Been back a while now, books unloaded, had dinner, reviewed the results and it was definitely worthwhile from a business point of view. "Book of the show" was "Locomotive Modelling From Scratch etc" from Wild Swan, followed by "Narrow Gauge Adventure" and "Book of the Counties". I also sold out of all of the NG&IR magazines I had taken, which surprised me (pleasantly) given the show's remit.
As I was single handed I'm afraid I have no pictures and wasn't able to spend much time looking around.
Despite there being a good number of empty tables there was still plenty to see, plenty of people to talk to and the coffee and bacon rolls were as good as ever
I expect Rog (Purplehaze) will confirm but talking to organisers today visitor numbers were about 50% of "normal" expectation. The show nonetheless had a good "buzz" and the venue was as good as ever; organisation was really efficient and very friendly - thank you to everyone involved from me.
Of course it was tinged with more than a little sadness as this was a show which to me at least was very much associated with Cynric and his creativity, and he was remembered with affection with a number of visitors throughout the day.
On a more positive note I started the day by sharing a coffee and conversation with the irrepressible John Taylor, who had travelled down from the hills above Sowerby Bridge to help Andy Duncan with his stand. Once described by Simon D as a man with an improbable Yorkshire accent, he is both very funny and a brilliant character who this morning set me up perfectly for a positive day. I heartily recommend John's company to anyone who has not had the pleasure before.
On the modelling front I spoke to Richard Webster (Lionheart) about the potential for some scale G1 wagon wheels, learned that Slaters Gauge 3 Midland brake van is about to break cover and had an interesting conversation with Arun Sharma who had made a very nice O gauge model of the Acton shuttle. This has long fascinated me and Arun had worked out all the undergubbins and bogie/shoebeam detail and created them by rapid prototyping for his very nice model. He said that he could produce all these bits in 1/32 scale for me and so I am going to send him an e-mail and if he's able to deliver that is one purchase I will definitely be making this year
Otherwise I met and re-acquainted myself with lots of nice people, including a couple of DB Schenker drivers who operate the oil trains to Westerleigh (amongst other services) a very interesting conversation, spent mostly listening
That's about it I think, apologies for lack of pictures or layout reports but hopefully you get some idea.
Simon