BEIJIAO - a large Chinese HO exhibition layout set in the 21st century

[Ian Morgan]

Make the thing more idiot proof, and then the world just creates better idiots ....

[TEAMYAKIMA]

My layout is very much a personal project, telling my story about my trips to China and I have tried to make it even more personal by having 3D printed versions of me and my friends on the layout. At the recent Ally Pally exhibition I had three more scans made and the figures are now being professionally painted. I tried to capture my friends in unique poses i.e. not generic stances like hundreds of Preiser figures. This is Colin, a long time friend and electronics/DCC expert and this is his pose when I asked him why my DCC system keeps playing up.

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by TEAMYAKIMA

[steveNCB7754]

On 20/05/2022 at 10:07, TEAMYAKIMA said:

   …. this is his pose when I asked him why my DCC system keeps playing up.

 

Sadly, the model showing the pose he adopts when asked to hurry up and get it fixed, is currently unavailable!
 

Reminds me of a joke from my apprentice days in the 1970’s -  ‘He only realised he had lost his middle finger, when he said goodnight to the foreman’. 😂

 

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Having had some 'down time' since the Bristol show, I am now back working full time on the layout in preparation for our test session next Thursday. June 2nd, and we are expanding it into an OPEN HOUSE.

 

I've booked a local church hall and we will be up and running by 11am - and there's a tea bar!

 

 

 

 

Whilst this is primarily a chance to test run the layout before its next outing (TAUNTON in October) it is also an opportunity for potential operators to come down and 'HAVE-A-GO!'

 

We already have a couple of potential team members coming to see the layout - one from Ruislip and one from Milton Keynes - why not come and join them?

 

PLEASE SEND ME A PM FOR MORE DETAILS

[SHMD]

Hi Paul I would love to attend but I am in Brno!

I will be available for the Manchester show as I have booked that as annual leave, but even being in the same country as BeiJiao is difficult at the moment!

 

I wish you a successful operating/training/recruiting session.

 

 

Kev.

 

[richard i]

Would like to but decided a while back to take advantage of the longer break and have some time away.

another time. I am in the uk though so logistically easier than some.

richard 

[bbishop]

My third and final day at the Lord's test match.  Bill

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I've got my mojo back!

 

One of the big positives from our church hall Open Day was the successful test running of a new train based around the 32 axle transformer wagon. We ran it around and around the layout for about 30 minutes with no derailments. The only problem was the possibility of crashes when it ran near the industrial fiddle yard approach at one end - and so today I have re-aligned that track.

 

[F-UnitMad]

On 30/05/2022 at 21:27, bbishop said:

My third and final day at the Lord's test match.  Bill

I take it you weren't batting... 😁

[bbishop]

14 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

I take it you weren't batting... 😁

No, even Parkinson is a better batter.  Part of the first aid team.  Bill

[Pete the Elaner]

17 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I've got my mojo back!

 

One of the big positives from our church hall Open Day was the successful test running of a new train based around the 32 axle transformer wagon. We ran it around and around the layout for about 30 minutes with no derailments. The only problem was the possibility of crashes when it ran near the industrial fiddle yard approach at one end - and so today I have re-aligned that track.

 

 

You certainly didn't hang around before doing that 😀

The transformer wagon is enormous. I have never seen anything quite like it & can understand why it has become a 'must have'. I was not surprised to see the scenic break trimmed a little to provide clearance for it either.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

20 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

You certainly didn't hang around before doing that 😀

The transformer wagon is enormous. I have never seen anything quite like it & can understand why it has become a 'must have'. I was not surprised to see the scenic break trimmed a little to provide clearance for it either.

 

It's called a Schnabel car and there are very few photos of the prototype and even fewer of it actually carrying a transformer. Originally, I built a train based on the photo below, but unfortunately the Bachmann QJ wasn't powerful enough to pull the whole train and so everything forward of the coaches have had to be abandoned. Yes, a diesel could have pulled the whole train, but a QJ just added an extra dimension. You will notice that there is no transformer being carried when this photo was taken.

 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I haven't posted much in the last few days, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy.

 

I have been putting thought on how to make the loading and unloading of stock at exhibitions easier, quicker and safer. I am using modified TRAINSPORTER OO gauge boxes and they are making things a lot quicker at shows, but there can be some confusion when packing away as every individual item of rolling stock needs to go back exactly where it came from. The slots are ideal for my Chinese HO coaches.......

 

 

but things get a bit more awkward when it comes to freight stock. I need, wherever possible to get two freight cars side by side in a slot in order to make best use of space.  Taking a standard unmodified slot, I can get two standard gondolas or two standard tank cars side by side, but longer freight cars ( boxcars, reefers and grain cars ) need to be matched with shorter ones (tank cars, gondolas and flat cars. This can get confusing for inexperienced team members and they have asked for photographs to help them make sure that the right freight car goes in the right slot. But having thought about it, I concluded that that would bring its own problems - trying to study a photograph whilst hurrying to pack things away.

 

So, I think I have come up with a better solution - individual labels placed on the foam inserts.

 

 

I ran out of labels before I finished this first attempt at this new idea, but I hope you can see that  every long freight car is matched with a short one, for example the boxcar has alongside it the short yellow tank car. The train will be set up with the first freight car being the one in the bottom left hand position (in this case the container flat with two brown containers) then the one above it (the yellow tanker) then the coal gondola etc. Once you get to the top (gondola with pipes), you then start again in the bottom right hand corner and work upwards again.

 

Now, of course, in theory, if things work out exactly and as ideally as I had planned things the freight cars would automatically drop back into their right slots, but real life is never quite like I plan it to be and so I think this will help.

 

 

Edited June 17, 2022 by TEAMYAKIMA

[TEAMYAKIMA]

At a time when I have concluded that I have far to many locos, I've just bought two more!

 

Ok, it's not quite as daft as it sounds.

 

I have decided that I need, wherever possible, to distinguish between layout locos and showcase locos i.e. a less detailed and far less fragile loco is best suited for exhibition use over a fragile super detailed one. I usually spend 1/2 days gluing bits back onto locos (and freight cars) after a show - assuming I can find the bits in the first place!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

The standard Bachmann drivers don't really jump out at you when you look at the cab. This is because the background of the cab is a drab grey and the figures themselves are pretty drab too.

 

 

By painting the back of the cab white (badly) and adding a white shirt to the figures (badly) the overall impact is greatly enhanced.

 

 

 

When I did the first of these cab upgrades a few years ago I even added red ties to the figures, but now, I honestly can't be bothered.

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by TEAMYAKIMA

[F-UnitMad]

12 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

When I did the first of these cab upgrades a few years ago I even added red ties to the figures, but now, I honestly can't be bothered.

Why, what colour were the ties supposed to be..? 🤷‍♂️

 

Sprinting for cover.... 😁😁😁

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

Why, what colour were the ties supposed to be..? 🤷‍♂️

 

Sprinting for cover.... 😁😁😁

 

Well, in Red China, erm, red?

 

Mike.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Those of you reading this outside the UK may not realise that we have recently had a heatwave. 

 

But here's proof that we have had...... 

 

[Trofimow]

Oh wow, where did you park that?

[TT-Pete]

But actually quite prototypical:

 

 

[F-UnitMad]

5 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Those of you reading this outside the UK may not realise that we have recently had a heatwave. 

 

But here's proof that we have had...... 

 

As per the video posted by TT-Pete; just stick another truck with a smashed-up cab behind it. Perfect!! 😉 🤣

[TEAMYAKIMA]

I have been relatively quiet on RMweb recently for a variety reasons, but all of that will change next week.

 

I am well aware that in the new reality, exhibition layouts like mine need to be cost effective to exhibition managers and that has caused a re-think.

 

In the past, we have taken a core team of six to shows and they have been over-stretched even just running the basic service and indeed we have ideally wanted seven or even eight if we wanted to progress to the more complex moves I want to move on to. Something had to change!

 

I have spent some time re-thinking operation with a view to moving on to the more complex moves and yet keeping the crew down to six and, at the same time giving the crew adequate 'down time'. In that context, a lot of changes have been made to the electronics to allow more user-friendly operation keeping the team down to six,

 

Next week I have booked a local church hall for two days and all my theories will be put to the test.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

My 'museum' received two new additions today. 

 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by TEAMYAKIMA

[TEAMYAKIMA]

You will have noticed, I hope, that things have appeared to be quite quiet on the Beijiao front recently and as our next exhibition is Railex at the end of May that might well be expected. 

 

However, nothing could be further from the truth. There have been big ideas floating around for some time and they would be major undertakings and this long gap between shows has given me the opportunity to get on with them - they are 'all or nothing' ideas ie we couldn't go to a show with the job half finished. 

 

First of these jobs is the upgrading of the bus wiring. I took advice when I originally wired the layout, but it appears that that advice somewhat underestimated the current draw we would be experiencing and so a major upgrade is under way. Here are boards 2 and 3 set out before the rewiring of board 2 which is on the right of this photo. 

 

[F-UnitMad]

On 13/09/2022 at 09:58, TEAMYAKIMA said:

our next exhibition is Railex at the end of May

Is that the Railex at Aylesbury/Stoke Mandeville?