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


TEAMYAKIMA
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1 hour ago, CameronL said:

Will it be another Chinese layout?

 

Best wishes

 

Cam

Yes, and not dissimilar in concept to the current one, but slightly smaller, simpler and only needing an operating team of 4 rather than 6. Set in 1999 rather than 2004 and so steam and diesel on China Rail. 

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1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Yes, and not dissimilar in concept to the current one, but slightly smaller, simpler and only needing an operating team of 4 rather than 6. Set in 1999 rather than 2004 and so steam and diesel on China Rail. 

I've said this on another thread but it bears repeating here. That's the problem with Chinese layouts. You have one and it isn't very long before you want another. .

 

Cam

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2 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Yes, and not dissimilar in concept to the current one, but slightly smaller, simpler and only needing an operating team of 4 rather than 6. Set in 1999 rather than 2004 and so steam and diesel on China Rail. 

I thought you were going to do Jitong for the G1 QJ :diablo_mini:

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21 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I am still working on the layout but more slowly now - planning the next one!  And the next one will be a home layout which can be exhibited - rather than an exhibitions only layout!!

 

Anyway I thought you might like to see this cameo - it's not new, but I don't think I've posted it before.

 

Here's the local TV/DVD shop and next door the shutter seems to have jammed and staff are having difficulty getting in!

 

 

That is very good - the viewer's mind can fill-in the detail of what is actually behind that shutter.

 

Looking at the 'locos in action' photos you posted recently, reminded me that I had a VHS cassette of China steam squirreled away somewhere (all my books, DVD’s and VHS cassettes are still packed in boxes, following my relocation to Mid-Wales just before the present ‘Lock-down’). Luckily, I had a reasonably accurate packing list and as luck would have it, it was in a box on the top of the pile. ‘Steam And The Dragon’ (The Locomotives of North East China) from 1987, was duly watched last night (a bit grainy now, after 30+ years) -  you can still get it (on DVD) from 'TeleRail'.

 

Apart from the jangly ‘Chinese Orchestra’ music used during some of the sequences, it was fascinating to see it again. Have never been to China myself of course, but one or two operational things stood out (that I had forgotten); double-heading QJ’s tender-to-tender (so the second engine travelling in reverse) and even the banker QJ in reverse; steam locos sounding their horns (as on a diesel), as opposed to a steam whistle; loco depot labourers having to constantly clear away frozen water/steam (as opposed to ash) in the Winter, from around the locos (and locos standing at the depots, in steam, and still covered in icicles!) and also how 'brown' everywhere looked (e.g in Harbin yard, although that might be from all the industrial pollution!). Amazing to see 1985/86 built locos, running in 1986 - a sight never to be seen again.

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On 19/05/2020 at 11:14, steveNCB7754 said:

 ‘Steam And The Dragon’ (The Locomotives of North East China) from 1987, was duly watched last night (a bit grainy now, after 30+ years) -  you can still get it (on DVD) from 'TeleRail'.

 

Funnily enough I found my copy (transferred onto DVD) a couple of days ago just by chance and will watch it again ASAP thanks to your recommendation. I didn't visit China until 1993 so a video from 1987 will be great to watch again.

 

I put off going to China until 1993 because I was put off by stories of poor accommodation and very cold weather - I preferred the hot weather of South America, but by 1992 I'd done most of South America two or three times and was looking for something new. It was in 1992 when I first came across the tour group TEFS on their trip to Jordan and Syria. The owner, Bill, told me he specialised in China and a 'softer' China than some of the more hardcore tours. So, in 1993 I bought a big coat, a warm woolly hat, some gloves and some thermal underwear and off I went for my first China adventure.

 

I often regret not trying China before 1993, but then again I would have missed out on Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil - so you can't have everything - not on my wages anyway!

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OK, back to modelling!

 

I wanted to move the café slightly forward so that I could build a kitchen extension at the back, but at the same time I wanted the maximum space in front of the silver container to allow trucks to park end on.

 

IMG_20200521_142324.jpg.333815074dcf654aa96cb430585c8d6b.jpg

 

The problem is that the café is a cobbled together (bodged up) building using a very much modified Walthers kit ..

 

DSC_0240.JPG.39bdd1a15dd9879f2cfdf563a568036e.jpg.34b0efca59d56dd644c305c2915cedda.jpg

 

And it so happens that the left hand wall was designed to have a wide lean to shed attached (was at the back of the original Walthers kit) and so they didn't bother to have bricks on that part of the wall, just plain flat plastic...

 

IMG_20200519_164749.jpg.abf7f43b38dfa3f5584fea949d6d4172.jpg

 

So the best way to hide that was to have the container line up at the front of that ….

 

IMG_20200521_131913.jpg.4178eaaa07db7ded6d687c0a1e6ea19d.jpg

 

OK, there was a black bit at the back. but most people wouldn't notice and I could have some strip wood leaning up against the café which would 99% disguise it.

 

But I wanted to move the café forward without dragging the container forward as well. That brought the black bit into view and because of the doorway into the container it would be difficult to lean stuff up against the café to hide the black bit.

 

IMG_20200519_104948.jpg.988018f7b87e75d439de4c96d52ed1fb.jpg

 

It would be very difficult to match the Walthers HO brickwork with any odd OO Slaters embossed Plasticard I might have, So there was only one way forward!

 

The back of the building is hidden from the public view and so was VERY much cobbled together.

 

IMG_20200519_164804.jpg.2007e11c6cc6f82bad0bcce6516527b2.jpg

 

But the brickwork matched!!  So you can see in the photo above I have started to cut out one of the upright 'pillars'.

 

I then cut out a section of the black wall and with some judicious filing I managed to get a pretty good join.  With a bit of weathering I think that will look OK especially with a notice board over the slight line you can still see - if you go looking for it!

 

IMG_20200521_131948.jpg.9cc3c02cba48847e1e5f9e609ad998dc.jpg

 

So, I'm happy! I've managed to move the café forward a bit to make room for an add-on kitchen at the back and I've kept the container where it was thereby allowing space for trucks to park end on! Job done!!

 

Of course it would have been easier to simply find shorter trucks!!!!!

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

 

 

I often regret not trying China before 1993, but then again I would have missed out on Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil - so you can't have everything - not on my wages anyway!


Some of us figured out how to elk out the very last of steam in the west- my ticket is one of the last 5 that were issued in anger by the Canadian Forces.  (as in, we were supposed to steam them...I never did on ship but it's handy now !).  Went to China in 2008 on the ship, didn't see much because Big Gray Boat Line said we had to stay in Quingdao.  

Anyway... I'm still reading this thread, and I get how hard it can be to have an exibition only layout.  I still have to contemplate what to do with Long Marton, in that I _could_ make it exibitable, but a fight would be had, and I'd have to get all the bits ready, test them relatively close to home, then take it 4000 km to show it proper...which seems like a _lot_ of work.  If #2 son decides to become more interested, I might...

Of course now, all bets are off...goodness knows what an exhibition will look like post COVID.

 

James

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't done a thing on the layout for the last week - I'm furloughed from work and so far too busy to work on the layout!

 

If this is what retirement will be like I can't wait to get back to work for a rest.

 

Anyway, have been looking through my photos of China and came up with one (of the two) photos which inspired my backdrop. It's actually a digital photo of an existing print as I don't have the negative anymore. 

 

DSC_0007.JPG.2da14fbf0b50fbdd36ffe5af95af143b.JPG

 

I've been accused of making my backdrop too drab - I rest my case!

 

 

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5 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I haven't done a thing on the layout for the last week - I'm furloughed from work and so far too busy to work on the layout!

 

If this is what retirement will be like I can't wait to get back to work for a rest.

 

 

It is, I am afraid

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17 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

...   I've been accused of making my backdrop too drab - I rest my case!

 

 

 

Safe bet that those 'domestic' buildings on the left, have also been swept away by development?

 

 

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The reason I haven't done anything on my layout is that I have spent the last 10 days working on a book of my memoirs of my 15 trips to China. I've had three attempts so far and am now on version #4. Basically, it's a SNAPFISH photo book which is on (VERY) special offer at the moment and so I'm working against a deadline of June 14th to the book(s) finished.

 

Volume 1 is one nice photo of every location I visited and in many cases that means scanning an existing print as I didn't keep the negatives of my pre-digital photos. TBH pre-digital I was far more interested in video than stills anyway.

 

Here is a sample, a scanned photo of Chengde in 1998. This was a major inspiration for my industrial railway - 11 coal cars and THREE 2-8-2's.

 

DSC_0022.JPG.6480d2079828f4cae0408a41f7fc38f7.JPG

 

 

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Just now, TEAMYAKIMA said:

And Nancha 1998

 

 

 

Great weather for steam effects!!

 

BTW, did you just photograph them, or did you travel behind steam as well?  Did they have carriage heating in 'Hard Class'?

 

Steve

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10 minutes ago, steveNCB7754 said:

 

 

Great weather for steam effects!!

 

BTW, did you just photograph them, or did you travel behind steam as well?  Did they have carriage heating in 'Hard Class'?

 

Steve

 

Yes, yes & yes - coal fired stoves at the end of the coaches.

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19 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

DSC_0059.JPG.acfefae61cfa68fb1050c3c36db82ac8.JPG

 

Tanshan coal mine 1993

 

Great picture, although I've not seen that many photos of SY's fitted with smoke-deflectors. Presumably, when on duties such as this, they never accelerated their loads to the point that they saw the benefit of still having them (LOL)?

 

Good to see them still in 'original condition' though -  do we know whether deflector-fitted ones were depot or region-specific originally?

 

Steve

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Haven't worked on the layout for a month now, no point as the next exhibition won't be until December at the earliest, but have organised dedicated team mugs. All the main operators have got their own ones .... Al, Gordon, Luke, Richard, but I'm not sure whom this one belongs to......................................

 

2069219415_IMG_20200622_15195834034.jpg.43cb59b9e9641fbbf96dbce23c792272.jpg

 

 

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