Preparing for a four day show

As March gives way to April, the first quarter of 2016 is already over. I need to turn my attentions to the next outing for the layout at the end of April - four days in a marquee at the Abbey Hill steam fair.

The layout has never been run in a marquee before and therefore has never had to cope with being setup on uneven ground, then there's the moisture / humidity to factor in, and of course four consecutive days of running the layout.

I will probably rest some of the more expensive purchases as a precaution but will still need plenty of items to run and it will be necessary to ensure that the stock is rotated regularly.

Work to update the switch panel has now been completed, with suitably matched transformers installed for all four tracks and the walkabout controller - all of the duette transformers have now been removed.

The Arduino signal system has now been fully bench tested (and works!) so hopefully will be installed prior to the end of the month. The new system should reduce the power demands of the laptop power supply which is used to power the turntable, points & signals. It was also powering the cooling fan in the back of the switch panel, this has now been moved to a spare transformer coil as part of the transformer upgrade. It also means that should the supply ever fail again, there is a back-up system readily available within the switch panel so a repeat of the issues at Gartell should be avoided.

One area of concern with a four day show is the shuttle. Running the old SR EMU up and down on such a short distance over four days may cause some issues, so this will probably be kept to minimal running. The Hornby bubble car has proven quite successful and so I've decided to invest in something similar, something that hopefully won't look too out of place...

This is only the second Lima conversion I've attempted. The first, a class 33/0 has never appeared on the layout due to it being HO gauge and totally out of scale when compared to the rest of the stock! Currently I'm adding extra ballast to ensure that the third rail pickup will work properly. I'll try using a Marklin skate underneath but clearance space is tight.

I will also be investigating whether it will be possible for my Bachmann two car DMU, which appeared on the old layout a few times but has not yet made an appearance on I 'ad That, to be modified to work on the shuttle. Some of the other Bachmann EMUs and the Hornby VEP will also most likely be making appearances.

I think this will be a good test of 1950s engineering vs modern design!