The layouts are not the main attraction, sharing the attention with the main railway and a brace of other steam power on the day. This means that the audience is high on the family scale and quite transient. This means that you don't really get an exhibition 'buzz', but you do get to put the hobby in front of people who are just out for the day. We did this last year and I'll repeat my comment from then - it's clean. No piles of 'we'll get around to that later' scrap, and areas full of sleepers and rusty rail. This is Pro with a capital P. Well worth a visit and just off the M20 Jct 8.
Completely agree. It was a nice little show in an excellent venue. I enjoyed my baptism of fire operating Richard Doe's new Scottish DCC layout.
ReplyDeleteBredgar is one of the places I miss going to since we moved away.
ReplyDeleteIt's always been "tidy", I remember visiting in the '90s and the atmosphere was rather like a full-sized LGB layout. It's matured nicely, and I feel has developed its own unique atmosphere and character.
I think that they still run a diesel-hauled train sometimes during the week, that and a visit to the café was fun when it was just up the road...
I don't know why there's a lack of exhibition invitations...perhaps it's a living in the South East thing? It's certainly easier to get around by road up here, so I suppose the catchment area is wider.
S.