Manchester Exhibition December 2016

For anyone interested in the Manchester show the full album of "westerners" photo's are now on the flickr link under Manchester 2016. Next time you wear that shirt Neville can you also provide sunglasses????
Roger is proudly presenting a new bottle of oil he has just purchased,,,, I know not why.

Where do we start with trying to explain how much we enjoyed this exhibition,, it's not easy.

We are all influenced by our parent's and I most certainly was by mine and from being 10 years old onwards one of the highlights of the year was to jump on a train with father at Sheffield Victoria station and be pulled by an EM2 to Manchester so we could pay our annual visit to Manchester  Club Xmas Exhibition,, it was an important event as that is where the Xmas present was usually purchased.

Memories come flooding back,,, watching Presson for hours,, how did they get them to run that slowly,, and the almost invisible couplings,,or visiting the K's stand to see this years new arrival,, how did they get them to run at all!!!  and one that never leaves me is watching Eric Laithwaite demonstrating his flying beer tray,,, the start of magnetic levitation that has developed into various worldwide trains now running at speeds once thought impossible.

This years show was just as good and we were a part of it,,, a weekend to remember,,, and I will.

Highlights,,,, 

Listening to a bunch of local modellers who had partisan views on all manner of subjects,, some were interested in the GC stock others in the LYR offerings and one poor soul admitted to being a GW fan,,, there was nothing for him to look at and oh dear did he get some stick,,, some things in modelling will never change!!! 

Meeting Mark of Grime Street fame,, not only a lovely modeller but a personality to match,, and his advice on all things TRAM will be remembered and incorporated at some time in the near future.

For me looking at the MMRC "History Board" is another one that will stick out,,,, these days we complain about delays from China,, prices,, liveries,, wish lists,,,, and forget that back in the late 40's if you wanted to take railway modelling seriously you had to make your own motors, wheels,, etc etc,, if your standards were high then non of the essentials were available commercially  and this board shows you early examples of what they could do and how they did it,,, fascinating and truly impressive.

I can now proudly say I have actually slept in Gorton,,,, not the Tank,,, that is now a fruit and veg market!!! but the hotel on the same site,, it was fine,, the accents of the lady's serving the "Boddies" brought back even more memories and the curry on the closing night was something else not to be treated casually.

Thankyou Manchester Model Railway Club,,,, to go out on a show like yours was a real honour.