North ‘n’ South Garden Railway Show

Stratfield  Park Leisure Centre, Stroud

25^th.and 26^th. June 2005

This show was set in a beautiful park with plenty of parking available. This was a new show and unfortunately when I attended on the Saturday the attendance did not appear to be very large.

Getting inside the Centre and then the Hall did seem a bit fiddly but there were signs to help. I did feel that the catering was a bit slow. There were less than ten people in the restaurant but  I was told it would take at least twenty five minutes to get a bacon baguette!

It must be very difficult to plan an exhibition and balance all the ingredients. The age old question of which comes first the chicken or the egg applies. Do the exhibitors or the buyers come first?

You need a good solid trade presence and there was.  Bay Models, Back2bay6, Chalk Garden, Garden Rail Centres, Matins Models, Modeltown, Pendlebury, Tuxcraft and VHR amongst them. The bibs and bobs traders were lacking, like tools and butane etc. My son and I managed to collect a few bargains.

There were exhibition layouts. Most notably a wonderful hands on Playmobil railway. Something the littlest of train enthusiasts could enjoy.

I hope the show proved to be successful enough for the organisers and traders to come again next year. I enjoy mooching about at these shows for something a little different and meeting old and new friends. It was worth four pounds to attend.

Roger Palmer 2005.

 G Scale Mad Forum