The Bluebell Model Railway Exhibition - a success (mainly!!)

Well I have just got back from my first exhibition.  I spent two days operating Charlton at the Bluebell Model Railway weekend, set up at Horsted Keynes.  This was my first exhibition operating a layout and the first time I have ever displayed any of modelling.  It was with a little trepidation that I turned up on the Saturday morning to set up.  I am pleased to say that I found the weekend a very fun experience, if not a little exhausting!  I was operating on my own, so keeping something moving all the time demanded quite a lot of concentration.  However, the days flew by and it was fantastic to have some dedicated running time.

The layout set up ready to go.  The black drape needs a little work!

The class 45 running in a passenger service - before it was sent flying to the floor!

Like doing anything for the first time, it is a steep learning curve.  The layout behaved faultlessly, with the exception of one loose wire on a point that occasionally needed a tweak. The engines behaved beautifully and the slow speed running and shunting was fantastic.  I was also happy with how the couplings worked, although I realised pretty quickly that the class 22 could not be coupled up to a coaching rake under the gaze of the public - the body skirt essentially hides the coupling.  However, with the Western and class 45 on the passenger service, plus the class 22 or 25 on the freight side, everything worked really well.  I also quickly realised that I tried to cram far too much stock into the fiddle yard and slowly reduced this over the weekend.  A freight train or two, a passenger service and DMU were more than sufficient to keep the layout working.  

View from the other side.

A busy moment as the western heads out on another passenger turn (what happened to the windscreen wipers??.....

However, there was also a slight downside, with a woman who inexplicably gave the fiddle yard a frightful bump and sent the class 45 clattering onto the concrete floor.  I was a little annoyed, but she did apologise - I have realised that people do get too close, so next time I am going to set the layout further back than I did this time.  However, other than the class 45 now being completely knackered, this was the only down side.  I realised that I need a lip on the fiddle yard to stop this happening again, so this will be installed before its next outing.  This was certainly a preventable problem and was caused by my own inexperience of not having exhibiting before and realising that some people are not that spatially aware!!  The western also somehow lost a pair of windscreen wipers and the roof fell off the BY wagon, but there are easy fixes.  Other than these very minor issues, the weekend was fantastic and I am keen to do more.  There were a lot of great conversations and some very kind comments, making the whole experience very rewarding.  It also gave me a lesson in not being too precious about the layout - it was built to be used.  I can see that taking it to exhibitions will cause some wear and tear, but I think better that than just keeping it at home.  Thank you to anyone who came to see the layout and I hope you enjoyed it!  Off to Ebay now to get a new class 45 bogie and gear box!!

The class 45 stripped down tonight, ready for repair.  It needs a whole new bogie plus gear box.  However, as luck would have it, I think there is one on ebay right now!  Hopefully this should not be too difficult to fix and patch up.