- This topic has 14 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 8 months ago by
Mikeh67.
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January 24, 2019 at 12:15 pm #896
Mikeh67
ParticipantI spent a long time thinking about it and at last I applied to do a big-big display at the Adelaide Model Railway Exhibition (AMRE), 8 to 10 June 2019 in Adelaide, and it looks as if I am going to get accepted! 0 gauge has a relatively small following in South Australia (gauge 1 is more popular for outdoor railways) , so it is viewed as a novel and interesting layout. I aim to have a basic three-oval layout and possibly a fourth track with a train running back-and-forth automatically. Fingers crossed it all goes ahead. I just order some parts from DT to add some variety and scenery. I will keep you posted about my progress.
January 31, 2019 at 6:32 pm #900Dave
KeymasterHi Mike, welcome to the forum! It seems you are going to do what I was dreaming about: displaying a Big Big Train layout at an exhibition. Brilliant!!
Your parcel is on its way. Please let me know when it arrives. I have shipped to Australia before but still it is a long way Down Under so I am anxious to see it arrive save and sound.
I hope you will have a lot of fun at the exhibition and I am sure it will bring back memories for a lot of people. It would be great to hear how you are doing there and I would certainly not mind to see some pictures 🙂
Keep us posted!
Cheers,
Dave
April 12, 2019 at 9:52 am #929John3855
ParticipantHi All
I have just seen that a Big Big Train layout will be at Market Drayton model railway show Sunday 14/04/2019.
I will attend and also take some trains in the hope they will let me run them.
John
May 22, 2019 at 9:07 pm #959Dave
KeymasterHi Mike,
Just a few weeks to go for the Adelaide exhibition. Everything going as planned I hope?
I am very curious about your contribution to the show.
Hope to hear/see something soon.
Cheers, Dave
June 17, 2019 at 10:54 am #971Mikeh67
ParticipantJune 17, 2019 at 10:55 am #972Mikeh67
ParticipantJune 17, 2019 at 10:57 am #973Mikeh67
ParticipantJune 17, 2019 at 11:22 am #974Mikeh67
ParticipantI learned a lot showing a layout for three days. I had the three ovals plus I had two tracks with trains running back-and-forth using reversing switches. The first thing I learned is just how long the batteries last – remarkably, a set of batteries typically lasted for 8-10 hours. I thought I would be changing batteries hourly, but not at all. The batteries were inexpensive ones as well – $1 each (in Australian dollars). Next the importance of lubricating the rolling stock. I used Pecolube on the wagon wheels and locomotive motors, and Labelle 106 for the coach wheels and the locomotive wheels and gears. I needed to re-lubricate the locomotives after about 10 hours of running. I found that the reversing switches only worked reliably on my 0-6-0 tanks; the Hymeks and 0-4-0’s often missed the reversing switches and ran-on. I think the reason is because the reversing switches warp outwards with time, so they probably need supporting to keep them truly vertical to operate the Hymek and 0-4-0 reversing switches. Reversing the 0-6-0’s ongoing for 3 days was punishing for them, and there was wheel wear (evident because of a lot of red dust where they were reversing). The barrel loaders were quite unreliable with the bogie wagons, because the bogie wagons have lower sides than do the normal, 4-wheel wagons so the contact time with the trigger is less. Also, any train at speed through the barrel loader rendered it very unreliable, so I needed low-speed trains to be sure of success. I also used some of my clockwork Hornby 0-gauge engines and they ran really smoothly on the plastic track. Great fun. Also very tiring!
June 17, 2019 at 10:30 pm #975Dave
KeymasterHi Mike,
Great to be informed about the show and excellent pictures!
I hope you entertained a lot of people with this layout and I am curious about the comments you got.
I think you have put up an excellent display and layout.
Thanks for sharing,
Dave
July 7, 2019 at 9:57 am #985Mikeh67
ParticipantHi Dave,
Good question: I was focused very-much on the mechanics of making the whole display work for 3 days. Feedback from the crowd was really positive: most kids who visited the display enjoyed it a lot, because they could set the signals, stop the trains and start them again, raise and lower the level-crossing barriers. A lot of layouts at the show were strictly ‘hands off”, so mine was a nice change for the kids and parents and I encouraged touching and playing. On the outside loop, I had bogie-wagons carrying lollies (sweets) and instructions how to stop the train, take a sweet and re-start the train, so that was popular. Surprisingly, the bells on the stations were hardly touched – even though I showed the kids how to make noise with them! A number of older guys told me that they remembered Big-Big and were interested to know what became of it. A few people told me that they had some, but they had never before seen such a big layout. About four times I was asked where to buy it – I referred them to your web site, eBay and Vincent Tuinder. A lot of times people asked me what gauge it was: I took it for granted that people would know it was 0-gauge, but in South Australia the popular gauges are N, HO and Gauge 1 (or G-Gauge – for Garden Gauge). 0-gauge is popular in some of the States in Australia, but not all. So: all-in-all, really good responses from the crowd. And I enjoyed it too :-).
Regards, Mike.
July 7, 2019 at 10:03 am #986Mikeh67
ParticipantPS – I had an 0-6-0 tank painted as Thomas the Tank Engine – that was wildly popular with kids and parents alike!
December 8, 2019 at 7:04 am #1074SteveW23
ParticipantMike – awesome pics!!! So happy to see another Big Big Collector in Oz!!! (I’m in Melbourne). I always wanted to do an exhibition, and you have inspired me to get the collection out!!! WELL DONE!!!
December 29, 2019 at 12:57 am #1091Trains2064
ParticipantIt’s great to see a Big Big train layout on display. Not taken mine out for years sadly. YouTube Churchrail2011. It’s got a lot bigger the collection since then (don’t tell my wife) got to get it displayed again.
December 29, 2019 at 2:05 pm #1096Dave
KeymasterHi Trains2064,
If your collection is even bigger now than displayed on Churchrail then it must be massive now!
Great layout display there. I came across these video’s before and enjoyed these very much. It seems there were more shows like these for instance the Alresford show. Also have not seen any footage of that show lately.
Anyway, good to see you active here. For convenience I have a link here to the video of the big layout at Churchrail:
Cheers,
Dave
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This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by
Dave.
September 6, 2020 at 4:12 pm #1187Mikeh67
ParticipantHi Trains2064, I just looked at the Churchrail Youtube video – WOW!! What a layout. I avoided using points at Adelaide because of the risk of derailments, so am impressed that you had the confidence to use them!
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