R.H.E. Slower Than Stage Coach
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WHEN the Model Railway Exhibition opened at Central Hall, Westminster, on March 27, one of the stands was
not in position. In its place stood a placard which proclaimed that the stand fittings, show-cases and exhibits had been collected in Manchester by the Road Haulage Executive 10 days earlier and had not yet arrived.
Beneath this was a statement to the effect that .the concern had, in 1875,
dispatched models from Manchester by stage coach, and in that they had always been delivered in London four days later. In 50 years of exhibiting model raways engines the exhibits had always been in place at the correct time.
On March 19 the goods were dispatched from Manchester, where they had been on show. After persistent inquiry had been made, one case was delivered on March 28, and the glass which it contained had d been smashed. It was discovered in a warehouse in Brixton, although Muswell Hill is supposed to be the London terminal for goods coming from Manchester.
According to one source of information, the case had been carried around on a vehicle for days, as the label had been torn off, and the driver did not believe that the London address of the concern, painted on the case, was the address to which the consignment delivered.
The show, therefore, opened without the exhibits prepared for it by the com pany in question, Bassett-Lowke, Ltd. A makeshift stand was arranged two days later, and, finally, late on March 29, the show models were discovered. The exhibition closed on March 31. had to be