009 micro modeller

I know, I just wonder what the point is of increasing the scale (to 1:150, compared to 1:160 for standard gauge Shinkansen in the case of Japanese N) if it’s still not increased enough to actually scale correctly to the gauge. Otherwise it would seem sensible to just make everything the same scale. The other 3’ 6” prototypes that might be of interest in the context of British 1:120 are town tramway systems, especially in the Black Country and East Anglia. A nice addition to a standard gauge layout perhaps?

Although still not enough, to be accurate for Cape gauge it ideally needs to be 1:120. T gauge (and the slightly obscure ZZ) has a similar issue despite being originally developed in Japan.

Also if operating from the front you can keep an eye on what’s going on at the front, which otherwise perhaps isn’t as easy. With my layout as described above it is difficult to see what’s going on from the back because of the enclosed box, and I need to get to the front every so often to swap stock over, but otherwise it largely runs on its own and I just need to monitor it and engage with the visitors. But equally I can’t stand right in front of it as that obscures their view.

Besides which, who are these people defining as ‘the current generation’ (as used earlier in this thread)? If it means ‘the current generation of young adults’ then I haven’t noticed that anyone in this group is any more likely to poke at or damage a layout than older people are. So perhaps they mean ‘the current generation of young children’ which for reasons covered earlier is a rather spurious group to blame for this sort of thing and a bit petty anyway. So they must presumably mean ‘everyone who is currently alive who has ever visited a model railway exhibition’, which is certainly an interesting take…

The idea of keeping it incompatible on purpose seems slightly odd in some ways. Is it ‘Standard Gauge’, as I linked to earlier? I think actually originated by Lionel.

I did wonder if anything else used that gauge (not sure for Lego if it’s intended to be measured in metric, 37.5 or 38mm, or in inches). However: Which sounds as if it’s starting off as something wider than 45mm.

I think it’s the track gauge that @Ben B meant, not the scale.

In some cases yes, but as well as the space and other issues already mentioned I don’t always like them as an exhibitor as they obscure the view of the layout for visitors (depending on viewing height) or make operator access to the front difficult. Also if badly placed they can be forced towards the layout if it is crowded or somebody falls on the barrier, which isn’t great (I’m particularly thinking of the larger metal kind - I’d rather somebody brushed against the layout with their elbow than the front of it got clobbered by one of those). (I think we’ve previously done the discussion of how to design an effective exhibition barrier to death in another thread so won’t bother here - IIRC lots of discussion about whether they should be springy and lightweight, or substantial enough to lean on.)

Agreed - which is why I felt the need to clearly state that my post about pins etc. was a joke. And we’re largely talking about accidental damage or misdirected youthful enthusiasm in this thread, not large-scale wilful destruction and vandalism like the Market Deeping incident a few years ago.

I shouldn’t have to write this sentence, but hitting children is not the solution here. Especially given that, in my experience of model railway exhibitions, it’s usually very young kids (under 5s) who don’t understand as well as older ones anyway. I have led museum object handling sessions, including one specifically for Early Years, and they were OK, though many of the same sort of concerns raised in this thread apply. In fact in some ways it’s worse, as visitors are supposed to be handling the objects (but need to do so in a careful and proper way) and it may be more difficult to repair/replace them if they are damaged.

Indeed, though in museums it doesn’t apply universally (living museums, object handling etc.). In those sort of contexts there is generally clearer signposting about this than in a model railway exhibition. Given that a lot of the incidents in this thread seem to have involved adults shoving cameras into layouts, or even just using them as armrests, I’m not sure this is the main point that I’d take from this. Agreed - just not sure it’s worth having everything so close together just to allow one more layout/trade stand to squeeze in if it’s leading to other problems.

Well that is similar to a phrase that could be used to deter visitors who do lean on the layout. Given the ‘fakir’ references I also wonder whether a selection of pins sticking out of the layout* would help… 😂 *Given some of the more ‘interesting’ responses to this thread I feel obliged to point out that This Is A Joke - and anyway, who would want to get blood on their model railway scenery? Even if it is only from one little prick** it would still leave a stain. **Referring to the type of injury sustained, obviously, not the offending visitor themself… 😅

I feel like the problem there could be partly solved by the organiser allowing a little bit more space between stands when planning the hall layout though. The late John de Frayssinet, as well as building County Gate etc., was quite an advocate for improved disabled access at model railway shows and a mobility scooter user himself. I read a piece that he wrote on this subject, possibly on his own website, arguing that not all such scooters are suitable for indoor use and that ideally some lighter alternative should be provided at shows so that they don’t have to be used. Perhaps not particularly contentious in theory, but if it’s not practical for the organisers to provide something themselves I’m not sure what the solution is. Again, would it have helped if there was more space to manoeuvre in between the various layouts and trade stands?

Do you add scatter, small trees, weathering etc. to their elbow/arm as well to increase the realism? 😂 Generally I agree with this, and in particular I couldn’t really get angry at a young child for trying to touch the layout to explore the textures as at very young ages it’s often how they explore the world around them, and for some children it might not be obvious what can and can’t be touched. My gripe would be with the parents if they didn’t do anything about it. Last week I took my 1:12 scale/T gauge Christmas layout to an exhibition. It was very well-received by the punters, whether adults or children, as I think a lot of people can relate to it on some level. However, I did have a few instances of people trying to touch the layout, though usually children and generally only right at the front. With this particular layout though I sense that there might be a few elements that inadvertently encourage this behaviour: - The subject of the layout - it’s a boy playing with a train set, complete with cat waiting to swipe the train off. - Being a very large 1:12 scale I wonder if there’s a perception that everything is less fragile because it’s very big, though this obviously doesn’t apply to the train itself, which is tiny. - It’s quite colourful and at a child-friendly viewing height. Because of the side walls some kids almost end up putting their whole face into the front of the 1:12 scale ‘room’ to get a better look. This is generally less annoying though than adults doing the same thing with a massive camera lens (which could whack the scenery). Despite that though I had no major problems. There was one boy who kept coming back to the layout (which he said was his favourite at the show) and did try to briefly touch the layout once or twice. But he was well-supervised by a parent, obviously really liked the layout and didn’t mean any harm, and no damage actually occurred, so I can’t get too worked up about this. I was a lot more concerned about transporting the layout to the exhibition and the potential for damage there. I’m much less tolerant of adults who should know better, and still lean on or poke the layouts.

I’ve seen a photo of that but I think it actually said ‘Trespassers will not be prosecuted. Next of kin will be informed!' (i.e. ‘you will get shot or fall down a mine, rather than the police being called’). On an 009 military NG layout I used a version of this sign: (embedded link - not my photo).

Very nice. Do Lionel still use this then? I thought they mostly made 0 gauge stuff these days. What gauge was the Hogwarts set?

Has anyone done a spoof advert for Brunel’s broad gauge or similar ‘this is the gauge of the train’? Perhaps a humorous social media idea for Didcot Railway Centre (though given the association of the ‘Age of the Train’ ads with Savile probably not the best idea now). On the subject of graffiti I did see a Thameslink class 700 the other day where somebody had simply written ‘HMP’ above the front cab window. In some cases the 700s seem to actually be improved by graffiti, given how dull the applied livery is.

Not sure if that’s hugely relevant though as they are narrow gauge tourist/heritage railways (I know Ffestiniog is as well, but most of the stuff I’ve seen about building a north-south railway in mid-Wales has been around standard gauge, national network proposals). And there’s been no suggestion that they’re actually going to link up the two lines, even from the fantasy extension brigade. It seems to make quite a lot of sense in terms of making back-of-house stuff (e.g. marketing) more efficient, and possibly in engineering terms as well? It’s got more in common with museum groups (like the National Trust, or the Science Museum Group, or on a smaller geographical scale the Jorvik group, not to mention the various local museum trusts in larger cities) that have multiple sites than, for instance, the K&ESR/RVR where they’re physically joining up two sections of railway. I wonder if we’ll see any common branding or ticketing arrangements between Brecon and Rheidol? (Obviously in this case the two lines involved have been under common ownership in the past as well, though I don’t know if that even influenced the decision to do the merger.) They do also have the NGG13 at Rheidol as an operating loco now, though that came from Switzerland (largely in working order IIRC) rather than from amongst the stored stock. Would the Gwalior Pacifics suit the loading gauge? If not at Aberystwyth they might have a chance at Pant given that the BMR is on an old standard gauge trackbed. A bit off-topic but I’m in two minds about whether I’d personally like to see items from the Rampton collection running on the BMR. On one hand it would be good to see some of them operating, but equally I quite like the American image that the BMR has created (even though I realise it’s inauthentic and irrelevant to the line’s original history - but arguably that point would still largely apply even if the BMR was narrow gauge with British and European stock) and in some ways it seems a shame to dilute that image. Unless they’ve paused the project I think they are still building a couple of new-build locos to Maine 2ft gauge designs as well.

I don’t think Cromwell could be said to be ‘not associated with the military’, though if they specifically mean contemporary (or at least relatively recent) military figures it makes sense.

I’m surprised this hasn’t been tried, or more to the point that railway operators haven’t tried to sell ‘naming rights’ to individual locos/multiple units as a way of getting companies to sponsor them.

Possibly although I thought that’s what the new space at Aberystwyth was for? Though given the amount of material in the collection (all interesting and mostly not publicly displayed before) it presumably wouldn’t hurt to have more than one place to display it.

I wonder if they’re doing something else with the museum space on the BMR then, given that the museum locos seem to be being concentrated at Aberystwyth?

Are they reasonably good quality? I thought they did a few New Zealand locos as well.

Yes it is - I think Liverpool Street to Cambridge is known as the West Anglian line, presumably because it’s slightly further west than the East Anglian one. Generally I’m not either, which is why I liked Hereward (an English rebel after the Norman Conquest). Not that I’d approve of what some of his ancestors did to the Britons though.

On an East Anglian theme but a bit later in history, they also named one after Hereward the Wake. A national hero or a troublemaker and arsonist? You decide. I wrote my dissertation on him. In a similar vein I’m thinking of setting my next layout in Shropshire and naming a freelance loco after Eadric Silvaticus/Eadric the Wild (who I don’t think has a loco already named after him).