What is a Cameo Layout?

[New Haven Neil]

Hmm.  There's a photo in the book of Simon Fosbury (IIRC) breaking his back operating Tregarrick at a low level - as an example of what Iain found unacceptable in an exhibition layout.  I would take a hint from that personally.  (edit - I'm not saying make it ridiculously high.....)

 

Also IIRC Simon is a Doctor?  Not sure if he's a medical one but if he is I'm sure he would look at that photo and prescribe higher layouts for his patients!

Edited May 5, 2017 by New Haven Neil

[00Gauge]

 We have a modular layout with a height of 51" to the top of the rails. 

 

 

 

Henk.

[BG John]

Circular baseboard, circular track, baseboard rotates at same speed as train traverses the other direction, just a quarter of the layout on view.

A bit boring though. If it could be livened up by the guard climbing out of one carriage and into the next, while on the move, it would be more interesting, but I suspect that making that convincing is beyond almost everyone, and not just me. Which is why modelling a station where he could use the platform is much easier!

[Captain Kernow]

Circular baseboard, circular track, baseboard rotates at same speed as train traverses the other direction, just a quarter of the layout on view.

Brilliant! A layout in a gyroscope. This is exactly the kind of thinking that got us to the moon and back!

[Neil]

Circular baseboard, circular track, baseboard rotates at same speed as train traverses the other direction, just a quarter of the layout on view.

 

Little Hadron?

[peter220950]

There's a few about.

 

 

Peter

[Stubby47]

Just had an idea for a circular track with a never ending train of wagons - no loco or guards van, just a motorised van pulling/pushing the rest of the train.

[ruggedpeak]

Given that our cameo layouts might well be exhibited at specialist shows the tall eye level viewing point is not a problem. However at more general shows an alternative might be to have the layout at a lower height so that children and those in wheelchairs might be able to see.

Agreed. Was at a local model railway show yesterday and there were lots of younger kids, which is good to see. But they had to be lifted up to see many of the cameo style layouts.

 

Which is a shame as my anecdotal evidence is that these enclosed layouts with limited and contained field of view and only 1 or 2 things going on were far more interesting to the children than the big club layouts, where they struggle to process the enormity of them. Trouble is they couldn't get to see them. Teenagers were noticeable by their absence, but if I may speculate, attracting younger kids to smaller layouts is probably a good way to get then started. They will mostly lose interest in their teens but are perhaps more likely to return later in life if they get interested when they are younger. So cameos especially should, for general shows, but entirely accessible for small children for the sake of the hobby. Indeed I would make it compulsory! How doesn't matter, but they seem to attract attention. I feel a cameo Thomas layout coming on......

 

PS if you have a curtain over the layout stand bear in mind toddlers may think it is solid and toddle towards it expecting it to support them! Much hilarity as toddlers falls through curtain of cameo layout. Lukcily he didn't grab the curtain as he fell.....

[t-b-g]

Having discovered what you can do with Arduinos, I dream of automating the layout. Then I can just chat to the audience, wander round looking at other layouts, and have regular cake and coffee breaks, while the layout operates itself .

That is my idea of model railway hell! I know some people actually like doing as little as possible to operate their layouts and others who like to run their layouts by spending their time on their mobile phones or computer keyboards.

 

There are others who actually enjoy pulling levers to change points and signals and then enjoy driving the trains.

 

Neither is right or wrong but I am firmly in the second group. The satisfaction from carrying out complex and challenging operation on a well designed layout is a big part of why I enjoy my hobby and computerisation and automation are not something I will be doing any time soon.

 

Anyway, me, spending my time chatting........never happen!

[BG John]

There's a few about.

 

 

Peter

Does it work with a double track layout, with trains going in opposite directions?

[BG John]

Agreed. Was at a local model railway show yesterday and there were lots of younger kids, which is good to see. But they had to be lifted up to see many of the cameo style layouts.

 

Which is a shame as my anecdotal evidence is that these enclosed layouts with limited and contained field of view and only 1 or 2 things going on were far more interesting to the children than the big club layouts, where they struggle to process the enormity of them. Trouble is they couldn't get to see them. Teenagers were noticeable by their absence, but if I may speculate, attracting younger kids to smaller layouts is probably a good way to get then started. They will mostly lose interest in their teens but are perhaps more likely to return later in life if they get interested when they are younger. So cameos especially should, for general shows, but entirely accessible for small children for the sake of the hobby. Indeed I would make it compulsory! How doesn't matter, but they seem to attract attention. I feel a cameo Thomas layout coming on......

 

PS if you have a curtain over the layout stand bear in mind toddlers may think it is solid and toddle towards it expecting it to support them! Much hilarity as toddlers falls through curtain of cameo layout. Lukcily he didn't grab the curtain as he fell.....

Great suggestion, but if it's low enough for children, how do adults see it? Surely a bog standard micro layout without the proscenium arch is better for that purpose.

 

Working on a plan for an O gauge Cameo layout, having a very tightly controlled viewing area makes it possible to do things I couldn't otherwise do, as being able to look down on it would destroy the illusion. Children would have to be raised up to adult eye level, but how can that be done safely, and so it doesn't inconvenience taller viewers?

[BG John]

That is my idea of model railway hell! I know some people actually like doing as little as possible to operate their layouts and others who like to run their layouts by spending their time on their mobile phones or computer keyboards.

 

There are others who actually enjoy pulling levers to change points and signals and then enjoy driving the trains.

 

Neither is right or wrong but I am firmly in the second group. The satisfaction from carrying out complex and challenging operation on a well designed layout is a big part of why I enjoy my hobby and computerisation and automation are not something I will be doing any time soon.

 

Anyway, me, spending my time chatting........never happen!

When I used to do exhibitions, I tended to let other people do most of the operating!

 

I want to be able to do both. I'm building several "half stations", where almost all the pointwork is effectively hidden in the fiddle yard. "Changing points" will be mostly moving the fiddle yard sector plate or traverser, which needs a lot of imagination to pretend to be like real signalman, even though it performs the same function. Having an automated fiddle yard, that's out of sight of the operator, who presses a button or pulls a lever and a machine does the work out of sight, may well be more satisfying. Aspiring to total automation is an incentive to make everything work smoothly and reliably, without the hand of God having to appear to fix things, so is good for manual operation too. I'd like the option to do either.

 

I've no intention of operating my layouts from a mobile phone. I don't own, or want, a phone capable of doing it anyway. I think I can do everything I want using Arduinos, that aren't enough of a proper computer to attach computer keyboards and screens to anyway. I know a "proper" computer can be attached, but I can't be bothered with all that. Everything could be operated using a control panel with traditional knobs and levers, or proper lever frames. My preferred option is push button wireless remote control, but I could build a miniature lever frame and replica of a loco backhead, that's strapped to me, if I wanted. Come to think of it, I could build a steam punk radio control unit .

[t-b-g]

When I used to do exhibitions, I tended to let other people do most of the operating!

 

I want to be able to do both. I'm building several "half stations", where almost all the pointwork is effectively hidden in the fiddle yard. "Changing points" will be mostly moving the fiddle yard sector plate or traverser, which needs a lot of imagination to pretend to be like real signalman, even though it performs the same function. Having an automated fiddle yard, that's out of sight of the operator, who presses a button or pulls a lever and a machine does the work out of sight, may well be more satisfying. Aspiring to total automation is an incentive to make everything work smoothly and reliably, without the hand of God having to appear to fix things, so is good for manual operation too. I'd like the option to do either.

 

I've no intention of operating my layouts from a mobile phone. I don't own, or want, a phone capable of doing it anyway. I think I can do everything I want using Arduinos, that aren't enough of a proper computer to attach computer keyboards and screens to anyway. I know a "proper" computer can be attached, but I can't be bothered with all that. Everything could be operated using a control panel with traditional knobs and levers, or proper lever frames. My preferred option is push button wireless remote control, but I could build a miniature lever frame and replica of a loco backhead, that's strapped to me, if I wanted. Come to think of it, I could build a steam punk radio control unit .

 

I like the sound of that! I have some old controllers that are worked by big levers that sort of look a bit like regulator handles and I always preferred them to a round knob. I have thought once or twice about having a dummy cab interior on the control panel with one of these type of control levers and perhaps a dummy lever reverse to change direction.

 

I am not anti technology in any form and the next layout will have a lever frame with each lever having a microswitch. These will work relays, which will move servos for points and signals and put power to the track. Not quite cutting edge technology but quite advanced for me, especially if I make up the drive boards from MERG kits.

 

It is really an updated version of what Peter Denny did with Buckingham, where most tracks are isolated until the correct signal is pulled.

 

I just find it a bit amusing to see people operating their layouts via a laptop/tablets or a mobile phone. In my view, these items seem to be playing a huge part in everyday life and some people seem to be totally unable to function without them. It is as if they spend their whole life looking at little screens and can't even stop when they build a layout.

[LBRJ]

There seems to be some thread drift here.

 

One of the basic principles of Cameo Layouts is they are displayed at near enough eye level, in a fully enclosed setting. 

IF its not like that, its not really a cameo layout.

[PaulRhB]

While I don't mind eye level I do prefer to accommodate wheelchairs so I'm working on an idea that will follow the brief and meet my personal requirements too. If I can make that work then I'll enter it

[Chris M]

My answer to what is cameo layout?

A layout which is almost invariably boring to watch.

As someone who is vertically challenged (5' 2") I can't see much of them anyway but I'm not bothered because I know I ain't missing much.

 

Now where did I put that tin hat?

[nick_bastable]

Agreed. Was at a local model railway show yesterday and there were lots of younger kids, which is good to see. But they had to be lifted up to see many of the cameo style layouts.

 

Which is a shame as my anecdotal evidence is that these enclosed layouts with limited and contained field of view and only 1 or 2 things going on were far more interesting to the children than the big club layouts, where they struggle to process the enormity of them. Trouble is they couldn't get to see them. Teenagers were noticeable by their absence, but if I may speculate, attracting younger kids to smaller layouts is probably a good way to get then started. They will mostly lose interest in their teens but are perhaps more likely to return later in life if they get interested when they are younger. So cameos especially should, for general shows, but entirely accessible for small children for the sake of the hobby. Indeed I would make it compulsory! How doesn't matter, but they seem to attract attention. I feel a cameo Thomas layout coming on......

 

PS if you have a curtain over the layout stand bear in mind toddlers may think it is solid and toddle towards it expecting it to support them! Much hilarity as toddlers falls through curtain of cameo layout. Lukcily he didn't grab the curtain as he fell.....

my own limited experiences echos your thoughts often adults would ignore my effort been set to low however their children loved gazing into the box at something they could relate too height and size wise  , letting the children sound the horn on the sound fitted 207 made a few kids day, especially the one that broke away to return to sound the horn again and again 

 

However I would in future raise the eye level for older / taller viewers, in the event of a disabled person it would be easy enough to lower it   ( I anticipate using a  small

lifting  frame to stand on a normal table )

 

Nick

[BG John]

my own limited experiences echos your thoughts often adults would ignore my effort been set to low however their children loved gazing into the box at something they could relate too height and size wise  , letting the children sound the horn on the sound fitted 207 made a few kids day, especially the one that broke away to return to sound the horn again and again 

 

However I would in future raise the eye level for older / taller viewers, in the event of a disabled person it would be easy enough to lower it   ( I anticipate using a  small

lifting  frame to stand on a normal table )

 

Nick

Two layouts at different heights, using the same design but aimed at different audiences, one on top of the other? The adult eye level one could be a super accurate recreation of a bit of real railway, while the low level one is the same, but less detailed, a bit more gimmicky and made to appeal to kids, with Thomas in charge of the trains, and everything running faster.

[pete_mcfarlane]

Two layouts at different heights, using the same design but aimed at different audiences, one on top of the other? 

 

Or model one of those multiple level Underground stations.....

 

(or even some underground mine workings)

[t-b-g]

My answer to what is cameo layout?

A layout which is almost invariably boring to watch.

As someone who is vertically challenged (5' 2") I can't see much of them anyway but I'm not bothered because I know I ain't missing much.

Now where did I put that tin hat?

It seems to me that a cameo layout is the same as a micro layout but higher up and with a built in (as opposed to bolted on, although I can see no sensible reason why) lighting system and a fascia that acts like one from a theatre stage.

 

I have very, very occasionally seen one that held my interest for more than a few moments. There are only so many times I can enjoy the operational potential of a small tank loco or diesel shunter shuffling 3 trucks about no matter how good the idea or the setting. The only recent one I saw was "The end of the line" but that was at a sensible height so probably doesn't count.

 

Many seem to be linked to whatever has just come out RTR so over the coming exhibition seasons I fully expect to see lots of industrial efforts using the Hornby Peckett. Too many Huntley & Palmers shunting yards really would take the biscuit.

[coachmann]

What is a Cameo Layout?

 

It's one built by Cameron O'Connell.

[Captain Kernow]

My answer to what is cameo layout?

A layout which is almost invariably boring to watch.

As someone who is vertically challenged (5' 2") I can't see much of them anyway but I'm not bothered because I know I ain't missing much.

 

Well thanks very much for that invaluable contribution.

[queensquare]

My answer to what is cameo layout?

A layout which is almost invariably boring to watch.

As someone who is vertically challenged (5' 2") I can't see much of them anyway but I'm not bothered because I know I ain't missing much.

Now where did I put that tin hat?

What a completely pointless post. I was always taught, if you have nothing to say, say nothing.

 

Jerry

[nick_bastable]

Well thanks very much for that invaluable contribution.

do not feed the Troll  

 

Nick

[queensquare]

It seems to me that a cameo layout is the same as a micro layout but higher up and with a built in (as opposed to bolted on, although I can see no sensible reason why) lighting system and a fascia that acts like one from a theatre stage.

I have very, very occasionally seen one that held my interest for more than a few moments. There are only so many times I can enjoy the operational potential of a small tank loco or diesel shunter shuffling 3 trucks about no matter how good the idea or the setting. The only recent one I saw was "The end of the line" but that was at a sensible height so probably doesn't count.

Many seem to be linked to whatever has just come out RTR so over the coming exhibition seasons I fully expect to see lots of industrial efforts using the Hornby Peckett. Too many Huntley & Palmers shunting yards really would take the biscuit.

This does seem a little unfair Tony, both Highbury and Tucking Mill are cameos and both are a lot of fun to operate - and I could name many others.

I don't really understand all the negative comments from those who obviously have no intention of building one. As for the feigned confusion over what a cameo layout is. Well, if they read the book it would be blindingly obvious, it really isn't rocket science. And if they have no interest in the book or the idea of cameo layouts, that's fine too - but many do.

 

Jerry