A Pre-Christmas Treat for All the Family!
As in our previous exhibitions we have a range of activities specially for our younger visitors.
The Children’s Quiz
Every child has the chance to enter our annual quiz – and this year the questions are a bit easier!
Some of the questions are easy, some of the questions are harder, but the prize is fantastic.
One lucky child will win a complete model railway – a locomotive, some rolling stock, the track and a controller!
Just like these lucky winners from four of our recent exhibitions.
Layouts to Operate
The main layout for visitors to operate is The Manchester Big Trams – and we really mean BIG!
The small tram on the left of this picture is about the size of an OO model of Thomas the Tank Engine. It’s the other one that the visitors will be driving!
Big trams need a big track, and the Manchester Big Trams have the biggest in the show – it almost 13m long. that’s about 43 feet!
There is also a shunting puzzle layout for the children (and adults) to try.
What’s more two other layouts in the rest of the exhibition have said that they sometimes allow trustworthy children to operate the controls. If the operator is standing at the front of the layouts, it’s always worth asking nicely!
Thomas
No exhibition is complete without Thomas the Tank Engine.
This year’s exhibition is a very special one because the MMRS is 100 years old, so we’ve invited a
80 year old Thomas to join us. In Hall 1 you will find the ORIGINAL Thomas the Tank Engine Layout which was built by the author of the famous books for his own son. The Ffarqhahr Branch is too fragile to allow any of our visitors to operate it, but the team which now look after the layout use the timetable and the commentary that the Rev W Awdry wrote for use with the layout all those years ago.
Drawings and Games
It can be tiring walking around, so there are two areas where parents and children can take a rest. Junior Junction will be in the entrance lobby and Toytown Terminus will be in a special section of the catering area in Hall 2. There will be plenty of drawing materials and simple games to use.
A Note About Layout Heights
We often get comments on our visitor feedback forms that the the layouts are too high for small children to see. This is largely outside our control, since the individuals and groups who built the layouts designed the height to be comfortable for themselves. However, we make it a policy not to invite excessively high layouts, and we ask the owners to have in place viewing aids for any layout with a rail height greater than 4ft (1.22m). Only two of the layouts in this year’s show are higher than this – Laramie Terminal and Littledene.