Easing out of the public spotlight.

I have recently had an invitation to exhibit Victoria Street early in the second half of the year, while it's nice to be invited, and I have seriously contemplated this invitation for a some time, but unfortunately I don't believe I can fulfill this obligation to my satisfaction, so therefore I'm declining. 

Compared to a few years ago, life, work and family now takes up a fair bit of my free time. The key to any exhibition is preparation, the cleaning, repairing, and fine tuning that is required to be done to hopefully enable a good outcome, along with the finding and training of crew mates together with the logistics of transport tend to thieve time from family duties. 

Last one to run in from the racecourse.

While the other final car in comes in from the 

Ammunition Factory

I also work shifts that involve working weekends, while I have the ability to trade away weekend work due to their increased penalty rates. At this stage of my life would rather enjoy my rostered weekends off engaging in family and social activities than be tied up in an exhibition. 

While preparations are one thing, the commissioning and operations along with well intended interactions with the public, as well as the wear and tear to the layout from travel and tactile punters, in the end can turn the whole epic weekend into a chore. 

I have met some wonderful people during exhibitions along with followers of the blog, but I find after the hard graft of an exhibition weekend, it results in me being more fatigued than 'actual' work. 

Then after closing and two days of operations, I have been known to lay up the layout for a month to six weeks in pieces due to being absolutely exhausted and sick of the sight of it, until I feel the need to 'putter about' again. 

Recently I had a lengthy discussion with a like minded colleague about the whole exhibition concept and about all of the involvement, we concluded it's all good if you are part of a larger group that can share roles and responsibilities over the course of the weekend, but as a stand alone independent exhibitor, you can sometimes feel like that you're on your own.

I'm at that stage in my life where I would now prefer to wander around the site for a few hours, touch base with some people, part with some cash, then enjoy my purchases at home. 

Victoria Street was never intended to be an exhibition layout. It started as a modular test track, it expanded, it had DCC installed, it expanded again, but in the end it's my little interpretation of Melbourne tramways   

I am retiring this 'old girl' from actual public consumption, but I will continue to share 'her' online.

I am always thinking and doodling of potential exhibition layouts, but that maybe later when time allows. 

For those who attended previously and were inspired, then offered continued interest and support. 

I thank you. 

Yours faithfully from under the wires. 

Glenn

The Sunshine Report.

Another exhibition done and dusted, the Sunshine Model Railway Club by their reports had a reasonably good turn out over the weekend of the 6th & 7th of August, to myself it felt busy at times but not too crowded, with the punters easing off during the last hour or so on both days.

Plenty of natural light at Sunshine.

There were two main points of interest with the layout, trams as opposed to trains, and the use of wifi control with smartphones/tablets with  JMRI and DCC. 

The tram angle with the JMRI works as it allows tight head ways and independent operation with the ability to wander from one terminus to the other whilst in some form of control. 

The other great feedback was how detailed the layout is and also how given its compact size offered plenty of operational scope. 

The exhibition was another chance to catch up with a few familiar faces and  put faces to names on people who follow this blog. There was plenty of variety of layouts on show, ranging from Z scale to G scale live steam covering Australian, British, European and U.S. prototypes, along with the usual traders.

On the Sunday, I was assisted by my oldest daughter which eased the load of having something on the move while chatting with the public. 

As per usual, there were a few dramas, such as stalling, derailments and the odd bit of bang roading together with a complete shutdown of the JMRI when the eldest turned off the laptop, but these add character as well as a few more grey hairs. 

The other thing that dragging out the layout does is it gives you a chance to view it from different angles and from a distance.  The pack up was pretty swift, the exhibition closed at 4pm and the car was packed and the key in the ignition by 4:27 and was home by 4:45 after swinging by the bottle shop(off licence/liquor store).

Looking along Victoria St back to the Depot.

 

From the depot end.

A few photos from the weekend. 

There wouldn't be an exhibition without Lego these days.

Pondering what to do next from under the wires.

Glenn

Something's going on

The punters and traffic have been removed from the layout and are stored at the moment, rollingstock is in the process of getting a once over and a tidy up, track and infrastructure is being cleaned and tested, all of this can only lead to one thing, an upcoming exhibition. 

All is quiet on the western front.

 Playing the numbers game.

(Because you need to know what tram to call up)

Complete with pigeon holed up punters.....

 .....and take away traffic.

There is nothing that lifts ones enthusiasm than an impending exhibition date, as I have done some extensive work on Victoria Street since its last outing at the AMRA Caulfield exhibition during August 2014, I have accepted an invitation for the Sunshine MRC exhibition at Braybrook secondary college, the first weekend in August.

While I do get a few invitations to exhibit throughout the year, the combination of work/family commitments, exhibition dates and distance are the factors I consider, also I try not to over expose the layout on the exhibition circuit. The Sunshine exhibition works better for me for two reasons, one I have already been rostered three days off that weekend, and secondly, the venue is only a five minute drive from home. 

As I have exhibited at Sunshine before, it's will be nice to head back again, as it was here that Victoria Street made its debut as a small/micro layout in 2010.

My, my! How much has changed since then.
(Sunshine MRC exhibition 2010)

On an important side note, the curse of windows 10 has played merry hell with me posting updates to the blog, but somehow has not affected the operation of JMRI as far that can be determined, however I anticipate either some little issue before or a huge drama during the exhibition.

I know there are few followers of this blog will be pleased that Victoria Street will be out and about and have an opportunity to experience it first hand.

Looking forward to sharing Victoria Street from under the wires.

Glenn.

Service interuptions and some analogue running

It has been a month since Caulfield and I have done nothing since then, the layout has sat in the study as I left it when I came home on that Sunday night. The last weekend I started the getting 'the band back together', all that was needed, was a flick through of the October AMRM  to realise that I still have some work to do.

As part of the reinstatement of Victoria Street, the DC option has now been fully integrated, this now allows one tram at a time to be test ran to see if it should be fitted with DCC, and also gives those other pieces of rollingstock in my collection a chance to stretch their legs.

Since the conversion to DCC some two years ago, some trams and some new purchases have not the opportunity to get out of the display case and 'cut a notch'. Thus now introducing a rogues gallery of ring ins of my DC fleet......

 

A Walters Birney done up as MMTB X 217 with arse about doors

on a Tyco/Mantua Chassis.

 

A Tyco/Mantua tarted up as MMTB U 205

(Pretty much a dead ringer)

  

 

But wait, there's more waiting to become something else...

(and they all work!)

 

A Cooee Collectable Restaurant Tram with A Bachmann Brill Mechanism,

(this has a lot of potential with DCC/lights)

 

 

A Kochi 600 Hasagawa 1-80 kit with a Bachmann Brill Mechanism,

(The panto is pushing the body down at the No1 end,

another DCC candidate)

 

A Kato Hanover/Hiroshima Tram,

(Now this is a well built model)

 

 

A Double Truck Birney (Ken Kidder???)

This will need some work as it runs the old school

pick up from one side of one bogie, pick up from the other

side/ bogie, and it runs like a dog!

 

 

A Muni Boeing LRV by Mehano, this could have potential for DCC/Lights,

but could do with a better mechanism.

 

 

This is the RTR DC stock that has been waiting to have a crack, there are also some other projects/kits on the back burner waiting for their chance.

 

From under the wires and the smell of ozone of the rarely turned motor.

 

Regards Glenn. 

 

 

 

 

A solid weekend at Caulfield

"Any exhibitor, who at a model railway exhibition has time to indulge in photography, either has a lot of minions or a static diorama."

All went reasonably well at Caulfield over the weekend, plenty of positive praise, lots of interest in the model trams and the operation of model railways in general with wifi and smartphones. A few faces were put to online names/avatars, a catch up with others who I exhibited with a few years ago at Sunshine. All in all a good vibe.

Victoria Street, while modular, travels as well as Guinness, great at home but can be ordinary away.
The rail over bridge and associated overhead received a knock in transit, all hail Blu-tac! With a somewhat latish arrival on the Friday evening, and after some issues with missing trestle tables, the set up and initial run worked well.

I had planned to print off some side street back scenes at home only to find that the colour printer had decided to print in sepia. The scenes were printed in black and white on the monochrome laser printer for size and scale, then the colour scenes were printed after set up on Friday night at the outlaws and installed first thing Saturday morning before the doors opened.

 

The Gates with the newly installed printed back scene.

 

 

Most of the rollingstock behaved, 812 had an issue with what I believe as an overheating problem, it would run for about ten to fifteen minutes before 'failing to proceed', usually under the complex trolley wire of the bend.  800 ran ok for a while, then ran erratically then the motor died, the classic case of the lights were on but no one is home, which after five years of continuous service with a Bachmann mechanism I consider that reasonable. 870 & 964 served the entire weekend, with cameos from 460, Bendigo 29, Ballarat 28 and the Oktoberfest Duwag. As always there was the odd derailment, stalling and stuttering, just to keep it real.

 

A shout out goes to my Brother in Law, Mick, who put in several hours over the two days with Victoria Street, He managed to grab a couple of quick photos with his phone, and is the supplier of the spare wifi router. Thanks Mick.

 

 

Epsom Road.

 

 

Victoria Street.

 

 

The overview on location at Caulfield.

 

Last but not least, a big thanks goes to my wife, who lost a husband for an entire weekend and most evenings leading up to the exhibition. On the final day, she appeared with the oldest and her Ipad, before too long there was a queue of young recruit drivers all waiting for their turn to 'cut a notch' with 964.

 

 

964 negotiates the gates.

 

 

Thanks for AMRA Victorian Branch for the opportunity to exhibit, thanks for those who follow and enjoy this blog and introduced themselves.

 

 

From under the wires, but really needs to catch up with some domestic duties.

 

Glenn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



  

The Sunday shakedown and a photobomb.

In preparation for the Caulfield Exhibition, testing is currently underway. So far so good, the DCC wiring bus is working, the lighting is working, and most trams are behaving.

Most of the issues are related to details, decals and advertisements, plus some scenic items.

The JMRI and decoderpro passed with flying colours, the spare wifi router did its job, and every device was employed to have a crack at driving.

 

Seven trams on the go, from the left, two on the powercab, one each on the apple devices,

then three on the android smart phone, plus the USB interface on the right, complete madness!

 

 

 

shakedown Sunday, (this will be more presentable next weekend)

  

 

 

then Sparky decided to drop in and act as starter/inspector, he will

be at home in his cage next weekend, (he is currently going through

 that awkward teenage destructive phase and learning bad language)

 

 

From under the wires and close to the exhibition.

Glenn.

Countdown to Caulfield.

A few quick teaser shots of Victoria Street in the dark, so far so good for Caulfield.

 

Outside the Pub.

 

 

Crossing paths at the bend.

 

 

A night at the cinema.

 

 

From the ever growing punchlist under the wires.

Glenn.

 

 

 

Off to the racecourse.....at Caulfield.

There is a good reason why a fair bit of infrastructure work is going on Victoria Street at the moment. Victoria Street has been nominated and accepted to exhibit at the AMRA-Vic Branch August Exhibition, (23rd-24th August) at Caulfield Racecourse.

Doing the form.

 

So how would the layout read in a racing form guide, something like this....

 

"

VICTORIA STREET

 

A 5 year old tramway shelf layout out of Something Different (Carendt USA) & Some Bit Of Time.

 

Last Three Starts:

                             2012-Sunshine Model Railway Club Exhibition. Reconfigured Layout

                             2011-Sunshine Model Railway Club Exhibition. Extended Layout

                             2010-Sunshine Model Railway Club Exhibition. Original set up.

 

Gear Changes since last Start:

                             Fitted with NCE DCC Powercab/USB interface with JMRI Decoder Pro.

 

Form Analysis:

                             The removal of block wiring and the installation of DCC has improved the operational options of this layout, coming off a long spell (two years) from its last three runs at Sunshine, it finally gets a chance in town. Watch with interest.                                                       "

So there you go, you can wander into Caulfield with your smartphone loaded with either Wi Throttle (I phone) or Engine Driver (Android) app, say G'day and make yourself known, after which you may be invited to 'cut a notch' on Victoria Street.

In an effort to facilitate safer working for guest drivers, Perspex barriers have been install at the ends of the layout, so to prevent trams diving off and onto the floor, as momentum is sometimes a cruel mistress. Some reworking was required so the larger trams did not foul the terminus points. The Perspex was courtesy of one those gift boxed bottle of wine/dodgy port boxes.

 

 "It's like some sort of weird force field"

  

stealing millimetres, everyone counts

 

 

Those familiar with Caulfield, know that it can have some rather dim corners in the exhibition space, that is why the lighting side of Victoria Street is now a priority.

Studying the form from under wires.
Glenn




 

A little more Sunshine

As I stated in the previous blog, there is never enough time to take decent photos at an exhibition when you are exhibiting. A fellow exhibitor has proved me incorrect, Adam from the Melton Model Railway Club who was exhibiting their Free-mo concept modular layout managed either to delegate minions to run their layout or abandoned it completely to take these photos.

http://www.wolfpacfotos.com/index.php/Braybrook-Model-Railway-Show-2012

because most of my photos somehow ended like this....

It's either time for a new camera or new glasses for the operator.

From under the wires
Glenn

Two days of Sunshine

All is reasonably well after two solid days of running at the Annual Sunshine Model Railway Club exhibition, conducted at the Braybrook Secondary College Hall. As this venue is just a few kilometres (couple of miles) down the road from home, and this is the third time that Victoria Street has been exhibited there, it made for a rather welcoming and familiar event.

For the first time I could recall at Sunshine, Victoria Street was not the only model tramway exhibit in attendance, the crew from the broad church that is the Model Bus Association of Australia also had their layout 'The High Street' running a few trams together with an assortment of Faller powered buses and trucks.

This meeting of kindred folk allowed the free transfer of trams from one layout to another such as ....

Their A2 276 in The Met livery pauses at Railway Station

A2 276 on approach to the Racecourse terminus.

While Victoria Street was being dragged into the mid to late 80's, my trams such as SW6 870 and Restaurant Tran 939 were plying their trade in the very British surrounds of The High Street.

The other aspect of the exhibition was that I could reconfigure Victoria Street by setting the modules in a different sequence to that at home, so an entirely new 'feel' and operating system became Victoria Street for the weekend.

So from top to bottom for the weekend was, fiddle yard,

the bend, the railway station, the crossing square then the racecourse.

Therefore offered a different view of the street scape.

 Another angle of the railway station.

Now for the drama report, Bendigo Birney 29 decided to toast a motor, then an hour and half before finish on the Sunday an electrical gremlin made the racecourse terminus difficult to operate, so as per prototype, all trams were 'short shunted' at he Railway station before the gates, with 'bustitution' allowing punters to continue their journey to and from the racecourse.

Here is the link to the Sunshine/Braybrook thread on railpage, has some chatter plus some good members have uploaded photos of the exhibition, (because you never have enough time to take decent photos at an exhibition when exhibiting!)

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11369827.htm

So, All thanks to the Sunshine Model Railway Club and their hospitality, and thanks to all those who follow this blog and all its links to other sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Micro/small Layouts and Railpage who helped put faces to names, and offered encouragement and appreciation, plus those who maybe inspired to have a crack at modelling trams. Thanks again.

From under the wires,

Glenn

On the beach or on the road?

At the moment Victoria Street resembles the final scenes in the cinematic classic
 'On the Beach' (1959, MGM). A movie based on the book of Nevil Shute, a post apocalyptic drama set in Melbourne after a nuclear war (rather heavy themes, then again it was the cold war)

Victoria Street

Movie/DVD poster

Epsom Road

actual final scene from movie

No in reality, Victoria Street, is getting a good clean, and the trams a good shakedown before I drag the whole show down the road to Braybrook for the Sunshine model railway club exhibition next weekend (August 4th & 5th).

So all the punters and the road traffic are currently spending the next week inside zip lock bags as the fun process of dismantling the layout takes place.

From under the wires

Glenn