Saturday, 29 March 2008

Making an Exhibition of ourselves



An important aspect of the Moseley Railway Trust's work which has not featured on this pages before is the regular outings of the sales stand. This is Important for two reasons:-
1:- It gives a chance for the public to part with their cash in exchange for a selection of reasonably priced and good value products (more details of which can be found here and follow the link to the Shop where Dawn is ready to take your cyber-orders).
2:- It raises the profile of the Trust, and allows us to preach the word about Industrial Narrow Gauge railways to the general community at large - even the people who believe that the railway world begins and ends with copper capped things built in Swindon.

Today (Saturday 29/3) the Sales Stand has been at the 16mm Association National Garden Railway Show at Stoneleigh, near Coventry. Nice venue, good access, decent food and toilets. As a slight departure from the norm, it was decided that if the Warley show can be built around a full-size loco, then so could this one. Thus, the MRT was invited to take one of locomotives in the collection. Practicality ruled out any of the larger locos, so a lightweight Lister went, as this could be trailer'd behind a large car. The loco was Lister Blackstone 52610 of 1961, which had been on an extended visit to the Golden Valley Light Railway at Butterley. After the show, it has returned to the owner's house, where it will receive a little cosmetic TLC before (hopefully) an epic visit to the Amberley Lister gathering in July. This week's photos show the MRT's ace sales team, Mel & Rob, with the stand and the loco.


I'll try to post advance notice of future sales stand outings, as your money is (probably) as good as anyone else; building a railway is an expensive business - trust us!!