Playing Trains with Trackgang at the Christchurch Show

The BOP Trackgang NZ120 layout from Tauranga ventured south for the Christchurch train show held over the weekend (4-5 October). DB thought it would be rude not to go up and help out Russell J and John E from Tauranga, and Aaron W from Hamilton.

The milk train on the Trackgang layout, with highsiders on the inner mainline. Note the sidings for display.

The show: its a pretty impressive show. I don't have any actual 'facts' for you, but we were told that the marshals had to pause the entry door a few times on Saturday as the hall can only accommodate 2000 people at once. That seems like an exaggeration, but there were a ton of people in, especially on Saturday. Many faces reappeared on the Sunday too. Rainy weather all weekend helped.

The Layouts: I'd guess there were 15 or so there, but I didn't allow myself enough time to browse properly. I'd also planned to buy knife blades, styrene, some of Brian R's Scenic Textures stuff, a DM coffee mug and rummage through the N Scale offerings, but large chunks of time pass surprisingly quickly at exhibitions until I turn to a zombie towards the end of the day.

The hall at the end of the second day, when pizza was put on for exhibitors, which was a nice touch.

There were a few impressive Lego trains running back and forth using colour sensitive photo detection to change direction using different coloured blocks between the lines at each end.  There was a small London Underground station which was a neat 'slice through the earth' concept. I'd love to see a way of having more tracks in this (a pair of lines at 45 degrees on a lower level with passengers changing lines and levels).

There was a cute wee British N scale offering that had four trains running on two tracks, and an American N modular one had a nice wharf and cargo ship scene.

Half of Twin Peaks

I've always liked the German/Swiss 'Twin Peaks' layout with its multiple levels of action, loads of lights and animated skiers, cars, chairlifts, skaters etc. There is plenty to look at in every little nook and cranny, and the automation is very impressive. A wee Z scale layout was super smooth and quiet. 

I would liked to have had a closer look at Lawrence B's Rewanui when it was running, with the tablet-controlled points and remote uncoupling for shunting. The scenery at the south end under the bridges is coming along nicely, and its sector table is a work of engineered art. As are the overhead lighting supports.

Big little Swiss Tigerli.

A few other NZ scenic beauties were present. Grant M's Three Mile Bush is a lovely bush tramway with Climaxes and other Heath Robinson-like contraptions hauling logs around. There was a vertical boiler that could emit puffs of smoke on demand, and plenty of bird sounds emanated from the bush. This was a real crowd pleaser and I believe it won best in show. 

3 Mile Bush with a log train chasing a light loco

Local group One Track Minds had their big 1:64th modular layout there. The scenery is really well done on this, but I never noticed too much action on it. Perhaps I was looking over at the wrong times, or maybe its just too difficult to efficiently run bidirectionally and cross trains at the stations. 'Sometimes-NZ120-modeller' Victor G had some superbly weathered Sn3.5 locos here, including this gorgeously rusty DXC 5293 modelled before its repaint. I've been meaning to try something like this for a long time. Inspiring. 

Sn 3.5 rustbucket weathering by Victor. Marvellous.

Ian P had his neat little NZ120 Kaikoura layout which is another crowd favourite that was mentioned in the blog two years ago. Small, reliable, plenty of action, and its easy for him to interact with the attendees from within the donut. While not 1000% prototypical (it is a model after all), it captures the locale perfectly, and this is what draws the crowds. The two circuits of track and the moving cars and trucks keep people amused as they look for 'Oaro' and 'Nins Bin' and other recognisable features along the coast.

Coal train on the Trackgang layout.

Trackgang BOP:  I didn't know much about the layout before this weekend, but can now report that it's a brilliant exhibition layout. 

• It is double tracked all around, so again, while not a million percent representative of most of NZ's lines, the reason people are attracted over to layouts, and then stay, is to see action. Having two tracks makes this much easier, and for the majority of the two days we had five mainline trains running at once, some of them quite long.  
• One track was powered with DC, the other DCC, which is entirely practical. For a few minutes early on the Saturday we had to diagnose a short in the DCC, but the DC trains could keep running. On Sunday, the reverse happened and there was a brief short in the DC - this time the DCC trains kept running, so nothing was lost.
• There are three long (about three metres) staging tracks behind the backscene. Brilliant. This allowed (primarily DCC) trains to be set up behind the scenes, and then swapped in and out and then be stored to give locos a rest and provide some variety in what was out on the mainline.
• There were two or three passing loop sidings on each circuit at the 'urban end' of the layout. This allowed medium or shorter trains to also be stored and swapped out on the 'visible' side of the layout - more for people to look at. 
• There are also some industrial sidings at the urban end of the layout, and one clump became the loco depot, where we could display a bunch of locos that were not in use on trains. We also sat wagons in the sidings for show, whether they ran well or not. Another popular spot was a log unloading area, with long wagons, a log truck, piles of logs, and log handling payloaders. 

The urban end, with loco display and log yard beyond the footbridge.

• Turnouts are remote controlled from behind the low backscenes using rods, and switches that power the frogs. 
• Above a tunnel there is an 'airport' where a collection of Air NZ, RNZAF and Safe Air 1:144 planes were displayed. This was a popular spot with many folks who also have an interest in aircraft.
• There were lots of little scenes that kept the kids (and many adults!) amused. Deer in a gully, people walking, sunbathing. Sheep, a nearby dog kennel, a hedge trimmer. A few people spotted the Tardis, a DeLorean, or cars from the Fast and the Furious. These little cameos kept people looking and walking around the layout. 
• The 'non-urban' three quarters of the layout has winding curves, bridges and road overbridges. These areas were nice and long, showing NZ120 at its best, with long trains running through scenery. The highsider coal train had more than 40 wagons.

DM in action. Note the clever crowd barrier - the sticks plug into holes in the layout fascia, which is robust enough to take any mild shoving. Note the wee dude - counting wagons was a popular pastime for the youngsters, especially with the highsiders!

• The modules themselves contained some nice ideas in their construction. Robust and foolproof circular electrical connectors connected all the wires between modules, and the plugs were clipped in place under the modules when disconnected. Loose leg pairs simply plugged into holes under each end of a module. Hinge joints at each side of a the join with L shaped pins made assembly easy and means you don't need fiddly adjustable feet, as any one set of legs in the pair can take the load. The modules made the commute from Tauranga in a small box trailer equipped with racking. Modules have a fascia with holes to plug a rope crows barrier into (see pic above).

Inter-module wiring. Legs are all numbered, making setup easy, with the black painted end on the crowd-facing side.

Clipped up when unplugged.

Such features enabled the layout to be up and working within 50 minutes. This included unloading modules from the trailer, walking them into the hall, laying them out in order, putting in the legs, making the physical hinge joins, laying an extension cord and plugging in the electrics, attaching the black cloth skirt, and installing the integral rope crowd barriers. Then (some!) buildings and vehicles were placed. Getting out of the hall after the show ended was just as quick. Getting the layout up quickly gave us a change to set up and test a few trains so we would be ready to roll on Saturday morning.

Assembled and almost ready to plug in. Nice fascia. The airport is above the tunnel at the far end, and is yet to be populated with planes.

This was an enjoyable and stress-free layout to operate. Plenty of action, ample staging, loads of places to display non-operating stock, plenty to keep people amused, and most important, it was utterly reliable. There's nothing worse than operating an erratic or untested layout at an exhibition when you are holding your breath on every circuit, or any time someone attempts to run through a turnout. 

The one or two glitches we had were quickly fixed. Pretty good for a modular layout that has come almost 1000km in a trailer, that was set up on a subtly un-flat hall floor, and of course the temperature and humidity changes significantly during a very wet day with a hall full of breathing people. 

Some of my Digitrax locos didn't behave as expected on the NCE system, so were sidelined or placed elsewhere. Sometimes a disobedient wagon might behave better when spun end-for end, or  moved in the train if its coupler height was out, otherwise it was removed. The odd repair was able to be made. We ended up with eight or nine reliable trains on deck at once, and these could pretty much circle the layout for hours with out any issues.

Locos and a railcar on standby.

With the NCE's recall button, it was fairly easy to control three trains following each other around the DCC circuit - running one at a steady pace, and slowing or speeding the other two trains occasionally by one or two clicks to have them keep their distance. But you had to pay attention. Being distracted for a minute or two by some sideline chat with a punter might see two trains try to merge into one. 

On the DC line, faster trains had to be stopped periodically in an isolated section to let the slower one pull ahead. And having most of the loops and sidings able to be isolated as blocks has other benefits, for example, switching off one of the staging tracks to avoid upsetting the rest of the layout while putting on a new train.  I should do this on my modules. It seemed to me that the NCE dealt with shorts well. Of course the 'loco depot' area was switched out so we could put a mix of DC and DCC engines there.

Da with livestock. Note the fine power poles made from brass.

Trains and rolling stock on the BOP Trackgang layout over the weekend included: 

• A very cool milk train made from MMW etched ends and frames combined with sections of 'slightly un-polished' handrail tube. 
• A striking 3D printed Standard railcar fettled by Russell. There's nothing like a red railcar to catch the eye of the passing punter. 
• A Murupara log train behind a pair of old Dgs
• Tasman Forestry and Kiwi Lager locos.
• Two TranzScenic trains, including one pulled by a Tranz Rail bumblebee recabbed DG! There was also a KiwiRail Scenic Journeys white twinset railcar in attendance.
• A nice red Da hauling livestock wagons provided something a little older to look at. In hindsight I should have tried that Da or a grubby Dg pulling my three red passenger cars around to see if they ran.
• A few other 'mixed freight' trains ran over the weekend, including one DBR-hauled, and local man Jonty B had his DXR in on Saturday. This had an impressive LED ditchlight setup. 
• And the 'old' and 'new' coal trains were pretty reliable (and relatable to most of the local audience). A couple of the hoppers would derail when they dropping into the staging area. This was away from the public eye, but I'm kicking myself for not swapping those wagons around to see if that could have been cured. Not that we swapped that train out often. The highsider train reached 44 wagons at one stage, with Aaron's LCs being absolute works of art - brake hoses, etched side chains, handbrake levers, and... little loops on the side to tie your tarpaulin ropes to!  Wow.  He also had a couple of intricate etched container wagons that were very impressive. 

Note the side chains, handbrake levers, brake hose, and the rope tiedowns on the sides on Aaron's Trackgang LCs!

Almost prototypical - a  bumblebee recabbed DG on the Tranz passes a milk train that has been pulled over. Over on the DCC tracks, another Tranz passes going the other way.

A quick check of the NCE manual. I've never used this system before, so was of no help! Visible is the highsider train looking good on the reverse curves at 33 wagons, before Aaron's LCs were added.

Tranz Rail freight through the S curves on the Sunday.

DM again. Signals, relay boxes and crossing bells are fine details. The containers are Aaron's twin-layer etches.

NZ120 in full flight.

NIMT viaduct.

The DBR's freight train (Aaron Wall pic)

Popsicle DX (Aaron Wall pic)

Most of the stuff that I operated has never been used before in anger because this is the first exhibition I've run NZ120 on since 1995. And I loved it! Thanks to Russell, John and Aaron for coming down, putting up with me, and making this possible. Now to finish off my modules....