I visited the show on Thursday (the first day) and arrived at about 11:30 am. The weather was horrible - very heavy rain although it stopped later but it remained very dull. I noted the car park had more cars in it than I had ever seen before with an area being used where normally no cars are parked.
Once inside I was amazed at the number of people; it was absolutely packed. Walking along the isles was very difficult as people were looking at models and buying things from trade stands. The organisers must be doing something right for it to attract the visitors it did - on the first day at least. I watched many people buy tools, equipment, materials and parts for locos and traction engines so in my opinion the "traditional" aspect of the hobby still has a good following. I thought it was a good show with plenty to see - and lots of things to spend money on.
Perhaps the hobby is changing, there is one old fella at my club who has been building a 3" Foden for the last 40 years...!!! Perhaps the hobby of model engineering needs to change in order to survive.
Purely by chance I grabbed a bargain at the show. Just as I was leaving I noticed two unmachined 3" Foden rear wheel castings for sale on a stand. I seem to have Reeves prices for Foden castings etched into my memory - their price for two rear wheel castings is a little over £200. With this in mind I asked the price for this pair... it was £30 for the two wheels! I will keep my eyes open for other parts and in the future change mine to a six wheeler!
Michael
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