Photo Call! 2mm Layouts Out and About at Exhibitions

[Chris Higgs]

 

 

..........also at Swindon, a most unusual visitor at Llangerisech

 

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Jerry

 

Maybe in the real world, but in 2mm land that unusual visitor seems to pop up on every layout there is. I blame those guys at Bachmann myself.

 

Chris

[nick_bastable]

Maybe in the real world, but in 2mm land that unusual visitor seems to pop up on every layout there is. I blame those guys at Bachmann myself.

 

Chris

I thought it might have been Jerry's Thomas 

 

Nick

[Ian Morgan]

I will have 'Freshwater' at the Basingstoke & North Hants MRS Open Day at their clubrooms (and the scout hut next door) on 21st October. The 2mmFS layout, 'Camford Junction' being built by the club will also be on display, and might have trains running on it, if all goes well.

 

There will be other club layouts in larger scales too, so pop along for a tea and a chat, it is free.

 

The clubrooms are in Stratton Park, off Pack Lane, Basingstoke.

[antyeates1983]

Here are some photos of John Greenwood's Wadebridge, taken yesterday at the Farnham MRC exhibition in Aldershot. I was very happy to see this fantastic layout in the flesh.

 

I believe that the T9 in these first two shots is something of an elder statesman of the fleet:

 

[Branwell]

https://esngblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/21/farnham-district-mrc-exhibition-14-october-2017/

[Graham R]

Nice to see Martin Stewart flying the 2mm flag with "Ketton Cement" at Falkirk show this weekend:

 

 

Martin is able to operate the layout single handedly from the front by lurking at one side where he can keep an eye that all is well in the fiddle yard while chatting to the punters. All seemed to be working very smoothly!

 

Graham

Edited November 26, 2017 by Graham R

[Rammstein2609]

Nice to see Martin Stewart flying the 2mm flag with "Ketton Cement" at Falkirk show this weekend:

 

ketton3.JPG

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ketton1.JPG

 

Martin is able to operate the layout single handedly from the front by lurking at one side where he can keep an eye that all is well in the fiddle yard while chatting to the punters. All seemed to be working very smoothly!

 

Graham

 

Thanks Graham for the mention.  It was also good to catch up with you and Alisdair who visited not long after you left.

 

It was a great surprise this afternoon to be awarded the David Lind Trophy for Best 'N' Gauge Layout in Show.  I did spend a lot of time over the weekend explaining the difference between N gauge and my approach to 2mm Finescale track building and converting stock.

 

 

The layout has several verbal invitations for shows over the next two years so I'm hoping to add bits and pieces before every show to build up the detail.  It was also professionally photographed yesterday for a magazine article soon.

 

Thanks

 

Martin

[Gingerbread]

Llangerisech flew the 2FS flag at Warley for a somewhat exhausting weekend.

 

There was an urgent call on Nigel for p-way repairs each morning, after which the layout ran well, and received numerous compliments from spectators who felt it captured the atmosphere of mid/north Wales

 

A rather superfluous sign at that point - before the crowds arrived and the trains started running

 

 

Saturday's guest operator, D869 (aka Andy Carlson) brought along a couple of unlikely visitors - rather too heavy for the Cambrian trackwork, and a little out-of-era.

 

The Roadshow was next door.

Grandad Jerry was about 30 yards further back demonstrating, and a couple of other 2FS members were helping out elsewhere in the hall.

 

As usual, some models seemed badly overscale, and weathering was a bit under-done.

 

David

[Ian Morgan]

'Freshwater' travelled out to Germany again, for the exhibition at Euskirchen (Basingstoke's twin town).

 

The layout had a visit from some time travellers, Marty and Doc. (Herbie and Mr Bean's Mini that Dave had placed on the layout were also popular items).

 

 

Accompanied by Pete and Dave, we managed to ride some trains and visit a Chistmas Markey in Köln (Cologne), where Pete and Dave tried out the Glühwein. We had glorious sunshine, rain, sleet, hail and snow in random order throughout the afternoon.

 

 

For this exhibition, I had completed the interior detail and lighting for the station building, and it is now bolted securely to the baseboard. The lighting is controlled by a Merg 'Pocket Money Project' kit that switches individual room lights on and off at random. I had this working at the recent AGM, but had it running at its fastest rate, which seems to annoy the competition judge. It is now turned down a bit, and you may have to wait several minutes before a particular room light comes on. The permanent fixing of the station is about the only change to the layout since its last outting though.

 

I am happy to say that both Terriers performed faultlessly all weekend, after some major surgery to Number 8 'Freshwater' to replace the DCC decoder and untangle the con-rods after a mishap at its last exhibition. Bespoke transfers and etched nameplates for Number 8, and Number 13 'Carisbrooke' turned up from Fox the day before I had to pack the car, so maybe I can finish off the locos in time for the next exhibition, in April 2018.

 

As always, I was impressed by how many german railway enthusiasts are quite knowledgeable about Britain's railways. In particular, two boys of about 12 years old watched the layout for a while, chatting to each other German, and then I noticed the word 'Terrier' being spoken by one of them, and then the other apparently agreeing with him.

 

 

We had a very enjoyable weekend, but the journey home Monday did not go quite so smoothly. We set off at 09:30, which should normally result in reaching the Eurotunnel terminal Calais a generous two hours before check-in closed for our crossing. We drove to the Belgian border under grey skies, but all was clear, dry and cold. Once in Belgium, it started to rain, then we noticed snow on cars and lorries coming the other way. The rain turned to snow, which quickly started laying, and speed reduced as the road surface started to be covered by rough, lumpy, compressed snow that turned to ice. Then the traffic started to queue and crawl. It seemed that every exit, with its tight bends and inclines, was blocked by stranded lorries stuck in ditches or in the barriers. We reached Calais about 4 hours late to find the terminal packed with late arrivals, and very few trains running, due to 'technical problems'. We finally left France at 01:00 and reached our beds some 19 hours after leaving Euskirchen, rather than the 10 hours I had hoped for. Fortunately I had plenty of radio comedy on my memory stick that I had recorded from Radio 4 Extra specially for the trip. I find it keeps me awake better than music, and I can educate Pete and Dave at the same time, subjecting them to modern classics like 'Cabin Pressure', 'The Cold Swedish Winter', 'The Now Show' and 'Hamish & Dougal'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Donw]

Good that you were showing 2mm in Germany. Not sure about your choice of radio programs though.

 

Don

[Chris Higgs]

 

We had a very enjoyable weekend, but the journey home Monday did not go quite so smoothly. We set off at 09:30, which should normally result in reaching the Eurotunnel terminal Calais a generous two hours before check-in closed for our crossing. We drove to the Belgian border under grey skies, but all was clear, dry and cold. Once in Belgium, it started to rain, then we noticed snow on cars and lorries coming the other way. The rain turned to snow, which quickly started laying, and speed reduced as the road surface started to be covered by rough, lumpy, compressed snow that turned to ice. Then the traffic started to queue and crawl. It seemed that every exit, with its tight bends and inclines, was blocked by stranded lorries stuck in ditches or in the barriers. We reached Calais about 4 hours late to find the terminal packed with late arrivals, and very few trains running, due to 'technical problems'. We finally left France at 01:00 and reached our beds some 19 hours after leaving Euskirchen, rather than the 10 hours I had hoped for. Fortunately I had plenty of radio comedy on my memory stick that I had recorded from Radio 4 Extra specially for the trip. I find it keeps me awake better than music, and I can educate Pete and Dave at the same time, subjecting them to modern classics like 'Cabin Pressure', 'The Cold Swedish Winter', 'The Now Show' and 'Hamish & Dougal'.

 

Ah, so you were in my neck of the woods. Bad luck with the weather. I was in Eindhoven Monday where it was -1C, heavy snow and chaos, back home in Maastricht it was +8C. I guess you went via Brussels, Gent and Oostende? The alternative via Charleroi and Lille could well have been snow-free (and the scenery is better too).

 

Chris 

Edited December 13, 2017 by Chris Higgs

[Ian Morgan]

The Brussels ring road was completely closed Monday, so my Sat Nav took us round via Antwerp instead. I used to do the Charleroi-Lille route quite a bit when I lived in Luxembourg. Glad to hear it was nice and warm up in the Dutch Alps.

 

The Euskirchen exhibition venue, City-Forum, has just been renovated, but not quite completed in time. One of the incomplete bits was the fitting of smoke detectors. Therefore, two firemen were seated on the balcony all weekend.

[Ian Morgan]

I took some poor quality mobile phone video of the two Terriers doing a bit of shunting at the Euskirchen show.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0d65CnYf48

[queensquare]

You've got those Terriers running beautifully now Ian.

 

Jerry

[Chris Higgs]

I took some poor quality mobile phone video of the two Terriers doing a bit of shunting at the Euskirchen show.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0d65CnYf48

 

Is it my imagination, or is that coupling rod on the green Terrier pushing the front footplate up every time it goes around (see at 0:27 on the video)? This is probably down to the issue of the crank throw on the Association wheels being larger than the prototype throw of a Terrier.

 

Which wheel diameter did you use BTW?

 

 

Chris 

Edited December 15, 2017 by Chris Higgs

[Branwell]

I took some poor quality mobile phone video of the two Terriers doing a bit of shunting at the Euskirchen show.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0d65CnYf48

 

You say 'poor', but there's a certain hand-held cine type feel to it - you may have sumbled across something!

[Ian Morgan]

The wheels are 8mm diameter. There is very little clearance behind the steps, so the crank pins are cut as short as possible and there are no washers, bosses or fixings on the two outer axles. The fixing is done on the centre axle and the con rods curve slightly to stop them coming off the short crank pins at each end. This did happen to the green one at the Basingstoke open day with disasterous results. I have been concentrating on the foot steps clearance and had not noticed the footplate problem, so I will investigate that next. Close up photography does show up things that normally go unnoticed, like the gap between the body and chassis on some of my wagons (0:34 and 0:40).

[Ian Morgan]

You've got those Terriers running beautifully now Ian.

 

Jerry

 

Thanks Jerry. It was inspiration from seeing people like you showing me that locos can be made to work properly that kept me going through all the failures and problems along the way. It was a long hard struggle to get the first one working, but the second one was completed in a fraction of the time.

[Phil Copleston]

Bespoke transfers and etched nameplates for Number 8, and Number 13 'Carisbrooke' turned up from Fox.

 

Hi Ian,

 

Oh, I had a look on the Fox website and couldn't find these etched IoW nameplates in their 2mm lists. As I have just acquired a Dapol 'Freshwater' myself, I would like to do the same. So I presume they 'bespoke' only for you.

 

Do you think these etched plates will be made available for general sale? i.e. can I order some from Fox?

 

PM me if you prefer.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Phil Copleston

[Gingerbread]

A challenging weekend at Stevenage for the Chiltern Model Railway Association Exhibition - full size railways had serious electrical connectivity problems all weekend on the line from London, and communications to would-be-passengers left a lot to be desired on Saturday. We were seriously understaffed on Sunday on Llangerisech, so apologies to those other 2mm modellers who  may have found us a bit reluctant to stop and chat.

 

Photos all taken Sunday morning before doors opened to visitors.

 

 

A few photos of Kingswear. a rare visitor to this part of the world:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As usual at Stevenage (formerly St Albans), a strong presence of 2mm demonstrators - probably still at breakfast when I took these photos:

 

Kim, Jerry and Julia adjacent to Llangerisech

 

 

The Roadshow, which featured Chairman Andy and ex-Chairman Jim as usual, tucked away behind Kingswear

 

 

And I know John Russell was there with Pauline on their usual "Forced Perspective" stand, but unfortunately didn't locate it before I had to return to duty on Llangerisech.

 

David

[Graham R]

[Edited to correct a trigger-happy premature post]

 

Model Rail Scotland this weekend saw the first outing north of the border for Mick Simpson's new mini layout Callaton:

 

 

Hmmm, a scenic break formed of an old mineral railway crossing the scene via a couple of plate girder bridges. A bit like the Forth and Clyde area group's arrangement on Sauchenford ! but Mick has made a tidier job of the abandoned trackbed, with static grass and a carefully-blended backscene. The FCAG will have to respond ...

 

 

The layout is in the very early stages of scenic treatment. Mick showed no outward signs of stress (does he ever?), but a source who asked to remain nameless confirmed that the last fortnight saw quite a few late shifts chez Simpson, up to 3 a.m. in some cases. It was worth it, because all worked beautifully.

 

The sector plate at one end. and fiddle tracks (normally hidden by a cover) at the other:

 

 

Martin Stewart was showing his latest modular fiddle yard concept on the Scottish Modellers stand - a re-usable yard which will work with a number of scenic modules, using some or all of the fiddle tracks at the scenic break:

 

 

When the full layout is not in use, the curved end sections can form a test track:

 

 

The 2mmSA Further North Roadshow was in action, its suitcase now on its very last legs and in sore need of replacement. Here, Alisdair (a faithful follower of the Highland Railway) does his best to preach finescale to a young modeller who was quite convinced that the West Highland Railway was the only prototype worth modelling. The HR may have had Skye Bogies, but the WHR has Harry Potter and Glenfinnan Viaduct. It looked to me like Alisdair was losing the argument !

 

 

At least we had a decent amount of space this year - thanks AMRSS - and as a result were able to field several demos at once, such as etched kit building, styrene structure modelling, and DG coupling mounting. We signed up a couple of new members and sold out of wagon taster packs. All in all a rewarding weekend.

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Graham R

[Gingerbread]

Nottingham Model Railway Society Exhibition, 17th and 18th March 2018.

 

I spent Saturday helping Richard Wilson with Lambourn - here he can be seen taking some of his own close-up pictures, before the crowds arrived.

 

The roof of the station building had recently been rebuilt

 

And some of the trees hiding the exit to the fiddle yard had been replaced.

 

The Roadshow was conveniently situated next door.

 

An enjoyable day out for me, despite the snow making it a rather challenging journey

 

David

[Gingerbread]

London Festival of Railway Modelling, Alexandra Palace, March 24-5 2018.

 

Llangerisech was flying the 2FS flag this year.

 

Access to the hall to set up on Friday afternoon was difficult - Nigel's car was allowed into the hall, but required to park at the far corner from the layout's location, requiring a lengthy carry of all the component parts across a crowded hall.

 

Situation around 3pm - most of the layout parts awaiting assembly:

 

Situation about an hour later, layout up and running, in a very convenient corner location:

 

Some of the highlights of the layout:

In the foreground, Mercury, probably the best all-round loco, in terms of both appearance and performance.

Behind it is Tre,Pol and Pen, an older loco recently rebuilt to improve its haulage powers, but still needing a bit more running in

And in the background is the updated station pilot. Previously it used skids to improve current pickup, at the expense of traction, and struggled to handle the heaviest rakes of coaches, The skids have now been removed, a shunters truck added to provide extra pickup, and it now happily handles the heaviest tasks.

 

A closer view of the station pilot and shunters truck:

 

A couple of views of some of the horse-drawn vehicles added recently. A better camera (or a better photographer) might have revealed the writing on the delivery bicycle in the second photo, and allowed readers to recognise that the figure in the first photo is a model of Nigel, scanned and 3D printed by ModelU.:

 

And the classic view of the layout from the end - readily accessible to the viewing public in the corner location.. There is a similarly popular view of the end of the fiddle yard at the opposite end of the layout.

 

Traffic congestion getting from car park to the hall delayed the loading of the layout after knockdown on Sunday evening, but not too seriously.  Overall a successful and enjoyable weekend.

 

David

[D869]

All being well, St Ruth will be appearing at York this coming weekend. I thought it might be an appropriate moment to dig out a few pictures of the Midland Area Group's previous outing to York.

 

Some of you may remember our previous layout 'Helsby Tumill and Haddon' and the operators of that era. It was a big square thing with viewing on all four sides,

 

It had glass panels at the viewing side and strip lighting above. Keith Robbins - a local wag of the 'N' gauge persuasion used to delight in walking up to the layout and asking for a cod and chips.

 

I can't for the life of me remember the year so maybe some kind soul can enlighten me. If memory serves, we all went on a coach trip one evening to the North York Moors railway with dinner at a pub on the moors where Old Peculier could be had. I have no idea how all of that fitted into one evening after a day's operating.

 

I also have a photo from the same trip of 'Duke of Gloucester' in the NRM yard attached to the Hawksworth dynamometer car.

 

A general view of the layout from the Helsby side with the much missed Neil Ballantine along with David and Glyn at the controls

 

David at the fiddle yard panel

 

A not very brilliant photo of the Tumill side with a freight in one of the loops.

 

Regards, Andy

[2mmMark]

Neil Ballantine very kindly allowed my Class 24 to circulate on the layout when it was on display at the 2mm Expo at Edgbaston Cricket Club in 1983. It was a very nice layout with a lot of spectator appeal.

 

 

Mark