Instead of a railway day out this month I decided to go to the biggest model railway exhibition. This post is going to come across as a complete moan – unfairly I suspect – most of the faults are mine.
It is about 40 years since I went to this main London show. My memory suggested it was held at Alexandra Palace but reading the history I find that it must have been at Wembley where it was held a few times in the 1980s. From where I live Alexandra Palace is hard to access, which is the main reason I have not been. It is about 35 miles – but a two hour car drive or four or five trains to get there – and in the latter case there is still the hill to ascend. So I drive – only to find that the satnav on the car will not fire up when I need it as I progress along the North Circular, not having been this way ever. At about the fourth attempt the satnav finally boots up correctly and I manage to get the destination input. Parts of the North Circular are now restricted to 40mph and once I come off we are only supposed to go at 20mph – has anyone worked out that this increases pollution and causes stress through delays?
And then at one point I realise I have been there before – Muswell Hill where ENOC operated one of the first London franchised bus services whilst I was with them and I visited the Muswell Hill terminus and travelled on the bus. That was also a long time ago!
There are two car parks on the top of the hill on which the Palace sits and one lower down in the park grounds. Inevitably the top car parks full and there are no helpful signs telling those of us arriving to use the car park which you pass on the way up. I wonder what would it take to ensure that people did not have to drive around making the congestion worse through some proper signs and traffic management?
Thankfully there is a shuttle bus from the car park to the steps outside the hall – I am surprised someone has not managed to get it to the door. There are queueing lines not being used – but those arriving have to walk all the way around them – once the queue has gone open them up!
It is clearly busy (mid Saturday morning) and in retrospect the wrong time to arrive – I do not know if it is quieter in the middle of Sunday afternoon but I know this was not the right time.
Once inside the banks of viewers in front of the main layouts mean that getting the opportunity to see (particularly) Bournemouth West and Copenhagen Fields is not possible for me. Other layouts are not so bad and I get a chance to see most of them. Some excellent models, although in one or two cases I am disappointed that there is a lack of movement on the layout – it is something I feel that with an exhibition layout something should be moving. Fawley was notable for some ongoing shunting (Southampton Model Railway Society). Braughing and Standon was a nice looking layout too – only a single line but things were kept moving. In O gauge Hazlecombe had a lot of diesels ticking over – which also adds to the ambient noise.
I commence feeling a little odd and start worrying about food. The deli seems to have no sandwiches available and the queues at all food stands are long and they simply cannot cope with the numbers presenting. By this time I am getting depressed and whilst I manage to acquire a couple of books the crowds do not appear to be thinning.
So if I am going to go again – I need to consider the best time to visit and also be prepared with my own food. I rather think that arriving around 13:30, eating something and then going around the exhibition would mean I was not hindered by my diabetes. Also my left knee was complaining by the time I left – I cannot stand and walk for that length of time.
The final surprise is not that they charge for parking but that the first question asked by the machine is for you to input the time of arrival. I did so honestly but I wonder how many people put in something like 55 minutes earlier so they only pay for an hour (rather than the more typical three or four)?
