Heritage Railway Exhibition?

[60163]

Being a regular attendee to exhibitions and events such as the Warley Model Railway and Multimodal, I cannot help but wonder what an exhibition of heritage locomotive operators/railway societies would be like.

With the countless societies, groups and clubs there are, I think it would be a potentially fantastic opportunity for the assembled collectives to all sell memorabilia, sign up shareholders and cash donors, possibly with presentations concerning heritage locomotive operation (Les Ross' presentation on a working day-in-the-life of his namesake loco is entertaining and insightful).

There could even be a preserved loco on static display, e.g the Baby Deltic Project or 345.

I imagine this idea has probably been discussed ad nauseam and rejected for a plethora of reasons, but what are your thoughts?

 

[steamybrian]

Under BR there were Depot Open Days which normally contained a collection of trade stands and usually a selection of "heritage" locomotives.

Being a regular attendee to exhibitions and events such as the Warley Model Railway and Multimodal, I cannot help but wonder what an exhibition of heritage locomotive operators/railway societies would be like.

With the countless societies, groups and clubs there are, I think it would be a potentially fantastic opportunity for the assembled collectives to all sell memorabilia, sign up shareholders and cash donors, possibly with presentations concerning heritage locomotive operation (Les Ross' presentation on a working day-in-the-life of his namesake loco is entertaining and insightful).

There could even be a preserved loco on static display, e.g the Baby Deltic Project or 345.

I imagine this idea has probably been discussed ad nauseam and rejected for a plethora of reasons, but what are your thoughts?

 

[John Webb]

I'm not certain a single exhibition would be the best idea - does need an awful lot of organising for a start, both of the exhibition and by those exhibiting at it. And who is it aimed at? The general public to encourage them to visit railways? Or the enthusiast who may well be aware of them anyway? I think there would be problems getting the public into such an exhibition as many of them will think (rightly or wrongly) that it's for enthusiasts. And would there be enough enthusiasts to make the exhibition viable?

As Publicity Officer for St Albans Signal Box, we've found local model railway exhibitions are a good source of contacts, having now attended several and with invites to more. The main advantage is that we're talking in the main with relatively local people and it's probably easier to persuade them to come to visit us than someone from some distance away who would have to make another trip.

The HRA and others do have stands at Warley, of course, and HRA also attends trade travel shows on behalf of HRA members.

 

[Bevan Price]

The National Railway Museum at York has organised events with visiting heritage locos and with trade / rail society stands. Probably too expensive to make these annual events, however.