Chris Chewter

Over the late bank holiday weekend, Carterton was invited to attend the Cotswold Festival of Steam at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, to be displayed in the Tim Mitchell building.

Saturday came and the layout was loaded into the van bright and early.  After adapting our route to avoid some of the more challenging routes to Winchcombe, we set off and soon arrived at Winchcombe.

The layout was assembled and pleasingly all ran well.  Trackwork was cleaned and a successful day of operating held.  As with all exhibitions, it's always great to catch up with new visitors and those who have seen the layout before at Ally Pally.  It was a nice surprise to meet up with a couple of the guys from Peco who had recently undertaken the editing of the May article, They were really pleased to see the layout in reality.

No real dramas throughout the day, other than one of the Collett Goods decided to stop responding.  It was consigned to the sin-bin to be looked at later.

Weirdly on day two, the point motor to the catch point decided to stop.  It appeared that one of the coils had stopped working. The box of spares was consulted, but no spare points were found.  However it didn't stop running, as the point was set to Witney, and the layout operated without much of a hitch throughout the course of the day.

Day three arrived, and a spare point motor was found in the Tetbury spares box.  However during testing, the CDU became overloaded and the circuitry popped.  At least there was a spare in the box this time.  Despite this, the CDU which was identical to the old one, just couldn't reliably throw all three points.  So the new point motor was disconnected and we ran with two motors instead.

Before long, time came for the packaway, and everything was put back into the van ready for the journey home.

It's always great to show the layout, to talk to people old and new about the hobby. A few jobs to do before its next outing, but I guess that's to be expected.

Whilst at Saturdays exhibition, I took the opportunity to take some video. After all, I might as well whilst another club member was operating the layout!
 

Well Carterton performed well yesterday. The team were made to feel welcome by the South West Herts MRS. It was also great to see some familiar faces and chat to some new ones too.

The frilly skirt certainly made the layout look tidier and the lower Perspex looked great (although lower Perspex does encourage a few fingers to get a bit close 😬)
 

A few minor issues to fix. One on the fly was a rail that had come adrift from the copper clad feed in the fiddle yard. A fairly quick fix.

The tee nuts that hold the bolts in, do have a habit of falling out. One has started to chew into the wood, and another nearly cross threaded. Thankfully my colleague stopped before it became unrecoverable.  A bit of hot glue should sort that out. Also, the team have been asked to make sure the bolt is protruding through the other side before attacking it with power tools.

The other issue was a pannier tank that simply didn’t want to go. One of the club members on our other layout took a look but nothing seemed to be amiss. Looks like a dodgy chip that may only need a reset.

It was a bit of a long day, but at least with the set up done the day before, it took the edge off a bit. Despite that, it’s still amazing fun exhibiting.

A few minor jobs before it attends the Cotswolds Festival of Steam at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway at the end of the month.

I’m not totally convinced by Cartertons frilly skirt, but it was cheap and does the job.

All set up at the South West Herts MRS exhibition and ready to go.

Carterton is at the South West Herts exhibition tomorrow. The exhibition allows for setting up today, so a van was loaded with another club layout and we duly set off towards Watford.

Upon arrival, the other layout was unloaded and the main team set about assembling that ready for the exhibition. This allowed two of us to concentrate in setting Carterton up.

Carterton now has a layout skirt, which hopefully you agree makes it look smarter. This is a simple events table skirt purchased off the internet.

Sadly we’re not staying in Watford tonight, so a journey back to Oxfordshire, and to repeat it all again tomorrow. I guess it does mean the comfort of my own bed.

If you are in the Watford area, then come along to the exhibition in Bushey and take a look.

What a battle! Following yesterdays alignment mishap, it has taken us 4 hours to sort out the bolts on the platform board. Unfortunately the tee nuts that go into the wood to hold the bolts in place cross threaded… twice! Out came the Dremel when the last cutting disk shattered.  So another set has to be purchased. However, the layout is back together with all point to motors and uncouplers working. We ran out of time to fit the alignment dowels. A job for another day sadly.

The layout now needs a test. With Carterton at an exhibition this weekend, any testing shall have to wait. Perhaps not a bad thing after the frustrations on the layout recently!

I thought I’d hold off todays update until the very end.

I didn’t take a ‘before’ photo because I think you’ve got an idea of the gravity of the situation.

A quick photo part of the way through the morning, and the rats nest is starting to diminish.

By 10pm, and after deliveries from numerous couriers, the board was looking like this:

I do enjoy a good session with the label printer, as I hate sitting below a layout tracing faults, so loads of labels were run off.

I haven’t tidied up the cables to the timer and point boards as they can be detached and dealt with at a later date sat at the comfort of a workbench.

At the end of the day, the layout looks like this:
 

At 10pm and feeling very much like a telecoms engineer, it’s all fitted and ready for testing tomorrow morning.

Fingers crossed…

Well I couldn’t rest knowing that board 2 wasn’t done. After dinner I set about finishing as much of the board as possible whilst waiting for some additional connector to turn up tomorrow. Four hours later and I’m as far as I can go until I get some deliveries.

Onto board 3, but that’s definitely a job for tomorrow!

The middle board has put up a fight today, however it was to be expected. With five points, frog and track feeds, it was going to take longer than the headshunt board.

A reminder of where myself and my not-so-glamorous assistant were at the end of yesterday:

And where we are just before I had to head off to pick up the kids from school:

Day one and the boards were cleared of anything loose and pulled apart. Really strange seeing the Layout from the other side and split into pieces.

It was decided to start with the easy board. It was upended and work commenced.

By 3pm, the board looked more like this.  The bus wire was replaced. The uncoupler had its wiring replaced to prevent it being confused with the red and black for the bus wires, and a board fitted so that jumper cables can be used between the boards.

We just started the middle board when we ran out of time. 

You can see why a re-wire is overdue.

 With a week booked off work, myself and my not-so-glamorous assistant have a few more days to try to tame the chaos.

If you’re interested in reading more about the Carterton layout, an article has been published in the May 2024 edition of Railway Modeller.

One of the chaps from the model railway club cut together a video of the Carterton layout. Check it out here:

Have a great Easter everyone!

I can vouch that the Rapido W&U coaches make a very nice pairing with Lion!

On 17/03/2024 at 20:51, Phil Parker said:

 

They are in the packs handed out on arrival. It's up to the exhibitors if and where they display them. 

They certainly were! There were layout ID sheets in the exhibitor packs. I can’t speak for others, but we had ours on display!

Managed to be offered the chance to run the EP B-set on the Carterton layout at Ally Pally last weekend.

A few photos of the 44xx EP on the Carterton layout at Ally Pally on Sunday.

Back in the land of the day job, and over lunch I've been looking through the photos and videos on the internet, and one thing that strikes me is the perspex.  It does get in the way a bit.  It's necessary as without barriers, kids will put their fingers on the edge of the layout, so a small lip is required.  However the current perspex can certainly be reduced in height! I'll have to measure it and order a smaller replacement.  It also needs a skirt to hide those legs, although that wasn't so noticeable.  I better get ordering before its next outing!

Day two of Ally Pally and after breakfast at the hotel in St Albans, we headed down to Alexandra Palace for the doors to open for exhibitors.

Upon arrival the layout covers were removed, trackwork cleaned, and locos removed from the stock box.

Lots of comments about the ZTC panel I was using, however we noticed that locos running on the hand held controller were running slower and slower, until we realised that the plug on the back of the unit had been knocked loose.

However the fiddle yard point managed to last two days without issue!

The day seemed quieter with far less congestion getting around the exhibition.

We also had a lot of comments about the backscene, which later proved to be a perfect backdrop for Rapidos 44xx and b-set prototypes!

Before long it was time up, however this time the layout had to be packed away. The covers were refitted and it was loaded into the van ready for the journey home.

I know that for some, exhibiting layouts can be daunting, but we’ve had great fun! The layouts now back into its store room ready to be sorted out for its next outing.

Goodbye Ally Pally, it’s been a blast!

Snapped earlier today at Ally Pally:

Day one of Ally Pally and we arrived bright and early just as the doors opened for exhibitors.

Track was cleaned and tested and all was good to go.

Doors opened and before long, there was a line of people watching the layout. Loads of great conversations with passers by, some from people who recalled travelling in the Fairford branch.

There were a few issues, but I think most issues were due to operator error in not setting points correctly or loosing themselves from the three train sequence.

There were a few minor stalls, but hopefully they were forgivable!

The Titfield Thunderbolt put in a show just to mix things up, which was met with loads of photos being taken of the small train making its way through Carterton station.

Before long, the day was over and the exhibition and covers put back on ready for day two.

If you’re visiting on Sunday, pop across and say hello, as we love to chat as well as operating the layout.

Well that’s the set up day at Ally Pally completed. 
 

Carterton is being exhibited this weekend at stand L2 at the London Festival of Railway Modelling under the rose window.

It was decided to reduce expenses by taking it along with another club members layout which had been invited, so only one van was hired. We wanted to maximise the set up time, so the van arrived at 8, and was carefully loaded up.

After loading the second layout at 9, we arrived at Alexandra Palace about 12 where we received our exhibitors wrist bands and unloaded.

We found our layout slot and set about assembling the layout. Thankfully all worked fine with the exception of the connector to the fiddle yard point, where a couple of wires had worked loose. Looks like the soldering iron might be brought into action tomorrow to fix that permanent niggle!!

Onto testing and all complete. Track cleaning was left for tomorrow so that any work wasn’t undone. However one of the panniers ran up and down without any issue.

We also had a chance for a quick run with another members 14xx and some GWR Rapido wagons, which fitted into the landscape beautifully!

They are exquisite wagons and ran perfectly!

I also couldn’t resist running the short Titfield train just to see how it looked!

If you hear me shouting ‘Can’t go yet, Squires not here!’ I apologise in advance. Model railway are a serious hobby after all. No, who am I kidding! The Titfield Thunderbolt will be exercised at some point over the weekend! 
 

A brisk wander round, and I was tickled by this sight:

Obviously something ‘N-gauging’ on the Bachmann stand. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the joke!

The team then headed for the hotel and settled in before a delightful curry in a nearby wetherspoons.

Now looking forward to a weekend of running model trains. What’s not to like!

And another Rapido wagon shot. Lovely!

With Ally Pally coming up on the calendar very soon, it’s time to exercise the loco stock and give them a run, clean, oil and general service.