TEAMYAKIMA

Whilst I entirely agree with you, I think the original post refers more to exhibitions being run by companies like Hornby Magazine (Key Publishing?) and BRM (Warners)

Can you clarify please? As the owner of a large exhibition - only layout I have a vested interest in such rumours.

I've been going through my photo archives. There are few things I like more in life than a team photo and here's one back in 2019 when we organised a scanning session with Alan from Modelu at the Aly Paly exhibition and all five of us now appear on the layout - a couple of us more than once! This was us then ......................... And now ...............................

YES, that reference has been explained to me! And, NO, I won't be attempting that!!! 🙂

Interesting and informative. Maybe a bit worrying for those of us who have VERY foreign layouts (China), but having said that my layout has been invited twice to BRISTOL and once (so far) to Aly Paly both BRM sponsored.

I am very pleased to report that my Chinese HO layout, BEIJIAO, has been invited for a return visit to Warley show in 2023 - a rare honour and one that is greatly appreciated. We originally exhibited at the NEC in 2019 and things have moved on a lot since then - hence our return visit. I thought a 'then and now' comparison might be of interest.. This was us in 2019 .................. And here is basically the same scene today. I spoke to a lot of visitors back in 2019 and asked what they liked and (most importantly) what they didn't like about the layout. They didn't like my idea of the dark and dismal backscene - so we changed it! They thought that the front of the layout was rather barren - so we changed it! There are many other new or upgraded viewer-friendly features since 2019 and we are looking forward to showing you all of them in 2023.

Let's face it - exhibitions are under threat for all the reasons outlined above. As regards the age issue - I don't think that it's necessarily that younger people aren't modelling, it's that the younger modellers who do exist are not so keen to join clubs these days - because they don't need to as much as they did in earlier times (i.e. pre-internet). There is a trend in some cases to move to one day shows with cheaper layouts - that is not good news for those of us that have large 'exhibition-only' layouts. That's why I'm keen to 'make hay, whilst the sun shines' and exhibit as often as I can - whilst there are still big shows around who will be able to accomodate us.

We will be taking BEIJIAO my Chinese HO layout and it will have several new viewer-friendly features to entertain both the serious model railway enthusiast and the general public. Here is a recent photo, taken at the Keighley exhibition.

From what I've seen on the club's Facebook page, it's not only the layout's wiring that has come on in leaps and bounds lately - this recent photo shows a very well modelled layout with a highly professional presentation.

I get that and maybe that is covered by the fact that my layout is set in 2001, but there is also another aspect. I started another topic in Miscellany & Musings, "When is it right to tweak reality on an exhibition layout to entertain the viewer?" And maybe this is a perfect example. The van with the satellite dish is a 'stand-out' feature i.e. it is unusual/unique and it's right under the viewer's nose, it will (hopefully) draw people into the cameo whereas just an estate car with with a man holding a smart phone wouldn't.

I remember the long-departed Gerry Veit ranting about the PECO track rubber 50 years ago. I must admit that I use the PECO track cleaner quite a lot - but I always then rub a dry paper towel over the rack as well. The track rubber more loosens the dirt than fully removes it and the paper towel follows up and removes the remnants.

Thanks for this. That's very interesting but, as I said, my advice was from someone with British experience rather than Chinese. My excuse will be that the layout is set in 2001 when things weren't quite so sophisticated :-)

In 2001 in a remote part of NE China, one of my travelling companions was negotiating the purchase of some railway souvenirs from a Chinese version of Del Boy.

Thanks for that - Yes, we concentrate on plenty of action on the main lines, but at our next show (Taunton) we will be trialling two new operational features which we hope will take things to the next level. As I have often said, when I originally thought this layout up (14 years ago) I considered its theme to be the industrial railway at the back of the layout with the main lines just an 'add-on' whereas viewers have always prioritised the main lines and in that context, what I consider one of our most important USP's (the banking move on the industrial) have virtually never featured in videos, To address that issue we have thought up ways to flag up the banking moves to viewers and at the same time avoid this scenario - the videographer had the right idea, but fate intervened - look at 5.58 to see what I mean.

Hello Joseph I take your point, but just to clarify the situation, what we are really discussing on my layout is more a case of an 'extra/different' movement rather than shunting in the sense that you are describing on Bournemouth West. We just have a simple loop right at the front of the layout and so the only possible movements are 1. Rake of box cars arrives 2. Rake of box cars departs with the possible addition of 1A, Light loco returns to fiddle yard 1B. Light loco enters scenic section and couples to rake of box cars.

OK, let's begin by agreeing that any change has pro's and cons and my/our job with this layout is to maximise the pro's and minimise the cons. Firstly, let us begin by looking at the artistic impact of making such a change. Here is the scene as it is today - it's very busy - things being unloaded from the box cars - yes, maybe the two empty trucks on the R/H side need loads in them, but otherwise the idea is that the box cars have arrived and are being unloaded. The loco which brought them has uncoupled and is awaiting a path to return to the marshalling yard off-scene. There are a series of cameos which tend to imply that the box cars have recently arrived. Also, as it happens, the highly decorated QJ which we tend to use in that scene (not the one shown in today's photo) is a brass one and is very track sensitive (which is code for 'derails a lot') and so sitting it right at the front of the layout is a good role for it as it is very eye-catching. Here is the scene without the box cars - TBH it doesn't look convincing to me as I think, in reality, the unloading would take place quite quickly after the box cars arrived and everyone would have left the scene by the time the box cars departed and consequently if there are no box cars I don't think there would be all that human activity. Secondly, there is the operational impact of the change. As I said before, originally I had the idea that an anti-clockwise QJ would bring the five box cars into the loop from the marshalling yard off-scene. There is an under-the-track magnet in place so that the QJ could uncouple and eventually run back light loco clockwise into the fiddle yard. Some time later, the same QJ would enter the scene, couple to the box cars and take them back off scene - and REPEAT twenty times during the day. As with a lot of my original ideas, this idea had to be re-thought. Right from the beginning, my operating team have made it clear that they want simple reliable operation and that even simple roundy-roundy moves take some thought. Now, bare in mind that the bi-directional operator is sat right at the back of the fiddle yard has no view of the scenic section and whilst there is some basic TV monitoring I think it would be impossible for him to carry out such a delicate move from where he is sitting. Back in the beginning, we had walk around controllers and so, in theory, that operator could get off his stool and walk round to the front of the layout to carry out those moves, but we don't have walk round handsets anymore. Another aspect of such a move is that the bi-directional operator would have to physically lift off the QJ in the fiddle yard and place it at the other end of the rake of box cars every time he made the move which takes the box cars back onto the layout. That has all sorts of implications including the possibility of damaging a highly detailed and very fragile loco and I go back to my operating team's basic requirement - keep it simple. There is another over-riding issue which cannot be overcome without a significant re-arrangement of the bi-directional fiddle yard - in the existing fiddle yard set-up there is simply no road available to store it when it's off the layout. So, for those reasons I regret to say that it must remain a static 'feature'. However, I can confirm that as the layout has developed it has become more reliable and so the basic roundy-roundy moves are now far easier and less stressful for operators to accomplish and so we are currently practising two new 'WOW!' moves which will more than compensate for the fact that those box cars stay put all day. I don't want to say any more at this stage, but after Taunton I will give full details including videos.

An interesting point, which needs thinking about. It's too late to answer this fully tonight, but I will try to answer it tomorrow. All I will say, at this early stage, is that if there is one thing I have learnt about this layout is that there have always been consequences when we've made changes - and many of those consequences were unexpected and unforeseen until we try running the layout at the next show. I will reveal some new plans we have for 'spicing up the operation' which I hope we will be able to trial at our next show which I hope will deal with that concern. BW Paul

Originally, 13 years or so ago, yes I had planned to use it, but very early on I discovered the BIG difference between a home layout and an exhibition layout - at an exhibition viewers want constant ACTION and shunting moves involving that freight shed loop was going to slow down the action on the bi-directional. I even put in magnets in the loop to allow Kadees to be uncoupled, but VERY early on the exhibition team made it very clear that they wanted to do the 'simple' moves and not get distracted by shunting in the scenic section. So, I think that the loop may have been used once (literally once) as the very last movement before shut down on a Sunday as the parked QJ dragged the five box cars along the bi-directional in into the fiddle yard. Even that cannot happen now as the main line points have no point motors anymore - they are just fixed permanently to the straight road.

Always has been - it's the freight shed loop not the bi-directional

I've just had his speech translated - it was recorded for Chinese National television's evening news "I am in Beijiao, in the very far NE of our country and I am witnessing the final days of steam engine use on China Rail. Soon, locomotives like the one behind me will be consigned to history and will only be seen in museums. Join me later in the bulletin as I take a ride in the cab of one of these giants."

I think that I've found a (semi-accidental) tweak on my layout. Originally, my layout was set in China in 2004 and I used two official Beijing Olympics posters on billboards to help set the scene. But then I changed the layout to being set in 2001 (don't ask!) and at some point realised that those official promotional images had not been released to the public until August 2003 and in fact Beijing hadn't been even awarded the games until July 2001. So, I debated whether to replace them, but there was the issues of the difficulty or removing the billboards without causing damage, not to mention the issue of finding something to replace them - and so I decided to leave them. They are something that viewers can relate to and I'm sure 99.9% of them don't know the true history of those images. I could make them the answer in a future "What is the deliberate mistake on this layout? 😉

Another upgrade I've been working on has been the shop signs and pavements which were home printed and have somewhat faded over the last eight years due to me not pulling the blinds down in my shed! A month ago..... And today using exactly the same type of home printed pavement sheets - and 'YES!' the people carrier has gained wing mirrors ! ......................

As I seem to have some spare time these days, I have been sorting out my archive of BEIJIAO photos and the 'then' and 'now' is a bit frightening. I have set up a current version of a photo taken at our fourth exhibition - Warley in 2019. Here is 2019. My original thinking was that the industrial setting at the back of the layout was to be fully detailed and the foreground was to mostly wasteland .................... But I had not really appreciated how far away those details at the back would be once we took into account the 2ft barrier gap - the foreground needed work. And today .............................. And tomorrow? Who knows?

Good question. Two thoughts come to mind. 1. I was told by a (British) TV production friend of mine (and an RMwebber) that, " Outside broadcast Units are hardly ever owned by the TV company, they are just hired in as and when required." Whether that holds good in China I honestly don't know. 2. Having a logo like that would make it 'stand out' but that might not look so good or be so easy to do now that there is a ladder on one side

Right, we finally have a final version. I've tried to position the freight cars and the loco so that the figures stand out as much as possible.