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For visitors to our site who are not familiar with expoEM ...

expoEM events : Why not come along and meet the traders and specialist manufacturers in relaxed and informal surroundings? Come and talk to the layout operators, see how to construct a layout of your own. Plenty of advice and help. Demonstration stands include track construction techniques, modern image modelling, loco construction, signal construction and architectural modelling. Although featuring only 4mm scale layouts, much of the advice and products on sale are suitable for other gauges and scales. The EMGS does not focus on any particular period of modelling, and layouts can be seen representing pre-grouping as well as 'modern image'.

What is an expoEM?

It is NOT an exhibition, it is NOT a Specialist Group get together, it is NOT a trader show, it is NOT .... In other words, it's something very special. Back in the 1970's the Society wanted to bring to the attention of a much wider audience the benefits of fine scale railway modelling. The Society was formed in 1955 but had until that time only really been a small exhibitor at local shows. An opportunity came about in the Society's 21st Year of staging an event of its own (to become what now is known as expoEM). It was to be a public exhibition of the work of members of the Society. It was to be a 'Thank You' to the traders who had supported the Society in its formative years. It was to be a gathering of members, many whom had never met other than by telephone or post. There was to be no 'profit' motive - everything being self funded from the membership fees and the sale of publications and spare parts etc. This ideal continues to this day.

Being such a huge success, the event has been staged every year since. We have demonstrators, lecturers, working layouts, layouts under construction, a test track for those who like to run their models but don't have a layout of their own and the specialist trader members.

There is one main expoEM event which has been held for many years in Bletchley (near Milton Keynes) each May. However, due to refurbishment of the Centre it was not possible to use this venue for 2008 and so an alternative at Bracknell, Berkshire was arranged and was used again in 2009. Each year, however, we also have a Northern event which currently is held at Slaithwaite near Huddersfield in September and a Southern event held in November at Portsmouth. For EMGS members there is an additional Members' day which is combined with the Annual General Meeting which in 2007 and 2009 was held in Wakefield, North Yorkshire and in 2008 was held at Bletchley Park.

So come along - you are all cordially invited.

This is being held at :
COLNE VALLEY LEISURE CENTRE
SLAITHWAITE
HUDDERSFIELD
YORKSHIRE HD7 5AB

2009 will see our 30th expoEM North, and we welcome members, guests, friends and all those who are interested in railway modelling irrespective of scale, gauge and period they model. We have a very simple entrance fee policy. The entrance fee remains at just £4. This entitles you to spend as much time as you like for the whole weekend browsing, chatting (and hopefully purchasing goods) and maybe joining us on a permanent basis. That entrance fee also entitled you to bring your partner (who may not have initially been interested in railways!) at no cost.

EM Layouts attending will be: "Bonchester Bridge" A Scottish Borders layout set in the 1950s by Brian Sunman; "Lapford Road", Ken Gibbon presents his interpretation of the station on the Exeter to Barnstaple line around 1978; "Liverpool - Crown Street" by the Liverpool Model Railway Society; "Mansfield GN", a layout out of retirement by Tony Gee and Ken Hill; "Port Penman" In essence this is a micro-layout built by Ken Gibbon to test locos and stock. Very much a BR Blue era layout based on East Scotland; "Upton" is by Dave Griffin and is inspired by prototypes in Worcestershire. There will be a P4 layout, "Halifax King Cross" by Steve Hall, a typical urban West Riding scene.

In 2008 The layout voted "Best Layout at Show" was "Striven" by the late Chris Matthewman

For those of you who want to "see how it was done", there are a variety of modelling demonstrations which is synonymous with any expoEM event and the 2009 show will be no different. There will also be groups who will be displaying progress on their projects.

Quite a comprehensive range of traders are invited for 2009 including the EMGS Trade stand, 247 Developments, High Level kits, Modelex, Alan Gibson, London Road Models, Bill Hudson Transport Books, Model Signal Engineering (inc. Wizard 51L), Ambis (Engineering Divn.) Comet Models, David Geen Models, Milnsbridge Models and Hobby Holidays.

Each year there is an Evening Buffet to round off the Saturday. Here in the informal atmosphere there is plenty to chat about. In 2005 there was a guest speaker who presented some rare footage of East Anglian branches originally taken on 8mm cine film and now converted to digital DVD. In 2006 a speaker gave a very fascinating insight to the development of Bus Tickets and Ticketing systems and for 2007 we saw the link between railways and philately and this illustrated talk covered the mail of the Travelling Post Offices etc. In 2008 some of the history of EMGS trade was presented along with general modelling trends over the past 50 years with examples of models and components being passed around. We understand the Guest Speaker will have another 'unique' presentation for 2009 which is eagerly awaited!

Slaithwaite is a few minutes drive west of Huddersfield City Centre
on the main A62. Close to the M62 and a short walk away from Slaithwaite station. Plenty of free car parking on site.

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This show has for the past few years been held at The Admiral Lord Nelson School in Portsmouth. This continues to be a well organised event with high quality layouts attending. The show has a particularly relaxed atmosphere with a good range of demonstrations for all modellers irrespective of skill level. EM layout "North Holderness Light" by Don Annison and Phil Steen won the "Best Layout" award for 2008.

The Winners and the layout of the Best Layout at expoEM South 2008 (photos by Phil Tattershall)

As with all expoEM events we had a really good selection of demonstrators booked and visitors were able to see:

John James (Split Frame Locomotive Chassis); Graham Seed (DCC); Ian Harrison (Resistance Soldering); Roger Courtenay (Wagon suspension systems); Phil Hall (Converting Ready to Run Locos), Ewen Crosweller (Trackwork Construction Methods), Chris Lamacraft (Buildings and Scenery), Dave Bridges (Alex Jackson Couplings) and Bob Ellis (Springing Units for Coaches).

The EMGS Trade stand attended along with Kevin Robertson Publications, GW Models, Southwark Bridge Models, Radley Models, Brilliant Baseboards, Model Railway Developments, P4 Track Company & Exactoscale and RailRoom Electronics.

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Where lies the future location of expoEM? - a question which has been asked of us over the past month or two. Simply put, we will be staying at Bracknell for the foreseeable future.

Many hours have been spent on researching, visiting and negotiating with possible alternative venues after we were forced to vacate Bletchley. Whilst none was found to be perfect, Bracknell has the most going for it - it is clean and bright and generally more attractive than most similar venues. There were complaints of travelling difficulties from some quarters but although we have regularly asked for suggestions, nobody has come up with a viable alternative. We found a potential centre in Birmingham but that was beset with organising difficulties - not withstanding our membership is quite thin on the ground in the Midlands - and we rely quite strongly on the availability of local help, so that was not pursued.

Any change brings uncertainty but we were encouraged by the fact that attendance at Bracknell in May 2009 was some 6% up on 2008 and many traders reported much improved trading results. It could be argued that results had been less than expected at the 2008 event, hence any comparison would be difficult to make. However, averaged out over the past 5 years the Society trade was still "a third up". (Clearly in the current economic climate a good result all round).

Decisions of this nature are difficult and cannot guarantee success. However, we believe that a further change of venue would not be in the best interests of either our trader members, ordinary members or the visiting public and so we will press ahead with our plans, coupled with an increased advertising campaign aimed not only at promoting our events, but also a greater awareness of the EM Gauge Society generally.

We anticipate holding expoEM on the ‘same weekend’ dates over the next two years and have been pleased to note that due to the way in which the calendar falls, there will be a two week gap between our own exhibition and Railex, whose proximity we know has caused some comment.

We do therefore hope to see you all again next year at Bracknell. Planning is already well under way and we are expecting to put on a first class show once more.

This is an advanced information to ensure you can get this into your Exhibition diary. There were a few traders, some new to expoEM who could not attend 2009 and hopefully with this advanced information we will see them attending in the future