Open House

The Thamesiders Open House 2024 – Friday, 21st – Sunday, 23rd June

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
The culmination of work as inspired by Dean H – the circus dioramas.

With Paul H on holiday, I had volunteered to be the key master for the entirety of this event, and upon reflection, it seems all went very well thanks to being able to work with Paul in advance to understand what was needed, and the support provided by the group overall. Arriving Friday around 16:45, we set about packing away chairs and tables left behind by the previous booking, and setting up the layouts.

The N Scale, as normal, was up and running first, and the HO didn’t quite finish on the Friday but the modules were up and the loop was hooked up and tested. Laxton’s power, the back scenes and the signals would all be up before start time on the Saturday, albeit the last of that list not actually working at all. I tried my best to isolate the problem and remember the steps needed, however after a good 30-60 minutes, we had surrendered and just accepted the layout would be running without signals.

We also failed to locate the cloth “hides”, so the layout’s legs were exposed, and not for a lack of trying, with myself and Paul P, where he could, checking every possible storage location including the stage. By that point I, and likely everyone else in on the Friday, were tired and understandably, were all gone by 21:00.

Michael T’s transformer move backing down the main past APT, demonstrating the lack of signalling.

Saturday morning saw the final rush to get everything installed and working, including Brett from Coastal DCC / Orwell Model Railways settled in. My main priority was powering Laxton and after that, getting the pi running which thankfully, seemed to come online without many problems except for the fore-mentioned signalling outage. By 11:00 the majority of our guests had arrived, the trains were running and we were able to relax for the moment.

The N Scale seemed to do very well, with only the occasional derailment affecting the trains, and the newest line up of modules, particularly from Paul E, Dean H and Dennis K’s modules forming the core scope of the N Scale’s compliment. I was personally very pleased to see Dennis aka dad happily running his trains over the modules he has worked on. I’m sure with some scenery they’ll be as beautiful as the others.

The N Scale yard eager to get going.

The livestream, as communicated in advance to the group, was again, a flop. I didn’t get a chance to test the livestream in advance and therefore I was not able to isolate the sound drop issue in time for the weekend. However, one of the great successes of the day came from just recording the trains on both layouts in turn. I have around 2 hours of fairly good footage – WITH SOUND – eager to get up on YouTube. The setup and pack up was also much quicker, simpler and therefore much more enjoyable. I may not abandon the livestream idea entirely, but moving forward I believe it’s best to go with recording the day for later, especially when access to the Internet is spotty, as is the case in St Osyth.

I recall the first of our major tests on the HO came in the form of a communications blackout entirely on Laxton and on all boards from there to the Ethanol modules. After checking each connection with a controller in turn, I was able to isolate a plug hanging loose from the socket, and sticking it back in remedied the problem. In hindsight, I would have found a replacement for it then and there, because it caused more grief on Sunday.

We also encountered shorting problems on Clark Junction’s only switch; and after an extensive search, we seemed to fix it by just removing and restoring the 12 pin plug. It’s possible it wasn’t screwed in tight enough, but the suspicion carried over to APT and Ethanol too, especially on the Sunday,

Kian R’s SDP40F hauling the Super Chief.

When I was able to get my trains out on the layout, I had several moments of pride. One, being the SDP40F Athearn Blue Box unit I had recently converted for the nephew, Kian R. Outside of the problems mentioned above, it ran very well thanks to hard wiring the track power and running the gears through some pearl drops. As promised to Kian, I let him have it pull the Super Chief, which was captured on one of the videos. Remembering to get the Indian Series sleeper I recently converted turned on, I was almost emotional seeing the rear half of the train making the curve at APT and the bridge modules. From the Pleasure Dome down, with the exception of one car, everything was lighted and had some painted life inside. It was gratifying to see several months’ worth of work coming together, and it’s why I have been doing it, and will continue to do it for the rest of the Super Chief, and any other name train I will have time for.

Lastly, I was able to get my ScaleTrains’ GP30s out on the road. Recently run in and eager to work, and through the observations of Mike A, we were able to spot some slight push-pull problems with the units, so they may need some speed matching when I next get the chance. I also have a GP35 to join them in a consist, and that will certainly need speed matching too. Also, as we were running, we spotted some sanding piping getting dislodged so I just removed them. I am sure they are great details to have, but if it doesn’t want to stay on, there isn’t much point to having it. Beyond that, I was very pleased with my new work horses. Why I decided to run them with modern stock is beyond me – I think I just wanted an excuse to run trains no matter what!

Crossing timelines with 60s locomotives and modern rolling stock; all in the name of running my GP30s!

And so it went for the Saturday. We seemed to have the same visitors as before, if not in a more grouped together session as opposed to spread out. That being said, it did seem busier and more energised compared to last year’s event, likely because it wasn’t as hot. Both Paul P and Paul E’s wives were there to lend a hand, and with gratitude as Paul P needed that extra support. We were also joined at one point by Tom F’s better half and their lovely greyhound. Such excellent memories.

We ran down on Saturday around the 19:00 mark, with plans for fish and chips scuppered at the end. We had to say goodbye to several members that evening, mainly due to travel times and managing their health, all very understandable and not really a problem considering we had half of Sunday to break the layouts down and pack away.

An N Scale meet between Dean H and David A’s curves.

The Sunday however, did not begin with fanfare for the HO. From the beginning, there were problems, particularly with the Ethanol plant. It started with APT’s point constantly resetting, quickly fixed with a cable adjustment, but it was joined by resetting points on the Ethanol branch, which continued for some time throughout several rounds of troubleshooting for those issues and others. At some point between fixing APT and giving up, the communication issue happened again at the same location / same cabling. It started as a track power failure but soon became clear there was no line of communication to the command station.

When Laxton was back online, cable re-seated, and Ethanol seemingly stable again, did I start testing, and failed at Ethanol with a short. It was at this point we decided to just give up, and started packing up for the day. With the short term failure heavy on heart, and the prospect of breaking down and packing the layout ahead, it didn’t take long for me to reach a point where I wanted to be done with the whole layout, and taking lunch at that moment gave me time to calm down and remember why I was doing this, allowing me to return to “work” in higher spirits. And, I was happy to see the N scale was still running fine.

The only time the Super Chief ran prototypically on Saturday; more time was lost ensuring the layout ran and general troubleshooting.

Being the main point of call to fix problems and ensure the layout is kept running does bring with it a lot of responsibility, and I was glad to have experienced it, even if it was slightly unpleasant at the time. My respect for Paul H and what he has done over the years for the layout and for the Thamesiders has grown significantly, but that isn’t to say it wasn’t low to begin with. I may do things differently for my own modules and hopefully my own layout in the not so distant future, but I will always remember where I got the inspiration and the skill.

So in summary I believe I agree with Dean when he said to me on closing, that it was a “great weekend”. It was certainly tough, and I know I was losing my cool during several moments, especially on the Sunday, but otherwise it wouldn’t be something I would regret, or shy away from in future. I suspect trying to run a terminus station would be a lot more challenging than running a looping mainline with a branch, but that comparison will have to wait for now.

My thanks again to you all whom were able to come down and show your support, but I would especially like to thank Mrs Evans and Mrs Purnell for their attendance, assistance on the day and looking after their husbands so we could all enjoy the Saturday together.

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way.

Chris J’s NS loco hauling a hopper train towards the Taggart crossing.

The Summer Open House – Friday, 23 and Saturday, 24 June 2023

Thamesiders' Physical Meets, Uncategorized
A capture of the vibe of the morning rush and everyone’s commitment to get trains moving.

Despite an onset of heavy congestion on the A12, we were not dissuaded from our task on Friday evening of getting everything setup and ready for the Open House. Every backscene, building and signal was placed (and sometimes repaired) carefully, and it really showed in the pictures and on the livestream.

We were hoping to get some private running in, but fixing everything up and ironing out issues took priority and by the time we were satisfied, it was 10pm. Most of the attendees would be on the day itself, and it was good to see some faces again, especially if we had only seen them online or last Christmas. We were also very happy to see a member out and around with us following the passing of his wife, and we did our best to make sure he got some well-deserved time in with the trains.

Neal / author’s “Chief” consist moving past AP Tower. Note the signal in the distance; the route to the Laxton branch.

On the big day, since we had the layouts up there was nothing else to do but get trains set up and rolling. Both layouts I believe took off at 10:00, with some potential issues on the N Scale which were mitigated in time for the main rush through the doors.

I had a few minor hiccups on the day for the livestream. My laptop (or me) had disabled the mic jack so there was a brief moment of no audio, but as soon as I found the settings, the sounds were back on. The N Scale’s mic wasn’t in until a little later; I made a bad call in believing the webcam would capture the sound. Then, at around the two hour mark, we were visited by a younger modeller, and he put his YouTube experience into the Streamlabs setup to potentially help us get more hits – We’ll see if that plays out as hoped over the coming months.

The livestream covered a slightly extended view of Taggart and the station for the N Scale, with hopes to move the camera later dashed by a dodgy USB connection I found on the Friday. For the HO, Peach Meadows was on the docket again but this time I was able to turn the camera around to face the opposite direction, but the starting line up I got I believe was a brilliant angle and made the HO look larger than it was. I will need to explore different options if I want to truly immerse the audience and show off both layouts more; possibly with WiFi or wireless options…? Watch this space!

The starting livestream view of the HO
The angle chosen for the N Scale; with hopes to diversify in future as more scenery is applied

I missed my opportunity to take shots of David’s Kootenay Lake and Dean’s On30 and T-Trak modules. I liked the look of all and did particularly enjoy how the On30 was flexible with the curves/junction orientations. It was something to consider with my own plans, especially when taking on the delta junctions’ lessons. My larger and longer term project could benefit from having a mixture of orientations instead of just one set design, and my smaller module plans could also help towards introducing some additional modules to use with the Thamesiders if we ever wanted to branch out further after giving Laxton a show.

The rota was well theorised but I did find, especially due to the early livestream issues and the need to pick up some additional hands from the nearby holiday park (aka mother), I may have missed some opportunities to go above and beyond for the group especially in the customer facing side of things. I think the main worry was ensuring catering was provided and manned, and I believe between all of us and in support of Mr & Mrs H, it was very well manned indeed. I was personally happy to run the tea/coffee job so it was done at least once.

A sense of the numbers seen during the day whilst Michael T’s triplex thunders past Essex Ethanol.

The numbers we saw through the doors I believe comfortably surpassed our reasonable expectations, hopefully bolstering donations and the sales for both the second hand and for Orwell/Coastal. Even if the public had not come, I believe the day was still worth it solely because it gave the Thamesiders a chance to properly setup the layouts to their intended specifications.

The benefits of N Scale defined by a meet between two trains on a double track mainline

Personally, I was also very pleased to have my “Chief” set running laps. It is a few cars, a drumhead and detailing short of the luxurious Super Chief, but It certainly looked the part in my eyes. I didn’t get much opportunity to properly setup any others, but knowing I managed to crack the issues with the recently detailed, populated and DCC’d pleasure dome means I can continue my plans to covert the rest.

The “Chief” streamliner set snaking through Peach Meadows, with the pleasure dome bringing shame on her shabby compatriots.

I did get the doodlebug out for a spin, but the mixed freight remained in the boxes, hopefully to see a proper run another time. In terms of getting some more action on the screen from the HO we did try to simulate passing manoeuvres, and there were hopes to spot cars at Peach Meadows but there wasn’t much drive for it, especially considering Laxton was running switching manoeuvres.

Two Portland & Western GP38-2s have the switching job at Laxton

The cake eating and running concluded at 15:00. 30 minutes ahead of our agreed time but at that point, there were no members of the public present and everyone was starting to slow down anyway. It was unfortunate however to see two members of the public arriving at 15:15, but in hindsight we barely made it to the 17:00 closing time, even with the additional hands. I personally blame the heat – by the time the day was over, my flannel was soaked.

In closing, there is a couple of things to consider and work at least for me. Over the next few meets we can look at what else can be done or what we could do better, but I believe we achieved what we set out to do with the Open House, but whether that would that mean we can start considering something bigger is too soon to tell. Give us time to relax, and catch up.

I hope you all have a great summer.

– Neal K