I will be in the UK in 12 days time. Naturally I will be doing some model railway shopping. I am hoping to buy some controllers which I will be carrying in my hand luggage. Has anyone been stopped by airport security carrying a similar cargo recently?

I know that security has been tightened up recently and phones and tablets need to be switched on. I wonder if I will have to run some trains    seriously though, I don't want to have them confiscated if I can help it.

Putting them in my big suitcase is not really an option as they might get stolen at our end.

Regards

Veronica.

I went through Heathrow terminal 3 last week into and out of the UK. In my hand luggage I had my laptop, tablet, phone, MP3 player and camera.
They all went through the xray machine as normal and I wasn't asked to demonstrate any of them.

From what I've heard, it is only things that have a battery installed, like laptops etc that they might be looking at.
If the products, like controllers don't have a battery, I wouldn't think they're is likely to be a problem.

Hi Ronnie

At Heathrow there is the possibility of shrink wrapping you suitcase (just like ORTIA). That option reduces the chance of loss.

BobB

Thanks for the replies, I usually wrap my baggage out of and into South Africa but I am a bit neurotic about my model railway swag and try and carry it in my hand luggage if possible.

I have emailed Heathrow airport to see what they say.

I recently took a loco out of UK to Sweden for repair - I left the loco boxed in my hand luggage and I knew it would be checked.

They were very interested in the view of a long cylinder with six round shapes below them - they advise next time to remove any such items from my hand-luggage so they can be scanned and checked.

On the return trip (with more locos!) from Stockholm I told them what I was carrying and they advised the same to removed the locos for viewing - the staff were very interested.

From my experience always best to ask advice of the people at security and tell them what you are carrying.

Tony

Have you thought of having them posted by the shop you buy from, or posting yourself? Or is the weight/cost likely to be prohibitive?

When we travel from California to Scotland to visit my wife's parents, I bring a little oval of Unitrack, an old Graham Farish branded controller, and a couple locos and stock with me, always packed in my carry on.  I've done this twice now and US security has never examined these items beyond the usual X-ray scan, but in the UK, once in Aberdeen I was asked to take the items out so they could be examined more closely, whereas a second time in Aberdeen they didn't comment.  Similarly, once at Heathrow they examined the items more carefully whereas another time they didn't.

After my experience in Aberdeen (which occurred on the first trip where I had packed these items), I have made a point to tell the security people doing the scanning that these items are in my bag and things have been fine.

I should mention though that I am very careful to pack items like miniature screwdrivers and other similar tools in my checked suitcase with the points of said items pushed into old wine bottle corks.

Matt

When packing a suitcase, try to use layers This reduces the risk of the suitcase being selected for a search, due to items that cannot be easily recognised

When packing the carry-on luggage, try to build in layers with the high value items at the top

I manage to get my carry-on luggage within the USA without any issues
However, on the connecting domestic flight at Heathrow mine is always selected for search
On my most recent trip the staff member commented "You've done this before as the top is all electrical items and the bottom is all clothes"
Equally, I bought two bottles of Whisky, each in its own sealed bag, and one was selected for a search
The staff member took one look at the one I was holding and the one he had, looked at the person on the scanner, and just handed the other over, "No, I don't understand why that was selected"

I take 50+ flights a year and the only time my hand luggage is searched is when I make a mistake such as leaving an iPad or liquids in my bag by mistake. Your only issue would be if your bag is searched and the security staff do not understand or want to understand what your strange electronic devices are. I have taken locos, rolling stock, track, point motors through security with no problems at all (never a controller though!).

I think you are on the right track by keeping the controllers in your hand luggage. As others have said, ask the person helping you seperate and organize your items before putting on the belt for advice as to whether you should remove the controllers or not. I would also make certain you are carrying the purchase receipt which can verify what the items are. Of course the presence of other model railway paraphenalia such as the odd item of rolling stock in your bag reinforces what the items are.

Good luck!

Hi,

I have been working in the airline industry for many years and I suggest you keep them in their original box\boxes, and sealed, tell security that you have them.

Nine times out of ten if they are in their sealed original boxes they won't open them,they will just put them through scanner.

It's high risk routes where security is stricter,

Mike

I travelled on 4 flights a week for nearly 5 years and only got stopped a few times. I had 2 small tubes I used to keep my currencies in - Euro and Krone. If the ended up stuck near each other, it meant a search as the x-ray operator couldn't work out what they were. If I put them in different places in my rucksack, they didn't seem to worry.

I am a bit concerned about controllers specifically, they are the ones that come from Farish sets so they won't be in boxes. I think it's good advice to get them out and show them to the security staff upfront.

The worst thing that can happen is that they get confiscated, they haven't cost much so it won't be the end of the world. Another option is to put them into the main suitcase.

I've been traveling out of Heathrow for years with hand luggage crammed with model railway bits and have only been stopped once last year but things have got quite serious lately.

Posting them back is not really an option because our postal service is very bad.

I've had a reply from Heathrow Airport stating that the controllers should be put into suitcases carried in the hold of the 'plane.

I will do that but carry anything else of value such as locos in my hand luggage.

Better to be safe than be sorry.

It would be nice to be able to put almost everything into the hold luggage but both Heathrow and O R Tambo are known for baggage theft. Wrapping suitcases does seem to help to some extent though.

Ahhhh - just spent the last ten minutes typing a reply then my ipad battery died! Ah well ...

SillyMoo - please let us know how you get on if you take locos as hand luggage. I did the same in May without problems and need to do the same again next month.

Glad you brought this topic up, since I was about to. In short, every security agency, indeed every security employee, is different and unfortunately there's no set answer. I think with locos you should be fine though - show them to the personnel first (although I've never felt the need to do this in the past, things have changed).

Cheers Dan.

Quote from: silly moo on August 21, 2014, 09:18:23 AM

It would be nice to be able to put almost everything into the hold luggage but both Heathrow and O R Tambo are known for baggage theft. Wrapping suitcases does seem to help to some extent though.

When you put the controllers into your suitcase, would you be able to shrinkwrap them in the middle of a lot of clothes, then wrap that in gaffa tape.  That way if the unthinkable happens they would have a very large package to try and hide and I presume they only have a limited time to do their evil deed.  I realise this is quite a length to go to but needs must 

cheers John.