TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 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. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted December 13, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 13, 2018 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? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 Do you think the organisers would pay my travel expenses Paul? Australia to Stevenage? I'll get back to you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 14, 2018 Author Share Posted December 14, 2018 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!! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold SHMD Posted December 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 14, 2018 Do you have a list of shows? Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al. Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 (edited) 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 December 14, 2018 by Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 15, 2018 Author Share Posted December 15, 2018 Some time ago I asked RMwebbers if they had a S12 caboose they might like to sell - well I've bought one now! This time round I'm looking for a type 22 YZ , YW, RW or RZ in the red/white livery - anyone got one to sell? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 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. 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 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 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! 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 (edited) So this is what the garage looks like today .... 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 … Edited December 23, 2018 by TEAMYAKIMA 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al. Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 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 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) 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! Some steam action on the bi-directional …… And lastly a shot of the crew standing outside the hotel. In order Martin, Ruth, Gordon, Peter, Al and Bob. Edited January 15, 2019 by TEAMYAKIMA 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) 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..... Edited January 15, 2019 by TEAMYAKIMA 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hawkins Posted January 15, 2019 Share Posted January 15, 2019 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 !. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 (edited) The new shed is arriving soon and the concrete base is going in today..................... Edited January 15, 2019 by TEAMYAKIMA 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke_stevens Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Seems to have gone own well with Phil Parker; one of his joint highlights of the show! http://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2019/01/cmra-show-2019.html Next time I must actually WATCH the layout ! Luke Edited January 20, 2019 by luke_stevens Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 (edited) 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... (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...… (photo courtesy of Brian Hawkins) Edited January 25, 2019 by TEAMYAKIMA 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al. Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 It should look good well weathered and without the smoke deflectors. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 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) 4. The new shed arrives tomorrow - hopefully! 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 3, 2019 Author Share Posted February 3, 2019 (edited) 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 February 3, 2019 by TEAMYAKIMA 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hawkins Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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