SDMRC Exhibition - Blackrock Collage October 24th-26th.

[Georgeconna]

Popped up yesterday, enjoyed the Show, Nice mix of Layouts and some real quality on show. Loved the Donegal one, Not to crowded with Items on it just right, had a nice chat with the operator and Belturbet which I had not seen before along with that O Gauge end to end....Wow!

 

Spent from 11am till 150hrs there. Picked up some baseboard Alignment dowls, Catchs, Mekpak and a couple of packs of Coupling hooks( Bloody hell at E13 for 10!!) and a book on Brass Chassis contruction Sadly no Southern region bargains to been seen from my scout about.

 

 

Called to Area 22 , sorry Stand 22. One man missed but hey next time!! Good luck with the venture lads.

[scahalane]

Couldn't make the show due to work commitments, anybody got any photo's of the weekend??

[Noel]

I really enjoyed visiting the show again this morning. It was much less crowded than Saturday so much easier to get around the different class rooms and see the exhibits close up. Well done to the organisers. Just one suggestion which I'm sure has been made many times before, but getting a small catering contractor to come in and run a temporary cafe would have been very welcome and perhaps enabled some folk to stay longer at this excellent show and get somewhere to sit down for a rest and a chat. Congrats on 40th anniversary.

 

PS: Along with some really nice layouts on show, my personal favourite layout was 'Belturbet' - stunning

[burnthebox]

Much as I wanted to go to the show it simply wasn't possible,it would seem to have been a great success, well done to all concerned organising, take a bow,

 

PS I would go along with Noel regarding a tea / coffee sit down spot, & a chance to chat with the gang,

Edited October 26, 2015 by burnthebox

[richrua]

Was there today for a while. The layouts were really impressive. Plenty of Irish layouts from north and south. The mix of all gauges was superb too. Plenty to enjoy. The o gauge crawfordsburn was mighty indeed. As were the Donegal narrow gauge and the Lucan one and man many others!! I picked up an a/c class detail kit from Weshty and some decals and had a good look at the plough van which I think will be my next stab at a kit.

 

Very nice event. Lots of room to enjoy the exhibits and layouts.

 

Was also really impressed with ECM trains DART. VERY nice ...

[Weshty]

Great to meet you all, it was a mighty two days (as I made clear on the SSM Website front page).

 

Well done to the organisers, it all ran very smoothly.

 

Look forward to the next show in the next few months;)

[murrayec]

Hi All

 

Yes it was an enjoyable weekend and great to meet everyone, and well done to the organisers

 

I went out on a few occasions today to take some video of the show and layouts, but did not get around so well, with all the chatting and looking at stuff the camera work suffered...

 

Here is a few stills from what I took

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eoin....

[murrayec]

.....and the crews hard at work

 

 

 

 

 

Eoin

[Junctionmad]

I went to both Blackrock and Wexford. Wexford was excellent for what it was. Two interesting 00 gauge layouts plus a couple of other layouts etc

 

I was disappointed with Blackrock , the show , with the exception of the belturbet layout , which was excellant ( though I gather it's an old layout ) , was a re-run of rahenylast year. , the lads on the Irishrailwaymodels stand were excellant.

 

I really would like to see more layout variety from year to year.

 

Interestingly I found the running quality of the two Wexford 00 layouts to be better then any at Blackrock

 

Congrats to the organisers of both exhibitions. These take volunteers time to organise and the weather in wexford was awful today

[WRENNEIRE]

The real winner at the SDMRC,

Our MRSI kitchen will now have these beauts while discussing the headlines of the day

Cheers Steve!!!!!

 

[BosKonay]

Lol, they look well Wrenn

[WRENNEIRE]

It is a date that marks one of Armagh's darkest days. On Wednesday, June 12, 1889 some 89 men, women and children died in what has gone down in history as our biggest rail disaster.

What compounded the tragedy was that the victims were enjoying the traditional Armagh Methodist Church Sunday school excursion to Warrenpoint. The deaths included many young people – 19 of the victims were under the age of 15.

The usually fun trip to the seaside was a highlight of the year for Methodists and the hundreds of other people of different religions and classes who would join the special train on its relatively short journey.

That morning around 1,200 people gathered, full of anticipation, around Abbey Street Church before following the band of the Royal Irish Fusiliers to the railway station.

The train was packed as it pulled away from the station at 10.15am, but around three miles out of the city a nightmare unfolded as the train was trying to pull up the slope out of Armagh, but was pulled back by its weight.

A decision was taken to decouple the front four carriages, move them to Hamiltonsbawn, and then to return for the remaining eight carriages.

Stones were placed behind the wheels of those carriages, but they rolled backwards, crushed the stones and began to build up speed as they continued back down the slope. The runaway carriages crashed into another train, resulting in the loss of 89 lives. All denominations suffered – Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian.

 

Surgeon-Major Lynn, a leading Methodist layman and one of the trip organisers, described the scenes of utter devastation at the time.

"Many a bitter battlefield did not display such carnage," he said.

The names of all the dead are recorded in the Abbey Street Methodist Church.

Among them is the son of the Rev William R McMullan, then minister of Abbey Street Methodist Church, who was attending the annual Methodist Conference in Cork.

When he returned to Armagh, as well as the trauma of his son lying in a coffin in the manse, he found that his Sunday school superintendent, Samuel Steel, was dead and every member of the Abbey Street Church choir was either dead or injured.

The disaster led to an Act of Parliament to ensure that such a catastrophe would never occur again.

Methodist minister Rev Denis Maguire said people had tried to forget about the 1889 disaster because it was "too painful". "They had learned to cope with it by keeping it hidden and I think the time is right now for a memorial," he said.

"It was the worst railway disaster in this part of the world at the time and it's still the worst railway disaster to have happened in Ireland.

 

An elderly gent, whose name I have forgotten showed me these tickets from that faithful day at the show.

Refreshment tickets were unused, the ticket holder perished in the accident

 

Suaimhneas síoraí tabhair dóibh, a Thiarna.

 

 

[leslie10646]

Yes, well done the SDMRC folk - my first venture "South of the Border" and I'm glad Richard and I made the trip - another wagon sold out - "Hooray"! Great to meet faces to go with names on my database. Hopefully the MRSI will invite me next year and that I'm spared to come!

 

Dave, that's an extraordinary thing you've just posted - a Black Day for Co Armagh, but, as you all probably know, a day which changed the railways forever and made them safer.

 

Leslie

[Barl]

I was there for a while on Saturday and I thought it was a very good show with some excellent layouts on display.

Had a good chat with the lads at the IRM stand and was nice to meet them in person. Picked up 078 in grey livery too, I couldn't resist seeing as it was on sale.

[Warbonnet]

I was there for a while on Saturday and I thought it was a very good show with some excellent layouts on display.

Had a good chat with the lads at the IRM stand and was nice to meet them in person. Picked up 078 in grey livery too, I couldn't resist seeing as it was on sale.

 

Good to meet you too Karl

[enniscorthyman]

It is a date that marks one of Armagh's darkest days. On Wednesday, June 12, 1889 some 89 men, women and children died in what has gone down in history as our biggest rail disaster.

What compounded the tragedy was that the victims were enjoying the traditional Armagh Methodist Church Sunday school excursion to Warrenpoint. The deaths included many young people – 19 of the victims were under the age of 15.

The usually fun trip to the seaside was a highlight of the year for Methodists and the hundreds of other people of different religions and classes who would join the special train on its relatively short journey.

That morning around 1,200 people gathered, full of anticipation, around Abbey Street Church before following the band of the Royal Irish Fusiliers to the railway station.

The train was packed as it pulled away from the station at 10.15am, but around three miles out of the city a nightmare unfolded as the train was trying to pull up the slope out of Armagh, but was pulled back by its weight.

A decision was taken to decouple the front four carriages, move them to Hamiltonsbawn, and then to return for the remaining eight carriages.

Stones were placed behind the wheels of those carriages, but they rolled backwards, crushed the stones and began to build up speed as they continued back down the slope. The runaway carriages crashed into another train, resulting in the loss of 89 lives. All denominations suffered – Catholic, Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian.

 

Surgeon-Major Lynn, a leading Methodist layman and one of the trip organisers, described the scenes of utter devastation at the time.

"Many a bitter battlefield did not display such carnage," he said.

The names of all the dead are recorded in the Abbey Street Methodist Church.

Among them is the son of the Rev William R McMullan, then minister of Abbey Street Methodist Church, who was attending the annual Methodist Conference in Cork.

When he returned to Armagh, as well as the trauma of his son lying in a coffin in the manse, he found that his Sunday school superintendent, Samuel Steel, was dead and every member of the Abbey Street Church choir was either dead or injured.

The disaster led to an Act of Parliament to ensure that such a catastrophe would never occur again.

Methodist minister Rev Denis Maguire said people had tried to forget about the 1889 disaster because it was "too painful". "They had learned to cope with it by keeping it hidden and I think the time is right now for a memorial," he said.

"It was the worst railway disaster in this part of the world at the time and it's still the worst railway disaster to have happened in Ireland.

 

An elderly gent, whose name I have forgotten showed me these tickets from that faithful day at the show.

Refreshment tickets were unused, the ticket holder perished in the accident

 

Suaimhneas síoraí tabhair dóibh, a Thiarna.

 

 

A dark day on Irish Railways.

Amazing to see those tickets.

[MikeO]

I thought the show went very well over the 3 days. There seemed to be good crowds for much of each of the days.

 

I have attached a few photos that I took which give a flavour of the mix on display. I did miss some of the layouts. Due to the 2Mb file size limit I have not been able to included a few other photos. I will upload these later when I have reduced the respective file sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[burnthebox]

Hi MikeO & thanks for posting those pics, nice & clear,its at exhibitions & shows like that, that we get to see items like the railway, bridges, roads, stock, with great detail which is so important to some if not all of us when it comes to getting our layout right, even if it's only I our own eyes or imagination !!

[MikeO]

Thanks for the comment burnthebox. For me photographs of rolling stock are an important aide to scratch building/converting which I have to resort too in N scale and some of my road vehicle have been inspired by other people's models. Attached are the other photos I mentioned which I have cropped to reduce the file size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2015 by MikeO

[Railer]

What was the layout that had the 80 class and the twin BGMs hauling a rake of bubbles. I only got a very quick passing look at it and there was far too many around it to see.

[Garfield]

What was the layout that had the 80 class and the twin BGMs hauling a rake of bubbles. I only got a very quick passing look at it and there was far too many around it to see.

 

That was the MRSI's 'Baile Cois Farraige'...

http://www.modelrailways.ie/BaileCoisFarraige.html

[John-r]

Hi MikeO & thanks for posting those pics, nice & clear,its at exhibitions & shows like that, that we get to see items like the railway, bridges, roads, stock, with great detail which is so important to some if not all of us when it comes to getting our layout right, even if it's only I our own eyes or imagination !!

 

Well put burnthebox couldn't agree more,thanks mike0 great photos,altogether a great show,

Was also delighted to meet stephen & Richie hope I didn't bend your ears to much!.

These exhibitions mean a lot to people like myself living so far away in Kerry,

It's a chance to see excellent layouts,trade stands and more important talk to like minded

People without a keyboard ,well done to everyone involved .

[Blaine]

Just one suggestion which I'm sure has been made many times before, but getting a small catering contractor to come in and run a temporary cafe would have been very welcome and perhaps enabled some folk to stay longer at this excellent show and get somewhere to sit down for a rest and a chat.

 

Ill outline a few reasons why its rarely seen at Irish Exhibitions, as someone who has sat on organising committees. Some examples might be seen as extreme but everything needs to be taken into account. Its not just how one person might see it

 

Space - its limited. Would you rather see a very high standard layout or a table selling weak tea,cold coffee and stale scones and sandwiches

 

Litter - besides discarded cups and wrappers, droppages and spillages are not needed. Given todays litigation society, a discarded sandwich or spilled coffee is seen as bad as the proverbial banana skin

 

Health and safety - your in a public place and often in an area that is not being used for its intended purpose. Is there a risk assessment for that coffee machine on top of that school desk? What happens if its proven people got food poisoning after the same knives/chopping board was used for both raw meat and cooked meat? Some voluntary weekend staff might forget they are making food for public consumption

 

Staff/Resources - most shows in Ireland provide catering for the exhibitors only. Sometimes this is provided by the organising club and it could be the other halves of members. Occasionally a catering company will be brought in. Often the resources are not there. Mrs O'Reilly makes lovely sandwiches and scones but she might end up giving you the wrong change without the slightest notion. She might not be used to dealing with complaints either. Also voluntary catering staff cant be expected to work all day

 

The Market here does not require catering. Plenty of shops and restaurants near the vicinity of the show. Blackrock is 2 mins up the road

 

In short - the demand is not there, not to mention everything Ive outlined above

Edited October 29, 2015 by Blaine

[Noel]

Seems your the only one who keeps making this gripe, but Ill outline a few reasons why its rarely seen at Irish Exhibitions, as someone who has sat on organising committees. Some examples might be seen as extreme but everything needs to be taken into account. Its not just how one person might see it

 

Space - its limited. Would you rather see a very high standard layout or a table selling weak tea,cold coffee and stale scones and sandwiches

 

Litter - besides discarded cups and wrappers, droppages and spillages are not needed. Given todays litigation society, a discarded sandwich or spilled coffee is seen as bad as the proverbial banana skin

 

Health and safety - your in a public place and often in an area that is not being used for its intended purpose. Is there a risk assessment for that coffee machine on top of that school desk? What happens if its proven people got food poisoning after the same knives/chopping board was used for both raw meat and cooked meat? Some voluntary weekend staff might forget they are making food for public consumption

 

Staff/Resources - most shows in Ireland provide catering for the exhibitors only. Sometimes this is provided by the organising club and it could be the other halves of members. Occasionally a catering company will be brought in. Often the resources are not there. Mrs O'Reilly makes lovely sandwiches and scones but she might end up giving you the wrong change without the slightest notion. She might not be used to dealing with complaints either.

 

The Market here does not require catering. Plenty of shops and restaurants near the vicinity of the show. Blackrock is 2 mins up the road

 

In short - the demand is not there, not to mention everything Ive outlined above

 

Sorry but 1) it was only a suggestion not a gripe, 2) a small professional caterer looks after everything and makes a profit so no volunteers needed nor rubbish on floors, 3) it only needs a single class room, and 4) I wasn't the only one who thought of it and I hadn't mentioned it before. The SDMRC put on a great show and it would have been no more than a welcome add on. I have organised many events and business shows large and small over the years and it's easy as pie to get a caterer to come in and run a small snack bar at their own expense. At some events they even pay for the space because of the profit margins they can make over a few days. I hope no hard feelings, it was just a constructive suggestion.

[108]

Great show again. It was good to meet Des and Leslie. Picked up some wagon kits to keep me busy in the dark evenings and a Van Hool from Jim Poots.

Stanfording stole the show for me. Working inside motion and working signals controlled from an interlocked lever frame.

Edited October 29, 2015 by 108
Edited for typo

[Blaine]

The SDMRC put on a great show and it would have been no more than a welcome add on. I have organised many events and business shows large and small over the years and it's easy as pie to get a caterer to come in and run a small snack bar at their own expense. At some events they even pay for the space because of the profit margins they can make over a few days. I hope no hard feelings, it was just a constructive suggestion.

 

Hopefully you made your suggestions clearly to the sdmrc on the day.

[DiveController]

... and if not I'm sure there are some SDMRC members on the site who will note the comments made, in addition to the many compliments that have also been made by site members.

[Glenderg]

Ed, when you go to a banger rally, or a car boot sale, there's always a burger an coffee yoke there in the car park, fellas sitting around chatting about what they bought. Be reasonable, nobody's asking for silver service, I missed the carvery for exhibitors and near starved. There's bound to be a middle ground on this?

 

Anyway, one of the great things to come out of the show was their magazine, and many have it tucked away or thrown in a pile. It's a superb piece of work, and not the navel gazing pomp I thought it could have been.

 

R.

[DartStation]

Thanks for the kind comments one and all.

 

The magazine was made possible by the support of our sponsors some of whom are members here to mark the 40th anniversary of the club.

 

Re the lack of refreshments at the show, it has been noted and I will bring it back to the organising team in our club but at this stage I will not promise anything.

 

I must say I enjoyed the show and meeting old friends and making some new ones.

 

Kind regards

 

Paul R.

[John-r]

The magazine looked promising an was looking forward to a good read,had it in my grubby mits all day

Until I made my last purchase put it with the flyers I had, and well the rest is history.as I said in an early post these exhibitions mean a lot to people who only get to maybe 1 a year.very well done to all concerned.

John.

[wexfordloco10]

I missed the Magazine are these still available I would like to read a copy

the exhibition was great and I enjoyed our brief visit well done to all

 

David Wexford MRC

[hurricanemk1c]

Belatedly, here's a few shots from an excellent (in my opinion) exhibition, with some very good layouts and great company

 

 

 

 

 

All shots here -

 

I would agree though that some kind of catering provided to the general public (not just exhibitors) would be most welcome

 

Regards,

Kieran