Layout Transportation
I've just returned from a very enjoyable weekend exhibiting Sherton Abbas at the South Hants Model Railway show in Portsmouth. https://www.shmrc.org.uk/event/2018-shmrc-exhibition/ We were made very welcome by the hosts and even provided with an excellent fried breakfast at the exhibition hall before the public arrived:-) It was good to meet up with other RMweb members who came over and introduced themselves during the day.
The first time the layout ever left my workshop was when I took it to the SWAG event in Taunton last year. I hadn't given much thought to safely transporting the layout and I must admit its first outing was a bit of a lash up! The layout was "arranged" in the van in the only way it would fit and then held in position with some bits of old rope and some elastic bungees:-) Although the layout survived the excursion without any damage, it was more by luck than judgement and I decided that before the next show a better solution needed to be devised.
First attempt at transportation!
In addition to the three scenic boards, the fiddle yard, layout legs, lighting gantry and stock all need to fit into the van.
I decided the most efficient use of space was to stand each board on its end, but this would damage the track at the base board joints and would obviously be very unstable during transit. To overcome these issues "end plates" were cut from MDF and fitted to the board ends to protect the track. A jig was also made that would hold the boards in position when stood on their ends.
All layout base boards aligned by the jig
The jig is simply screwed into position using pre-drilled holes in the base board ends.
The layout was much easier to fit into the van and plenty of space was left for storage of other essentials:-)
Layout ready for the journey to Portsmouth
The journey passed without incident and the jig certainly made transportation much easier and far less stressful!
Waiting for the public to arrive, the calm before the storm!:-)
Now that the show is over I can get on with finishing those private owner wagons started in the previous blog entry.
Until next time........
Best wishes
Dave
Edited by wenlock
Restore pictures
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