GDSF 24/08/2018
 

I will try and upload some of the photos directly here later when I have some more time.

However, for those of you who could not get there and are interested to see some of the more interesting items (in my eyes) here is a link to my Flickr album of yesterday

https://www.flickr.com/photos/756535...57700597146805

A couple of fairly heavy rain showers caused the play pen gaps to be closed from just after lunch, restricting movements. Also note that I only really photographed the subjects which were of particular interest to me/I hadn't seen before.

Many thanks for the pictures.

Cheers Carl.

Great pics

Good Pics

Lovely photos, I get round to sorting mine out over the next few weeks.

thank youj very nice photos

Many thanks for sharing
you must have walked a fair bit that day

Yes it’s a fair old trek around the site. I had to double back through the main 500@50 display areas to check for some that had been in the playpen on my initial pass, but at least this year I was spared the climb to the top of the ploughing area as those of particular interest to me were down the bottom of the area - though I missed the overview of the site from the top.

Anyone else take pictures ??

Looking at the comments there seems to be some common comments. Queues to get in, no programmes, poor toilets.

To be fair to the organisers they had no idea of knowing how many people would turn up to the event. Perhaps the pre booked tickets should be limited in numbers with say, a 25% increase on the admission charge for paying on the day. If the pre booked tickets were made available for specific days and once a days allocation was sold you would have to try and book on a alternative day or pay the on the day prices this would enable the organisers to have some idea as to how many visitors there would be on a specific day and the number of Marshalls, car park usage would be known in advance. The tickets could be colour coded so that you entered the site at a specific gate and this could help to reduce the queues at certain gates. To be fair, car parking must be a major headache as you need a lot of Marshalls to control where people park their cars unless of course you have a system like Disney have in Florida. In a ideal world, you would sigh all of the car parks in zones and around the perimeter of the site you would employ road trains running in one direction which would pick up at each zone and take the punters to the entrances. During the day these would run at frequent intervals and visitors could join the trains at a convenient point close to where they parked their cars and the trains would take them back to where they parked their car at the end of the day. There would be fixed road train stops which would be clearly signed so that visitors would know when to get on or off. Finally, the toilets, whenever I see photos of GDSF there never seem to be any toilets in sight! At these events there has to be a plentiful supply of loos including accessible ones for disabled visitors and above all, they should be serviced at least once an hour and there should be sufficient staff and vehicles to do this. At smaller events like the Torbay Steam fair you see this being done. To organise such a large event must be a logistical nightmare. Mistakes have been made this year due to the sheer size of the event, however, I am sure lessons have been learnt and the appropriate remedial action will take place next year.

Looking at aerial photos, i would guesstimate they underestimated turnout by about 50% on previous years.

There is little excuse for toilet facilities, they are managed by the supplying contractor usually so it would seem odd they did not clean enough and Would certainly not use them again next year. The qty from what i have read does seem to be lower than usual but i cant believe they booked fewer loos for a bigger show or even the same amount??

From reading i think traffic management was a fail and also entry/ticketing failed.

We were going down but a group of family friends who live a few hours closer did try, sat in traffic 1m away for hours, then queued for 2 hours to get to the booths and in. I am glad we didn't go in the end.

I think they dropped the ball on this show and numbers will likely be way down next year due to to the bad taste left.

Not sure too many people was the real problem. Been to many big air shows and Rock concerts in the past with more people attending. The Road management was indeed poor (where were Dorset police and warning delay signage - Duxford is a good example!), and the entry/egress process from Car parks was beyond belief at times. Not enough people directing/hurrying traffic in to site, no proper signage (e.g. Car park 1, area B1,).. plus exit signs etc. No night time floodlighting, which was also needed for the public to avoid trip hazards and help find their car in the dark, on a big sloping uneven field. And the Public were NOT happy with the toilet arrangements.
Perhaps on the day card payments at say £22.50 and correct cash at £20 would have increased the speed of entry up along with more turnstile staff (one person on cash sales is poor). Yes there is a cost to all this, but IF there is to be another GDSF we have to remember the public is king and a bad visitor experience sadly spreads like wildfire on Fakebook/ instagranny etc.

The Show was indeed really excellent with some lovely touches, which the organisers should be praised but has fallen short in some area which is a big shame.

As i say each year why not enable programmes to be order in advance and sent straight to ones home beforehand so one can plan the visit and not miss any gems, with maybe the option to have a follow up list sent afterwards (or put it on the web) with the actual attendees. I'm sure many would indeed pay a few bob more. There was talk of a friends of GDSF, this could be one benefit!

Anyway I hope most people did indeed enjoyed themselves despite the problems and thanks to the staff who worked long days and had to field the public complaints (never an easy task). Lets hope formany more future GDSF's, with lessons learnt.

thanks for the pictures it did look like a great show.

Too many shows just don't do the maths. If it takes 30 secs to process a credit card transaction from the moment the next punter moves forward to the moment they step away the maximum throughput of that counter will be 120 an hour. It will take that counter then 8 hours to process 1000 punters. If the average time to use a ladies toilet cubicle is say 2 mins the maximum throughput of that unit will be 30 per hour. The theatre business has been struggling with this issue for years. I have just come back from a show with cash sales only at £10 per adult - result no queues! Some though never learn I recall the event some years ago daft enough to charge £16. By lunchtime they were begging over the PA for change....

One thing I've discussed with my best friend (he also loves Traction Engines) is that GDSF should create an App for their visitors - site navigation, Arena Events, Engine Identification (Some don't have a registration plate and/or the builder plate is faded/missing), traffic updates, etc.

There is a easy way of identifying a engine with a missing or faded plate and that is to look around the engine for the NTET Boiler Test disc assuming that it is in steam or capable of being steamed!

Spotted Sentinel steam lorry WJ 8985 powering its way up the A34 near East Ilsley this morning and myself and some members of a truck forum I am on were wondering where had travelled to the show from. There is a chap from the Doncaster area who has a similar one, perhaps that actual one? Also, can they use motorways, I know they can maintain a decent speed? Thanks in advance..

Pete.

Yes it lives near Doncaster.

Thanks for that, quite a journey then!;)

Pete.