The last weekend of November saw one of the world’s biggest model railway events, the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition, take the virtual stage for the first time following the cancellation of the event normally held at the NEC, near Birmingham. The virtual show, which was held live on YouTube and featured content from its notable sponsors and guests, was a resounding success and showed just how strongly the modelling community has come together during 2020. Below we take a look at highlights from the virtual event, which are all available to catch up on over on the Warley Model Railway Club’s YouTube Channel.
100 Years of Hornby:
The weekend kicked off with a look at some of the latest products from Hornby, who have been celebrating their centenary throughout 2020. Hosts Simon and Montana were keen to highlight some of the new locomotives they have planned for next year, including the Class 91 and W1. Staple products such as the
Flying Scotsman set received a makeover of its box livery ready for Christmas, where the set continues to be incredibly popular and there was plenty of time dedicated to the similarly popular
Hogwarts Express set – another must-buy during the holiday season.
Pete Waterman’s Leamington Spa Layout:
Saturday also saw a detailed view of music legend Pete Waterman’s Leamington Spa layout, hosted by the man himself. The candid mobile phone footage saw Mr. Waterman clambering under tables and through the never-ending array of sidings and workshops to provide a fascinating look ‘behind the scenes’ of one of the UK’s most well-known railway modellers. Of note was the intricate ‘cassette system’ complete with ready-made trains that could be loaded onto the layout when desired as well as the sheer size of the layout. Countless wagons, hoppers and locomotives were seen throughout and the work station complete with paints, tools and diagrams showed just how keen Mr. Waterman is for the hobby.
The Warley Model Railway Club:
In between features and outside of the big names and sponsors, the event ultimately remained part of the Warley MRC. Stuart and Jason, two of the event hosts, did a great job bringing in the likes of club members Paul and Andy and their guests into a roundtable format of videos discussing the organisation of the event, as well as some of the history of the club and development over the decades. There was also a short memorial segment dedicated to those club members who they had sadly lost in 2020 and this raised the important point of ensuring inspiration for young modellers and railfans alike continued to be a focus for the club and the heritage railway movement in general.
The intricacies of modelling were also explored by Andy during his interview with Richard about the ZEN Decoder fitting for DCC. During the piece, Andy set about fitting the item with live guidance from Richard in what as a very real demonstration of how help from others and the social benefits of a railway club can enhance the hobby greatly. Andy was also part of the Scale Model Scenery Q&A, where guests gave their thoughts on their range of products.
Full-scale railway takes the limelight:
Perhaps the most polished and professional content outside of modelling came from film maker Chris Eden-Green, who presented a brilliant documentary-style piece on the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway in mid Wales. Narrow gauge has always been popular to model and there was no doubt that Chris’ feature sat well amongst the modelling material and provided inspiration for those modelling Wales’ best-known narrow-gauge lines, with an in-depth look at both the history of the line and the technical history of two of the railway’s locomotives.
PECO TV:
Equally as polished was the 26-minute feature by Devon-based PECO, the foremost manufacturer of model railway track in the world. Sales Manager Steve Haynes presented an overview of products on the horizon for 2021 with the panoramic backdrop of the Jurassic Coast and the gardens at Pecorama, their tourist venture. Sadly, with the attraction closed due to the pandemic, the company decided to make the most of the space within the restaurant and kid’s play area, by expanding manufacturing operations there to enforce social distancing between factory workers. Their feature largely focused on some of the scenery products they have available for modellers but also went through what is available in various tool sets the company offers and guidance for fitting their latest points motor.
Virtual trains at the Virtual Show
In keeping with the virtual theme, video game studio Dovetail Games shared their latest products with the modelling audience to show how the hobby has progressed into the 21st century. Railway modelling and
Train Sim World 2, the latest of their products, go hand in hand in many ways with the major difference being that users get to actually operate the locomotives as drivers would in real life! Routes featured on their segment included the London Underground's Bakerloo Line and CSX's Sand Patch Grade in the United States.
Competition judging:
PECO’s Steve Flint, editor of
Railway Modeller Magazine, also appeared at the very end of the show to give his verdict on the popular plank competition, won by an entry that seemed to have drawn inspiration from the industrial quayside scenes once seen across Britain. There was a high standard of entries and runner-up plank layouts were themed on country-side stations, an American wooden bridge and rural village scenes.
In all, the virtual iteration of the Warley Show was a resounding success and though some of the hosts and guests were modest in explaining their technical ability, this rarely showed its face to the casual viewer, who could be part of the experience in a way that was as good as it could have been, beyond the show’s natural NEC habitat. Fingers are well and truly crossed, hoping that 2021 sees the Warley MRC back where it belongs.
