 2 & 3 December 2017!

[Ian@StEnochs]

Ken & I travelled down to the show on the Saturday arrived about 12.00 when it was really busy and difficult to squeeze around. However it did ease up later and we got to see everything. We were staying overnight, for a bit of a pub crawl and visit to the East Lancs on the Sunday. It would have been appreciated if there had been a facility for overnight bags to be stored.

An Excellent selection of layouts all well presented. It was difficult making a selection for the best layout, all had their merits. St Just was excellent but the mix of pre group GWR and warships at the same grated a we bit. Bridgewater is very nice and operates well but everything looks too clean, especially the ballast. Cirencester looks the part and I really appreciated the toned down liveries on the stock. Nice to see some of the less popular prototypes too. Manor Quarry, while very small, had a lot of interest and Campbell’s Quarry shifted a lot of sand in a very entertaining way and the sound added to the effect unlike some other layouts on the circuit.

Ian.

 

[Ian Smith]

Well I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the show - although I'll be honest I didn't get to see much of the show but from what I did see it looked good.

Whilst picking up the latest copy of Narrow Gauge Review (Magazine - Narrow Gauge and Industrial Review) from "Bill Hudson" I unfortunately spotted a copy of the Gloucester Midland Lines (Gloucester Midland Lines Part 1: North) so the credit card took another hit.

The main reason for the enjoyment was the privilege of being allowed to help out with operating St. Ruth. I turned up just before the show started (thanks to a 20 minute delay on the trains!) and was handed a controller, a 2 minute briefing and then given the responsibility of running the trains in and out of the station. It was utterly engrossing and everything just worked, it was well planned and the system was intuitive. Before I knew it it was lunchtime. I think the controller had to be prised out of my hands! Towards the end of the day my LNWR rail motor got it's first public appearance working the branch line shuttle a couple of times. I was mightily relieved that it acquitted itself, unfortunately I was having too much fun to get the camera out. So no photos I'm afraid but my thanks to the owners who let a couple of newbies loose on their pride and joy - it really was a memorable day.

Adrian,
Glad you enjoyed yourself on St. Ruth. May I offer the group's thanks to yourself and our other guest operators over the weekend. You all picked up the workings of the layout very well, and all seemed to thoroughly enjoy yourselves.
I did manage to get out in front of the layout while your LNWR Railmotor was stretching it's legs, and also managed to snap a couple of photos on my mobile while there :


Ian

 

[adrian]

Thanks for that - it is appreciated.

 

[iak63]

Gentlemen, St Ruths was a worthy winner of its gong.
An excellent layout and it even impressed my wife, no mean eventuality I assue you.