As communicated in several different formats including with the St Osyth Magazine, these posts and of course, the NMRA BR’s own communications, you will have hopefully realised we went to the NMRA British Region’s convention this year with the Laxton end to end, with several members being on the convention committee itself. So, what did it entail?
A good portion of the attendees, particularly those with layouts staying for most (if not all) of the weekend, arrived on the Thursday evening at CIM Moor Hall in Cookham, where we found ourselves first in the bar, and then in the restaurant, before retiring to our rooms for a nice, early start on the Friday. A lot of the feedback of the event noted the size of the rooms, and I can agree, they were rather small compared to the many other hotels I have stayed in, but on reflection, since I didn’t really stay in the room except to sleep and wash up, it didn’t matter to much to me. Other experiences of course, may differ!
Los Tanimals and Trainsporters had the benefit of their room/s being open early, so it was good to see them setup during the Thursday evening, but as expected both crew and owners wanted to relax with a drink or two before eating, so there wasn’t much operations. On the Friday morning however, it was all hands on deck and the centre became a hive of activity. With most getting breakfast first, the Thamesiders were soon deploying the Laxton branch in the Berkshire Conference Suites. Not too long into setup, we were soon joined by Dean and the D’IkeaKato, as well as the Barge Job.
We were sorry to hear the Barge Job however not able to perform any switching operations, and therefore resigning to just running trains around the loop. It was not a detraction at all; far from it. There was plenty to look at, especially when the trains were running past the scenery sections, and we were very pleased to hear the owner, Benoît, was using parts of it for submitting to the Achievement Programme.
Not too far into the day, just before the official start in the afternoon of the Friday, we were joined by Anoraks Anonymous, a big draw for the punters and they seemed delighted to be engaged by buyers for most of the day moving forward. I obviously jumped in early and scored a few deals of my own, including a Southern Pacific steam loco; which will hopefully see the test track soon.
It was around the point of AA’s arrival that disaster struck, and struck when Paul H was having a break. Something happened electrically, be it a short or a sudden stop, which rendered all layout unresponsive. We spent an hour trouble shooting, taking everything off and carefully putting them back on, using different handsets, turning the command station off and on again, trying different plugs… Until finally, I decided to google the problem, and the first result explained following a short, the Lenz command station may need to receive an emergency stop command to restore operations. This is what solved the problem, just before Paul H returned (unironically), but he did confirm the issue. There was an option to turn the functionality off, however it wasn’t much of a problem now since we knew about it.
Most of the other layouts and traders arrived on the Friday, but for the most part, I spent most of the time on the layout trying out my shunting lists and, much to my appreciation, running a livestream while doing so. You see, the great thing about convention centres are, is they have decent internet. So decent in fact, I could stream via ethernet, and watch said stream on my phone. It was a surreal experience, but a very good piece of media. By the end of the weekend, I had acquired around 15 hours of footage, hopefully more than enough to keep the channel going until the New Year.
That was essentially our Friday; most of the attendees on the day made time for Bill Schnider’s talk regarding the Rapido Way, just before dinner and settling down for the night. Admittedly, most if not all of the pictures were from the Saturday, just before the official opening for the public so with plenty of space to setup tripods before the punters streamed in. And if I heard correctly, there was a bit of a river’s flow worth of them on the Saturday, which was pleasing to hear.
After dinner, most folk departed for their rooms or the bar, or even the pub. However I took the opportunity to keep running with the switch lists, and I found myself running until just gone midnight. During that time, I was talking to the wife on speakerphone, prompting me to mute the stream, as well as showing the layout off to the security guard looking after the site. My body did ache after such a long day and such a long time standing up, so being able to settle down again for the night was worthwhile, and although I slept very well the night before, I didn’t so much on the Friday.
Alas, with several coffees and another hearty breakfast, I assisted Dennis aka dad with setting up Squaw Falls, before doing some rounds with both the DSLR and the video camera, capturing the pictures you are seeing here as well as the videos seen in the Berkshire Special Layout Compilation. After that it was giving dad the chance to have lunch and have a wander, as well as the other Thamesiders, especially those watching Laxton.
Saturday saw the FreeMo setup in the Regrave Room begin operations following several command station problems, but thankfully it sounded like the organiser, Geoff T, managed to get it working. It was an excellent feat especially considering Geoff wasn’t very well recently, and was still fighting some of the effects.
Shamefully, and in spite of trying to be careful and ensure I captured everything, I unfortunately almost missed another arrival on the Saturday, Keane’s Cove, which, by observation of many people, was arguably the favourite of the show. I had managed to visit the vendors in the same room on the Friday, but at that point I don’t recall the layout being there. Understandably, it may have had something to do with managing cost. I know there was a 3D-printed trader that only came on the Saturday because of the need to control costs.
Due to the general excitement and the list of things to do, I managed to miss all of the open clinics, including Bill Schnider’s layout tour, as well as Alan’s clinic. With the latter, I recall it being because of the need to help dad pick up Squaw Falls, which obviously was more important. We did make the raffle, which was worth the stay considering the amount and quality of the prizes being handed out.
After the public day, and dad on his way, cloth was draped over layouts and people tended to start winding down in favour of the bar or the AGM. Being my first full convention, I decided to step out of this one, but will hopefully jump in next time just to follow the decision making and hear the thoughts of those I may not have had a chance to hear. After that, and in not too long a time between, was the dinner.
With a special guest delivering the main speech, Dawn Quest, and her steps into model railways, followed quickly by the awards, including several well-deserved certificates issued to Benoît, generally inspiring me to try and start my own AP journey. We also saw the President’s award go to someone I had contact with following an invite to the CanAm FreeMo meet at the Warley club in Birmingham. I did get the impression of a man that was doing a lot for the hobby, and to see that award being presented proved all the same. I was also very happy to see Bob Norris, part owner of Los Tanimals, receive his Golden Spike award.
I think after the conclusion of the dinner, there was a general feeling of things being done and complete. Only because it felt like most of the punters had come and gone in between the two days, and although there was some disappointment on the Sunday, I think the rest of the weekend may have needed some assistance in retaining traders IF that was the expectation. The Thamesiders was no different; there was a general need to get home, and me not wanting to hold anyone up and feeling similar feelings myself, especially if the majority of the others were doing the same, I decided to call it there.
The trip from home to St Osyth, and then back past home and down around the M25 to Cookham, certainly felt like the Birmingham run back in early September. The same could be said for the way back, doing the same but in reverse. It felt good to help out, and it felt especially good to feel like I accomplished something with the switch lists, even if they weren’t the most popular method of operations.
All in all, I believe it was a very good weekend and I hope to do it again. The dream of having my own layout made up of modules is still alive, albeit having to wait on the house purchase (which is hopefully on again as of writing this in November). We shall things progress, otherwise I have other ways to go after the Achievement Programme.
Hopefully see you later in November for our final physical meet of the year.
Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.
Thamesiders MRG 