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BEIJIAO - a large Chinese HO exhibition layout set in the 21st century


TEAMYAKIMA
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OK, the house move has happened and so the next stop is Stevenage on Jan 12/13.

 

I operate Beijiao with a joint team with Al Turner's 'Bridge at Remagen' and with 8 exhibitions per year planned (between us!) we need to look to expand the 'team'.

 

So if anyone would like to become a 'team member' there is an open invitation to come to Stevenage and meet the existing team and have some 'driver training' on Beijiao.

 

Our existing team is quite broadly based - I have been a modeller for 61 years and yet Martin (our latest recruit) has absolutely no modelling experience whatsoever - but he did visit China 13 times to photograph steam (first time was in 1986!) - so if YOU would like to 'have a go!' please PM me and we will try to fit you in for some driver training at Stevenage - probably Sunday is the better day as Saturday is nearly already fully booked for training purposes.

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OK, the house move has happened and so the next stop is Stevenage on Jan 12/13.

 

I operate Beijiao with a joint team with Al Turner's 'Bridge at Remagen' and with 8 exhibitions per year planned (between us!) we need to look to expand the 'team'.

 

So if anyone would like to become a 'team member' there is an open invitation to come to Stevenage and meet the existing team and have some 'driver training' on Beijiao.

 

Our existing team is quite broadly based - I have been a modeller for 61 years and yet Martin (our latest recruit) has absolutely no modelling experience whatsoever - but he did visit China 13 times to photograph steam (first time was in 1986!) - so if YOU would like to 'have a go!' please PM me and we will try to fit you in for some driver training at Stevenage - probably Sunday is the better day as Saturday is nearly already fully booked for training purposes.

Do you think the organisers would pay my travel expenses Paul?

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I operate Beijiao with a joint team with Al Turner's 'Bridge at Remagen' and with 8 exhibitions per year planned (between us!) we need to look to expand the 'team'.

 

So if anyone would like to become a 'team member' there is an open invitation to come to Stevenage and meet the existing team and have some 'driver training' on Beijiao.

 

Our existing team is quite broadly based - I have been a modeller for 61 years and yet Martin (our latest recruit) has absolutely no modelling experience whatsoever - but he did visit China 13 times to photograph steam (first time was in 1986!) - so if YOU would like to 'have a go!' please PM me and we will try to fit you in for some driver training at Stevenage - probably Sunday is the better day as Saturday is nearly already fully booked for training purposes.

 

I've had one offer already so that's progress! Trainee driver Luke joins us on Sunday Jan 13!!

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Show Calendar for Beijiao

 

12 - 13 January 2019 CMRA at Stevenage.

23 - 24 November 2019 Warley at Birmingham NEC

7 - 8 December 2019 National Festival of Railway Modelling at Peterborough

Edited by Al.
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We have recently moved house - for one reason only - to get me a bigger railway shed! 

 

I haven't had a chance to actually get the new shed on site yet but another advantage of the new house is a brick built garage which I can use to store the existing layout - new shed, new layout!

 

Here is the existing shed as it was yesterday. 

 

post-4476-0-84953700-1545415476_thumb.jpg

 

post-4476-0-97003900-1545415459_thumb.jpg

 

We will be able to back the van right up to this store room so going to shows will be a lot easier in future

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Being somewhat pedantic, it will not surprise anyone who knows me, that I have just completed v3 of my exhibition info display.

 

That's three versions - all of which have been printed off in A3 size and laminated in multiple copies - and I've only been to one show so far!

 

For the record here is v3 - hopefully the last version!

 

post-4476-0-27897700-1545417134_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

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So this is what the garage looks like today ....

 

post-4476-0-58412900-1545587147_thumb.jpg

 

No more heavy metal up/over door that left big gaps which let the cold into the garage

 

No more heavy metal up/over door that could come crashing down and kill someone.

 

No more heavy metal up/over door that stored in the roof space at lower than head height - which I bumped into several times on day one

 

To sum up = no more heavy metal up/over door!

 

Just enough room for all the boards and stock boxes …

 

post-4476-0-06622400-1545588172_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Work on the layout is very restricted at the moment, but have spent some time working on sequences for the industrial railway. There will be three industrial sequences in all

 

ABSOLUTE BASIC (for one lone operator)

 

BASIC (for one operator with part-time help from another as/when required)

 

ADVANCED (requiring two full-time operators)

 

Actually this raises an interesting point -

 

Is this an industrial railway with banking and some shunting which happens to have two main lines in the front to keep movement going when there is a pause in the industrial action?

 

Or

 

Is it two main lines giving constant action with something going on in the background?

 

This is actually a real issue for the operators in the sense that passing trains at the front will take the viewers eye off the (more interesting?) movement on the industrial railway.

 

So, on balance, I think it is a model of an interesting industrial railway that has passing trains to keep something 'moving' when there is a pause in the industrial action. So in that context I think we should not run mainline trains on the front when the banked trains depart and tackle the 1/30 grade. I think cameos like that are our USP and a passing 17 car passenger train will simply devalue and detract from one of our unique moves

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  • 3 weeks later...

Have just about recovered from the CMRA show ...... here are a couple of photos taken by a visitor - I took my camera but had no time to take any photos!

 

Firstly a shot showing our new 'tag line', our new motto if you like - REAL WORKING STEAM IN 2004!

 

post-4476-0-81385200-1547535699.jpg

 

Some steam action on the bi-directional ……

 

post-4476-0-56975900-1547535713_thumb.jpg

 

And lastly a shot of the crew standing outside the hotel. In order Martin, Ruth, Gordon, Peter, Al and Bob.

 

post-4476-0-63554500-1547535916.jpg

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Hi Paul,

Really nice to meet up with you and Beijiao last Saturday, the layout gets better and better, very disappointed to have to wait until November before I can view it again, I'm still waiting to receive RM 1155 perhaps I can bring it along to Warley and give it a little run on Beijiao, that will bring the western photographers out by the bus loads !.

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A three volume video of the CMRA show was made by a visitor - we feature in volume two from 4.40 to about 11.40.....

 

 

Having looked at the video again I just wanted to explain why you keep seeing the same train time and time again.  

 

The video was taken on Saturday afternoon and we were having serious DCC issues. Consequently at that time I decided that it was better to keep one reliable train running continuously on each circuit rather than try to run a more varied but potentially unreliable service.

 

A post-show meeting in the pub on Saturday night resulted in some changes to operating practice that in turn resulted in more variety and more reliability on Sunday.

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Paul,

 

I saw you set up on Friday and watched for about half an hour on Sunday.  Very interesting layout, well operated although you seemed to have issues with your DCC system.  The grey and mustard tones felt right.

 

Maybe 99% of your audience would have had no knowledge of Chinese railways, so a powerpoint presentation would have been helpful.  For example, why blue, red and black/silver trains? where are the prototypes built? etc.  Then what were the buildings? I hadn't realised one was a hotel.

 

Of course you still have a couple of buildings and a motorway to finish before your next outing.  When is this?

 

Bill

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Interesting.  I posted to this thread yesterday but it has not appeared.  Have suspected that this has happened before but this time i am sure.  Anyway, yesterday I said I had seen the layout in a Video and was most impressed.  It really manages to capture the atmosphere.

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So, the dust has finally settled after the Stevenage show and thoughts turn to layout upgrades/improvements.

 

I have two Bachmann QJ's numbered 6266 which can be annoying when you use DCC as one is 6266 and one is 6267 when calling them up. So re-numbering one of them is being considered. Here is 6266...

 

post-4476-0-12668100-1548400475_thumb.jpg

 

(photo courtesy of Peter Haworth)

 

If we are going to the bother of re-numbering why not go the whole hog and make other changes? Here is the #1 candidate...…

 

post-4476-0-07643300-1548400387.jpg 

(photo courtesy of Brian Hawkins)

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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  • 2 weeks later...

Latest news ..

 

1. We have postponed the Peterborough show until 2020 as it is only two weeks after Warley and our experience at Stevenage suggests that a two week gap between exhibitions is just not an option.

2. We have accepted an invitation to the Fareham Show on the first weekend in October - seven weeks before Warley

3. The deflectorless QJ conversion is now most likely to be 7186 (seen on the right) as the headlight set-up is closer to that of 6266 (the donor loco)

 

                                                        QJ.jpg.9ed6495d5755145a5b761bc9489e2015.jpg

 

 4. The new shed arrives tomorrow - hopefully!

                                                         IMG_20190202_144553.jpg.e8d51f18a63f4bc48518676f9be26897.jpg

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There has also been a lot of thought (and I mean a lot of thought!) given as to how best to present the layout at a show.

 

Conclusions 

 

1. A team of six operators is needed to take to a show. We will never be a 'cheap layout' and I feel we can totally justify six operators requiring accommodation, but we will always welcome 'drop-in' guest operators.

2. Priority given to keeping constant movement on the industrial. It is 100% steam and our motto is 'REAL WORKING STEAM IN 2004'

3. Two operators on the industrial at all times to speed up operation. This will allow us to abandon the absolute basic sequence and add extra interest by using the advanced sequence as much as possible, although this will need practice.

4. The use of infra-red throttles and radio microphones/headsets should allow one industrial operator to operate from the front of the layout with the second one dealing with fiddle yard issues. This will allow more of the team to get involved with industrial line operation as the very high backscene does limit operators to 6ft and above at the moment!

5. One operator can operate both China Rail tracks once the route selection issues are resolved.

6. One (experienced) operator can deal with the bi-directional line. We hope to introduce more variation (including light loco moves to/from the shed off-scene to the right) as & when we get more confident/experienced.

7. More 'complicated' moves - the layout is capable of far more 'interesting' moves on the non-industrial lines using the two crossovers on the scenic front, but we only attempted two of these in total at Stevenage and then only near the end of Sunday. We need to make these moves a lot slicker so that the set-up time doesn't unnecessarily delay movement on the front of the layout. This will come with practice and when the route selection is in place.

8. So four full-time operators at all times and (ideally) one spare to talk to viewers, and one other to go and get the teas and coffees!

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Hello Paul,

I would love to be able to have a go as a novice operator at the Fareham show in October as it's only a 15 minute bus journey away from home for me, I will make sure I'm not tanked up on Carlsberg, before and during the show, can't promise about after the show though.  :jester:

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