Exeter Garden Railway Show 2023

[alcashj94]

Exeter Show this Saturday 28th October, plenty of traders and layouts.
If you’re in the southwest it’s well worth a trip, large indoor hall at the Mitford Centre, good restaurant for lunch or just drinks in the hall.
I shall be there with my display again, usually just inside the entrance opposite the Bring and Buy section, say hello if your there !

 

[RDFMTS2]

Hi Folks. I shall be at Exeter too, on the 16mm modular layout. If you go to the show do stop to say hello to us as well. We will be running a mixture of live steam and battery electric, our layout will be a bit further on past the bring/buy, and IP engineering stalls, near the toilets and fire exits.

More details of the show are on their website - Exeter Garden Railway Show

Hope to see some of you there.

David Lewis

 

[dunnyrail]

Marsh Barton Station is about a 5-10 minute walk for anyone using train to get there. Would love to go but 2 dogs precludes that journey.

 

[JimmyB]

I will be there, missed both of you last year, must try harder this year

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

All being well, I'll be there too . . . helping on the layout in the studio (same location as last year, though I wonder how many visitors never found us). Don't miss us if you're going. We're "G-scaling new heights" this year.

Cheers

David

 

[alcashj94]

Back home and all put away, enjoyable day, busy this morning but a bit quieter this afternoon.
Here’s a shot off ‘doors open’ at 10:30, a general view of the hall ten minutes later and my display. Looked around the show and bought a Boot Lane Kit but didn’t take any shots of the other layouts, plenty of others doing that so some may show up later!

 

[JimmyB]

All being well, I'll be there too . . . helping on the layout in the studio (same location as last year, though I wonder how many visitors never found us). Don't miss us if you're going. We're "G-scaling new heights" this year.

Cheers

David

Saw the layout, but it seemed to have stalled when I was in the room, the rack off the rails, and very little down below.

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

Saw the layout, but it seemed to have stalled when I was in the room, the rack off the rails, and very little down below

You must have been very unlucky, Jimmy. We had just two derailments on the rack section in the six hours of operation last Saturday. One was due to the coupling loops on the trailers over-riding (and easily fixed by turning one of the tram trailers round). We never identified the cause of the other. Of course, with the risk of rolling stock plunging a considerable distance to the floor, both operators would have stopped what they were doing, causing a temporary lack of movement on the "flat" part of the layout.

For those that didn't go, so won't understand what I'm saying (or my cryptic reference to "G-scaling new heights" in my earlier message), we took a 43 foot long layout where the front section was a two-road terminus (Bryants Bottom) via a single track to a station with passing loop and sidings (Lacey Green), after which the line turned through 180 degrees to climb a rack section to a further two-road terminus (Bledlow Ridge) more than 6 foot off the ground . . .



The track from the Lacey Green to bledlow Ridge was fitted with catenary, and was operated by four FO rack locos like this one . . .



As the remainder of the "flat" section was (deliberately) unwired, locos needed to be swapped at Lacey Green, with three steam trams conveying passengers (without the need to leave their seats) to Bryants Bottom . . .



As you can see, passengers were conveyed in tramway trailers, mostly LGB, but with a couple of toastrack coaches made from Bachmann open trams.

You'll notice from the above picture that we had a Ballenburg steam rack loco, but its operation was too unreliable to be in regular use (juddering on the rack). We also had an unusual Corpet Louvet loco, and yes, it really did climb the 1 in 4 rack section . . .



. . . but only because it was an early conversion by GRS to use the underpinnings of a 2046 rack loco, with extra axle added.

Our layout is modular, so while some of the "flat" sections have appeared at many exhibitions (including Exeter in 2022), this was the first outing of the rack section in four years. Its use at Exeter this year was a response to wanting an invitation for a second successive year (we normally only get invited to exhibitions every second or third year, so the exhibition isn't just a repeat of the previous year's), but it also acted as a trial run for the same (or very similar) layout that will be exhibited at the mainstream model railway show at London's Alexandra Palace in March 2024. It took us the first hour to find a way to operate the layout in a way that kept things moving efficiently . . . but with a maximum of three things moving at once (and at prototypical "tramway/rack speeds") it was a very different "watch" than many of the roundy-roundy layouts in the main hall.

All photos courtesy of Ben Schlegel

Cheers

David

 

[dunnyrail]

You must have been very unlucky, Jimmy. We had just two derailments on the rack section in the six hours of operation last Saturday. One was due to the coupling loops on the trailers over-riding (and easily fixed by turning one of the tram trailers round). We never identified the cause of the other. Of course, with the risk of rolling stock plunging a considerable distance to the floor, both operators would have stopped what they were doing, causing a temporary lack of movement on the "flat" part of the layout.

For those that didn't go, so won't understand what I'm saying (or my cryptic reference to "G-scaling new heights" in my earlier message), we took a 43 foot long layout where the front section was a two-road terminus (Bryants Bottom) via a single track to a station with passing loop and sidings (Lacey Green), after which the line turned through 180 degrees to climb a rack section to a further two-road terminus (Bledlow Ridge) more than 6 foot off the ground . . .

View attachment 320418View attachment 320419

The track from the Lacey Green to bledlow Ridge was fitted with catenary, and was operated by four FO rack locos like this one . . .

View attachment 320420

As the remainder of the "flat" section was (deliberately) unwired, locos needed to be swapped at Lacey Green, with three steam trams conveying passengers (without the need to leave their seats) to Bryants Bottom . . .

View attachment 320421

As you can see, passengers were conveyed in tramway trailers, mostly LGB, but with a couple of toastrack coaches made from Bachmann open trams.

You'll notice from the above picture that we had a Ballenburg steam rack loco, but its operation was too unreliable to be in regular use (juddering on the rack). We also had an unusual Corpet Louvet loco, and yes, it really did climb the 1 in 4 rack section . . .

View attachment 320422

. . . but only because it was an early conversion by GRS to use the underpinnings of a 2046 rack loco, with extra axle added.

Our layout is modular, so while some of the "flat" sections have appeared at many exhibitions (including Exeter in 2022), this was the first outing of the rack section in four years. Its use at Exeter this year was a response to wanting an invitation for a second successive year (we normally only get invited to exhibitions every second or third year, so the exhibition isn't just a repeat of the previous year's), but it also acted as a trial run for the same (or very similar) layout that will be exhibited at the mainstream model railway show at London's Alexandra Palace in March 2024. It took us the first hour to find a way to operate the layout in a way that kept things moving efficiently . . . but with a maximum of three things moving at once (and at prototypical "tramway/rack speeds") it was a very different "watch" than many of the roundy-roundy layouts in the main hall.

All photos courtesy of Ben Schlegel

Cheers

David

I well remeber seeing the rack part of your line coupled up to I think the main Tramway layout some years ago at I think Manchester Tram Show, the rack part was working very well indeed so indeed Jimmy was unlucky. Most lines at shows can go through some problems, if it occurs when I am watching I move on and return later. 99 times out of a 100 the issue has been resolved and things are running as if there was never a problem.

 

[DickyC]

You must have been very unlucky, Jimmy. We had just two derailments on the rack section in the six hours of operation last Saturday. One was due to the coupling loops on the trailers over-riding (and easily fixed by turning one of the tram trailers round). We never identified the cause of the other. Of course, with the risk of rolling stock plunging a considerable distance to the floor, both operators would have stopped what they were doing, causing a temporary lack of movement on the "flat" part of the layout.


View attachment 320420

As the remainder of the "flat" section was (deliberately) unwired, locos needed to be swapped at Lacey Green, with three steam trams conveying passengers (without the need to leave their seats) to Bryants Bottom . . .

The Joy of Rack ! great, would love to have seen myself, Have had this idea for a showpeice myself, Thats a lot of work gone into those fabric sides, as a fabric printer myself I can see the effort ! was that purchased fabric or created ? if im being picky all you were missing was a Rigi Cable car ! hee hee hee....

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

was that purchased fabric or created ?

Just like the "brickwork curtains", the "mountainside curtains" were produced by hand by the wife of a former member of the club.

if im being picky all you were missing was a Rigi Cable car ! hee hee hee

At the show, we did have the idea of building a funicular to link Bryants Bottom with Bledlow Ridge (despite being 90-odd feet apart by the current route, the funicular would be a straight six foot run) . . . but then realised that it would rob the tramway route of most of its traffic, so risk being closed down. That would make it considerably easier to transport the layout to exhibitions though!

Cheers

David

 

[Paul M]

Just like the "brickwork curtains", the "mountainside curtains" were produced by hand by the wife of a former member of the club.



At the show, we did have the idea of building a funicular to link Bryants Bottom with Bledlow Ridge (despite being 90-odd feet apart by the current route, the funicular would be a straight six foot run) . . . but then realised that it would rob the tramway route of most of its traffic, so risk being closed down. That would make it considerably easier to transport the layout to exhibitions though!

Cheers

David

Well if the layout is modular, there's probably a way