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12 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

All this talk about the show being quiet is making me wonder if I was at the same show? The boundaries for the show had been moved back from previous shows and as a result there was much more exhibition space resulting in all the aisles being noticeably very much wider and this may what is giving the impression that the show was quieter than previously experienced.

 

 😊

Nice to see something has been done to tackle what has been analysed as "the Warley effect", where someone doesn't actually see an exhibit until they have got to the front of the barrier and seen what is directly in front of them. Layouts are theatre and you don't get that effect of being in front of a stage, more of a mosh pit (literally). 

I recently did a show that was described as being quiet, and had lots of favourable comments regarding my layouts presentation and the way the lighting made it stand out. That's because it's foreign and we have to try harder anyway, and less people around it made it possible to see the layout from a distance. 

I think this is also why quality advanced publicity is also important, such as good photos and a brief description of each layout on the website beforehand. It seems to be a given that there will be something for everyone with 80+ layouts but that's a dangerous assumption, once I'd seen the list I could say what the showstoppers would be but they just seem to have been ignored, and it's still the case that you aren't aware of the "must see gem" until it is reported here on Saturday evening...

So, Lion has arrived- with a few questions:

What do I re-numer it as? My big book of locomotive names says it was number 57, or maybe 5027...

There appears to be paint missing from the front of the chimney/smokebox flare- really not worth sending back for, but is anyone else's the same?

f8...really?

Not a full NEM socket, so I'll have to run it with a kadee fitted shunters truck. It's a beautiful model and runs exquisitely.

7 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

2 amp is a bit limp, so the £400 price tag already is going to go up from needing a booster for plenty.

 

using your phone to control trains is awful imo, physical buttons mean no need to look at it once you are used to it, so its nice theyve done their own controller

You'd have to have a pretty big home layout to trouble 2 amps, although it would help to divide it to decrease the initial current draw at start-up. The draw from sound decoders is one thing but I've found that it is a lot less for the new generation of sound chips than the old clunkers of 15 years ago. 

I found using the EngineDriver app at a Freemo meet really easy to use with an Android phone because you can use the volume buttons as the speed control.

£400 quid tho? What the hobby needs is a £200 system without any fancy gimmicks, such as a Dynamis with a cable.... 

Post Athearn/Roundhouse merger 2-6-0 ( I think branded as the latter), Sound fitted (MRC?), not very nice at all really and they didn't really gain from being upgraded to more modern standards unlike some Bachmann steam locos. There is also a 2-8-0 chassis that looks better.

Nice Bachmann C&NW 4-6-0 (large drivers), test fit with a cheap Bachmann Vanderbilt tender. I think the UP tender is from the 0-6-0 behind it. 

Bachmann Baldwin 4-6-0 (52" driver), probably the best detailed of the locos I've had, DCC sound fitted in the tender but lacking a rear headlight. 

Bachmann Alco "Sound value" 2-6-0, bit more basic but still a nice model. I've actually had more luck tuning the decoder in this than the 4-6-0. 

Newer locos obviously tend to be better (such as the later 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 above), I did have a 2-8-0 that was less so as was their GS4 Daylight, the worst I've owned being the 0-6-0 tender loco.

Peckett "Flying Bufferbeam"...

I'm not sure if it would fit, but a P2k GP7/9/18/20 would make sense, it'd get round the cracked gears problem and a lack of space inside due to the size of the chassis block of the original.

On 15/11/2023 at 12:16, Lineas Cubanas said:

Please ignore the Cuban Billboard! 

I'll have it...

1 hour ago, big jim said:

The Hattons Black Friday sale has just bagged me the 1980s condition lion for £100, pleased with that after I cancelled my titfield deluxe pack, earlier in the day I’d nearly bought the Hornby tiger train pack, glad I didn’t in the end! 

I did wonder what to do with a Lion, should I get one-apart from to run on a Woodhead route layout. Then I had the idea of Titfield Thunderbolt in a 1980s dystopia, with Lion hauling a mouldy caravan on a Lowmac with a burnt out Shark behind...

40 minutes ago, steviesparx said:

Any idea what make the  decoder is in the sound fitted version ?

ESU, isn't it? 50 quid for a sound decoder that I could put in a broad gauge loco (another layout pipedream) seems like a bargain.

Perhaps they are looking for an outlet to sell all of the Model Power cabooses they have in stock...

14 hours ago, Wolf27 said:

Has anyone had the misfortune of using the NEC Voyage Control website for booking vehicle passes for build up? It must have been designed by someone who absolutely hates IT and anyone that wants to use it. I'm stuck in an infinite loop trying to book a slot and now think it would be easier to catch the train and walk in. I downloaded the user guide and that has 18 steps of how to make a booking. Its utterly ridiculous. I really cant be bothered and its putting me off ever wanting to go there again.

I did offer to help a friend unload and set up, due to my last minute availability and ability to get there on public transport.

"Too late, I'm afraid, names have already been submitted". Not sure how fixed in stone this is but it just seems like another hurdle of unnecessary administration that saps the fun out of volunteering to do anything for that venue.

On 18/11/2023 at 21:44, Ian Morgan said:

Last time I went to the Warley show, they has an electric car charger in the multi-storey car park. This year, they have nearly 200 chargers in the car parks. Better still, the charger at the hotel I believe we are booked in to takes my company  Allstar card for payment.

 

The X1 Bus route (Coventry-NEC-Birmingham) has also gone fully electric.

On 17/11/2023 at 22:30, John M Upton said:

Had a trawl through their discounted preowned HO selection and most of it seemed to be what my old farming dad would have called the sweepings off the barn/warehouse floor that nobody wants.

 

Some of that tat has been there for months, in fact I am pretty sure some of it was discounted in the last preowned sale they did!!

All of those Chinese HO coal hoppers invariably come up when I do a search, although I think they might have actually sold some since the last time I did a broad look at their stock levels. Still plenty of Chinese coaches tho and the contents of what must have been a Model Power dealer's back room that will never sell.

2 hours ago, smokebox said:

Better to use 2 separate power supplies IMHO.

Agreed. The surge caused by an uncoupler will dim the lighting. You might be able to do it with a single transformer with two separate 12v windings, but it'll be easier and cheaper just to use wall warts and carry a spare.

Fortunately I didn't manage to register in time, but am watching it live. I wouldn't have won any brass locos with cheeky low bids tho, although the multiple freight car auctions did seem to go for bargain prices despite their mixed content.

10 hours ago, John M Upton said:

You can bet the various Proto 2000 locos will all have cracked gears, and that dealers will mop up a lot of this and have it on ebay at a 100% mark up within twenty four hours.

After they've paid the 24% hammer price and eBay's fees (14%?), they'd probably need such a big markup to cover their other costs.

I have noticed that some dealers who mop up US collections are smart enough to drip the expensive items slowly back onto the market. Also, without using the "nothing for me" comment that usually follows every RTR announcement, a lot of the brass items are of the "if you've ever wanted one then you'd probably have it already", and the general downsizing of US modelling in the UK in both size and quantity means there probably aren't the numbers willing to scrap it out over something that they know will never be available as RTR.

10 hours ago, burgundy said:

 

- whether there is any means of detecting/testing for fuel vapour in the air.

Best wishes 

Eric

The afterburner test?

1 hour ago, Chris M said:

With a Lima loco the average modeller could afford to have a go at improving it and usually succeed. In many ways its a shame that this can no longer happen. Well it can if you buy secondhand.

Or Hornby Railroad...

Don't forget that Craftsman detailing packs used to be at the upper elechon of detailing when quantity often trumped quality, even if variety didn't. But was the time spent on this or kitbuilding really cost effective...? There are still plenty of other skills to master within the hobby but you could assume with the obvious time saving from just running RTR would lead to a higher standard of layout, but to be honest I don't think it has as much as it should.

4 hours ago, fulton said:

I run the latest RTR next to my less than perfect kit built examples, to my eye they do not jar, but compliment each other, adding to the overall scene, a bit of weathering and personal details such as loco crew and lamps, adds your own touch, on my small American exhibition layout I run very basic Athearn Blue Box wagons with the latest hi. fi. RTR, stand back a couple of feet and you cannot tell them apart.

At a distance you are more likely to see the blurry lettering rather than the lack of separate grabs- when I had to quickly finish six Accurail 36' boxcars I left the moulded grabs in place because it would have taken a lot longer to complete and not been as uniform as just repainting them and adding my own custom printed decals. And when I tried to print handrails on place on Interurban cars I had to then change them to holes to add brass wire, but what I should have done to save more time would have been to follow Hornby 's lamented "Design clever" standards and just make them more substantial and webbed into the body as you really can't tell at exhibition viewing distances.

Every now and then a model is released that quickly seems to end up on all possible layouts- the Bachmann 08 did 20 years ago and more recently it's releases from the same manufacturer seemingly on every 009 layout and I often wonder what layout owners did or how they managed before.

On 08/10/2023 at 07:23, OliverSR said:

That was my project a while back and the photo on the preview was a 3D printed prototype in primer. It was run as a resin kit by Phil Radley so the moulds were with Radley models I think but unsure if/when that range will re emerge. I do still have the 3D print files somewhere so could print one but it would probably not be a cheap print these days and still requires some added detailing like roof vents and buffers.

 

That was drawn up when I was not working full time so haven’t really designed any similarly complex files for models since due to time.

 

OliverSR

@OliverSR I'd also be interested in this for my own Chiltern Court layout, should it become available as a kit or as a file. 

Anyway rant over and I'll post this link to a video I've just found from Stafford...

Nottingham show retrospective!

First of all thanks to @Talltim and Colin for help operating- (both having never seen the layout before, it was good to see the ways those Guys operated it and the new moves to do), and @doctor quinn for help setting up the loan of the operating stool (I suppose we didn't really need two). One of the most surreal exhibition experiences occured when someone took it from next to the layout, turned it round, then sat on it with their Grandchild to watch the layout next to us. I have a dislike of warning signs on layouts as they shouldn't be necessary but "Please don't rob my seat and use my fiddle yard as an armrest whilst watching someone else's layout" might be necessary in the future...

The layout performed reasonably well once I'd manage to level the fiddle yard properly, it'll definitely get the means to adjust the height of the centre roller from underneath as per Tim's suggestion. I did think there was an issue with the yard and stock falling over but this was traced to operators of another layout knocking it. I was also wondering why the powered Interurban car was slowing, accelerating and slowing into the ABC sections, it turns out one of the original Bachmann Underground Ernie pickup wire connections was broken on the 8-pin board and had spent half the show just running with pickups on two wheels. 

I still think there is a fundamental problem with the Hershey not being recognisable enough as the Hershey, despite the new display boards. I even had to field questions about the gauge specific society next door so am thinking of starting my own  banner for "HO- the most popular scale in the world and definitely better than all those others where the gauge isn't accurate..."

Anyway, I didn't take too many photos, but this is the new end complete with matching curtains and 28 with a train from the yard.

8 hours ago, dave1905 said:

 

 

That is a 57' long car, I haven't got the book handy to check at the moment but it is probably a R-70-18 and a recent repaint into UPFE with white lettering. I did question myself whether the OP's was a 50 or 57 mech but Athearn's 50' car was the only one with high ladders. Early 57' Reefers were built with them but not available commercially until the Red Caboose R-70-16. 

On 05/11/2023 at 15:34, stivesnick said:

Hi Jason 

 

I was at the Nottingham show yesterday as a visitor.  Anoraks Anonymous only had a little American stuff on their stall, the full stall will be at Warley.

 

Nick 

The US Boxcars were on the Nottingham club's sales stand, I believe @davep101 was the seller but not sure if he is still active on here or how many sold. They looked to be a mix of Intermountain and earlier wood kits, and mostly North western roads (NP, SP&S).