Kyle - Stafford show 2019...
Evening all,
A debrief from the excellent Stafford show of last weekend. I did draft up the post last week but as I was getting used to the new software I managed to delete the entry just as I was about to post it Start again, fresh eyes...
As previous entries have described, I decided to replace the two turnouts to try and improve running as they were built almost 10 years ago. This turned out to include other remedials and more than I had anticipated in the last few months. The two turnouts were laid, tested, painted and ballasted. I had removed the front fascia to make access easier and the backscene, ramp and bridge was also removed as part of the upgrade. I had printed three backscenes originally so had two spare - the previous one was removed to reveal the curved vinyl sheet I had found in our studio - I had forgotten it had a gold outer side so it made for an interesting in progress shot I then applied the backscene and the two new fascia pieces laser previously cut from 3mm plywood. Whilst I was at it, I decided to upgrade and simplify the operators side fascia. This has removed the redundant switches from the DC operation and now has just the two turnouts and the five uncoupling slots. The fascia was cut from 1mm veneer and the trackplan and slots formed using a sharp scalpel, changing the blade regularly. To achieve the red effect it is mounted onto a sheet of stout red card from our studio. Finally the fascia was repainted and the lettering reapplied.
So all all set to go but the weekend before revealed some inconsistencies with the two turnouts which was still there Friday morning 3 hours before I was due to leave for Stafford My thanks are due to Mark F (2mm Mark of this Parish) who kindly came to help resolve it...By various tests with my meter and probing Mark found the station turnout had a dead frog feed and both switches to operate the turnouts were dead Knowing was there little time to replace them we set upon a temporary lash up to get me through the weekend, with two new switches hanging out the backscene to change polarity and the old switches disconnected but used for changing the point throw only. Shortly after I was on my way to Stafford, arriving to set up the Friday evening - have never been to a show where you can back up your car virtually to your exhibition space Was also extremely honoured that Kylie (as Mr Yorke refered to it ) was depicted on the front of the show catalogue - many thanks Colin.
The layout performed well at the show, bar some loco failures (prompting a bit of an overlap between time periods) and I have a few things for the to do list. I received a lot of nice comments on the layout, a lot of people surprised how small it was...one commented the picture on the catalogue was bigger
My thanks are due to Bryn, Andy H and David L all of this parish for helping out some periods allowing me to get some breaks as well as see the show. A lot of nice layouts, it was great to see some old faces and meet some new ones. I also trialled the new Kylie T-shirt (when temps changed from early morning cold to very busy hot) which Mark B (46444) joked that I should produce...it has the current Kylie tour dates on the back...the layout just needs some roadies now
Here are a few pictures showing some progress as well as the layout at the show.
As always, comments are welcome...
Pete
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