reflecting on a day in kent...
Entry posted by bcnPete
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Morning all,
Yesterday was the one day show at Tonbridge with the layout operating to the paying public for the first time on dcc and with the sound chipped 37/4.
Nigel Ashton and I were flying the 2mmFS flag at the show, each with a corner slot although I think Nigel faired a tad better in his location in one of the main halls 
Fair play to the exhibition manager who came to check everyone an hour before doors opened and realised his floor plan had been a little ambitious given we were 7 exhibits in a fairly small room annexe. The placing just meant if peeps were viewing the adjacent MPD layout the fiddleyard was out of view...when in reality I consider it to be as much of the display as the scenic portion.
Despite setting up at home and testing the day before the usual gremlins struck but it was my class 27 and 24/0 which were the star performers on the day, both having been given some TLC by Pixie the week before. The 37/4 with sound chip was well received and the feeling was the level of sound was spot on without causing undue annoyance to my fellow neighbours - this is untouched and how it came from Digitrains FYI with no fiddling from myself.
The layout settled down in the afternoon and apart from the odd DG occurrence of random uncoupling the only thing I need to crack is the station turnout which I still can't fathom if its electrical or the loco. The Dapol class 26's seem to cough and stall on it, the Dapol class 27 is fine, whilst the Farish 24 has no problem. The class 37/4 was having its moments too yesterday. No regrets moving to dcc though and some people commented on the smoothness and slow running qualities.
Overall I received some nice comments on the layout and I always get a few stories from people who visited the station in the 70's and tell me which part of the platform they stood on, which I enjoy.
I received about 3/4 enquiries for shows which will be followed up in due course. Nice to meet up with some RMWebbers too who came over for a chat whilst my son kept things moving.
I never managed to finish my class 24/1 for the show, despite a last minute surge and thought better to keep back for the next show as I had plenty of motive power. I left the class 24/0 with Kevin of Coastal DCC who is going to install a sound chip for me...involves some milling of the chassis which is a 
for me. I will follow this up with the 24/1 later in the year and I am hoping to chip my 37/0 myself so I will be able to run it with sound using either 2 x 24's or 2 x 37's. The Dapol locos are a little more challenging to get sound in I understand.
My son holding the fort in our corner slot...
Still some painting tweaks, headlights and front end detailing to add to the 24/1...
Thanks for all the nice comments and I do need to get the baseboards up and running on Thurso as the mock up for the extension seemed to be well received too.
Pete
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