Y'all are the best ! You
always shine. Thanks for all the hard work.
---
On Sun, 5/15/11, Bill Lohman <844bill@gmail.com>
wrote:
From:
Bill Lohman <844bill@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: TCA Train Meet
and Show
To: ttat-members@aoot.com
Date: Sunday, May 15, 2011,
5:38 PM
Agree with Ira
and would like to emphasize that I felt that the layout really
"showed" well. Ira had to work fast to redesign it when the
original footprint turned out wrong and he came up with a
winner. The crowd seemed much larger than last years and
they really seemed to enjoy it.
I would also
like to add that only five guys showed up for setup.
So, a layout of this size took a very long, tiring, five
plus hours to set up. Hopefully it will work out in the future
that more of you can find the time to attend setup the next time we do
a layout of this size. I think we really need at least 8
guys and 10 would be better -- to make setting up a layout of
this size anywhere close to enjoyable.
But,
again. The layout did the club proud!
Bill
On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 5:16 PM, Ira
Schneider <ira_schneider@iname.com>
wrote:
Hi,
Here are my impressions of
yesterday's TCA Lone Star Division Train Meet and Show.
We
arrived on Friday evening and found that the space available to us
was not
even close to the space they said we would have.
Instead of an 18' x 50' area
we ended up with a 26' x 40'
area. We built a 6 x 3 L-shaped layout, similar
(but
reversed) from last year's layout. Attached is the layout
diagram.
There was only one other operating layout at the show.
They were
right next to us, next to the notch in our layout
diagram.
While we were assembling the layout, we were having
a problem with the
passthru module. We finally noticed
"outisde" marked on the inside
of the base, so we disconnected
the module and turned it around.
By the time they chased us
out we had the mainline assembled.
Saturday morning, we
attached the power cart and started testing the layout.
We
quickly noticed that tracks 1, 2, and 4 were apparently shorted
together.
After unplugging all of the intermodule cables, which
reduced the apparent
problem to only tracks 1 and 2, and
unhooking the end of the yard from the
corner, we still had the
short. We closely examined the passthru module
and saw that
the tracks were apparently wired incorrectly. That is
when
we found a small notation "outside" on the inside of the
deck. Apparently,
the notations are small enough on both
the base and on the deck that we
didn't notice them. We
again unhooked the bridge, reversed the deck, and
hooked
everything back together. Everything was now working
correctly.
We then completed assemling scenery, Plexiglas, and
the skirts.
Since the number of members attending this show
was relatively small, we
had ample track time all day. We
ran our normal mix of freight and passenger
trains. The
attendees to the show seemed to enjoy watching our trains,
and we
had fun running them.
Several of our members sold items at
the show, and were pleased
with the results.
The show
ended at 4:00 PM and we were packed and ready to leave
around
5:15 PM.
There had been some indication in the past that the
lights on the trailer
weren't working properly. Ed had the
trailer hooked up to his truck and
tested all of the lights, the
directional signals, and the hazard warning.
The only lights that
weren't working were the two marker lights at the top
of the
trailer (front and rear) on the driver's side. All of the
other marker
lights and the directional signals worked
correctly.
Overall, this was an enjoyable show. It is
too bad it only lasted one day.
Ira
|