The orth  ritish  EGO®  rain  lub

REPORT OF FIRST NBLTC TRAIN SHOW - ST. WILFRID's SCHOOL, NORTHWICH ON 29th JUNE 2002 (by Jon Reynolds)

INTRODUCTION

SETTING UP

With eager anticipation, we set off with 3 cars stuffed with 8 modules, at least 22 legs, various nuts and bolts, four adults, 6 children and of course a few bits of LEGO®. We arrived with 'plenty of time' to set up until we realized that the local time warp would compress two hours into what felt like 2 minutes. Due to a misunderstanding, we soon learned that we could not set up the display indoors - we had to go outside!. As it happens, this was not the disaster we thought it might be as the weather kept dry and nothing blew away. It did somewhat dictate the shape of the display though - long and thin to keep most of it under the roof overhang in case it rained. The overall length worked out at 6 modules (7.66m or just under 25ft).

Building the layout was, erm...interesting and brought to light some practical considerations which we hadn't fully appreciated. With the layout fixed in a long straight line, there is no opportunity for linear tolerances to disappear around 90 degree corners. Whereas this would normally be OK and we would allow the tracks to 'float' rather than be fixed to the modules, in this formation we had two fixed bridge sections in linear formation (tracks being held in place relative to length of module). David's canyon section uses two bridges, the distance between the tracks therefore being variable however my arched girder bridge is double-tracked to narrow spacing (2 studs between sleepers instead of 8). The re-alignment of the tracks to normal spacing is achieved by using an 's' bend and a 3 stud long isolating section but the very small inaccuracy in the length could not be lost around a corner. We were then left with the spectacle of one line being flat and level with the adjacent line arching skywards to take up the excess length with no visible support! Thankfully, David saved the day by building an artistic wiggle which can be smirked at in the photos.

LAYOUT DESCRIPTION

With the dumbbell shape we had two large areas at each end to provide return loops, these being squares 1277mm x 1277mm (2 whole modules). At one end Tony quietly plonked down what looked like several normal collections-worth of grey, black and green bricks fixed to baseplates (it was 25ft away at this point). This turned out to be a most impressive cutting substantially built using a zillion bricks and is shaped to fit around a double-track curve. The cutting is higher than the trains themselves (see pics) and is a stark reminder to us all of the sheer volumes of bricks required to build basic scenery. At the other end of the dumbell we left the modules plain as this was where the children queued to cough up 20p for a go on the controls (watched enviously by their Dads).

The linking modules included a slightly extended 2150 station, some sidings and a swing-gate style level crossing flanked by the two bridge modules. Pauline and David's massive canyon section wins the prize for 'The most ridiculous module you can build within NBLTC standards" with the running tracks being 36 bricks higher than the base. This does have the advantage of allowing full module scenery which was used to good effect with a 'Lost valley of the Kings' theme. My effort includes a valley-shaped drop of around 140mm which was undecorated and provided a good height for the controller.

OPERATIONS

We had four trains to hand - Metroliner with Club car, A double 4559, Doodlebug railcar and a class 37 with tanker train. Three light engines were also run - the yellow center-cab (from 4564 I think) , a battery 120 steam loco and the A4 Mallard which hid in shame at the end of the long siding afterwards.

As we were allowing non-qualified drivers to have a go, it was felt prudent that the controller output voltage be restricted to prevent assaults on minors. Commercially available Power Supply Units were used, with switchable outputs (we used 7.5v and 9v). Tony fabricated a connector which enable the Lego controller to receive this voltage as an input. In normal usage, the Lego transformer provides the controller with a 10v input so the loss of 1v actually prevented the highest output voltage and effectively disabled the highest 'notch'. Dropping to 7.5v input disabled the next 'notch' down too but this was only necessary for the 'Doodlebug' railcar with it's green coach. For some reason, this railcar liked to run on for ages when the power was switched off! We also built-in a secret on/off technic switch as a parental control device.

The weather held and the crowds came - luckily we were not in a prime location so crowd control was easy. The fair opened at 1pm and kind of tailed off at 4pm during which we did not stop. For 20p the children had 2 minutes controlling any train they liked which meant three of us were required - 1 to take the money, set the timer and energise the controller, 1 to explain how to drive and supervise shunting/change points, and a third to watch the layout and supervise the queue. Three of us....and there was only 1 train running at a time! It was nice to engage conversation with interested adults too but for some reason this always happens during really busy times. During the whole 3 hour period I think we had a total of five minutes where no-one was waiting to drive. At one stage, Pauline disappeared but returned with a handful of prizes she'd won....including a new LEGO® set!

FEEDBACK

Organisers of the School Summer Fair thanked us for attending and made loaded statements about next year.....We raised around £16 but provided some great entertainment apparently! Discussing this later, we could have raised more money by having two trains running at a time and charging more (say 50p) with a raffle for a small set every hour, but this is again something to be developed. During the afternoon we spoke to many parents, at least 5 of which were passed details of our website. The most common questions/comments were (in no particular order):-
"Is this all yours?"
"How much did this cost"
"Is it ALL LEGO®?" (Tony's cutting)
"I didn't know LEGO® made trains"
"I'm getting out my LEGO® when I get home"
"How can it work...it's only LEGO®"
"I'd love to get a Hornby® set, but you can't give it to the kids - they'd break it"
"How do you find the time?"
"Is this a club?"
"This is impressive...it's much bigger than I expected!"
Also - we noticed one or two characters standing around watching for at least half an hour but they couldn't bring themselves to talk to us!

CONCLUSION

As a first show, it was a good controlled (if a little exhausting) exercise. We'd had around 80 operators and at least as many again spectating. Nothing, as far as I can tell, has been lost, stolen or damaged.

From the feedback it is obvious that there is an untapped source of potential members out there who would not even think there may be AFOL community nor expect to find it on the web. The flexibility of the module design was also demonstrated as we hurriedly changed the intended layout design...come to think of it, was there an intended layout design? If we had done any more than brought loose scenery along, this would not have been so easy.

It's great to know our individual modules can be built together in any order to make a large layout with reliable operation - we now have a better idea of what to expect when the invites flood in for future shows!