Things that you've never seen on an exhibition layout but would love to see happen?

[APOLLO]

Burning track point heaters - A few flashing LEDs would suffice !!

 

 

Brit15

[steve1]

On 09/10/2023 at 19:13, Chris M said:

How about bringing back early 1970s exhibition opening times? Many shows were 10am to 9pm Saturday and 10am to 6pm Sunday. Eleven hours running a layout would have been one hell of a shift! 

 

I take you’ve never been an exhibitor.

 

steve

[newbryford]

47 minutes ago, APOLLO said:

Burning track point heaters - A few flashing LEDs would suffice !!

 

 

Brit15

 

I know layouts like that - but the burning is the wiring! 😀

[4069]

1 hour ago, OnTheBranchline said:

Water troughs are something you don’t see every day - even just static ones.

Believe it or not, Triang used to make them

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276018202041

[Chris M]

3 hours ago, steve1 said:

 

I take you’ve never been an exhibitor.

 

steve

Now let me think......

                                     ..... I've taken layouts to 4 exhibitions this year, 6 exhibitions last year and over 30 exhibitions between 2014 and 2019. Oh and I have attended the Warley NEC exhibition as a worker for the last 30 years. I also attended a good number of exhibition in the 1980s with various layouts.  I think it is possible that my comment may have been light-hearted and I guess your comment is ion the same vein.

[westerner]

Whoops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[OnTheBranchline]

11 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Burning track point heaters - A few flashing LEDs would suffice !!

 

 

Brit15

 

But how many layouts, never mind  exhibition layouts, are actually set in winter? I can only think of a handful.

[Chris M]

Moors View - a brilliant winter scene in N.

[Chris M]

I will be with my layout at the NEC this year. I can promise that there will be absolutely nothing that anyone has mentioned here (except the odd unintentional slip coach). There will however be a constant procession if different trains, all from the same era, all very slightly weathered and with front end details added. The train formations will be reasonable so far as my research can make out with 10/11 coach express trains and 7+2 HSTs.  A few of the trains will be slightly unusual to add interest but nevertheless authentic for the location and era. I accept that most of the visitors won't appreciate this but I know. Operators are not allowed to bring their stock unless it fits into the location, era and slightly weathered rule. The semaphore signals will be in full use. My operators are drilled to do points-signal-manoeuvre-signal but I doubt many visitors will notice. Again I know and that's what makes it important.  So nothing special or fancy but hopefully a good, entertaining layout that is also quite authentic. That in itself as actually fairly rare at many exhibitions.

[Michael Hodgson]

On 06/10/2023 at 10:19, Hibelroad said:

Slip coaches and banking engines picking up and dropping off trains are easy to do with DCC but you need a very big layout for the action to play out. Servos have allowed several forms of movement to be achieved which were difficult but as always novel things soon become a cliche. 

You don't actually need DCC for this.  I've been running bank engines for over 50 years on a friend's coarse scale O gauge 3-rail layout.  This is fully signalled, with block working.  All we do is stop the train at the foot of the bank at a signal (which cuts power from the train engine) then signal the banker and buffer up.  The section signal is cleared and both locos climb the bank.  Because the mass in O gauge is a lot more than in smaller gauges, this works quite well, the train engine pulls the front half (3-link couplings are seen to be in tension) while the banker propels the rear part (buffers are touching)

 

On 06/10/2023 at 12:42, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

A train being divided to enable a faulty vehicle to be set aside.

 

The once familiar sight of the toilet paper blowing about in the wake of a fast train.

 

Working in fog with the detonators.

.  As the train crests the summit, the signalman at the summit flicks a switch to disconnect power from the incline so the banker coasts under its inertia to a stop.  The train continues happily enough and the banker is crossed over to the opposite line to return ready for its next duty.

 

It is important that

• electrical switches are suitably placed
• a suitable free-running loco is chosen as banker, which runs faster light engine than the train engine
• stock is weighted so that it is less prone to derail when propelled
• the buffers are large enough not to buffer lock (in practice this means overscale because of severe curves)

[Michael Hodgson]

On 06/10/2023 at 12:42, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Working in fog with the detonators.

 

We used to have an emergency detonator placer at one signalbox on the same O gauge layout.  It used one of those toy cap bombs that were given away in cereal packets.  I don't remember the precise mothod of actuation but it was worked from the lever frame, and the cap went off when the bomb dropped onto the floor.  It no longer exists because we couldn't get the caps any more, although the lever is probably still painted black with white chevrons.

 

Something like this

[johnofwessex]

A train of manure or night soil wagons with appropriate smells?

[Michael Hodgson]

38 minutes ago, johnofwessex said:

A train of manure or night soil wagons with appropriate smells?

I'm quite happy never to encounter such a train at an exhibition.

[OnTheBranchline]

45 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I'm quite happy never to encounter such a train at an exhibition.

Clearly you've never smelt the other pundits at the exhibition...