How often is a exhibition layout not 'ready to go' at 'doors open' at exhibitions?

[DLT]

2 hours ago, 6990WitherslackHall said:

 

I took Oxendale for its first ever exhibition: Bridlington Model Railway Show in Emmanuel Church on 02/09/23, however it didn't go to plan. A lot of things happened during the day so I'm just going to summarize it:

 

I see this experience is very recent.

Often it takes an exhibition outing to show up any issues with a new layout; such as sudden dead spots, or "it worked fine at home" moments, we've all had them!

I hope your loco will survive, and it hasn't discouraged you from exhibiting.

 

Best wishes,

Dave.T

[Chris M]

Hers's another simple tip for making sure you are ready to go when an exhibition opens - check and repair your layout (if necessary) as soon as possible after getting back from an exhibition. That way any little issues that arose at the last exhibition are still fresh in your mind and can be looked into with the maximum amount of time to fix them. I've just done that and have a list of mostly very small jobs to do, some the sort of job I would forget if I hadn't given the layout a good check over now. I have got a whole 4 and a bit weeks to these jobs before the next exhibition so I won't be too rushed. Oh, and I have a holiday during those four weeks as well so time will vanish if I don't plan things. That's the point of a post exhibition check, you give yourself time to get things sorted. This can be especially important if you need to buy an item or two. 

 

After the exhibition in October I will have the luxury of a whole six weeks before the next one! At the moment nothing is planned for 2024 but the layout will still be thoroughly checked out and fixed if necessary on its return from exhibition in November. 

[fulton]

On 12/09/2023 at 06:38, Chris M said:

 That way any little issues that arose at the last exhibition are still fresh in your mind and can be looked into with the maximum amount of time to fix them.

Cannot think of the show, I was exhibiting my small American layout, was by myself on the Sunday afternoon, the show was very quiet, I looked at the layout and started writing a list of all the things I did not like, or could be better, quite a list from replacing the noisy point motors to drilling out the chimney pots, started the list soon after, I think the layout is better after the overhaul.

Edited September 14, 2023 by fulton
spelling

[john new]

4 hours ago, Chris M said:

Hers's another simple tip for making sure you are ready to go when an exhibition opens - check and repair your layout (if necessary) as soon as possible after getting back from an exhibition. That way any little issues that arose at the last exhibition are still fresh in your mind and can be looked into with the maximum amount of time to fix them. I've just done that and have a list of mostly very small jobs to do, some the sort of job I would forget if I hadn't given the layout a good check over now. I have got a whole 4 and a bit weeks to these jobs before the next exhibition so I won't be too rushed. Oh, and I have a holiday during those four weeks as well so time will vanish if I don't plan things. That's the point of a post exhibition check, you give yourself time to get things sorted. This can be especially important if you need to buy an item or two. 

 

After the exhibition in October I will have the luxury of a whole six weeks before the next one! At the moment nothing is planned for 2024 but the layout will still be thoroughly checked out and fixed if necessary on its return from exhibition in November. 

Agreed. Note book or Clip board, pen  and sheet of paper on hand to note the faults (comments and follow up notes too) also recommended. Memory is fallible.

[ColinK]

Years ago I took my German N gauge layout to a show, set it up Friday evening and everything was working perfectly.  Arrived Saturday morning and a point blade had come off - it was the critical point at the station throat.  The problem was caused by the hall being very hot on Friday and down to zero during the night.  Managed to run a limited service.

 

On Sunday morning nothing would run. Spent a couple of hours checking and replacing things without success. Finally I decided to remove all the stock of the layout, midway through this the layout sprung into life.  The problem was a metal wagon wheel exactly in the gap above a insulating fishplate just touching both rail ends causing a short.

I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to take my 00 layout to the three day exhibition at The Great Central Railway - the first time I’d been asked by a major show.  I spent a couple of months getting it and the stock ready, including setting it up at home and getting two people who had never seen the layout before to run it and look for problems I had missed. Well worth the effort as it ran perfectly for three days inside a marquee.

 

More recently I took one of my micro layouts to an exhibition which was due to open at 10am.  Setting up the layout takes less than a minute, put it on the table, put the loco and coach on the track, then switch on (layout is powered by batteries hidden in the scenery).  I arrived at 0940, so loads of time to set up - but the hall was already full of the public when I arrived; there had been such a long queue outside getting soaked in the rain that the organisers opened the show early.

[Phatbob]

All life on Earth is one eternal struggle with the law of sod.  I'll never make a judgement about any layout for the first hour or so after the show opening, it's just not fair. ;-)  
Personally, I have a strong preference to set up on the Friday evening and get everything tested before we leave for home or hotel & pub.  Setting up Saturday morning can mean a lot less time on the road and such like, but for me it's asking for trouble compared with setting up on Friday night, even with the slings and arrows of Friday afternoon and evening traffic. :-(
Even so, one year at the Leyland show everything was working perfectly when we left on the Friday evening and on Saturday morning the whole layout was electrically dead.  The common return had unsoldered iteself overnight!  Those gremlins have a lot to answer for!

[Chris M]

3 hours ago, Phatbob said:

All life on Earth is one eternal struggle with the law of sod.  I'll never make a judgement about any layout for the first hour or so after the show opening, it's just not fair. ;-)  
Personally, I have a strong preference to set up on the Friday evening and get everything tested before we leave for home or hotel & pub.  Setting up Saturday morning can mean a lot less time on the road and such like, but for me it's asking for trouble compared with setting up on Friday night, even with the slings and arrows of Friday afternoon and evening traffic. :-(
Even so, one year at the Leyland show everything was working perfectly when we left on the Friday evening and on Saturday morning the whole layout was electrically dead.  The common return had unsoldered iteself overnight!  Those gremlins have a lot to answer for!

Over the years it’s been surprising how often a layout that has been fine on Saturday afternoon has developed a number of glitches by Sunday morning. Must be those gremlins. Or more likely the temperature and humidity changes. It doesn’t take much, especially in N gauge.

[009 micro modeller]

3 hours ago, Phatbob said:

Personally, I have a strong preference to set up on the Friday evening and get everything tested before we leave for home or hotel & pub.  Setting up Saturday morning can mean a lot less time on the road and such like, but for me it's asking for trouble compared with setting up on Friday night, even with the slings and arrows of Friday afternoon and evening traffic.

That does also depend a lot on the organiser’s willingness to pay overnight expenses, and the exhibitor’s ability to take the extra day off though.

[298]

29 minutes ago, Chris M said:

Over the years it’s been surprising how often a layout that has been fine on Saturday afternoon has developed a number of glitches by Sunday morning. Must be those gremlins. Or more likely the temperature and humidity changes. It doesn’t take much, especially in N gauge.

 

My new layout is currently set up in the garage so has been operated at temperatures between freezing and 30 degrees without any I'll effects- although I did design it so it isn't reliant on fishplates for connectivity and all of the important gaps have a physical barrier to stop them closing up. Pretty much all of the locos have stay alives fitted or decoders with enhanced "brown out" because I learnt from previous projects that static grass near the track is the enemy of reliable pickup. But something I can't control is direct sunlight on part of the layout- not only does it generally ruin the lighting but has also caused issues with part of the overhead expanding in the past.

 

I'm still surprised by the number of issues that could be prevented with a little thought and planning- such as adjustable feet that undo themselves in transit that can be cured with a spot of threadlock, and dodgy connections through chocolate block that undo themselves instead of a proper soldered plug and socket.

[gpplumy]

for me, i try to be set up the day before if its on offer, track tested, wagon stock down, and one loco usually stays with the layout thats "trusted" to run. the other locos usually travel with me after the various break ins ive seen.

i carry a spare controller, wire, switches , point motors and tool kit, but if someting fails and i can work around it, id rather do that till the end of the day, and it can make for interesting shunting operations, but so far ive been lucky , it wont last though 

[Gilbert]

I have found this a fascinating topic - and I do try wherever possible to ensure I prepare and have spares when I exhibit. I even once won a "best in show"...yes really...

However I'm pretty sure no one sets out to fail when they offer to show a layout at an exhibition and we don't all have limitless time and resources to dedicate to our "exhibition" layouts.

I assume show managers are grateful for any newcomers - I've been to a lot of local/regional shows recently where I've seen the same layouts repeatedly - and while many are excellent we do need "new blood".

I'm also convinced that however well we plan the show gods will find a way of causing chaos and bursting our bubbles....don't be too smug if an exhibition disaster has not happened to you yet...because it will.....be kind...

And......communicate - when things do go bad its worth ensuring people know - we operate from the front and are very open about what goes well - and does not. It also demonstrates that we are all human and owners of exhibition layouts are not a special breed and get problems just like anyone else...we can all do it.... and we can all get problems..anyway its only toy trains and nobody has died...

Chris H

[2E Sub Shed]

On 11/09/2023 at 19:55, 6990WitherslackHall said:

Also of note, I didn't have any lunch as the planned burger van didn't show up so I had nothing to eat except for a packet of crisps and a can of Fanta. 

 

 

 

Along with everything else I usually pack a "snack bag",of biscuits etc, so even if the said does turn up, I have an alternative.

 

Lesson Identified and Learnt

 

 As I was working away for a couple of weeks,, the club layout I was taking out for a Saturday could only be collected on a Friday Evening., so asked if it could be tested and checked out by someone on club night and packed.

 

Picked it up, on set up found loose  buildings missing,  Had to service every loco (wheel clean and light lubrication), as none would run after I cleaned track, Had full set of working locos, (but never worked out why DMU would only operate one way round) by mid-morning after a stressful couple of hours, and I arrived well before show start.  

 

Would never be responsible for a layout that I had not had set up and checked along with rolling stock prior to a show ever again.  

[Chris M]

It’s fair to say that when a layout isn’t running when the exhibition opens the owners are far more upset than the viewing public.

[Andy Hayter]

Compared to some of the observations or experiences, I feel we were lucky (or well prepared).

We did have locos fail - but had replacements or did without.

We had stock that suddenly went out of gauge - but had replacements and or spare wheel sets.

 

The one time we did have a major impact on exhibiting was when a point motor failed early on the day (my memory says on the second day of the exhibition).  This was a critical point in terms of being able to run a wide variety of stock, although we could at least run.  It turned out that the actuating arm had severed from the solenoid iron core bar.  Fortunately one of the traders present was able to provide a replacement at no cost with the exchange of the failed item - which I assume he returned to the manufacturer.  However, as I am sure many will appreciate, replacing a point motor from under the board, in poor light, and the pressure of getting everything back up and running as it should pdq, is less than straightforward.  

WE could have shut down completely to effect the repair, but chose to keep things running.

 

I now take a torch with me if exhibiting.

[BR60103]

I didn't see it myself, but at one of the Great British Train Shows a point motor caught fire, probably from a push button sticking on.

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by BR60103
speeling

[Crisis Rail]

On 10/09/2023 at 23:43, Michael Hodgson said:

You should follow prototype practice and run a replacement bus service

There you go. 

Available from all the usual stockists. 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Crisis Rail

[Southernman46]

Once spent the 1st hour of the Bristol Model exhibition in the Brunel station under a friends' RhB layout with multimeter & soldering iron successfully chasing out an intermittent short-circuit - the resulting warm smug feeling combating the cold of the venue 😲

Edited September 14, 2023 by Southernman46

[Clive Mortimore]

It is a sad thing when your layout doesn't perform at a show.

 

It isn't great watching a group of frustrated chaps trying to get their layout to work.

 

Big question to those who moan about non working model railways, what has broken down in your house in the past few months, lawn mower, washing machine, car, or even just a light bulb. An inoperable model railway at a exhibition isn't https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XNgS2VBuVM  God have mercy on Stringy Bob.

 

[gpplumy]

another thing to add 

if you can , always take spare operators ( occasionally even friends) , if not for your own sake , then others. me and 4 friends went to a show at the Yorkshire farming museum, brilliant little show. and i ended up sub contracting my friends to other layouts so they could have lunch breaks. 

my other thought is to be able to help others in need with any issues they have come up, i can remember many times at the Gainsborough model railway laid under baseboards during a show, helping out where ever i could

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, gpplumy said:

another thing to add 

if you can , always take spare operators ( occasionally even friends) , if not for your own sake , then others. me and 4 friends went to a show at the Yorkshire farming museum, brilliant little show. and i ended up sub contracting my friends to other layouts so they could have lunch breaks. 

my other thought is to be able to help others in need with any issues they have come up, i can remember many times at the Gainsborough model railway laid under baseboards during a show, helping out where ever i could

 

Spare operators are all good and well, but:

Operators require feeding. And if attending an away show - accommodation. 

All extra expense on the exhibition finances.

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by newbryford
typo

[TheQ]

All the posts above are interesting, as I'm currently planning a show layout.

Having observed many layouts where just getting all the boards together can take a couple of hours, that can take much of the time till show opening, One of the things I'm hoping to make happen is a board setup time of less than 15 minutes single handed. (4 boards). Locking hinges on legs will be one requirement.

 

Sitting on this tablet is an order for round bubble levels, each board will have their own, visible while grovelling on the floor adjusting feet.

Painting the underside of layouts white helps visibility.

.

At the moment I'm " adding lightness" to the design, the worst I've seen took six people to lift in each board and there were several boards..

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by TheQ

[Nick C]

3 hours ago, Southernman46 said:

... with multimeter ...

The most importat tool to have IMHO - almost all the issues described have been electrical of some kind, and they're so much easier to diagnose with a decent meter (and they're dirt cheap these days)

[Chris M]

There have been a fair few times when I have paid to go to a show and then ended up helping to run a layout all day. Never mind, my entrance fee can be considered to be a donation to the cause.

 

The number of operators is an interesting question. My layout is best with four but needs a van to be transported. Therefore three operators all in the van is significantly cheaper than four operators where fuel costs for an extra car is required. 
 

Totally agree that “adding lightness” is very important for exhibition layouts.

 

I always design layouts to be as easily transportable as possible. With my last layout once managed to be on the road 20 minutes after the exhibition closed. For my current layout which is 12 long and needs a van the best we have done is 35 minutes. That’s quite acceptable. The most important thing is not to damage anything during breakdown and packing.

[Southernman46]

11 minutes ago, Nick C said:

The most importat tool to have IMHO - almost all the issues described have been electrical of some kind, and they're so much easier to diagnose with a decent meter (and they're dirt cheap these days)

Keep promising myself I'm going to get an old AVO Mk8 just for the craic ..................... one day 🙄

[brossard]

16 minutes ago, TheQ said:

All the posts above are interesting, as I'm currently planning a show layout.

Having observed many layouts where just getting all the boards together can take a couple of hours, that can take much of the time till show opening, One of the things I'm hoping to make happen is a board setup time of less than 15 minutes single handed. (4 boards). Locking hinges on legs will be one requirement.

 

Sitting on this tablet is an order for round bubble levels, each board will have their own, visible while grovelling on the floor adjusting feet.

Painting the underside of layouts white helps visibility.

.

At the moment I'm " adding lightness" to the design, the worst I've seen took six people to lift in each board and there were several boards..

 

 

 

 

Dowels between the boards make getting track ends lined up easy.

 

Make as good a job of the wiring as you can.  If my layout is anything to go by, it can get very complex.  Wiring issues are a common theme on this thread.

 

My boards are all white underneath.

 

Don't know what you have in mind for a layout, or if you are alone or have a few friends to help.  Keep the layout a modest size which means, to me anyway, something like a BLT.

 

My layout is 21' x 2'6" and is a BLT.  Not sure about the 15mins but it is fairly quick to assemble.  There are usually about 4 of us.

 

John