Setup and testing

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 24th August 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
The Laxton setup in preparation for the NMRA BR Convention in October

This month’s physical meet was mainly brought to you by the HO’s hopeful NMRA BR Convention setup, with the 3 West Yard boards tacked onto the Laxton branch. The final measurement came in at a tight squeeze against the booked room drawings, but by the sounds of things it’ll do fine. Setup was a little bumpy at first, with the hopes of having the control station and a booster to cover any and every possible demand, and without the Pi setup so the conventional Lenz controllers were favoured. We soon found ourselves with control issues, and after trying the yard booster instead of Laxton’s own, we settled on just having the control station, figuring (and maybe hoping) it was enough to meet the demand, and especially since it was the only control setup without the Pi which worked!

We found ourselves filling up the layout quite quickly, running our locomotives up and down the possible combinations of point positions and locations, soon finding ourselves spotting and collecting cars to our heart’s content. Geoff T, one of our former regulars, was able to drop by and test out his new Rapido acquisitions, alongside my own GP38 which arrived not but a few days earlier.

We did spot a track alignment problem between the staging and the scenery boards not too long into the session, but Paul P quickly rectified that and partook in his own testing, especially after installing the backdrop boards, one of which was newly built for this setup.

The new backscene board separating the scenery and the yard. Rejected tank car for scale. Geoff can be seen out of focus in the kitchen enjoying a nice break.

The N scalers were running hard and fast this time around, with a perfect recording opportunity offered which I believe they happily partook in. With the same L, 180 and return setup we’ve grown fond of seeing, I found myself a little spot overlooking Dean’s super elevated curving module, and zoomed in for the shot. If I do say so myself, I believe the hour or so’s worth of footage came out excellent, and it’ll sent to YouTube slowly enough to allow some time between now and the next physical meet.

Satisfactorily, the Santa Fe got some good representation in, one each from Dad and David, with Chris running his NS hopper freight, and Dean with his DCC Sound loco I never remember to get the details of. Dad then got out his view liners again, this time with the big “Pepsi Can” liveried loco, and Paul brought in the BNSF representation with his container train. And finally, I was pleased to see the CP Rail Angus Van getting some work in, with its now working tail lamps. You could see them with the naked eye at the right angle, but the camera caught them just fine too.

Have a peek at some of the favourites!

The meet between Paul E’s container train and Chris J’s hopper train, overseen by the crew riding the visiting CPRR Angus Van. You can barely make out the tail light.
Chris J’s doodlebug move.
The view-liners and the Pepsi-can; train as hot as that super-elevation.
Dean’s loco I forgot to be named – answers on a postcard please!

The other item on the docket which I personally saw to was addressing the degrading health of one of the Peach Meadows boards. Specifically the corner at #4; one side of the wood structure was loose and the foam underlay was causing floating scenery across the join. I approached the “project” with the intention to replace the track which was affected by the degradation, but thanks to Geoff’s keen eye, not only did we discover I had the wrong size track, but also it would actually be more useful to fix the structure first before attempting to repair the right of way.

With hammering, and PVA flowing, all we had was the hope some track nails were enough to secure the scenery while the PVA sets. Paul P was kind enough to loan me some of the more hardy timber nails, allowing me to secure the loose board back into the rest of the module structure. One set of drums and an employee of the scrap business suffered as a result of the heavy hits to their home, which I’ll re-attach first thing next physical meet. Considering I was a little rusty on the process, the outcome of the repair seemed fairly decent and there was indeed hope the fix would last. We will however only know until at least after October, and possibly in the new year.

Patient 4 resting in the ward after some traumatic treatment involving a hammer. They may yet live.

Overall a very productive meet for both scales, especially considering the footage captured of the N Scale. Those able to represent the Thamesiders during the coming quiz night made their plans, and so did those on the committee for the NMRA BR Convention, especially Dean, considering he now had more information about one of his attractions. The HO was packed away with emphasis on keeping everything required for the convention in a location separate from the rest, and the boards formally placed on trollies now back together in their original pairs until November, at least.

I noted both scales up and running around 11am, and us beginning to pack away at around 3:30pm, as standard. The reduced lot going back into storage likely assisted with the slightly early finish, however the regulars were returning to full strength again following health, holidays and that well known fact of time; life. I believe the Thamesiders and their contribution will do well at the convention, simply because we don’t have too much of a complicated setup and we are generally in a good place already. There should be enough to keep a few of us occupied over the course of the convention, and especially during the public day.

I will admit not being able to run passenger ops is and will be a slight disappointment over the coming months, but that isn’t really a problem because this undertaking means more representation for the hobby, and the group itself, and that’s all that really matters in the end. Besides; change is on the horizon for me personally, and there is certainly hope it’ll mean I’ll be able to focus that side of my interests fully at home, allowing (and hopefully helping) the group to grow however it needs to; be it freight, passenger, logging/lumber, long, short or mixed.

Until September then…

Neal K
Santa Fe all the way

David representing the brand on Dean’s 180 module, complete with a meet.

Thamesiders Physical Meet – Saturday, 25th May 2024

Thamesiders' Physical Meets
Dean’s new bridge module, as seen on Facebook in the various groups including our own. Picture by Stu T.

With a lot of the outside excitement behind us, and the Open House event next month, it was all possible hands on deck. As seen for several meets now, the N Scale contingent is healthy and expanding at a steady pace with the official introduction of Dennis’ two modules into the setup and Dean’s second introduction of this year; the bridge module. I was very pleased to see some relative excitement over there, especially when this were moving over these modules with relatively little problems. It would be good to see them again during the Open House.

The HO also saw some significant work, albeit the contingent being not as large. Laxton was getting the attention it deserved this time around with the efforts of Paul H and Mike A to add the new crossover as well as from Chris C introducing more improved legs. We were sorry Paul P was unable to attend this time, and hope he makes a full recovery if not in time for the event, in time to see him again before the NMRA BR Convention later this year.

Dennis’ modules officially up and almost locked in with the runs. Photo by Stu T.

Most of us made it for 09:00 with a few of the others, joining not too long after to help the setup of both layouts. The HO was up and running at around 11:30, and this was in spite of the much needed temporary repairs on one of the Ethanol boards (many thanks to Paul H). The N scale with the additional modules was not that far behind.

During setup we had a visitor looking to see the action, and perhaps membership, if not for an additional head on the N Scale but a potential member none the less. Unfortunately he was a tad early but joined us later when things were up and running. It was also good to see Tom F back and showing his support for the HO, which certainly offset the lost effort Paul P usually assisted with and made things a bit more smooth for us in his absence.

Chris C and Paul H making final adjustments to the wiring to support the new crossover (as seen) as well as to make safe for the new legs. Picture by Stu T.

Once the main loop of the HO was up myself and Tom had the opportunity to run some trains, I brought a freight train (as promised) and Tom was able to test several of his own include a British turbine (but don’t ask me which model). I do remember the NYC passenger consist with matching express box cars / formally troop carriers. It seems I will never quite get away from passenger ops, and I did bring my twin RDCs, but they remained in my bag.

With my freight I managed to get a few loops out of it after ironing out a few niggles with my caboose and one of the new hoppers I acquired through the ScaleTrains / ExactRail sale. Frustratingly and even after a few tweaks, the caboose decided to misbehave only intermittently, completing a whole loop one time and just rejecting the bridge curve and derailing on another. It was a shame because it was the most complete brown caboose I had brought to the meet, otherwise I would have had to go back to the more modern red ScaleTrains Kit Classics ones.

I noticed several interesting trains on the N scale, some steam, passenger and general freight. One eye catcher was (of course) a Kato big boy. It seemed however the focus was mainly test running across the new modules and troubleshooting another connection issue, however by the same light they may have found a solution so fingers crossed all is well during the event for them.

The contingent remained full until around lunch time when Mike A had to depart, and Chris C needed to return home and retrieve some tools. There was also a family emergency so we also saw additional drop in numbers then, but we hope all is well and the member involved has everything they needed. We also received news that Paul H will be away on holiday for the event next month, so there was a lot of focus and planning ensuring we were covered next month. I volunteered to be key master if Paul is able to handoff in time, but failing that we did have a backup plan.

My stock this month serving as a freight train with Chris C focusing on legs in the background.

I was extremely pleased to find out I could setup the pi desktop on my own, but the wiring still had one single mix up but that hopefully won’t be a problem for the Open House; we should have plenty of time for troubleshooting and the only other thing which may cause problems is the Sprog, which Paul H kindly (again) let us borrow his own for the event. We also troubleshooted the problem with track four in the staging yard and it seems another board will be required, so PCB manufacturers and maybe MERG members reach out if you’re interested in the boards for Paul H! It would have been nice to commit myself but as the Mrs and I are trying to sort out a move this year or next we won’t have a chance to test such kit out yet, but fingers crossed when we’re settled properly.

When it came to break down, the HO started not long after 15:00, and the N Scale not too long after that. Chris C was making his propositions about the potential trollies, and against the context of fixing more issues related to setting up / breaking down as well as the monotony of getting the boards together and then back in storage, the prospect for me at least was sounding really good. The true test will come if they can withstand the trip from hall to storage every month, which is already a potential issue.

We were all done by 17:00, and like most meets there was, for me at least, a sense of satisfaction in being able to get out and run some trains again. Mid Essex unfortunately haven’t been running OO or HO for some time, which is fair, and it has been nice to help the other scales, but there is definitely a subconscious love for just running your own trains. We’re expecting the Scottish OO layout to be in running order in not too long a time so that may bring opportunity for another North American invasion!

David working hard on his module whilst Dean and Paul H discuss the electrical setup of the N scale, and finally Dennis getting to running some of his stock on the newer sections.

There was some concern the HO contingent was running a little small these days, but as a member it hasn’t been too much of an issue, even if there is only an opportunity to run trains for 30 minutes merely for the reasons above. Even alone, I find my drive and content in that end goal and why if it is only a few of us it isn’t so much of an issue. Admittedly however, if it is to be the norm, we may need to consider a smaller setup next year or at least, getting Chris C to build those trollies.

The main point to take away is we all have a life, and life does tend to get in the way for very welcoming reasons and others not so welcoming. For the latter, we can only hope those affected know they will always have a place here among us when they can make it, and we will always appreciate them bringing their trains.

Neal K
– Santa Fe all the way