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TEAMYAKIMA

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Everything posted by TEAMYAKIMA

  1. I have had a WR Hymek in my showcase for many years and I am finally thinking of adding a set of train reporting numbers to the model to 'finish it off' - shows how bored I am! :-) I trainspotted Hymeks at Ealing Broadway in the early/mid 1960's - can someone suggest which of these might suit the loco? Were they only for passenger trains? My father came from Paignton and would anyone of these suit a Paddington to Paignton train? Thanks for any help.
  2. Just out of interest, I assume those van are sold decorated like that, but did you cut the doors open yourself?
  3. I think the problem is that you/we are judging it as a serious drama, whereas it's really a comedy or maybe a comedy drama. Both Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton made their names in comedy and if you look at it as a comedy it's OK.
  4. In one shot from inside the tunnel, it's a pannier tank going in and a 2-6-2T coming out - classic film 'mistake'.
  5. TBH I haven't followed this thread, but I have just watched a videoed interview with Simon taken several years ago before the layout had ever been 'exhibited' where he says that he won't be attending normal shows, but will be hiring empty spaces for weeks at a time during the school holidays and charging an entrance fee. I have just now seen reference to the fact that back in late 2023 there was a plan to exhibit it at the (then) Warley show in 2024. Have Simon's plans regarding public exhibitions changed?
  6. If I was saying this next bit, rather than writing it, I would say it in a very quiet voice, because I have said things like this in the past - only to be proved wrong! 😐 As I write this my hands are trembling, but nevertheless I going to be bold (wreckless) and say that, after six years of trying, I have finally got the level crossing to work properly! This was always supposed to be one of the layout's real "WOW!" moments. There is a working Faller roadway system along the front of the layout and I can divert a car or minibus over the level crossing for the amusement of viewers and, more importantly, if the barriers are down the van stops automatically and then sets off again once the train has passed and the barriers are up again. That was the theory at least - in six years and various exhibitions it has never operated reliably, but now I think I've finally cracked it! The reality was that there were at least FOUR separate 'issues' which were causing the level crossing to misbehave and this morning I have finally sorted the last one. Originally, we used IRDOT's to message the module which controls the level crossing and when I replaced them with reed switches several exhibitions ago I thought that would solve the problem, but it didn't. Having dealt with three of the problems over the last year or so, the last problem seemed to be the power and the length of the magnets I fixed under the rolling stock. There are two reed switches, one either side of the level crossing and some magnets would work over one reed switch, but not the other and on further analysis this week I concluded that sometimes it could be the speed of the train as it ran over the reed switch which might be part of the problem. SOLUTION - replace all the magnets with more powerful and longer ones i.e. the longer the magnet is, the longer the time is that the reed switch is active and so, the longer the electrical pulse is that goes into the electronic module. RESULT - on test in my shed this morning - 100% reliability! But, I have often found that things which work well in my shed when I have just two or three boards up, don't always work when I have all 12 boards up in exhibition conditions. At our next show we will see if my optimism is justified!
  7. I have been quietly working on some relatively minor issues which came to light at the Abingdon show and some longer term issues which we are finally able to deal with. Consequently, I am pondering a (rather anal) issue which I've had at the back of my mind for some time. Should the layout attempt to be be 100% accurate or should the layout have some 'artistic license'? And if so, how much? I'm mainly thinking of the choice of locomotives. The first priority has always been reliability and that has largely now been achieved with the large range of locos in my collection. Let's face it, by 2001 the vast majority of China Rail trains were hauled by green DF4B's and yet I have tried to vary things by including locos which you MIGHT have seen in 2001, rather than locos you were likely to see in 2001. Having thought about it, I think I will tip the balance slightly more to what you would have definitely seen in 2001 rather than what you might have seen if you were very lucky. The change won't be great, let's say from 60/40 to 70/30. I'll simply prioritise the usual and keep the unusual in reserve if things go wrong or just to spice things up.
  8. Yes, I agree, but it's not quite as simple as that. My team member who deals with DCC issues live 2 hours drive from where I live and so the next time he will be available to deal with this issue is at the set-up day of KEYMODELWORLD and whilst he is 99.9% certain he knows the drill, he would prefer to have a DIGITRAX specialist in the background if things go wrong. Thanks (as usual) for everyone's support/advice, but we have now found someone who will be able to step in and help at KEYMODELWORLD if things do go pear-shaped and so we are now sorted.
  9. Thank you (and others) for your comments. I think the situation is that my resident DCC team member (who doesn't use Digitrax on his own layout) has read up on the problem and knows (in theory) what to do when we get to our next show (KEYMODELWORLD) but would just like the reassurance that there might be someone on hand who could be called upon if something goes wrong.
  10. If you look at Dawn Quest's video of Abingdon show we are featured at about 14.00 and at 15.04 you will see a short section where we experiment with one of the smoking QJ's - running tender first light loco heading from the MPD to the freight yard. We are building on that to make it more of a feature at future shows.
  11. Yes, I agree and, to a limited extent, that is in hand. I now have two QJ's with smoke and I am arranging things so that they are prominent in the latest operating protocols. We experimented with them at Abingdon and they will feature heavily at our next show - KEYMODELWORLD LIVE. We deliberately stop them at a signal on the scenic section as the smoke effects are most dramatic starting off.
  12. I emphasise DIGITRAX expert rather than DCC expert as I always find that DIGITRAX can be subtly 'different'. I am exhibiting my large DIGITRAX controlled layout at KeyModelWorld Live and I have a DIGITRAX issue that my team know how to solve 'in theory', but whilst I have two DCC 'experts' in my team they use LENZ and are very reluctant to make significant changes to my command station just hours before a major show. Allow to to explain further, my team all live many miles away from me and so there is no chance to deal with this issue before we all meet on Friday April 26th at the NEC. So, I was hoping that someone who is experienced with Digitrax might be on hand to supervise the changes we need to make to the command station. Perhaps if there is anyone, it would be better to send me a PM. Many thanks. Paul
  13. The BEIJIAO INDUSTRIAL RAILWAY is a fictitious combination of two industrial railways I visited in China. The really inspirational one, the Chengde industrial railway, featured a JS 2-8-2 entering a banking station with just 11 loaded coal cars and then two more 2-8-2's are added as bankers and then the three 2-8-2's and 11 coal cars stormed off to the nearby steelworks up a 1/30 grade. I have replicated that (and other similar 11 car trains - oil tankers and scrap gondolas) on the layout. But the Chengde branch had no passenger service and consequently, no passenger station and so the other inspiration for me was the Nanpiao system which in addition to normal coal mine traffic ran a serious local passenger service to get workers to and from coal mines. This was the real Chengde and I was standing next to Michael Rhoding and taking video when he took this still ............................... This was the real Nanpiao .......................
  14. This is the only photo I can find of the Bridge at Remagen N gauge layout set in late 1944. It features some very high quality modelling (the bridge is scratchbuilt from brass strip) and the layout is packed with cameos referencing various big-screen war films.
  15. There is at least one German WW2 layout on the exhibition circuit and it is superb - Al Turner's "Bridge at Remagen". It has been off the circuit for a few years whilst Al adds even more fantastic detail, but it will be at Tolworth and Manchester this year.
  16. Well................................ In my defence I must say that until recently there wasn't much available to fulfil those suggestions Working colour light signals would have been a nice feature, but this was all that what was (and is) available Then some kits did appear, but they were poor quality and very generic It was only when Nui Models (Al Turner) took on the signals as a bespoke 3D printing project that having signals on the layout became a realistic (in both senses of the word) option. Each of these six signals was custom designed for specific positions on the layout........................ Without Al's amazing research and technical drawing skills, I doubt if we would ever have had signals on the layout - maybe a man with red and green flags might have worked :-)
  17. We feature in Dawn Quest's video of the Abingdon show and it includes a shot of one of the new features we trialled at the show - a smoking QJ which runs light engine tender first. It's heading from the MPD (off to the r/h side of the layout) to couple up to a freight in the yard (off to the left of the layout). We stop it at a signal and it waits a few seconds before setting off again - this is because the smoke effect is most impressive when the loco starts off. See us from 13.40.
  18. I totally agree with you and I do not want to take this off topic, but it's like a soap opera on TV. If Eastenders or similar really showed real life, they would be very mundane, because real life is (basically) mundane. The writers have to spice things up a bit to grab the audience's attention.
  19. We have just returned from the fantastic Abingdon & District MRC's 50th anniversary exhibition - it was an honour to be invited to such a great show. We trialled several new ideas including an enhanced lighting rig. We are able to make several adjustments to the colour balance and intensity of these new lights and here is a photo which tries to show the combination we finalised on. In fact, as we were in a separate classroom by ourselves, we turned off the main room lights and merely had our own lights on. It's not a great photo, but it gives you an idea of how it looked.
  20. At a time when there was all sorts of negativity regarding the supposed demise of the hobby, some clubs took the brave decision to confirm exhibitions for 2024 and beyond and there is no better way to prove to doubters that the hobby has a bright future than by helping to make these shows a success. In particular, at a time when several shows are downsizing from a two-dayer to a one-dayer, Abingdon & District MRC has taken the bold step of going the other way - they are putting on their first-ever two-dayer with an amazing 40+ layouts in order to celebrate their 50th anniversary. This is an amazingly ambitious project for a 'local club' and I think their positive approach deserves our support. Yes, I have a self-interest in this, my layout will be there, but in a more general sense, big layouts like mine, can generally only go to two day shows as it takes such a long time to set up - a minimum of 3 hours in my case. So, I'm hoping that Abingdon's big gamble pays off handsomely and that encourages them to stick with the two day format and sends a positive message to other clubs to do the same.
  21. Excellent. Is that only online or in the paper version as well?
  22. Absolutely and I fully realise that under my three definitions, Pendon is not a model railway as it's basically a big roundy-roundy, but virtually every 10ft x 2ft BLT is a model railway. Anyway, enough, time to go and do more work on my layout (not model railway).
  23. Back to the topic ......................... Having spent some time thinking about this, I there may be three definitions 1. Train set 2. Model Railway 3. Model Railway Layout A train set uses track and model trains, but has no defining style, no defining location, no defining period and no purpose other to entertain A model railway is a railway in model form i.e. it has a defined period, a defined location and a purpose - to operate in the appropriate manner. The operators 'operate' as if it were a real railway. A model railway layout is a half-way house between those two extremes. My project is a 'model railway layout' insofar as it has a defined location, it has a defined period, but, most importantly, it is merely an authentic backdrop (diorama if you like) for trains of the appropriate type and period to run through. At an exhibition, people stand in front of my 20ft scenic section and a series of 15 different trains run through the scene non-stop - technically, that is not a model railway by my definition. My model is 'foreign' and so some years ago I contacted Model Railroader to offer them the layout for publication and they basically said that it was not the kind of thing that they (and most Americans) consider a model railway - it was simply a 20ft scene through which trains are displayed, whereas their American readers were interested in layouts that operate in a realistic manner.
  24. OK, let's stop talking about being positive - let's DO something positive - let's support a club which is being VERY positive. Abingdon & District MRC are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year with their first ever TWO DAY show on March 2/3. Yes, that's right - at a time when clubs are pulling out of putting on shows, at a time when two day shows are shrinking to one day shows, Abingdon and District MRC are going the other way - they are expanding, they are being positive, they are taking a risk in order to send out a positive vibe - time for us to put our money where our mouth is and support this kind of positivity. How do I know so much about this show? Because we are going to be there and so, if you want to learn more about Chinese railways, you can always come and talk to me.
  25. That is an interesting question, but firstly let me say that I don't think me having a layout on the exhibition circuit has influenced things that much, if at all. - I assume you mean in the UK and my reply refers to the UK, but my understanding is that the new middle class in China have taken up the hobby themselves - I suspect mainly as collectors or if they build layouts I think many might be more of the temporary type e.g. setting up on the floor rather than layouts as we know them here on RMweb. Chinese HO started to be available in the UK (Bachmann) in 2001 and I think was mainly sold to people, like me, who wanted a souvenir/reminder of their trips to China to photograph steam. I have been told that there is someone (in Wales?) building a large Chinese HO home layout, but AFAIK mine is the only Chinese HO exhibition layout. The big problem with modelling Chinese railways is that, as a rule, the trains are very long - I have a 19 car passenger train on my layout and that is not particularly long for China - so there is not a lot of scope for a Chinese version of the typical GWR branch terminus. Another factor is that Bachmann stopped manufacturing Chinese HO several years ago and whilst there are several new manufacturers, making fantastic models, they are not sold in the UK. Current Chinese HO models are really good, but as usual these days, made in limited quantities and so if you want to buy them you need to keep an eye on model shops in China and Hong Kong. As regards my layout, I realised early on that I would not get many exhibition invites if my layout only appealed to visitors who were interested in Chinese railways - it had to appeal to a much wider audience. So, our policy is to appeal to two separate 'markets' - 1) If enthusiasts want to know about the railways of China, the layout gives an accurate picture of what things were like in 2001 - the very end of main line steam - and we are very happy to proactively engage with them to pass on our experiences 2) If the general (family) audience wants plenty of movement and unusual features (not gimmicks) which they've never seen before, then we are there to entertain them.
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