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

[F-UnitMad]

Just now, luke_stevens said:

 

"I'll come in again..."

 

L

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍

[steveNCB7754]

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

You could've dragged that post out more by starting at two main weapons... 🤣🤣👍👍

 

True, but when I posted, I certainly wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition!  

[luke_stevens]

41 minutes ago, steveNCB7754 said:

 

True, but when I posted, I certainly wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition!  

 

Nobody expects....

Edited May 6, 2023 by luke_stevens

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Now that operational issues have (mainly) been sorted, I have returned to scenic issues. Some time ago I was advised to remove the road roller from the motorway bridge cameo, but I really like it and so I had to find a reason to have it on the layout. 

 

I think this does the trick ........................

 

 

The truck on the left is a working model which runs down the road, but the artic will be parked and the driver will be being interviewed by traffic police who think the road roller is not safely and securely fixed down on the trailer

 

 

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Some weeks/months ago I slipped in my garage (where the baseboards are stored between exhibitions) and the thing which stopped my fall and saved me from serious injury was this ....

 

 

Yes, the WORKING cement mixer sacrificed its life so that others might live.

 

Well, yesterday, as I had nothing else to do, I set about repairing it - and YES, before you ask, it does still work!

 

 

And, what's more it now has wing-mirrors. I added them because there is one Rmwebber who is constantly on my case that some of my trucks don't have wing mirrors and as he has been extremely helpful on another RMweb thread, I thought I would add wing-mirrors this time in his honour.

 

And, whilst I was about it, I went round the layout and added a few more!

 

 

 

[F-UnitMad]

1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

what's more it now has wing-mirrors. I added them because there is one Rmwebber who is constantly on my case that some of my trucks don't have wing mirrors and as he has been extremely helpful on another RMweb thread, I thought I would add wing-mirrors this time in his honour.

...and well done for fitting them correctly for a left-hand drive truck, as well... 👍😉🤣🤣

[Enterprisingwestern]

26 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

...and well done for fitting them correctly for a left-hand drive truck, as well... 👍😉🤣🤣

 

If he didn't would they have been wong mirrors?

 

Mike.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I've been working on that new BJ double unit, or perhaps I should say 'that new S/H BJ double unit'.

 

TBH there were a few broken handrails which I have (hopefully) sorted as they rather stupidly used plastic handrail knobs - very easily broken! But, the biggest issue for me was that there was a main unit and a slave unit and the power was sent to the slave unit via a load of highly coloured wires and a very prominent 8 pin connector which sat right in open view in the gap between the units. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo before I started working on the problem, but I think you can see from this photo taken half-way through the job just how bad it would have looked.

 

 

Both units now have their own chip, both set to the same address and so progress has been made!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I am getting ready for our first show of 2023 in June and I have bought another TRAINSPORTERS storage box for the 'spare locos' - that's 26 in all!

 

Preparing the spare loco box and the arrival of that double unit has caused me to think carefully about the whole concept of the layout - I may have voiced similar thoughts in the past and, if so, apologies.

 

I am trying to display as many different 'trains' as possible and consequently, as many different locos as possible. I now have a huge variety of motive power - so much, in fact, that this very interesting double-unit will actually only be a 'spare' and that's a pity. In fact, all my diesel hauled trains (there are eight of them) has a unique style of diesel as the default loco and as several of those trains are double-headed there will, in fact, be 10 different diesels on show on the layout at any given time - and none of them will be a green DF4B!

So, just to give the operators some variety, if nothing else, maybe I should shuffle things around after the Saturday session as I have at least five other styles of locos up my sleeve - six if you include a double-header set of Green DF4B's!😉

[TEAMYAKIMA]

As our exhibition invites have spread further, we have come up against the problem of barriers - or rather the lack of them at some shows. There is a view that we simply should turn down invites to shows which don't provide barriers, but I want to broaden the layout's appeal, not narrow it. So, I have been looking into making/buying our own barriers. I have been experimenting based on advice I've received on RMweb and this is the style I'm experimenting with......

 

 

and here is the progress so far..............

 

 

I am now just considering what to hang off those - more next week after samples arrive.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[F-UnitMad]

19 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I am now just considering what to hang off those

It's an industrial region. Barbed wire....? 🤔🤔😁😁😁👍👍👍

 

Sorry, not helpful. .   Sprinting for exit.... 

[Al.]

1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I am now just considering what to hang off those - more next week after samples arrive.

 

25KV AC Traction cable...?

[lmsforever]

Looking forward to seeing the layout at Railex.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

2 hours ago, lmsforever said:

Looking forward to seeing the layout at Railex.

 

I regret that we are not going to be at Railex. Six weeks ago the Stoke Mandeville Stadium informed the RAILEX team that the hall they had booked was going to be re-developed and would not be available - SIX WEEKS NOTICE!

 

The stadium offered RAILEX a smaller hall on the same site and so the team had to quickly completely re-design the exhibition - with fewer stands.

 

They decided (not unreasonably) to drop the two largest layouts i.e. BEIJIAO and JAMES STREET rather than having to drop 3/4/5 smaller ones. So, BEIJIAO and JAMES STREET will feature in the 2024exhibition.

 

Please consider two things :-

 

1. I'm sure a MAJOR re-building of the original hall (two months out of action) would not have been a 'spur-of-the-moment' decision six weeks ago. Decisions like that take months, if not years, of planning - why weren't RAILEX given some earlier warning that things might change?

 

2. RAILEX 2022 had to be cancelled at short notice because the stadium had 'double-booked' the hall.

 

Disgraceful behaviour by the stadium in my opinion.

 

See you in 2024 - hopefully!

Edited May 25, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[lmsforever]

Having dealt with the company that runs the halls at Stoke  and found them to be not communicative as witnessed by last year cock up so dont blame the club for whats gone on they were probably in the dark .

[TEAMYAKIMA]

3 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

It's an industrial region. Barbed wire....? 🤔🤔😁😁😁👍👍👍

 

Sorry, not helpful. .   Sprinting for exit.... 

 

My thoughts on barriers :-

 

I started another thread on RMweb asking about the whole concept of barriers in the future as several mid-range shows have dropped barriers in the last few years due to either the cost of hiring them or the availability of fit, youngish club members to set them up. 99% of the comments I got concentrated solely on the 'little fingers' aspect of barriers and TBH that has never been my #1 issue. 

 

I always that layouts should be viewed from at least 18 inches away so that you get a more realistic view - when you are right up against a layout you are virtually looking at it from a helicopter and this is made worse the lower the track height is set at. My layout is now set at 46 inches which means that a person of average height standing 18 inches away gets a reasonably authentic view of the layout ie from a fourth storey window rather than a helicopter.

 

The other issue with layouts without barriers is that once the 'first row' are tight up against the layout the second row (and third??) have great difficulty seeing the layout at all - again made worse the lower the layout's track is.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

4 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

Having dealt with the company that runs the halls at Stoke  and found them to be not communicative as witnessed by last year cock up so dont blame the club for whats gone on they were probably in the dark .

 

I totally agree - what I was trying to say was that the stadium behaved appallingly  towards the RAILEX team twice - once was bad enough, twice was disgraceful.

Edited May 25, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[Enterprisingwestern]

18 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I am now just considering what to hang off those - more next week after samples arrive.

 

Children's eyeballs?

 

Mike.

[Bloodnok]

15 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I started another thread on RMweb asking about the whole concept of barriers in the future as several mid-range shows have dropped barriers in the last few years due to either the cost of hiring them or the availability of fit, youngish club members to set them up. 99% of the comments I got concentrated solely on the 'little fingers' aspect of barriers and TBH that has never been my #1 issue. 

 

I always that layouts should be viewed from at least 18 inches away so that you get a more realistic view - when you are right up against a layout you are virtually looking at it from a helicopter and this is made worse the lower the track height is set at. My layout is now set at 46 inches which means that a person of average height standing 18 inches away gets a reasonably authentic view of the layout ie from a fourth storey window rather than a helicopter.

 

The other issue with layouts without barriers is that once the 'first row' are tight up against the layout the second row (and third??) have great difficulty seeing the layout at all - again made worse the lower the layout's track is.

 

I went to Expo EM recently, and there were no barriers at that show.

 

Initially I found it a refreshing change -- you could really look things on layouts in detail, and not be kept at arms length away the whole time.

 

But then I saw someone literally put their head in a layout. Like above the baseboard, below the lighting pelmet.

 

I later also tried to film some trains with my phone, and was forever struggling to keep other viewers out of shot when watching the popular layouts - it would have been much easier with barriers. That wasn't even a 'second row' problem, it's the front row causing the issue.

I'm now on 'team barrier' - it's fairer for everyone if that barrier exists.

 

43 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

Children's eyeballs?

... That brings up a good point. There should probably be something larger, possibly round or softish on the ends of those sticks to negate the 'pointy stick' effect, should someone accidentally fall onto one.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

4 hours ago, Bloodnok said:

... That brings up a good point. There srhould probably be something larger, possibly round or softish on the ends of those sticks to negate the 'pointy stick' effect, should someone accidentally fall onto one.

Absolutely. As I said, it's a work in progress, there will be something, just not sure what yet. 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I have been considering how best to use/display my orange & black 'emergency coaches'. Train Garden released some hard class type 22 coaches (ex-Bachmann tooling) and I bought four of them and just ran them as part of a freight train. Train Garden have never expanded the range.

 

Recently, I heard that MTC had released an XL (baggage car), it was very expensive, but I managed to grab one before they sold out. As expected there are 'differences' between the two brands. Firstly, the colours don't quite match - the MTC coach on the left is somewhat 'brighter' than the Train Garden one - but more importantly the NEM box was far too 'long' and gave a huge gap between coaches considering that those coaches are fitted with Fleischmann close couplings.

 

Thirty minutes of VERY careful work with a VERY sharp blade enabled me to cut back the NEM box and I ended up like this .....

 

 

But you will notice that the corridor connectors don't match up height-wise. Now, I realise that 99.9% of people won't notice that as the train rumbles past them - but I will notice it!

 

So, I filed down the top of the MTC baggage and added some plastic strip underneath (only just noticeable in the photo) and I added some plastic strip to the top of the Train Garden connector and cut off some plastic at the bottom.................

 

 

Was it worth it?  I think so .....................

 

 

Now, of course, there is still an elephant in the room - the colour of the corridor connector 'area' . The Train Garden section is orange and the MTC version is black! 

 

From the photos I've seen of the real coaches, i fear that the orange is correct, but how am I going to match that colour?  I'm going to have to think carefully about that!

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

From the photos I've seen of the real coaches, i fear that the orange is correct, but how am I going to match that colour?  I'm going to have to think carefully about that!

 

If in doubt, weather it!

 

Mike.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

21 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

If in doubt, weather it!

 

Mike.

I need to find more photos of the real thing. Thee only one I have shows orange, but MTC is a premium manufacturer and so I ask myself why would they get something like that wrong whereas the more basic manufacturer seems to have got it right? 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I need to find more photos of the real thing. Thee only one I have shows orange, but MTC is a premium manufacturer and so I ask myself why would they get something like that wrong whereas the more basic manufacturer seems to have got it right? 

 

Presuming it's like the UK market, I couldn't possibly comment!

 

Mike.

[luke_stevens]

11 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I need to find more photos of the real thing. Thee only one I have shows orange, but MTC is a premium manufacturer and so I ask myself why would they get something like that wrong whereas the more basic manufacturer seems to have got it right? 

 

Small manufacturer = run by enthusiasts

Large manufacturer = run by accountants

 

Luke