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

[RobAllen]

Saw Beijiao at Warley yesterday. Fantastic layout and I particularly loved the engagement with the audience. Thanks!
 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by RobAllen

[melmerby]

Agree. and a good crowd around it as well.

One of the layouts where something is always moving.

[Al.]

3 minutes ago, melmerby said:

One of the layouts where something is always moving.

 

That has always been the main appeal of the layout. Something is always moving on the front.

I think we've manage to keep that going at almost every shows to date. Even at the one when the layout has actually caught fire. 

[melmerby]

1 minute ago, Al. said:

 

That has always been the main appeal of the layout. Something is always moving on the front.

I think we've manage to keep that going at almost every shows to date. Even at the one when the layout has actually caught fire. 

Yes. I've seen it before and it seemed a bit more popular this time.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

20 hours ago, RobAllen said:

Saw Beijiao at Warley yesterday. Fantastic layout and I particularly loved the engagement with the audience. Thanks!
 

 

 

 

Thanks for those kind words, but .......................... OMG! You've made me look really old in that photo! 

Edited November 27, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[RobAllen]

23 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

you've made me look really old in that photo! 

We're all as young as we feel... right up until that twinge in our back!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

The dust is beginning to settle after Warley and I/we will need to consider our feedback from the weekend which will, in turn, influence our attendance at future shows.

 

I must take this opportunity to thank my team who made this year's Warley show such a success - Nigel, Alan, Iain, Gordon, Luke, Bill and Alex - each made a significant contribution to our success.

 

One of the most important aspects of any show is learning from our 'mistakes' and taking steps to eliminate those issues at future shows - we have in the past and as a consequence our performance gets better every time!

Edited November 27, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[F-UnitMad]

2 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

You've made me look really old in that photo! 

Globe-trotting jet lag...? 🤔😉🤣

[luke_stevens]

7 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

OMG! You've made me look really old in that photo! 

 

The layout of Dorian Gray? The more finshed the layout looks, the more finished we all become?

 

L

[luke_stevens]

I think the key takeaway from Warley was that the layout kept working. Yes there were issues with lots of things but not at the same time.

 

Fundamental the layout "has come of age" and we can now look forward to exhibiting it far and wide, with confidence. Beijing anyone?!? 🤣🤣🤣🇨🇳!

 

L

[Al.]

5 minutes ago, luke_stevens said:

I think the key takeaway from Warley was that the layout kept working. Yes there were issues with lots of things but not at the same time.

 

Fundamental the layout "has come of age" and we can now look forward to exhibiting it far and wide, with confidence. Beijing anyone?!? 🤣🤣🤣🇨🇳!

 

L

 

There was a definite step change in the layouts at Keithley. Finally there was reliability and stability. I'm pleased this has continued onto the following two shows.

Now that the team isn't fire fighting the layout just to keep it running, they can start looking at all the other stuff that vexed us for some many years. 

[Pete the Elaner]

2 hours ago, luke_stevens said:

I think the key takeaway from Warley was that the layout kept working. Yes there were issues with lots of things but not at the same time.

 

Fundamental the layout "has come of age" and we can now look forward to exhibiting it far and wide, with confidence. Beijing anyone?!? 🤣🤣🤣🇨🇳!

 

 

It is not problem free, but layouts rarely are. The problems were manageable though. We were able to keep things running.

 

There are plenty of things going on around the layout besides trains moving so having Paul or Gordon interacting with the viewers was very helpful & I am sure both enjoyed it as much as those viewing it.

[Trofimow]

I suspect that some of the past stability and reliability problems have been related to issues with the 12 volt bus which have now been identified and can  be properly rectified after the quick fixes applied at Warley.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I have spent the last three days dealing with some issues which came to light at Warley. None were 'life-threatening' and all/most have now been easily dealt with. One of the good thing about Warley was that I/we were able to identify problems and analyze  them and therefore deal with them.

 

 

One by-product of being so busy at Warley is that I never had time to take any photos of the BEIJIAO and so if anyone has any nice photos of the layout, please feel free to post them on here.

 

[Redkiterail]

here are my pictures from warley

[Bloodnok]

Here's a still from a video I shot. Unfortunately the loco in the foreground was stuck on something -- wheels were turning but no forward progress.

[F-UnitMad]

7 hours ago, Redkiterail said:

 

All trucks' wing mirrors present and correct.... well done Paul..!! 😉🤣👍👍

[Bloodnok]

Some of the video footage I took of Beijiao is featured between 2:36 and 5:36 here:

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

1 hour ago, Bloodnok said:

Some of the video footage I took of Beijiao is featured between 2:36 and 5:36 here:

 

 

Very nice - many thanks.  That was quite early on Saturday and I was too busy at the back of the layout to take much notice of what was going on 'out front' at that time. TBH it seems to me that it almost looks as though there was too much action on the front of the layout at some points. By that I mean that whilst having three or even four trains moving on the front does look impressive, it does mean that there will be a longer gap until the next train appears. By the end of the show we had got things a bit better organised so that there was constant movement out front, but no gaps - as one train disappeared off stage 'right' , so another train appeared on anothyerbtrack to take its place.

 

One thing about your video, in particular, appeals to me - you feature the banked train move on the industrial! I have always thought that that banked move is one of our most important USP's and yet it very rarely gets included in a video and many visitors miss it as well - because it's at the back of the layout and as soon as a train appears under their noses they concentrate on that rather than the banking move. At our next show we are going to try to stop 'conflicting' movements on the main lines and give the banking movement a clear 20 second window so that it gets the viewers' full attention.

 

Thanks again

Edited December 1, 2023 by TEAMYAKIMA

[Pete the Elaner]

3 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

One thing about your video, in particular, appeals to me - you feature the banked train move on the industrial! I have always thought that that banked move is one of our most important USP's and yet it very rarely gets included in a video and many visitors miss it as well - because it's at the back of the layout and as soon as a train appears under their noses they concentrate on that rather than the banking move. At our next show we are going to try to stop 'conflicting' movements on the main lines and give the banking movement a clear 20 second window so that it gets the viewers' full attention.

 

 

Nice to see I was driving the banker properly too: Stopping short of the train before moving forward to couple up (or in this case, connect). 😁

[Bloodnok]

1 hour ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Nice to see I was driving the banker properly too: Stopping short of the train before moving forward to couple up (or in this case, connect). 😁

Yes, I was impressed by that and wanted to include it.

Unfortunately I think either I missed the actual coupling part of the move, or I cut that bit out for some other reason.
I try to avoid including any unintended behaviour where something got stuck, was derailed, or needed a 'hand from the sky' to fix. Unfortunately, murphy says that the layout will behave perfectly until you point a camera at it -- and I've got a lot of evidence to back this up on the virtual cutting room floor!

[Bloodnok]

5 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Very nice - many thanks.  That was quite early on Saturday and I was too busy at the back of the layout to take much notice of what was going on 'out front' at that time.

 

Yes, early on Saturday morning -- around 10am IIRC?
 

5 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

TBH it seems to me that it almost looks as though there was too much action on the front of the layout at some points. By that I mean that whilst having three or even four trains moving on the front does look impressive, it does mean that there will be a longer gap until the next train appears.

 

There wasn't really much in the way of lengthy gaps -- with four different lines and long trains, there always seemed to be something moving, and often several at once.
 

5 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

One thing about your video, in particular, appeals to me - you feature the banked train move on the industrial!

 

Yes, I knew about this in advance, and hoped I would get to see it. I wasn't disappointed!

 

5 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I have always thought that that banked move is one of our most important USP's and yet it very rarely gets included in a video and many visitors miss it as well - because it's at the back of the layout and as soon as a train appears under their noses they concentrate on that rather than the banking move. At our next show we are going to try to stop 'conflicting' movements on the main lines and give the banking movement a clear 20 second window so that it gets the viewers' full attention.

For me the (three?) empty lines between the banked train and the mainline was enough space to catch it on film. I found it harder when I started following a train heading left to right on the mainline, and it got bowled by something coming right to left on the tracks in front of it.

However, I was aware that there was a possibility that banking move was about to happen, so I was paying attention. Removing potential distractions will definitely get it more attention, so I think that's a great idea.

[luke_stevens]

11 hours ago, Bloodnok said:

Some of the video footage I took of Beijiao is featured between 2:36 and 5:36 here:

 

 

Now I see Paul's point about not blocking the bankers! It would look good on it's own :)

 

I also liked the diesel on the China main overtaking the steam on the bidirectional. it has an "industrial progress" feel to it.

 

I better point out as no-one else has, that the Faller roadway wasn't working...

 

I was running the bidirectional from behind and I didn't realise how it was juddering. For the operators not on the industrial section most of the trains are "fire and forget": once a train disappears around the curve are the far end of the layout I don't know what is happening until it reappears and runs into the yard. If it has lost coaches / wagons (which happened much less now) it will only be as the train reaches the stop point that I may realise it is short.

 

And as an operating team we need to talk less! I chatted with a couple of other operators and we need to come up with a specific set of agreed hand signals: "stop train", "Your train has separated", "move forward", "move backward" and the most important "What the F are you doing?!?" :)

 

One thing I've realised for the videos from Warley is that I'd actually like to take time to just watch the layout... high praise from me!

 

Luke

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Now that Warley's done and dusted, we're off to Manchester this weekend.

 

We learnt lessons at Warley and we will put that knowledge into practice at Manchester - do come and say 'hello' if you're there. 

[mjenderby]

A few pics from Warley. 

 

Mark