Swillybegs

[Tullygrainey]

2 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

Well done for getting it sorted and I admire your persistence in the face of adversity. 

I'm not sure I've got it in me to take the risk of exhibiting anything, so I really admire those who do. It certainly seems like you need multiple backups of everything to ensure the layout keeps working.

It can be challenging for sure but very satisfying when it goes well. Even when it doesn't, it can be an incentive to try harder and the satisfaction comes from solving the problems (or taking a hammer to the insoluble ones - just joking, there's always a solution).

In actual fact, it's likely that visitors often don't notice that you're having a bad time because many don't spend long observing any one exhibit. And if nothing is moving on the layout they just pass on to the next exhibit, leaving you to have your nervous breakdown unnoticed

[Colonel]

Very true Alan!

 It  can be hard to rationalise why anyone would dismantle their layout, bounce it over potholed roads to an alien environment, reassembled it and then run it in public for seven hours or more only to then reverse the process and take it home again. We do though, probably because underneath it all, there is a quiet satisfaction in creating something that others might want to admire.

 Talking with people at shows is always enjoyable, from how you make things to trying to explain scale/gauge combinations and all points in between. You learn a lot too.

 For anyone considering getting into exhibiting, I would suggest joining a club or group and then volunteering to help at a show. That way, you learn about all the preparation that goes on beforehand and well as stuff like operating in public - which is very different to doing it at home.

 I think many exhibitors are closet thespians at heart because you are very much putting on a performance, one where you even build your own theatre before setting a scene and telling story.

 And when the muse takes us luvvies, the show has to go on!

 

[Colonel]

Swillybegs was at the Dreamworks 1:1 at the weekend. DreamWorks is of course the Hornby factory in Margate but the 1:1 part is special as it is a a collection of full size stuff that currently opens only one day a year. It must be the closest thing to the show that Cultra used to run, because of being among the real locos.

The ground floor includes a Eurostar loco, Deltic 9016, Royal Scot 46100, a Hall 4-6-0, a breakdown crane and a 4SUB EMU. Below that are working layouts in 0 and 00, alongside display cases of large scale models. The mezzanine above has the restored Gresley beavertail observation car, plus a small selection of motorbikes, cars and a tank! There are also many five inch gauge locos too.

 I was there with the Chatham Club, plus several other ones who brought layouts and stands from some of the local preserved railways. It really was a splendid place to be, but though I took my camera, I'd left the memory card out. Took pictures on my phone, but at the moment can't get them transferred to my laptop. Hopefully will post some later...

[Broithe]

2 hours ago, Colonel said:

though I took my camera, I'd left the memory card out. 

Having been very nearly badly caught out in the same way, my rule now is to not close the door, if there is not a card in the slot.

This has saved me a few times.