The trials and tribulations of having an exhibition-only layout too big to set up at home.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

There are already threads about big layouts, but those are mainly about permanent layouts in lofts or out-buildings. I want this thread to be about layouts which are too big to be set up at home and so can only be tested or operated at an exhibition or if you hire a church hall. 

 

Life can be fun in those conditions - I know, because I have such a layout. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

That was the case for me with the London Road LNWR P4 layout. 

 

Measuring 32 ft long in its final version (or 22ft in the original terminus incarnation), I could not put it up at home. It appeared at exhibitions or whenever I hired the local village hall  )usually for a test session ahead of a show). 

 

As a P4 layout and of that size  it was rarely invited to "local" shows and only got taken out a coupe of times each year. Part of it now forms the basis of a permanent 7m x 4m layout I am slowly building, while the original terminus has gone back to one of the original builders and is in store. Hopefully it will reappear in a few years time.

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

The reason I built a 'large' layout is that I model in Chinese HO - and Chinese trains are long! 

 

I run a double-headed 19 coach passenger train and that's not long by Chinese standards. So, you can see that the layout could never be set up in my spare bedroom - or the garage! 

 

One thing I must point out is that I have absolutely no interest in running trains unless there is an audience and so I am perfectly happy only operating at exhibitions. I realise that this is a minority view, but it fits in perfectly with my situation. 

[Mark Forrest]

4 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

One thing I must point out is that I have absolutely no interest in running trains unless there is an audience and so I am perfectly happy only operating at exhibitions. I realise that this is a minority view, but it fits in perfectly with my situation. 

That’s an interesting point and one which makes all the difference.

 

My experience was with a large group-built EM gauge layout that was only able to be erected at exhibitions or a hired village hall.  While the initial build of the layout was rapid, I feel the size of it and the fact that it couldn’t be set up between shows prevented it reaching its full potential.  Add to that the hassle of arranging transport and ensuring we’d have a team of 5 or 6 operators available on a given date actually put me off exhibiting and I can fully appreciate why, given the space, many people prefer a layout that doesn’t leave home approach for larger layouts.

 

As time has passed though I have found myself missing the exhibition experience and noted that, despite having a smaller layout permanently set up at home, I very rarely run trains at home.  Some of that is to do with time; I’d rather spend my spare time at the workbench than operating, but I also wonder if some of it is to do with the social aspect of operating a layout with other people and/or in front of an audience.

[Phil Bullock]

With you on this one …. The old Abbotswood was in this category and the new Abbotswood and Norton even more so - 27x12 ft. The only place at home to set up is in the garden…. Subject to weather of course! 
 

Build is slow as it’s largely me with help from Jim and friends when they can but it’s coming along. Like to fool myself I get more modelling done as I can’t run trains but the mojo needs to be right. Hoping to be back on the exhibition circuit next year…

[fulton]

42 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

but I also wonder if some of it is to do with the social aspect of operating a layout with other people and/or in front of an audience.

I think very true, I can set up at home, but almost never operate, unless I have visitors or at an exhibition.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

1 hour ago, Mark Forrest said:

l wonder if some of it is to do with the social aspect of operating a layout with other people and/or in front of an audience.

 

I absolutely agree. Mine is a personal layout, not a club layout nor a 'group' layout and so, generally speaking, I only see my helpers at an exhibition or at a test session. Consequently, I/we really look forward to those 3/4 weekends away we manage each year. 

 

Also, I/we are displaying something very unusual to the vast majority of exhibition visitors and I love answering questions and explaining what's going on. 

Edited January 7, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[TheQ]

Even though my layout is small enough for one man operation (15ft by 8 ft), and transport, the layout is too big to be set up at home at the moment. So I'm slowly in the process of moving two sheds together so it can be set up at home.

 

At the MRC I'm only allocated space to work on two of the six boards at a time. No new home layouts are allowed, with the club slowly expanding its membership only the two of us with "grandfather's rights" still have our own layouts there. Once they are completed they'll have to depart.

Even with the club layouts, we have to take one down and shuffle others, to put up our completed show layouts for a pre show test.

 

Modelling is my interest rather than running, but I do like showing...

 

[Dagworth]

Dagworth 18x10 and Ravensclyffe 24x12 can both be put up in the garden (I have a marquee that is big enough so not quite as weather dependent as Phil) but Ipswich is way bigger than either at 60foot long scenic section with an 8ft helix either end as well so that will need a hall hire or similar. Fortunately I have a friend locally who is another modeller who has a very large industrial warehouse that has said I can put it up in there. I can put 12ft of it up indoors at home to work on which is more than enough, or 24ft (six boards) in the tent. 
 

Andi

[10800]

Ouse Valley Viaduct & Balcombe is about 14m x 5m (round-roundy) and we (John Re6/6 and me) can only put it up at an exhibition or in our local village hall. Logistically both are quite complicated! Much of it can be worked on at home, but to test major developments or in the run-up to a show there's no choice but to hire the hall for 2-3 days. 

 

I like operating whether it's just me or in front of an audience - that's a viewpoint for any size of exhibition layout though.

 

I don't think I've ever built a layout that I can easily put up at home, despite all good intentions. I have a French layout under construction that is 8ft scenic with 5ft fiddle yards each end. Most of it will go up in the shed/office, but only with one fiddle yard poking out of the door (I had to buy that additional 2ft centre board from Tim Horn to get a plausible track plan!). At a pinch I could put it up in the house but I'd have to make it cat proof ...

[franciswilliamwebb]

13 minutes ago, 10800 said:

I'd have to make it cat proof ...

Now there’s a patent you could retire on😉

[The Johnster]

Nah, the money would all go on cat food...

 

The operating vs modelling question has arisen again here, and, as very much a bum on a seat on the operating side of the debate and a lone home operator, I don't think it is size that is restrictive but complexity.  Cwmdimbath is some 14 feet in scenic length, but I could operate it in exactly the same way if it was four or five times that.  The trains would be longer, that's all.  When one looks at really big and complex layout, like Copenhagen Fields, there's a lot of movement with several trains at once, but not much operating in the sense of yard shunting, making up and breaking down of goods trains, though there are plenty of yards.  It could, in it's present form, probably be automated, and an automated layout is, from my pov, the Death Of Reason...

 

I've built Cwmdimbath to be permanently erected in a location within the heated and ventilated area of my home, a basic requirement for me after having teenage garage and attic layouts respectively made homeless by dad's new car and destroyed by temperature variation in his cowboy-converted loft.  Following this, the experience of freezing the family jewels off in unheated semi-derelict club premises. if I can't operate in properly warm and lit conditions, I'd not bother.

[john new]

8 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

That was the case for me with the London Road LNWR P4 layout. 

 

Measuring 32 ft long in its final version (or 22ft in the original terminus incarnation), I could not put it up at home. It appeared at exhibitions or whenever I hired the local village hall  )usually for a test session ahead of a show). 

 

As a P4 layout and of that size  it was rarely invited to "local" shows and only got taken out a coupe of times each year. Part of it now forms the basis of a permanent 7m x 4m layout I am slowly building, while the original terminus has gone back to one of the original builders and is in store. Hopefully it will reappear in a few years time.

 

Good shot from a past York Show.

[Re6/6]

8 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

As a P4 layout and of that size  it was rarely invited to "local" shows

Same applies to us Jol with our OVV and Balcombe layout. It's all stored at home in the garage and garden workshop. It was last exhibited in 2019 at Scaleforum, but for obvious reasons has been 'in store' since. As Rod has said, it's a major effort to set it all up but a lot of fun to play with! Our next shows are at Fareham in 2024 and Bristol in 2025. Five metre sections can be set up in the garden workshop for finishing section by section.

8 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

.....Life can be fun in those conditions -

Indeed it can!

 

 

The current exhibition layouts, Marsh Sidings and Fochriw (under construction) have been built to fit the workshop so test/play sessions can be undertaken!

 

First full set-up in the early stages of building

 

 

 

 

 

[john new]

7 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

That’s an interesting point and one which makes all the difference.

 

My experience was with a large group-built EM gauge layout that was only able to be erected at exhibitions or a hired village hall.  While the initial build of the layout was rapid, I feel the size of it and the fact that it couldn’t be set up between shows prevented it reaching its full potential.  Add to that the hassle of arranging transport and ensuring we’d have a team of 5 or 6 operators available on a given date actually put me off exhibiting and I can fully appreciate why, given the space, many people prefer a layout that doesn’t leave home approach for larger layouts.

 

As time has passed though I have found myself missing the exhibition experience and noted that, despite having a smaller layout permanently set up at home, I very rarely run trains at home.  Some of that is to do with time; I’d rather spend my spare time at the workbench than operating, but I also wonder if some of it is to do with the social aspect of operating a layout with other people and/or in front of an audience.

Doesn't even have to be that big a layout. I could, just, test my 6'6" by 5' H Dublo layout in the front room or on a dry day outside but it filled the living room space so was only ever up for pre-exhibition testing.

[newbryford]

I can't set Deadmans Lane up fully at home.

The most I can manage is 3 boards (out of 14) - and that's only with specific permission from the domestic authorities.

This is only for work purposes.

Although there are 5 currently set up at the club for a few weeks until the next show [*]

 

I'm sure that if I did have the facilities to set it up fully (and have it available to play trains whenever I wanted) I would get bored with it.

Me and my team have a great time taking it out on occasion [*] and it's great fun to play with for the duration of a show - as well as being a social outing for us all.

 

There are trials and tribulations in organising up to 6 in the team - getting them - and the layout - to the show.

Even arranging/agreeing where we will eat/drink in an evening.

M

Not forgetting the loading/unloading setting up/breaking down the layout. Often either side of a few hours drive to get to/from

Putting the stock on for 2-3 days and then removing it.

Maintaining the stock between shows.

(Currently typing this as a break from wheel cleaning tasks)

 

I'm just about to start building a small layout that will live in my shed, but will be capable of being taken to shows - in a single car. - with one other operator

 

The format of this layout will be very different to DL in many respects - not only size - and should provide more "home fun".

 

[*] Model Rail Scotland in a few weeks.

 

Bottom line - if I didn't enjoy doing it (exhibiting that is) , I wouldn't do it.

 

[pharrc20]

I kind of fell into the trap of building a layout intended for exhibitions but could not fully put the boards up at home. When I lived in Bolton in theory I could put two halves of the layout up in the spare bedroom as 2ft + 4ft + 4ft then the other 2+4+4 alongside but that made working on both sets of boards rather cumbersome. So, I just put one half up to work on when it came to ballasting the track, then when needed joined board 2 to 3 to continue the ballasting over by some juggling around and balancing of boards on boxes ooo-err! It must have worked as still here to tell the tale. Boards 3, 4 and 4A (2ft) were then put up together.

 

Same problem at my parents house and only some extreme furniture arranging in the back lounge and enclosed extension meant I could put all 20ft / 6 boards up hmm.

 

And now at my partners house in Northwich, I could in theory put 3 boards up, in the back bedroom and insert a new curved board section to swing the tracks around in an arc, then connect the remaining 3 boards up. Oh and just enough room to squeeze my podgy frame out between the board and the door/doorframe double hmm 😒 🤔.

 

So for now I have resigned myself to storing the boards for an even longer length of time until a solution can be found. I could with some major rearranging put up 3 boards / 10ft on tables to enable the scenic work to finally begin.

 

I have given some serious thought about what to do with this layout, keep it and persist, jack it all in and sell it, or look for somewhere I can put the layout up on a long-term basis for weeks or months at a time to enable work to progress. Or look at a small modular board layout using baseboard kits from the likes of SMS or Tim Horn.

 

Cheers Paul

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Another 'own goal' as far as my own layout is concerned has reared its ugly head today. 

 

My office/workshop at the bottom of the garden has a workbench which allows  me to work on baseboards, but the boards are all stored in the garage which is next to the house. So moving scenic boards in the pouring rain is difficult. Plus moving a large, heavy, awkward scenic board needs me to find a friendly neighbour to help me move it. 

 

Today is raining on and off  and my friendly neighbour is out for the day. Hence, although there is work to do on a scenic board, I'm stuck indoors twiddling my thumbs. 

Edited January 8, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[Phil Bullock]

7 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Another 'own goal' as far as my own layout is concerned has reared its ugly head today. 

 

My office/workshop at the bottom of the garden has a workbench which allows  me to work on baseboards, but the boards are all stored in the garage which is next to the house. So moving scenic boards in the pouring rain is difficult. Plus moving a large, heavy, awkward scenic board needs me to find a friendly neighbour to help me move it. 

 

Today is raining on and off  and my friendly neighbour is out for the day. Hence, although there is work to do on a scenic board, I'm stuck indoors twiddling my thumbs. 

Can understand your frustrations! It was the same problem I had with the first layout, 4x4 boards built with my carpentry were too heavy! 
 

I gave this much thought before starting the New layout which has professionally built 5x3 board  which pair up in to a box. I can move these myself when paired up by rolling them … or using a sack truck. But doesn’t solve the weather issues.

 

As for going to shows there’s nothing I like more … when all is running smoothly…. To go out front and either woffle to the visitors or just watch the trains running past….

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Another 'own goal' as far as my own layout is concerned has reared its ugly head today. 

 

My office/workshop at the bottom of the garden has a workbench which allows  me to work on baseboards, but the boards are all stored in the garage which is next to the house. So moving scenic boards in the pouring rain is difficult. Plus moving a large, heavy, awkward scenic board needs me to find a friendly neighbour to help me move it. 

 

Today is raining on and off  and my friendly neighbour is out for the day. Hence, although there is work to do on a scenic board, I'm stuck indoors twiddling my thumbs. 

 

 

 

?

 

Mike.

[Re6/6]

I raise you one these....! The best thing that I've bought for moving all the boards about, particularly the five heavy viaduct sections.

 

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

17 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

15 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

I raise you one these....! The best thing that I've bought for moving all the boards about, particularly the five heavy viaduct sections.

 

 

 

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Unfortunately, they will not help in my situation - without going into loads detail I can't fully explain, but trust me they wouldn't help getting boards to and fro into my workshop.

 

I have used things like that to get from the van into an exhibition hall, but it wouldn't be any use in my back garden - if for no other reason than I would still need my neighbour to help me lift a scenic board onto the trolley. Fiddle yard boards are a doddle, scenic boards are a major problem.