Chris: Breitenfurt - Ost

Congratulations on having Breitefurt ready for Elgin . Looking foward to the pictures of the Z layout.

Hi Neil; good to hear from you.

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 18 Nov 2008, 06:30) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Good luck with the drive to Elgin. That'll be around three hours but you'll get a chance to do some shopping in Inverness no doubt. Look forward to seeing some pictures Chris.Methinks that it will be more like 5 hours. Last night we were forecast heavy snow for Friday. But, then, the forecasters are always changing their mind.

Most important thing in Inverness will be getting a haircut and beard trim! Then cat food (only the best) and then fuel.

Everything is on course now. I had two wires crossed over so sorted that then I found another squashed fishplate (I'm sure they breed) but as I was running a light V60 at 400mph in the wrong direction at the time, and I ran several trains repeatedly over it at over 100mph without any mishap, I am going to let it go! Cannot decide whether to permanently attach railway buildings etc. to the baseboard or not so they are all loose at the moment.

I spent quite a time yesterday selecting what to take with me. I favour sets as they are quick and easy to pack but will be takeing a few other items (esp. locos) with me. And, of course, I shall be taking my Bavarian royal train.

Given time to get them sorted, I am also planning on taking a couple of smaller scale trains and their respective ovals of track. The T gauge ones should raise a few eyebrows!

Anyway, I still have a couple of niceties to sort out so will finish for now.

All the best,
Chris.

PS Just seen forecast and they have changed their minds so may be 3 hours after all.

Hi Neil.

Well, on the basis that it used to take 1hr 45min from Kyle to Ullapool (a journey I used to do frequently when I was repairing mobile phone masts) you would have made Inverness in 1hr 30min whereas it takes 2 hours from home to Inverness using the north road (I hate the A82 up Loch Ness) so I guess 3hr 45 to Elgin. However, I will be driving very slowly and carefully so it will be a bit longer. You really ought to do the trip to the Western Isles via Skye and Tarbert some time and drop in and see us.

I've been putting in the finishing touches today and cleaning some of the 30m of trackwork. Tonight it will go down to the kitchen table and I will be able to do the other half. I'm also doing an n scale small static display using three early German trains (Adler, Saxonia and Hoefzug Konig Maximilian II von Bayern as well as, if there is room, the coaches of Ludwig II's royal train. The back of this display, which will carry desriptions of each train, will also be used to mask the hidden tracks so that we can surprise the audience.

And, what the hell, some photos to whet your quoriosity.

Hi all.

Just an interim report. I will be putting up photos on my website in the near future.

Apart from suffering from sickness, I had a great weekend. So, negatives first.
o Evening before I had a complete dead length (three electrical sections) of track but was unable to find why. (Next morning it all
worked!)
o One loco motive went short circuit shortly before the end of the exhibition.
o I hit a deer about a mile before I got home which resulted in my front bumper disintegrating (could have been worse; last time I hit a sheep half the front of the car had to be rebuilt).

Now the good news.
o Apart from the dead loco everything ran to perfection except for some wagons that kept coming off the track - candidates for the lead treatment - before the exhibition opened. Mind you, I did have finger trouble occasionally, usually when engaged in conversation, which lead to a few collisions.
o The really good news was that I am the proud holder of the "Best Operating Model Railway Layout" cup. However, I think that was more by default that to my credit. Mind you (again!), I did keep trains running throughout the entire exhibition whenever there was someone present.
o I should add that my idea of having the control panel swing up over the layout using parliament hinges was so successful that I think I will go down that route permanently unless the scenery prevents it.
o I learned from one visitor that the BR61 (in 1935) had ABS to cope with the change in weight as its water was used up,

I'm far from being up to the Modelrail Scotland standard but hope to be able to attend other exhibitions in Scotland next year.

So, the next stage is to make a longer control pansel so that I can add the extra switches and buttons required to put in route selection and uncoupling as well as sorting out a few minor glitches. Also there is the dream of adding a second board.

Lessons learned:
o Take your own lighting.
o Avoid second hand curved points.
o Test out trains more thoroughly before use.
o Take something to allow the layout to be raised above normal table height and a step for kids to see.
o Take less stock.
o Put images on the front of storage boxes with picture of a) item that goes in that box or how contents were backed.

Probably other lessons as well, but I forget them.

All the best everyone,
Chris.

PS. I am copying this to other forums, sorry.

aaawwwww poor dear, but congratulations on having alot more good things happen than bad

well as cruel as it may sound id rather it was a deer that got hit rather than a human