MATT TAYLOR reports back from the biggest show on the calendar.
Back at the end of November, Gaugemaster headed up the M40 to Birmingham for the weekend. The largest model railway show in the UK is hosted by the Warley Model Railway Club at the NEC in Birmingham. Work on the stand started on Thursday afternoon after a long drive, with construction of the main area and other displays underway.
The finishing touches were made to the stand on Friday. We often share our stand with visiting suppliers, and this year we had Sonja Bernhard return from Noch. Also for the first time at Warley we welcomed Kato, who had previously joined us at The International N Gauge Show. Three staff from Kato USA came over for the weekend to talk to visitors - Jumpei Kikukawa, Makio Sugiyama and Shinichi Yamazui, as well as Mr Kato himself.
Kato came to showcase the T-Track system. This is a modular system designed which allows you to build modular layouts. Currently we have the Subterrain version available, but more items should be available in the future.
They also showed off the Kato Sound Box on their layout, which synchronises sound to the running of the locomotive. The sound from the unit is always amazing to hear and a good option if you want sound on your layout but don’t want to go down the DCC route.
As I mentioned earlier, Sonja from Noch joined us for a second year. This year she focused on the Gras-Master static grass applicator as last year. This year we decided that with several new rock moulding products available from Noch like the Wrinkle Rocks, this was an area that we wanted to show off.
Back on the Gaugemaster part of the stand, we were showing off our new Ruby DCC Decoder range, which we launched at the show. This drew a crowd, especially when they saw how effective the PowerPal capacitor was at keeping the loco running!
Around the show there was so much to see. Some of the layouts from the Great Model Railway Challenge were on display and a vast selection of layouts and traders are all located in one place. Visiting this show a must visit for any model railway enthusiast.
We had a great weekend and we would like to thank all the suppliers who worked with us for the event. If you did attend the show and visited our stand, thank you!