Shed Notices

The Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers is delighted to announce that they have entered in to a partnership with Warners Group Publications to promote and develop the National Garden Railway Show.

The 2026 show will once again be held at Stoneleigh, in Warwickshire on Saturday 25^th April.

Alan Finch, Chairman of the Association, said that “he was delighted to enter in to a new era of partnership with Warners Group Publications to continue to develop the National Garden Railway Show as Europe’s premier event of its kind”

For several years the Association has been exploring the opportunities to obtain support for the show, something that many of the small scale exhibitions have benefitted from for some time. Warners Group Publications who produce titles such as Garden Rail and Narrow Gauge World as well as hosting RMweb and other online resources, and running their own shows, will bring financial support as well as a wealth of experience in marketing and the ability to support the show with, for example, entry scanning of electronic tickets, and staff dedicated to trade space sales and developing the visitor experience, which have been beyond the Association’s resources.

The National Garden Railway Show has been described as “the largest event of its kind in Europe” and attracts specialist garden railway traders to announce their new products, as well as a wide range of layouts in garden scales, many running live steam models throughout the day. Visitors already come from across the UK, Europe and from as far away as the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan to attend the show and with the addition of Warners expertise in online marketing the Association expects the audience to grow significantly as well as broadening the show’s appeal to families and the wider railway modelling community.

The May mailing of SMT and Bulletin is scheduled for collection from Warners in Bourne later this week. The Association is using a new mail company from this mailing, Whistl, and the entire mailing to both UK and overseas members will continue to be collected at the same time. Mailings can be expected to begin arriving with members a few days after mailing.

SMT and Bulletin will be available on our Members Site from 09:00 on Saturday 10^th May. If you haven’t received an invitation to activate your account on the site, or can’t find it, please email members.site@16mm.org.uk providing your surname, membership number and post code and we’ll send an invitation as soon as we can.

Many thanks as always go to the editors for both magazines; Greg Moir for SMT and Harry Jones and Jonathan Mead for Bulletin. Thanks to them for getting their magazines out on time. Also thanks to all the members who have contributed articles and reports to them. Your input is both welcome and valuable to the editors in being able to present interesting publications. I hope you enjoy reading what I’m sure will again be interesting and quality magazines.

Tom Rowland, Membership Secretary

There are less that 24 hours left to submit your items for Member to Member Sales!

Please submit online using the form found at www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk/what-to-see/member-to-member-sales/ or e-mail your completed form to me. At this time it is inadvisable to post your forms.

Please bear with me as I process entries. Your confirmation email may be delayed. If you don’t receive one by Wednesday, please contact me.

Please remember that ALL ITEMS MUST BE PRE-BOOKED and we will not be accepting any items or alterations the day of the show.

If you have been asked to sell items on the behalf of a deceased member’s estate, please contact me before filling in any forms.

Submissions will be open until 1200 on 07 April, but please do try to get your forms in sooner. Thanks!

Rebecca Lockley, Member to Member Sales
member-member.sales@16mm.org.uk

Our post has been incredibly slow lately getting to our house; just this week we received letters that were dated two weeks ago. In order to ensure that I receive your forms on time, if you planned on registering via post, could you please try to send your forms by THIS Monday (31st March)?  Thank you!

You can also submit online here: www.16mm.org.uk/enter-m2m/

Rebecca Lockley, Member to Member Sales

Just a reminder about Model of the Year (MOTY) 2025; the closing date for entries is fast approaching on April 5th 2025.

So please get your online entries in as soon as possible, the procedure is very simple.

There will be no entries on the day.

Many thanks and stay safe.

Mark Rennie, MOTY Organiser
moty.organiser@16mm.org.uk

I’ve been notified by the venue of planned road closures to support HS2 building work which may affect those travelling by road to the National Show.  The closure is to the A46 between the Kenilworth exit and junction with the A45, and also to the B4115.  Visitors using the A46 and approaching from the southwest will need to leave at leave the A46 at Thickthorn Roundabout (the exit for Leamington and Kenilworth) and follow the diversion for local traffic travel along the A452, then the B4113 to approach Stoneleigh Park.  This might be the route you’d have used anyway.  Visitors approaching from the north or east should also follow the diversion for local traffic along the A423, then the A445 until you see signs for Stoneleigh Park.  The route that visitors from the south would use to access Stoneleigh Park should be unaffected.

Directions to the show and the map showing recommended routes is being updated and will be released shortly has now been updated to reflect this.

A similar closure of the A46 in February resulted in increased traffic on local routes but did not cause any issues with access to the venue.

Alan Regan, Show Director

The Board are pleased to announce that Inglis Embroidery based in Sussex have been appointed as the new Association Clothing suppliers. They will be offering similar clothing products to those we have had in the past, plus some exciting new lines!

Their Association shop will be launched on 12th April online and simultaneously at the National Garden Railway Show where a small selection of products will be available.

However keep your eyes peeled for a pre-launch limited time Special Offer!

Rod Nipper, Publicity

With approaching eight weeks to the National Show on 12^th April, Carol and I visited the venue on Tuesday.  A frequent criticism of last year’s show was that it was too dark inside the main hall, though some thought it was fine.  Well this year I think everyone should consider it fine.  Hall 2 has brand new, state-of-the-art lighting and it’s very bright.  The black drapes on the wall no longer suck up the light.  I’m sure I could very comfortably work on one of my locos.  Have a look at this video and decide yourself.  It’s great to see the venue listening to its customers and investing to deliver a better visitor experience.

Another change is the implementation, at the head of the entrance queues for show visitors outside the entrance Foyer, of mobile metal detector “arches”.  If they detect metal in a bag or package, the item will be quickly checked but in as unintrusive a basis as possible, packages with a wand, to see what’s inside, bags with a torch.  The aim is to keep us all safe.  Hopefully you’re aware that the proposed Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, known as “Martyn’s Law”, contains a requirement that events expected to have 800 or more visitors at the same time need to implement a range of measures to keep us safe and conform to the law.  It hasn’t been passed yet but it’s widely expected to do so.  Stoneleigh, like any responsible venue, is getting ready for the future.

The members most likely to be affected by this are those bringing items to sell at M2M.  We recommend that you prepare, by making items containing metal parts easily accessible.  Anticipate that items will need visual inspection and think about how you can readily facilitate this.  M2M check-in opens at 09:00 so try to be there when it opens.  Finally, even though this may provide a level of inconvenience, making events safer is surely in everyone’s interest.

I’ll provide further updates via Shed Notices as the date of the show approaches.

Alan Regan, Show Director

This year, raffle tickets for the Grand Prize Draw are being sold in books of 12.

If you’ve received tickets with SMT and wish to pay by cheque, please ensure you send a cheque for £12, not £10.

If you’d prefer to purchase fewer than 12 tickets, simply send payment for the number of stubs you’re sending and dispose of the rest.

Thank you for your support, and good luck in the draw!