So, another Granite City train show is in the books, and once again a great time was had by all. This little layout was probably the most labour intensive of the layouts I've shown there. The coal loading really making it a 2 person operation for smooth running. The working coal loader really grabbing peoples attention. A couple of people asked about the rolling stock as it was British outline, but most people were just content to watch the layout work.

The coal loading was, as I've said, quite a labour intensive operation. We found it worked best with one person operating the railway watching the position of the wagons under the dispensing chute to see when they filled, and the other person actually doing the filling.

Something that definitely needs to be worked on is cutting down on the spillage around the chute. This led to a lot of derailments very quickly and many breaks had to be taken to clear the coal away from the rails.

Another thing I learnt is that the couplers on the Dapol hoppers were not as effective as the Bachmann ones in constant push-pull situations. The direction to take with the uncouplers needs to be worked on. I made a couple of hand uncoupling tools out of styrene before the show and they certainly did the job. I'm sure I'll get well meaning suggestions to use "Sprat and Winkle" or some other auto uncoupling brand, but they'd have to be shipped over from the UK and when you have to pay more for postage than the item its just not cost effective. I could use Kadees but they don't look right on 1960's UK stock. The Bachmann ones are surprisingly unobtrusive so I might just stick with them. There is a supplier in Canada that I get my Bachmann stock from.

The next plan will be to rebuild the loading screens out of styrene and get a bit more detail into the structures.

A fiddle yard rebuild is also on the cards. It was just a tad too short as it was. I'll try to rig up a three road sector plate for the next time.

The next Granite City Train show is on November 15th so there is plenty of time.

All in all, a good day out. I did come away with an O scale US outline boxcar kit. Who knows where that will lead?

Above: The layout all set up before the show started. The layout stands on 2 plastic crates that we transported stock and tools in. The whole layout set up and knocked down in about 10 minutes.

Below: A few shots of the loaded hoppers. The pictures were taken at the end of the show so some of the structures are showing a few "battle scars"

Huge thanks, as per usual to the wife for being the joint operator. With the layout being so labour intensive there wasn't a relief operator.