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.

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!😉

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!

OOOPS! Many thanks for that.

Many apologies - I have been so busy in the last six months or more that I had somewhat overlooked this thread. Welcome back everyone - including me! The layout is now 99.9% finished and the group are just tweaking some electronics to make operation slightly easier. BREAKING NEWS - with this massive project under their belts, the group have been permission to build a new (much smaller) project. The group will be promoting this new project at the GAUGE O GUILD event at KEMPTON PARK RACECOURSE later today - why not have a chat to them if you're going? They will be part of the display of club member Steve Waterfield's CLEARWATER On30 layout.

I had forgotten about this thread - welcome back everyone, including me!😉 The small, but very keen 'modern era' team are getting Twickenham MRC's EASTGATE layout ready for our ANNUAL OPEN DAY on July 29th. We hope that once this layout is finally on the exhibition circuit we might move on to a more ambitious project, but we need to attract more 'modern era' modellers - could this be YOU? Please come down to our OPEN DAY on July 29th (10am to 4pm) and meet the team KDERSWELL HALL, Wills Cres, HOUNSLOW, TW3 2JF Email : chairman.tdmrc@gmail.com Tel : 01932 783253 www.tdmrc.org.uk

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!

Last year's Twickenham MRC's Open Day was our most successful ever - and we hope to build on that success this year! This year we have eight (yes, EIGHT!) working layouts plus our famous club S/H stand. So, it's really a more a local show than an Open Day 😀 Date : July 29th Time 10.00 to 16.00 Venue : Kerswell Hall, Wills Cres, HOUNSLOW, TW3 2JF On-site parking and refreshments available plus club S/H stall. Website : www.tdmrc.org.uk Contact : chairman.tdmrc@gmail.com Tel : 01932 783253 I will be posting more details as we get closer to the day, but here is a photo from last year's open day showing our award-winning O gauge layout, ADDISON ROAD, which will be attending this year's event.

I was musing this afternoon and I thought where better to muse than on RMweb. It suddenly occurred to me that over the last 50 odd years I've built six personal 'exhibition-only' layouts and worked on several other ones, but I've never been interested in having a home layout. Yes, I set-up and test my 'exhibition-only' layouts at home, but my attitude is that once I've proved that it works reliably, that's it. Or putting it another way, once I know that a particular loco runs successfully with a particular rake of stock on a particular section of track, what's the point of repeating that move - without an audience! I don't decry home layouts, it's just that I have absolutely no interest in them - maybe my thinking is that having an exhibition layout is a way of getting into shows for nothing 😀 Am I unique? Am I odd?

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

I think there is scope for a nice cameo here! Maybe not all five police officers though - China isn't a police state!

The answer is 'yes' in theory, but my layout is set in China in 2001 and so that 'yes' might become a 'maybe'. Joking aside I do have a set of police officers on the way and I always planned to have them 'talking' to the truck driver and maybe that's what they'll be talking about. 😉

The truck is now 99% finished - weathered ..................... And cab interior painted

Many apologies, for some reason I seem to have track of this thread. Thanks for the video, very interesting. I have decided that I haven't really got then time/enthusiasm to start messing with the Herpa model - there seems to be a concensus that it's pretty much 'right' as it is and so, that's good enough for me. Just one question now springs to mind now - is the road roller correctly positioned? I noticed in the video that the roller was taken right to the front of the low loader, but my low loader is somewhat longer - should it move back a bit? Also, I'm thinking that wedges will be easier to replicate than chains - thoughts? As always, thanks to you and all the others for your interest and input.

I totally agree, I had exactly the same problem with James Street - one of the very best layouts I've ever seen in over 50 years going to shows, but I couldn't get a proper view of it because there were no barriers and the lighting pelmet was in my face.

Yes, I agree with you. My exhibition-only layout was originally built at 51 inches which I consider an acceptable height (I'm 6ft 3 inches tall), but having received feedback from a (short) member of my team I lowered it to 48 inches. However, when we exhibited at the Warley show I met an old friend of mine who is now in a wheelchair and asked him what he thought of the layout and he said that he hadn't stopped to look at it as he couldn't see the layout properly. So, reluctantly, I lowered the layout to 46 inches and that is the absolute lowest I would accept. And, TBH, I only did that because mine is a very niche layout and if I want to get exhibition invites I cannot afford any 'negatives' otherwise I would personally have said that 48 inches would be my lowest height.

I have been weighing up the barrier issue (in both the metaphorical and literal sense) and definitely think that this concept would be my first choice. Put another way, if a show provides their own (substantial) barriers I would go with that option, but if they don't I think this is the best (and cheapest) option.

I asked the original question about barriers and I have found the discussion interesting and informative but one aspect has intrigued me - the 100% focus on barriers being there only to protect the layout - whilst I totally understand that aspect, for me there is another one - an added bonus if you like. Let me explain........................ If I am right up against a layout it seems to me like I'm in a hot air balloon looking down onto the scene and that it not how most people view life. As I move further away from a layout the angle I look at it becomes more natural. This is the same 'issue' we see in old model magazines from the 1960'/70's where the model photos were all of the 'hot air balloon' style - nowadays all the model mags show photos from 'street-level'. Barriers force viewers to take a step back and therefore they see a more natural view. Another bonus of having layout barriers is that people in the second or third row can see the layout ie if the first row of viewers is right up against a layout, anyone behind them can barely see anything, but having a gap between the first row of viewers and the layout allows those viewers at the back to get a far better view of the layout.

In my continual search for exhibition invites, I recently emailed an exhibition manager and asked if he was looking for any layouts for his 2024 show as I had something that might interest him. He replied that he was just looking for one more (big) layout. "Hmmmm," I thought, maybe there's a chance here and so I was about to reply with details of BEIJIAO when he sent another email saying "As long as it's a blue diesel layout" So, I sent him this photo.................... I'm still waiting for that invite!

Cliches? You want a cliche? I've been to several shows lately and virtually every layout had trains running - if that's not a cliche, I don't know what is!

I see exactly where you're coming from and I like it - yet another 'newbie' bringing fresh ideas to the team!

Ten days ago we held a very successful test session in a local church hall and this was, in part at least, to train up three newbie operators. One great thing about newbies is that they invariably see things slightly differently and often ask questions like "Why do you do that like that?" and that gets us thinking "Come to think of it, why do we do that like that?" There were several occasions like that during the test session and the original 'core' team have considered all of the comments/queries and in almost all cases we're making tweaks regarding how we do things. One such 'issue' was the setting up of our 32 axle transformer wagon. I had made a bespoke carrying case for it and when it travels it sits in the box on a length of PECO code 100, but getting out of the box and then getting all the wheels on the baseboard track was a nightmare. I had tried using a PECO railer but that wasn't very successful. At the test day I asked one of the newbies (Alan) to set it out and report back - was using the railer a help or a hindrance? He came back with a 50/50 appraisal, but with a solution and today I've implemented it. This is how it used to be.................... The problem was the sharp angle between the box and the railer and at Alan's suggestion I've fixed a block of wood at the far end so that the run off from the storage box is a lot smoother I added an end stop so that the wagon doesn't roll off before you're ready for it to do so Runs off now perfectly - new thinking to the rescue! It might only save a few minutes during set-up at an exhibition, but we've made several such minor time-saving tweaks recently - and anything that saves setting-up time means we get to the pub that much quicker! So, a big thank you from the original team to the newbies for some very useful observations and suggestions.

Speaking as the owner of BEIJIAO, I am honoured it has been mentioned in the same breath James Street which I consider to be the best N gauge layout I've ever seen in well over 50 years of attending exhibitions. I am looking forward to seeing it in 2024.

Unfortunately, I have to report that we will not be attending AYLESBURY RAILEX this year. This is due to the organising club being told with six weeks notice that the hall they booked some years ago will be out of action for two months and unavailable. A replacement hall on the same site has been made available, but it is considerably smaller. Hence the show's two biggest layouts have had to be sacrificed, but the good news is that we have been invited next year instead. My sympathies go out to the show organisers - last year's RAILEX had to be cancelled because the venue's management 'double-booked' the hall and so the club has suffered two years running.