Exton Quay went on its first exhibition at the weekend. courtesy of Poole Model railway Exhibition.
Have you noticed that i have decided to drop the 'S' on 'Quays'..
This was a major decision, many people have had banter about there only being one Exton Quay and not Two, feeling that this would become an ongoing argument, the decision was made to drop the 'S'.
Exton Quay was received very well and has since been invited to appear elsewhere ( im guessing this is allowed as its part of the 'Cameo Competition'). The Layout behaved itself well, considering this was the first time i had properly sat down and operated Exton Quay. A good day was had by all, although my kit built Adams Radial failed but happily has since returned to service.
Exton Quay came second according to James who organised a very good exhibition. Lets be honest, Bournemouth West was going to take some beating. In my defence however, we have to consider im not part of a club and have built everything myself.
As this is the first 'Cameo Layout' i have built and the first layout that is operated from the front, a few observations were made during the day.
A number of people commented on having someone at the front to talk about the layout, rather than talking over or through a layout or some lighting rig. I personally found this more entertaining and felt more involved in the whole experience. The only downside to this is that it was hard to concentrate on running trains at the same time. I'm a guy and not good at multi-tasking.
The female entity of the hobby were certainly more interested and intrigued by the scenery and detail than the actual running of trains, i was wondering, How long can you go without running a train, before the viewing public walk away, according to the stopwatch it's around 6 minutes.
I was asked on a number of occasions as to how the water effects were produced on the river and dock area. I think this was due to the results achieved on a certain programme that was aired on the previous Friday night. I once experimented with a resin that was unbranded bought from a certain hobby shop, the result was a riverbed of resin full of millions of tiny bubbles. I have stuck with Deluxe Materials Liquid water,
Exton Quay came second according to James who organised a very good exhibition. Lets be honest, Bournemouth West was going to take some beating. In my defence however, we have to consider im not part of a club and have built everything myself.
As this is the first 'Cameo Layout' i have built and the first layout that is operated from the front, a few observations were made during the day.
A number of people commented on having someone at the front to talk about the layout, rather than talking over or through a layout or some lighting rig. I personally found this more entertaining and felt more involved in the whole experience. The only downside to this is that it was hard to concentrate on running trains at the same time. I'm a guy and not good at multi-tasking.
The female entity of the hobby were certainly more interested and intrigued by the scenery and detail than the actual running of trains, i was wondering, How long can you go without running a train, before the viewing public walk away, according to the stopwatch it's around 6 minutes.
I was asked on a number of occasions as to how the water effects were produced on the river and dock area. I think this was due to the results achieved on a certain programme that was aired on the previous Friday night. I once experimented with a resin that was unbranded bought from a certain hobby shop, the result was a riverbed of resin full of millions of tiny bubbles. I have stuck with Deluxe Materials Liquid water,
IT WORKS
A fellow modeller, introduced himself as a tree surgeon and commented on how impressed he was with my Weeping Willow. Happy Days!
I noticed a gentleman looking at the layout for quite some considerable amount of time, he then approached me and informed me that the ' AA' sign on the front of the Railway Hotel was not the right one for the era. After some research, he's right. I will take it as a compliment.
How the mind works? One gentleman commented on remembering Exton Quay and seemed to remember having days out there. umm err.
The viewing section of the layout is around 5 Feet long, so more than 6 or 7 people crowded around the front of the layout can become a problem. You can't see what you are doing, its difficult to see whether your couplings are above your magnets for uncoupling purposes, especially when looking at an acute angle, even with markers for there location, and, boy am i glad i added point routing LEDs to the control panel.
All this may become easier the more i operate the layout.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of a "Cameo Layout" at an exhibition (i had my doubts, i will admit) I have heard this said and discussed many times before 'There should be someone at the front of any layout to talk to'. If there is anything that i can take from this project this has taught me that this should be Mandatory Someone to discuss methods, ideas, reasons for layout existence and leave the operators to get on with the business of running trains.
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