[John Edge]

Dear Mad Doc and Nickel Queen,
Hello, it’s the former Allegheny1600 here, under my real name!
I hope you are both weathering this current crisis in good cheer, you certainly have been doing some amazing work on the layout.
All being well, you will be able to get back to exhibiting again before too much longer.
Stay safe friends,
John

 

[John Edge]

Hi Mad Doc and Nickle Queen!
It’s really good to see that you enjoyed this exhibition. Wow! 7 hours to set up the layout and that’s a record? I presume you mean the fastest time?
Goodness! I really admire your dedication, I could not do that.
I used to help Bob Harper of the Manchester MRS, exhibit some of his various layouts and he managed very fast set up and knock down times, it was quite remarkable. Maybe an hour maximum to set up and half an hour to knock down.
My own little layout was probably double that.
I once helped a French group set up at Warley, that took several hours for five of us, this included soldering overhead catenary across board joints but when we came to strip down, they gave us very little time and the guys were forced to simply cut the catenary! Soul destroying and I vowed that I would never exhibit there.
Cheers,
John