TEAMYAKIMA

The Peterborough show is coming up! All hands to the pumps!! Yes, with another 'BIG' show just two weeks away everyone is working flat out to make improvements to the layout based on the experience we've gained at previous shows. With out doubt one of the biggest improvements will be along Russell Road - new trees are appearing every week ….. Under the baseboards new electronics are appearing that will bring the signal gantry into life...………… And to keep stock dust free overnight at shows (and improve security) some new covers have been made for the fiddle yards ………….. Please come and say 'Hi' if you're going to be at the Peterborough show!

Excellent news!!!

I couldn't agree more with your well balanced view (no pun intended) of this layout. With the layout at the height it is it is ideal for a private visit in a dedicated building where an average height person could easily bend down and see the train movements virtually side on. This of course is totally impossible at a show - especially one that is crowded like Warley was. I am 6ft 3inches and in the third row and all I saw was roof and so I walked off . I genuine pity - superb modelling - interesting operation but not really suited to a busy public exhibition - better suited to a quiet specialist show or better still a private visit where I could sit down for 20 minutes and appreciate the action at eye level - that would be PERFECT!

I've been told that they are due soon, but I can't find them on Lidl's website. Can anyone find me a link please? I'm told it's only the big one this year Are the shelves the same depth on the big ones as the small ones? Has anyone a photo of one of the big ones 'in use'? Thanks

I have spent the day doing various minor things on the layout. In particular I just noticed that the industrial passenger train was not weathered - BIG mistake!!! So have so far weathered two out the four - hopefully you can tell which two!

Hi A pretty basic question. I have a small rake of grey unfitted 16ton minerals - could they run with a bauxite fitted brake van? Or must it be a grey one? Thanks for any help.

INFO REQUEST! Does anyone have video of the banking station at Chengde? In latter years photography at the banking station was forbidden but maybe someone has footage. All I want to know is how the locos signalled each other when ready to leave uphill. My memory is that the train loco sounded its horn and the bankers replied. But did both locos respond one after another ? Or just one of them? And was it horns or whistles or either? Maybe a PM would be the best way to take this forward if you have the info I need rather than clog this thread. Thanks

Could you give us an insight into his broad views please- I never see MRJ

Found it : Which edition please?

OK, one VERY quick photo today - rushing about doing ebay etc and now dashing into London for the first 'Xmas get together' of 2018! So here is the state of play as of now - had a couple of last minute mess-ups otherwise all windows would have been in place - will take a few minutes to cure but I don't have a few minutes at the moment. The annexe is still not progressed - just the main building

Blimey! Chinese HO layouts are becoming 'two a penny' - soon you won't be able to go to a show without seeing at least one!

Lets compare the net positive and negative effects of this programme numerically. Lets have two columns - How many people have joined or re-joined the hobby because they were inspired by the programme - lets call that the positive column How many established modellers have abandoned the hobby because they were so disgusted by the programme - lets call that the negative column. Post that up as one in the positive column!

Firstly, let me say that I know VERY little about DCC or electronics in general. I have just built a DCC powered (DIGITRAX) 26ft x 10ft exhibition layout with an 18 road fiddle yard and four tracks leading out of the fiddle yard. Some of the points are controlled by DS64's and some by CML DAC20's. I have gone DCC and Digitrax on the advice of a long term friend who favours DIGITRAX - so far so good. However, the plan is/was to use route selection rather than individual point control - and herein lies the problem. I have put all my eggs in one basket - only my friend knows anything about the route selection process. I know it's not MERG based. Now due to unforeseen circumstances my friend may not be in a position to write/programme the route selection and we have an exhibition looming. I no less than nothing about the subject and yet I want a PLAN B, a fall-back plan . Could anyone offer advice/help - maybe a PM would be better than a discussion within this thread. This is a very delicate matter as on the one hand my operating team are demanding I get the route selection in place before our first exhibition and on the other hand I have no wish to annoy/alienate my friend. Thank you for reading this

Funny you should say that. I apologise for going slightly off topic, but .... I realised early in the planning stage that my new exhibition layout will turn off many established modellers - it's foreign - VERY foreign - and so I know from experience that many established modellers won't give it a second look at shows. And so, from the early design stage, I decided that I would need to introduce 'gimmicks' to attract/interest the non-enthusiast show attendee. It's a fine balance - gimmicky enough to attract the family market and yet not so 'gimmicky' to put off the more broad minded wing of our 'serious hobby'.

Have been incredibly busy over the weekend - getting ready for the house move and selling my unwanted British OO on ebay. Still found time to work on the depot. The sign is just a trial one.

I sincerely hope my comments are not taken as being hard on the Fawley team. I totally accept that in 'normal' model railway terms their two layouts were the best - no question. But lets face it what we serious modellers might call 'normal' is not winning us many converts out there in the wider world. And so this programme comes along and attempts to sell our hobby to a wider audience by going beyond the 'norm' and I feel that although they might have had the best traditional layout they chose not to step outside the accepted norm and therefore I don't think that their layouts would attract many outsiders to our cause. So to sum up I think that people within the hobby might vote for it as being the best, but outsiders (the wider TV audience) would not.

. I regret that I felt that the Fawley team just didn't seem to adhere to the spirit of the programme. Don't get me wrong ... in traditional model railway terms both of their layouts were excellent but I think that the great thing about the programme was that it went outside the norm and encouraged teams to work outside their comfort zone. Fawley were the only one of the 15 groups that stayed in their comfort zone and I regret to say they didn't seem to 'get' the themes.

A fantastic winner - looking forward to seeing it at Warley - if I can get close enough to it to see it. Aberdeen's layout showed the most imagination and that's what potential newbies want/need - to have their imagination stimulated - concerns about the number of rivets on a GWR smokebox door can come 20 years down the line.

Here is an update ....

As someone who is very impressed with GMRC and who is delighted our hobby is getting such high profile exposure I would be interested to read these negative comments that are posted elsewhere - if only to reply positively to them. I accept that it would not be acceptable to post a link here to such other forums but I would request anyone sending me a PM with such a link. Thanks

Please forgive my ignorance, but can you post a link to this topic please? Thanks

I totally agree. I watched it just for the comparison to GMRC. The C4 programme was quite patronising in places - just the kind of thing that some here on RMweb had been worried about before GMRC was screened - just the kind of patronising attitude that Knickerbocker TV has avoided to their great credit.

Oh, and I totally agree about the 'station announcements' - the only feature that I think should go. My wife finds them particularly annoying and generally she loves the programme.

Having thought about your post, I'm thinking that maybe the success of the programme has been that there has been little emphasis on the railway aspect of the project. In no particular order the emphasis has been on imagination, creativity, modelling craft/ability and teamwork. There has been virtually no anal railway discussion about liveries or loco types which can be a real turn off to many.

Ok, I have deleted last night's post which had a poor photo and here are two better ones taken today. Depot now with balcony - couldn't find the roof of the annexe this morning.