Chris M, John B and Roger H drove down, each bringing bits of the layout in what has become the usual way to avoid van hire. The set up went smoothly including a test run by one of John’s locos. We then loaded the cassettes and did a test shunt. Immediately the point furthest from the fiddle yard created a short that we could not fix. Using their wits and imagination, Chris and John worked out an operational programme that kept trains running and the visitors and operators interested throughout the day. As the day progressed the point nearest the factory became erratic. This we could overcome using the back-up rod that David Ho had installed on all points for just such an issue. Thus the day ran smoothly until another point failed to work electrically or mechanically. Fortunately, this was just a few minutes before close down so we packed up. The day had been very hot both indoors and out and we thought I likely that some problems might be due to this. Also, a lady dressed in Saxon garb, told us that the bicycles are too modern for the period we have modelled but that it is otherwise “delightful” ….
Back at the ranch on the following Wednesday (17th) David was able to identify and repair all of the problems confirming that the heat was probably the cause of two of them.
The show itself was a good one.
There were three other O gauge layouts including Mike Perry and his Tar Works, one 0-16.5 layout, a building demo in 7mm and Paul H with the Guild stand as well as a good range of traders and other scale layouts.
Roger H
