Manchester Musings Part 1

Bah humbug!!!

I spent Saturday at the 100th Manchester Model Railway Show.

Perhaps my expectations were too high or misplaced, because I came away feeling underwhelmed.

Now, when you look through my photos, you are going to ask me what I'm talking about.

There were some truly excellent layouts, some even had trains moving on them. 

We have to go back to my expectations. I've been wanting to return to the Manchester show for a very long time. 1968 was the last one I went to...

I did try to go last year, but the family obligations got in the way, and despite it being in the family diary for over a year, they nearly did again. So I had to rush because Mum was alone at home whilst Issy galavanted off to Wales for the weekend.

Apart from nostalgia and my genuine love for Manchester, one reason I wanted to go was that the list of layouts on show was very attractive. Many of them would have been the stars of other shows. Another was the nostalgia of seeing (or in one case, not seeing) layouts I had memories of.

So why was I so disappointed, and stayed at the show for such a brief time?


In a word, atmosphere. Or rather the lack of it.


So that is hard to define, and harder still for the organisers to create. So these are very personal observations. I will say though that I arrived at midday and met a steady stream of people leaving the show.


Let's start with the good.

The venue was accessible, in all senses of the word, with wide aisles, all on one level, and ample seating and aisle widths. The catering seemed popular, but, yet again, I didn't sample it because of the queue.To be honest, in Manchester you are spoiled for choices outside of the exhibition hall.

The stewards were friendly, there was a real effort to involve children, and trade stands didn't interfere with those wanting to look at the layouts.

And, perhaps a personal thing, a great mix of big layouts and micros.

Finally, they made great use of QR codes to provide information on the layouts.


So my gripes?

Every layout seemed to be surrounded by an often bad-tempered scrum. I got one nasty comment myself whilst trying to grab a photo of Copenhagen Fields, and I heard someone else loudly proclaim they were going to deck the next person who jostled them. I watched a grandmother with a pushchair struggle to navigate around a layout because people were pushing past her, separating her from the grandchild.  And yes, it is a cliche, but I did get hit in the face by a couple of rucksacks, and I gave up any hope of using my real camera because often I struggled to even get my phone in position.

Then there was the venue itself. It was very much a sports hall. Had it been a small, local show it would have been fine, but it felt wrong somehow.  I can't quite define it, but it felt too big,light and airy. Now, often you would see that as a good thing, but if you look at museum displays, you'll see the care that goes into creating a setting that focuses on the displays. Here layouts could have just been stalls at a car boot sale.




The Layouts

I hinted at one issue early on. There were too many layouts where literally nothing happened. Now I'm a fan of the micro as diorama, but not when it comes to layouts taking up a lot of space, and that visitors might have travelled miles to see. There were at least four layouts where I didn't see a single train move. I won't name names. 

The mix was good though, and once again N gauge/2mm was there on merit, not for novelty. There were a couple of layouts that didn't appeal to me, but they still got a decent crowd.



Copenhagen Fields


I have to start here. A layout I have loved for so many years, and one that is so clever in so many ways, including the use of theatrical tricks

Laramie

An MPD scene done right

Dewsbury Midland

A layout that brought out my inner Brian Monaghan. 

Grantham

I have never seen a streamliner on this layout, but I owe it a great debt since it converted me to Kadees.

Bron Hebrog

Superbly done. I half wish they hadn't included a station in the scene, because it is so great at portraying a railway in a landscape.

Craig & Mertonford/ Dundreich

I wish I knew how much of this was original. Perhaps you should never meet your heroes.

Ffarquhar

Coming in Part 2, Trams, showcasing the past, and an empahsis on micros.