Exhibitions & extensions
Entry posted by Mark Forrest
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On the whole the layout's first public outing was a great success, although there were a few snags to deal with.
- * The combination of restricted access and three link couplings meant changing stock in the fiddle yard was awkward
* There was no real purpose for the two sidings at the front of the layout
* Operating the layout from the front (as I do at home) was ok, but due to my choice of couplings and the position of the point switches I spent a lot of time standing in front of folks who were trying to look at the layout
To overcome these I decided to add a small fiddle yard to the left hand end of the layout which would take a cassette and a fan of sidings representing a small steel terminal, taking the total length of the layout to 2.7m. With the layout booked to appear at the Stafford Railway Circle exhibition in February 2009 I set to work to add the extension and refine some of the scenic details. A new factory building (kitbashed from the Wills north light engine shed) appeared on the Lane (replacing the previous Metcalfe example)
and access to the steel terminal fiddle yard was disguised by a pipe bridge
Until the Stafford exhibition the layout had been operated using an old hand held AMR DC controller; however I decided it was time to catch up with technology and invested in a Roco Multimaus (split from a starter set, purchased on eBay). Several locos were hurriedly fitted with DCC chips and a few further scenic tweaks were made ready for the layouts next appearance at DEMU Showcase in June 2009 where the following photos were taken
The next outing for the layout is the Wyre Forest MRC's Kidderminster exhibition in March 2010. I have a few repairs and improvements to make between now and then; along with a few more wagons to add to the fleet 
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