The Running of Exhibition Layouts

[MarcD]

I had to operate our 16ft long layout on my own last year as my other operator pulled out at the last minute. With a single three road traverser there was no option but to stop operations and shuffle stock to get the next train. Very hard work. I'm trying to get round this by sorting out a push pull auto coach and increasing the number of road on the traverser. But you only work these things out after a show.

Marc

[DavidB-AU]

41 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Bigger layouts tend to suffer more because you really need several people to build it,

 

 

A common outcome often being that no one person knows exactly how everything works when something goes wrong!

[Pete the Elaner]

1 minute ago, DavidB-AU said:

 

A common outcome often being that no one person knows exactly how everything works when something goes wrong!

This is a problem, especially when not everyone will be able to make it to every exhibition the layout is taken to.

It is all very well stating that things can be documented, but this takes time & also makes more sense to the person who documented it & less to others.

[Philou]

The club I'm involved with over here has a fairly substantial club layout that doesn't get out much (poor thing) and is used primarily by the younger members (and me) to run their stock on DC analogue. Their stock is primarily second-hand and quite old and is cleaned regularly before running.

 

However, what is taken on the exhibition circuit are a lot of modules built by the younger (and not so young) members to show their skills. Its sometimes DC, sometimes DCC. Problems occur (and this is where I cringe) as the bulk of the modules are short thus there are many connections to be made, track and underboard electrics, that has a knock-on effect on the time it all takes with little prior testing possible on the day. Inevitably, trains hesitate over joins, faults occur including intermittent shorts, and the stock is sometimes run in a non-realistic manner. I choose not to go too often as I am losing enough hair naturally!!

 

To give their due they are enthusiastic and in this part of the world, as exhibitions are very few and far between, there is little criticism from the paying public, whom may not have seen more 'professional' layouts. However, even these are not immune to criticism. Here was my view of my visit to one at Meursault late last year (link here: 

 

To save you going there, this was my view overall:

 

"Andy Hayter, of this parish, and I, met up in Meursault for their tri-annual show. Meursault is to be found in the Bourgogne (Burgundy) area of France about 40km south of Dijon. It lies within a wine making area and is surrounded by vineyards - acres of it (hectares if you wish). Lots of famous named wines all around such as Nuits St Georges, Pommard etc.

 

The show was held in the local sports centre and takes place every three years. 7000 visitors last year and they were hoping for 10000 this year.

 

There were three very big layouts, a couple of medium sized ones and the remainder were small to very small - I didn't count them up but there were around a dozen or so. I was really impressed by the standard of the layouts in terms of décor but unfortunately I came away with the feeling of 'MEH' and I wasn't the only one. Hon. Chair and Hon. Sec of my club were also there together with three lads of the junior section and they were of a similar view. Why?

 

The issues were these: All had proscenium arches that limited the view - not one had their fiddle yards in view (which I like to see) - and of course because they all had backgrounds no interaction between the public and the operators. All save one were at a height that neither children nor persons of limited mobility could see (though a couple did have some hop-ups for children to get a better view - nothing for handicapped persons). Too many operators being on the outside of the layouts thus cutting down on the viewing area and of course being busy - no interaction. To cap it all (being France), nothing much was running between 12 and 2. I know people need to get a bite to eat but c'mon, there is the possibility of doing shifts - no?"

 

Don't get me wrong - it wasn't a rant - but an analysis of things I thought was wrong with what was supposedly a professional set-up, although in this instance, the stock, when it ran and was able to be seen, seemed to run OK.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited February 28, 2020 by Philou
Spulling errurs

[glo41f]

I was an operator for many years on a large layout which went to many shows around the country. We used to have practice sessions each week and the result was that everyone knew their operating place and the sequences that they were involved with. The result was that the layout worked seamlessly with multiple moves which took place often without any verbal communication. It was most enjoyable to watch and indeed to work as a well organised team. Sadly the discipline involved to achieve this standard is very often lacking today when I visit shows and I am often disappointed at the standard displayed to the extent that I find most shows really not worth attending any more, 

 

Martin

[Clive Mortimore]

There are some layouts that even with no trains moving you can immerse yourself in the wonderful modelling. There are other layouts where the action of the moving trains holds your attention. Very few where both happen. And some where neither happen. 

 

I might have the wrong idea about an exhibition layout but as a builder of layouts that have been invited to exhibitions I EXHIBIT my modelling. I do not build layouts for ENTERTAINMENT of young Johnny, his mum and granddad.  

[Philou]

But .... but ..... isn't the running of trains at a railway model show part of the overall scene? If it's just static then the public could just go to a modelling show and look at Airfix model aircraft and the like, that are in the main, static models?

 

I would expect that the paying public would prefer to see something move at a model railway exhibition as part of the paid entertainment - no?

[298]

6 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I might have the wrong idea about an exhibition layout but as a builder of layouts that have been invited to exhibitions I EXHIBIT my modelling. I do not build layouts for ENTERTAINMENT of young Johnny, his mum and granddad.  

 

That doesn't mean that you can't have any Dinosaurs....

[Clive Mortimore]

11 minutes ago, Philou said:

But .... but ..... isn't the running of trains at a railway model show part of the overall scene? If it's just static then the public could just go to a modelling show and look at Airfix model aircraft and the like, that are in the main, static models?

 

I would expect that the paying public would prefer to see something move at a model railway exhibition as part of the paid entertainment - no?

I didn't say I build layouts without moving trains. I build railway models not fair ground attractions.

[Happy Hippo]

I'm not quite sure that I totally agree with Clive over this but, I take my model railways to exhibitions well aware that I have been asked as  the railway is going to be a part of the entertainment.  People go to exhibitions for all sorts of reasons, but it does boils down to entertainment.

 

However, how you portray that is totally within your remit.  Jack rabbit starts and stops, impossible loco and rollings stock combinations and standing around doing nothing but gum bumping with my mates is frowned upon

 

I've exhibited in various gauges and scale over the years, including live steam, where the operating techniques differ by quite a bit, but despite that, one can if so minded, run sensibly with some allusion to prototype practice.

 

For instance, I do like to shunt at realistic speeds, so there is a small notice on the layout to the effect that pauses between train movements are compressed.  This means I don't have to observe a tank loco taking about 15 minutes to go off stage to the run round loop, top up it's tanks at the water cranes and then return.

 

I've tried to instil into my operating team that for an exhibition the layout is a theatre with scenery; the locos and rolling stock are the actors, and you are playing to a paying audience.

 

The operators are the stage crew and the technicians who make sure the production goes to plan.

 

That means a script (operating sequence) and rehearsals (practice) before going to the show.

 

Sometimes the actors are ill and have to be replaced by understudies!!

 

We also always try to have someone, 'front of house', to field any questions that may arise.

 

We try to operate four full sequences during a typical exhibition day, with an enforced pause after the second sequence to give the track a quick wipe over.

 

Nobody seems to object  to that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[ianathompson]

I tend not to go to exhibitions partly because I got fed up with observing poor operating practices.

 

I have written about this at some length on my website, including this parody.

Even if you do not access the link you might like to consider one of the points made which was:

 

As a church chorister, singing cathedral style music on a weekly basis with a choir that aims at a professional standards, I can well imagine the reaction to the mediocre/poor exhibition layout's equivalent rendition of the Messiah. What would be said if the conductor could not read music and had never seen the score, the singers were tone deaf and the orchestra did not know how to play their instruments?!

 

I have occasionally exhibited and I can appreciate the problems invol;ved, particularly when people wish to speak to you but others want to see trains run. I must be honest and state that I prefer to be at a football or cricket game on a Saturday afternoon, but that is persoanl preference. Re the comment above some of my operating was rather like my rendition of Palestrina's Missa Brevis the other night. One or two wrong notes!

 

Ian T

[Clive Mortimore]

47 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I'm not quite sure that I totally agree with Clive over this but, I take my model railways to exhibitions well aware that I have been asked as  the railway is going to be a part of the entertainment.  People go to exhibitions for all sorts of reasons, but it does boils down to entertainment.

 

However, how you portray that is totally within your remit.  Jack rabbit starts and stops, impossible loco and rollings stock combinations and standing around doing nothing but gum bumping with my mates is frowned upon

 

I've exhibited in various gauges and scale over the years, including live steam, where the operating techniques differ by quite a bit, but despite that, one can if so minded, run sensibly with some allusion to prototype practice.

 

For instance, I do like to shunt at realistic speeds, so there is a small notice on the layout to the effect that pauses between train movements are compressed.  This means I don't have to observe a tank loco taking about 15 minutes to go off stage to the run round loop, top up it's tanks at the water cranes and then return.

 

I've tried to instil into my operating team that for an exhibition the layout is a theatre with scenery; the locos and rolling stock are the actors, and you are playing to a paying audience.

 

The operators are the stage crew and the technicians who make sure the production goes to plan.

 

That means a script (operating sequence) and rehearsals (practice) before going to the show.

 

Sometimes the actors are ill and have to be replaced by understudies!!

 

We also always try to have someone, 'front of house', to field any questions that may arise.

 

We try to operate four full sequences during a typical exhibition day, with an enforced pause after the second sequence to give the track a quick wipe over.

 

Nobody seems to object  to that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do have an operating sequence, slightly random but is interactive with the public. Pig Lane is a small diesel depot, and its operation is regulated by a pack of cards. The top card when turned over says what loco should be run next, each loco is allocated a number or picture card. If on the layout it departs for its next duty. If off the layout it comes on a goes through the refueling and servicing process. If I have a youngster (with a parent in tow) opposite me and the card is for a loco on shed, I ask them to find D832 and if they appear interested get them to help me work out how to get the loco into the fiddle yard. As my layout can be operated either side some of them are allowed to operate the push rods that change the points. At table top height all but the very young can see it without dad having to lift up his child.

 

As I say I build to EXHIBIT my modelling. I do not build layouts for ENTERTAINMENT of young Johnny, his mum and granddad.  

[Philou]

@Clive Mortimore But then how would you describe a fairground attraction? Is it 'shiny shiny, brash and noisy'? Is it to attract as many people through the turnstiles as possible? Is an exhibition just to show off ones modelling skills? Is the train part of the scenery or is the scenery part of the background? Is it to educate or entertain?

 

I don't know. But I would expect as a member of the paying public to be entertained by well presented layouts and stock, and that stock on the move in a realistic manner - not necessarily prototypically - without long breaks between trains.

 

My deux centimes worth.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

Sorry Clive, my post arrived just after yours. I can now see how you operate Pig Lane. But it does seem from what you say that you DO interact with young Johnny anyway!

 

 

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Philou
Crossing of posts

[darrel]

One problem is the layout runs fine in the clubroom, you load it up into the van the van is cold. You get to the exhibition the hall is cold to begin with then warms up. Track has shrunk then expanded and suddenly the layout that worked fine in the clubroom is not working. 

I do agree that there should be something running at all times to keep the public interested. I've seen some great looking layouts that over a course of a weekend I didnt see anything move at all. Maybe I didnt have the patience to wait ages for a train.

[Legend]

Its like everything else , there's a huge variety in performance . Dungrange gives some very informative thoughts above . I was at Model Rail Scotland last weekend and to me the most impressive layouts were Hills of the North , Whithorn and Hornsey Broadway . They were clearly there to entertain (nice Bow ties Whithorn) , and that they did with constant procession of trains . Fascinating watching the control of the banks on Hills of the North , so I suppose it demonstrated that familiarity with the layout produces good running .   The procession of trains on Hornsey was fantastic and again I suspect that the majority if not all of the operators were very familiar with the layout

 

On the other hand , I'll not name the layouts, but there seemed to be a fair few of them that had not very much going on or had the same train endlessly running round in circles .  It is an exhibition . It did cost money to get in . I appreciate you are unpaid and giving your time , but what's it for if not to enthral your audience?

 

Overall the standard was very good though

 

I think you can have good and bad DCC and DC layouts . One thing I always find striking though is a perception that DCC layouts operate more slowly . Also on very large layouts I would have thought the advantage of DCC would be to have one train following another, obviously with a reasonable gap, ensuring lots of movement , but often you find train comes out of fiddle yard runs round layout is back in fiddle yard before 2nd train moves , so no real advantage over DC. Why is that?

 

[LNERandBR]

8 minutes ago, Legend said:

I think you can have good and bad DCC and DC layouts . One thing I always find striking though is a perception that DCC layouts operate more slowly . Also on very large layouts I would have thought the advantage of DCC would be to have one train following another, obviously with a reasonable gap, ensuring lots of movement , but often you find train comes out of fiddle yard runs round layout is back in fiddle yard before 2nd train moves , so no real advantage over DC. Why is that?

 

 

That will be down to the operators ability to multi task and have two trains running at the same time.

 

Especially true if the train coming inti the fiddle is running into a different road to the one leaving. You then need to remember to change the points correctly.

 

When we last took our club layout out we were short handed. Therefore one operator often ended up running both mainlines of our roundy roundy layout. There was no way we could reliably swap trains after single runs so we ended up letting trains do multiple laps.

 

Didn't seem to put people off standing in front of the layout for ages. Many saying they enjoyed the action.

[Legend]

23 minutes ago, LNERandBR said:

 

That will be down to the operators ability to multi task and have two trains running at the same time.

 

Especially true if the train coming inti the fiddle is running into a different road to the one leaving. You then need to remember to change the points correctly.

 

When we last took our club layout out we were short handed. Therefore one operator often ended up running both mainlines of our roundy roundy layout. There was no way we could reliably swap trains after single runs so we ended up letting trains do multiple laps.

 

Didn't seem to put people off standing in front of the layout for ages. Many saying they enjoyed the action.

 

Thanks for reply . Yes but with DCC you are in charge of train , so why isn't one operator taking out a train from fiddle yard while other is running round and re entering fiddleyard?  I know you need to have lots of operators but typically DC would require up/ down main/ up down fiddleyard , so at least 4 operators .

[LNERandBR]

Our club layout has a double track mainline and a lower level yard.

 

Usually we will operate with one operator per mainline, one on the yard and a fourth on the fiddle yard.

 

The layouts showpiece is an operating coal loader. Therefore the Fiddle Yard operator's main role is to empty the loaded wagons and prep them to be returned to the yard.

 

Whilst I agree that having an additional operator on each mainline is possible with DCC. In terms of manpower and phisical space in the operating well it's a much harder proposition.

 

In a wider context, I also suspect many converts to DCC will still be thinking in terms of analoge for operating positions. Then there's the keeping things simple approach

[ColinK]

My main layout is a terminus to fiddle yard set in the blue diesel era and run by DCC.  At exhibitions we try to keep at least one train moving, which requires two (three is better) operators running to a carefully planned sequence.  Last year I took it to my first ‘big’ exhibition at the Great Central Railway.  In the weeks before the show I tweaked all the locos so they accelerated and slowed at the same rates to make driving more predictable and easier for the operators. I then spent ages  checking couplings and cleaning loco wheels and pick ups.  The work paid off as it ran well for all three days.  I’ve written an article about this for the DEMU ‘Update’ magazine. So good preparation is vital.

 

One of the clubs I am in used to have a small, but complex shunting layout.  Before you were allowed to operate it in public you had to complete a training programme very similar to a NVQ.  While that wasn’t popular with some club members, it did work; three fully trained operators working together, plus two ‘front of house’ talking to the public put on a really good show.

[NIK]

Hi,

 

As to the question of extra operators, even if you can get them there may be a need for an extra car and possibly more hotel rooms thus reducing the chances of being chosen by exhibition managers. Getting on and staying on the exhibition circuit before the layout gets too old or the layout team break up is difficult.

 

On Beggarwood Lane (at the Basingstoke show in 2 weeks time) we now have the goods yard operator sitting at the front of the layout on a low chair so they can chat to the public without spoiling the view too much.

 

I'm looking at the possibility of autostaging in the fiddle yard where as trains leave the others shuffle up towards the exit of the fiddle yard. This should allow more trains per hour to run. The problem is the cost or complexity of the sensors even with DCC.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[ardbealach]

Legend said in his recent posting and I quote ....'I was at Model Rail Scotland last weekend and to me the most impressive layouts were Hills of the North, Whithorn and Hornsey Broadway . They were clearly there to entertain (nice Bow ties Whithorn) , and that they did with constant procession of trains'.
 

As one of the operators of Whithorn at Glasgow Show I think that there is an interesting comparison between the three layouts highlighted by Legend. And maybe these three layouts are at the heart of what is expected from exhibition visitors in Running Exhibition Layouts. 

 

Hills of the North basically allows for two trains at a time - one north and one southbound from fiddle yard to scenic section back to fiddle yard.  Complete rakes of stock can be run which need never be split over the time of the exhibition.  The minimal moorland scenery allows the viewer to concentrate on the trains, and also be on Shap.  It is a great layout for 'trainspotting' and what Shap was all about before 1968, with the added fun (just like the real thing) of not knowing what will turn up next.   

 

Hornsey Broadway is in the same design ethos as Hills of the North in its running from fiddle yard to scenic and back to fiddle yard.   It was clearly set in London and the whole design of its burrowing junctions, and varied routes, provided much interest for the spectator - as well as the opportunity to see a great variety of trains and stock movements.  Again there was the anticipation  for the viewer of what might appear next.  I am sure many of the viewers felt they were among the cockney voices of this part of London.  

 

Whithorn runs from fiddle yard to scenic, a BLT.  In reality, as a country branch, it never would have had too much in the way of traffic, or the variety in stock and locomotive movements, as the other two layouts noted above.  In real life one train a day would have been an event on the line.  Hopefully the scenics on the layout helped the visitor to get into the spirit of a country branch line.  And as it is a BLT there is always the need for shunting the yard, making and breaking the wagon 'consists'.  But the track layout design does allow for a DMU to run in and out of the station while the yard shunt continued.   Slow running is a must - which goes along with clean track, wheels and pick-ups.  And that muck collection can be quite a problem in an exhibition environment.   We have found that DCC and stay alives help as well.  And of course wagons that can be easily coupled and uncoupled and not in fixed rakes.  Even the passenger service required the engine to run round.

 

At Glasgow the Whithorn operators were regularly complimented by the visitors on the slow running being achieved on the layout.  We found many visitors would happily spend quite some time watching the wagons in the yard being shunted.  Indeed some said they liked the layout because shunting was an important element in the performance.  We found visitors returned again and again, saying that they kept on finding something new to see.

 

As I am sure all three layout operators mentioned would agree that we are at exhibitions to give a performance and show railway operations from a period in the past - co-incidentally all three were from the 1960's / 1970's period, a time many of the visitors will remember from their younger days.  And while we attempted to keep trains running regularly, it is to be hoped that there was more than enough in the scenics on all three layouts to maintain the interest of the audience between trains, and allow them to drink in the ambience of the layout.  It is all too easy to run layouts at exhibitions at speed round and round - as if they are in toy shop windows - remember those?  - rather than attempt to reflect the whole period image in the performance.  But of course accelerating hard and running at speed does ensure enough momentum and continuity to tun over dead spots!!

 

Long may the standards in layouts continue to improve.

 

And the bow ties? Well they are just part of our image  to give a bit more professionalism to it all. (AM)

    

[Jeff Smith]

Interesting thread.  I was a member of a club and exhibited my terminus to f/y OO layout 30+ years ago in the UK.  Since moving to the US in 1988  I have been a solitary modeller having no interest in US rairoads and also not living conveniently close to any cubs.  I model analogue P4 which with clean track and wheels runs pretty well but the layout doesn't travel and is not operated for any significant period of time so does not suffer exhibition/set-up problems.  Nevertheless I did dabble with an On30 Bachmann based DCC layout (now sold to make house room!).  I really expected so much more in terms of wheel to rail contact reliability and was surprised that it seemed just as susceptible to rail dirt as DC.  This seems surprising as 18v AC should cut through the dirt better than the 3 to 6 DC volts that analogue locos normally require for starting.

 

On a different note I have been to a couple of exhibitions here and have generally been unimpressed with the large club layouts, generally modular, with modules made by different members and often of varying quality.  Slow running/shunting does not seem to be done, just running trains around the large ovals which presumably is a bit of a novelty if the whole layout doesn't get put together often.

Edited February 29, 2020 by Jeff Smith

[Philou]

I have to agree with the view of Jeff Smith - if experience of our club's modular approach is a measure. As it's quite big when assembled (and due to the modular approach never the same twice), there is a bit of 'wahey, now WE can run stock on it' without necessarily thinking how the public will view it. Needs discipline! Yes that's right, a bit of discipline .......... ahem. I can't really mention it to Hon. Chair. as he's as bad!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited February 29, 2020 by Philou

[NIK]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure what research has been done in to DCC loco performance vs DC.

 

The voltage may be higher in DCC on average but its current that sustains arcs between closely gapped metal rails and pickups. The current profile depends on the motor current profile and the performance of any capacitors associated with the decoder. The more efficient the motor and the larger the capacitor the lower the peak current to the decoder and so arcs are harder to sustain.  Plus the current switches direction  thousands of times a second with the risk of quenching the arcs. I found that trains ran less well on my DCC test track after I discovered and removed a capacitor across the rails inside a DC designed track feed section.

 

DCC stay alives may improve the powering of DCC decoder logic and loco motors but whether the bigger capacitor the better may not be quite so clear cut.

 

Something that I have heard about is interference with Wifi throttles at large exhibitions. Not a DCC specific problem but any delays or missing messages between throttle and loco could lead to poor running.

 

 

Regards

 

Nick

 

[The Johnster]

I doubt if DCC makes a lot of difference to exhibition operating, though it may simply wiring and reduce wiring faults.  Exhibitions are a thing I gave up on except as a punter years ago; too much stress for me. There are a huge amount of potential problems that those who have not dipped their toes may not be fully aware of or sympathetic to, not to mention some things which I reckon are inexcusable, and am hence about to mention...

 

I was once a member of a club which built layouts for the purpose of exhibiting them, and some of them were very good layouts to look at.  But none of them ever worked properly, because there was nobody skilled enough in wiring turnouts and providing cab control in the club who cared enough about what was IMHO a minimum requirement in operation; that all the trains should be capable of being routed to all the roads if necessary, and that if I was operating I could replicate any move that would have been possible on the real thing.  One of these layouts was of a prototype for which we had a 1960 working time table.

 

Several of the timetable moves could not be replicated, because A double slip could not be switched that way, or because B auto train could not be propelled into road C without derailing, or train D could not pass train E on a double track running line because the sector plate roads didn't line up properly.  It is no good showing beautifully modelled buildings and perfectly laid track if the trains don't run properly.  The other members simply wanted to run trains in and out of the same road all the time in order to 'keep something running for the punters', ignoring that the 3rd time in a row the same dmu appears shuttling back and forth the punters lose interest.  I criticised, and we parted company.

 

INEXCUSABLES (IMHO):-

 

1) Tailchasing on continuous run layouts.

2) Stock that repeatedly derails at the same place.

3) Driving too fast.

4) Stabbed rat starts and brick wall stops

5) Driving too slow; particularly on finescale layouts.  Real shunting takes place at walking speed if you have to wait for the guard to change points at a country goods yard, at extreme caution into goods sheds where men might be loading or unloading vehicles, and at about 15mph everywhere else with due regard to smooth starts and stops.

6) Signals set in a way that the interlocking cannot allow. or left permanently off.  If your signals don't work, fine, leave them on and let us imagine the operation.

7) Overtly incorrect operation, in particular running around at termini.  Loco sets stock back to clear in loop, detaches, runs around, comes back onto stock and happily propels it on to the buffer stop.  Really? Irrespective of the vacuum on the coaches being exhausted and the brakes hard on, and that the loco must first couple to the stock and a brake continuity test carried out, then the brakes blown off again and the handbrake released in the guard's van before the set back to the buffer stop can take place.  

8) Loco tail lights lit when the loco is pulling a train, switching from head to tail unfeasibly when the controller is reversed, twin tail lights on pre-1980s dmus, flickering carriage lights.  You're better off without lights at all than this nonsense.

9) Industrial locos running on main line track.  There are a few places were locos were licensed for this, but by and large it is incorrect, yet seems to be the norm on otherwise well operated layouts.  A similar issue is the use of small main line railway locos like pugs, B4s, Swansea Docks Pecketts and Barclays, to do station pilot work which they do not have vacuum brakes for and which they are too far from the shed to run light to.

10) Incorrect train formations.  Air braked loco with vacuum stock, no brake van. unfitted or part fitted goods without goods brake van, period mismatch such as blue production double arrow deltic with teak coaches, etc. etc.

 

There are other frequent boo boos such as the building on top of a tunnel entrance whose footings are somewhere in the tunnel void, or on an overbridge with the thickness of a sheet of card separating the road from the underside of the bridge (where do the drains and water/gas mains go?), or the same situation with a church's graveyard where the trains would be hitting the corpses in their coffins.  Then there's the TMD with full signalling in the yard, the harbour with ocean going ships trapped forever behind a railway bridge (or the opposite, a lifting or swing bridge is provided that trains rattle over at express speed when in reality there would be a PROS, e.g. 40mph at Selby, and the goods yard, sometimes with the station frontage included, with no road access trapped behind the running lines.  What about advertising hoardings on retaining walls at TMD/MPDs or in goods yards or factories where they are not visible to the public: nobody's going to pay for advertising nobody can see!

 

And things I just don't like.  First and foremost is led lights; too many, too bright, too many flashing, too many emergency vehicles, too many road works, look at all my lights, look, they flash, aren't they bright, look, look, LOOK!!!!!!!!!.  Related are the 'standard cameos', building on fire, RTA, wedding, funeral with coffin popping up and down (yeah, very funny, grow up), fairground (back to the lights, look, LOOK!!!!!!!), real water, and so on.  Good modelling represents the typical, everyday, not the exceptional; when was there last a fire in your street, or an RTA?  If you are going to have lights, great, but scale down the brightness to something approaching realism; the average model railway led scaled up would burn out your retinas at a 10 mile range and be a hazard to shipping, even in Birmingham...

 

Rant over, but I think I have some valid points.