TEAMYAKIMA

With less than a week to go now before the Alton show I have told my team to make sure that everything is in tip top shape before we head off next Friday. Here is a photo of one of my team cleaning one of our ground signals .......................😉

Any idea when that was made?

Just out of interest - what exhibitions in the UK did Hattons support, either by direct sponsorship or by simply having a stand?

Next time I contact Bernie I'll send him that photo. :-)

As regular readers of this thread will know, I am always trying to balance two slightly contradictory concepts - 1. Being accurate to my theme - China in 2001 2. Making the layout 'more interesting' by bending the rules as regards what's authentic. One issue which I have highlighted is that if I am to be prototypical them most trains should be hauled by a DF4 variant, whereas I try to show as much variety as possible - if a certain class of loco might have hauled that train in 2001 then that's OK with me - more variety equals more interesting trains. However, I am taking that concept way beyond that now - for several years I have owned a model of the experimental gas combustion system QJ2 0001. I think the real loco was built in 1985 and ran some tests, but was converted to a conventional QJ in 1988 and eventually scrapped way before 2001. Consequently, I bought it purely as a showcase model, but one day something bad happened to it - I'm not prepared t6o say what happened, suffice to say that soon afterwards I fitted a lock to my showcase! Needless to say, there was more damage that you can't see in that photo, but after several hours work and a lot of expert help from Peter Morgan, it's 99% back to normal - and it runs nicely! Having done so much work on it to enable it to rune, it seems daft to just put in back in the (now locked) showcase and consequently I plan to run it occasionally at future shows - I'll just have to change the layout description from "all you see on the layout is authentic for China in 2001" to "most of what you see on the layout is authentic for China in 2001" :-) Will make an interesting topic of conversation with visitors to shows.

"Those were the days my friend..............." I'll leave it to the rest of you to finish that line..

I will admit that I am not aware of such extreme behaviour and I think that it would help your case if you would provide links to the kind of thing you're referring to.

Thanks to Al Turner our hotel has a new sign on the roof - there is one small 'typo' that needs correcting but otherwise it's just perfect and really shouts 'China!'.

I totally agree and that's why I always try to have someone outside the layout to engage with visitors. However, none of my existing team are particularly good at attracting the degree of attention I would like. And so in an attempt to make my layout more popular at shows, I was thinking of hiring Amanda Holden to be a dedicated 'front-of-house' team member.

As the the person who posted the OP, I should have known that I was opening a can of worms 🙂 In fact I nearly deleted it within 30 minutes, but by then someone had replied. As others have said, each of us will have our own definition of 'real' steam and I accept that there is a sliding scale between the Sandaoling open cast mine railway and the Bluebell with the Snowdon Mountain Railway somewhere in between.

Iain Thanks as usual. I travelled over to my friend (who does all my DCC sound installations) yesterday. He spent over 2 hours dealing with various problems I had. He uses a Z21 system. By the end, all the locos performed well on his system. When I tried the same locos today on Digitrax system some reverted to their original problems and one had developed a new problem. I have no idea what a snifferpoint does but I gather it might make solving my problem easier - may7be allowing him to communicate with my system?

Ok, let me start by saying that I am not a DCC expert/enthusiast - I know virtually nothing about DCC. I use a DIGITRAX DCS 210 I have a DCC problem and a friend who lives some distance from me has asked me if my system has a sniffport. Can someone answer that for me please? Thanks Paul

Good point - I hadn't considered that 'option'. This only goes to show that the definition of 'real steam' is very subjective. TBH I sort of agree and at the same time disagree with the concept of that being 'real steam;.

Yes, I travelled the whole line back when it very first opened. I don't think the original plan to run container trains never came about. Just tourist charters ever ran AFAIK.

I now have two steam locos with smoke - and very dramatic they are! I have so far used SEUTHE smoke oil to good effect zand I only run the locos occasionally within a sequence and only at shows so always in a relatively large open space. I have read that SEUTHE leaves a nasty oily residue - thoughts? I have heard that ESU smoke oil is better from that point of view - thoughts? Which give better effects - thoughts?

Well .............. To a great extent Wolsztyn was only made possible by the support of enthusiasts whereas Sandaoling was a genuine case of steam doing a commercial job. I have also heard that they now only have one steam loco passed for main line use and that certificate will run out soon - I think it's to do with loco tyre wear.

Yes, and TBH I think there may be some steam workings in a coal mine in Bosnia, but I think it's only shunting now.

Followed shortly, by bad news - the last 'real' steam still working in China has finally ended. Sandaoling opencast coal mine on January 15th 2024.

I thought this was the best place to announce the end of what some of us like to call 'real' steam - i.e. steam locomotives which just do a boring, every-day job not supporteded by the tourist/nostalgia/enthusiast industry. Needless to say it was in China - Sandaoling opencast coal mine - on January 15th this year.

I have known of this sad event since before Xmas when his family replied to several unanswered emails I had sent Nigel. I had known Nigel vaguely for several years due to his work for Bristol and Fareham, but last summer when I was in need of a driver to take my layout to Warley I took a chance and contacted him. He kindly agreed to organise and drive the van and operate the layout for two days. All I can say is that he was an absolute pleasure to work with. Needless to say, he was immediately invited to join my 'A' team and I was shocked to hear the news of his passing.

Good news!! I am pleased to announce that we have been invited to take BEIJIAO to the inaugural KEYModelWorld show at the NEC on April 27/28 - and if there's a cup for most popular layout, we aim to give Pete Waterman a run for his money! 😉

At my age I'm not sure if I can give anyone 'twenty years', but I get your point and it's a fair one.

Once again we come back to the very wide spectrum of our hobby. Let us once again consider our hobby - note, not my hobby nor your hobby, but our hobby. 3D printing will help MODELLERS, but not COLLECTORS

It's an interesting question - let's see.

Oh Gosh! First I agreed with Andy and now I've agreed with Phil - time to leave RMweb I think!! 😀