SteamPower4ever Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Gents: My gauge one club has found a permanent home for the club layout ... or at least a semi-permanent home, because the rent is too high for any long term commitment. It does give the opportunity for the club to fix various problems, repair transport damages, rewire modules and showcase the club to attract new members. For the latter purpose the club invited everyone to an 'open house' day, and we all had a great time. Operations were not much different from the hobby shows we've attended in the past, but simply showing up and starting operations without a 7-9 hours installation session is nice. Here's a video from the day. The light in the video is pure daylight from a skylight in the roof which is very different in nature from the fluorescent lighting at the hobby shows. The sun was shining outside and I had great fun experimenting with the very different lighting conditions. Enjoy. Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseldude Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 AMAZING!!! Thanks for posting the video. -Kevin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Thanks for posting that! I am impressed with the ballast. Can you share details about what is being used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 I am impressed with the ballast. Can you share details about what is being used? I've asked around, and it's crushed granite. The exact origins is unknown, but one of the members once got hold of a lot ... really, a LOT ... of crushed granite, and initially the guys used a sieve to sort out the right sized pieces. Progress was slow so one of the others - who works at a company that manufactures turnkey cement-plants (seriously!) - designed a two-stage shaking device with different gauges of wire mesh where the top level passed pieces with a diameter below approx. 3mm and the lower level discarded anything with a diameter below approx 1.5mm (dust and whatnot). In the end, several hundreds of kg was reduced to approx. 50 kg of suitable gauge one ballast, which will last the club for the foreseeable future. 3mm pieces are really slightly too large, but it doesn't show. The sorting device has been dismantled, and I don't have any pictures of it. We just discussed the matter over the phone, and if we were to get ballast today, we'd go for the type of granite you put in the bottom of fish tanks. Maybe sorted like above. Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Congrats Jen on you guys finding a home and great video Those engines look great doubled headed like that and excellent smoke too. Also like the loading operation with the truck on the siding, we've talked about similar stuff for shows too but have never done that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 Thanks guys.I must admit I was against the decision to lease the space because of the price. But now it's done, and already the benefits of a permanent setup are showing: the landscape is improving, long standing minor track irregularities have been fixed and the roads for the RC vehicles are much better. Still much to do, though.Other than rewiring the modules there are plans for a roundhouse at the turntable, a branch line to a minor station / freight yard and pullout tracks / yard leads at both ends of the outside yard so switching can be done without blocking the main track. Also, some modules have been modified with fold-out stands and studs for matching to the adjacent module, shortening the setup time (and effort) considerably. On a longer term we are toying with the idea of a rotary dumper somewhere to unload the cars with "grain".Let's hope we get some new members so we can make it permanently permanent.Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Outstanding layout! You folks should be very proud of it!! Out of curiosity what command system is in use? How many members?? And at the 10:00 mark that looked like the owner of Piko popping out from under the layout?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Chanks, Chuck Members: At my last count, 8 active, 10 "passive". Difference is membership cost and of course associated privileges. Most times there's 8-10 present at a show, fewer at operating sessions, but having found the permanent home, we're sort of finding a new rhythm, and there's been a minor shuffle in types of membership. Command system: - Motorola (older Märklin locos) - mfx (newer Märklin locos) - DCC (other brands) All controlled by an ECoS command station by ESU and handheld controller apps on iDevices. The popping head: That's actually one of the members of the board working on the wiring on a new crossover module Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 And at the 10:00 mark that looked like the owner of Piko popping out from under the layout?? I just remembered - the gentleman in question is in fact the inventor of the above mentioned ballast-sorting apparatus. If he's also the owner of Piko, he may have some explaining to do ... Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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