(warning – long post ensues)

With all the rain we had in Maitland on Friday night and Saturday it almost was a MudFest. The event got its name this year from the location. Maitland Nova Scotia is located at the mouth of the Shubenacadie River which looks rather muddy when the tide is out.

Setup began Friday afternoon about 3:00. We, the P.E.I. group, didn’t arrive until close to 4:30 unfortunately. We got to work right away and had the modules set up within a couple hours. By 9:30 the layout was pretty much up and running.

When we set up at trains shows the layout is much smaller (60′ – 80′ in length) and takes only a couple hours to set up. But with about 150′ of modules it takes a lot more time.

It was the first time we used my PS4 from Tony’s Trains Exchange and that took some time to get wired in. I was sure I had all the plugs installed so that the power phase would be right but somehow I messed up two zones and had to swap wires around at the board. At least it was a simple fix.

Trying to sort out the shorting issue on David’s modules was another matter. We probably spent at least 30 minutes trying to sort it out. We finally rigged it so that it wasn’t shorting but the problem was not really solved. But, we were able to run trains.

We left the school about 10:00 and went back to Will’s. Dave Thompson, Al Bishop, Ryan Nelson, and myself stayed at Will’s. Everyone else came back to drop off cars and arrange car pooling back into Truro where they were staying. Before they left we arrange the schedule for the next day. We were to meet at the school at 8:00.

The next morning I woke up about 6:00 and went into the house for a shower. I figured someone would be waiting to use the shower when I came out, but there was no one. Actually, there was also no sound of life from within the house at all. I went outside to see if Al and Ryan were up. Everything was very quiet. It was raining so I sat in the barn where there was some shelter.

Al and Ryan got up about 7 so I went into the house with them to wait. I was sure someone would wake up with all the activity in the house. But after half an hour we went back outside to wait.

At 8:00 I was getting a little impatient so I got Will’s phone # from information and dialed it. I guess that created a stir. Dave T. finally got up, followed closely by Will. We were at the school before 8:30 where everyone was waiting and a red faced Will had to take the heat for the late start.

The first thing we did was to get the coffee on (I was really croaking for one after having been awake for two and a half hours with no Tim’s within walking distance). We got the rest of the rolling stock on the layout and populated the industries with freight cars to start. We were ready to start operating by 10:30.

Shawn had worked out a great spreadsheet to create car movements on a modular layout. But never having seen the layout before he wasn’t aware of the length of passing sidings. Some of the trains were a little to long. But the nice thing about the spreadsheet was the flexibility to change things on the fly resulting in slightly shorter trains.

Operations went quite smoothly. We discovered a few turnouts in the yard that created shorts when locos went over them. They’ll have to be replaced before the next setup. Greg’s new Wye modules set worked quite well, except for a few shorting issues with some locos and the long reach required to throw the far turnouts.

Steve’s new 90 degree curve set looks great so far. He is using a new construction method found on the intern
et. It should create a fairly sturdy and lightweight module.

The PS4 worked perfectly except for about 4 times when it wouldn’t recover from a short. It would recover after I disconnected one of the leads for the zone. I figure it’s related to having several sound equipped locos in the zone at once. It was odd though because most times the PS4 would recover on it’s own. I will include a switch for each zone on the board to handle this situation a little easier.

One really stubborn situation we had over the weekend was some decoders that would get reprogrammed once in a while (usually after a short occured, but not after every short). What made it more interesting was that even though all three engines had different types, and brands of decoders they all got set the same way – Deceleration = 96, Vstart, Vmid, and Vmax = 0. Fortunately we had programmer set up connected to a laptop running DecoderPro so the fix was fairly painless. It was still a nuisance having to deal with it every 30 – 45 minutes. I’ll have to ask some of the experts on the DCC groups.

The Saturday evening slow-down. Our legs were pretty tired after standing for 10 hours!

Supper on Saturday was a barbecue in the rain at Will’s. We put Will outside with the barbecue while we set up a table and chairs in the barn. I think everyone was full by the end of it.

We went back to the school after supper to run a few more trains and called it quits about 10:00. Some of the folks staying in Truro enjoyed a video of trains running on P.E.I. that Shawn did many years ago. Then went chasing a real train in the Wentworth Valley. They had a slightly later night than we did in Maitland.

Sunday started out like Saturday should have, although I still beat Will to the shower at 6:20. We had a great breakfast prepared by Sue Ellen, Will, and myself (I felt guilty sitting there not helping!) and got to the school about 8:00. We ran a few “formal” trains while we waited for the “public” part of the weekend started. Except for a few teachers that had some summer work to do, and Will’s family we didn’t have very many visitors.

We started packing up about 1:00 pm and were saying our good-byes by 3:30. Everyone heading west met at a restaurant near Truro for a group meal to end off the weekend. We arrived back on P.E.I. about 7:30. By the time we done distributing and unpacking the gear it was about 9:00. My own bed sure felt good last night!

All in all it was a great weekend, as usual. It’s great that everyone in the UMG group gets along so well. I think it’s the informal nature of the group that makes it less stressful and a whole lot more fun. I’m looking forward to the Truro show this October. With all the new members and modules we are accumulating we should be able to set up unique layout with new modules no-one has seen before.

Later!

Scott

Last week I was busy getting ready for the Moncton train show so I didn’t get anything done on the layout. So, for this update I’ll post some pictures from the show.

The weather didn’t look good Friday morning, it was Friday the 13th afterall. The snow started falling early and got heavier as the morning progressed. Then the wind started picking up. We didn’t want to start out on the drive just to get there and find out the show was canceled or we couldn’t set up that day. It is a 1.5 hr. drive, on a good day, and a $50 bridge crossing, so we wanted to make sure things were going ahead. A few hasty emails confirmed the show was still a go. Fortunately the snow stopped around noon and turned into a very light rain. We were on the road by 2:00.

We arrived and started unpacking the trailer about 3:45. Jean and Ryan showed up shortly after we did, so most of the modules were there and we were able to start setting up. By 7:00 the skirting was on the layout and trains were running. We still had buildings and details to add to the modules but we could do that in the morning. Supper was waiting for us at Jean’s house. So, off we went for pizza and a layout tour at Jean’s. Jean is progressing very well on his first layout. We were all quite impressed. Great work Jean!

After supper we were off to Dave Wood’s for an operating session. I, stupidly, left my camera in the van. Damn! There would have been some very good pictures. Lots of fun! Dave’s layout is very nice and chock full of operational activity.

We got back to Ryan’s a little before midnight and hit the hay.

We arrived at the show venue about 8:00 Saturday morning. We started putting buildings, trees, and other details on the modules, and added our emergency module when we determined the last guy was not coming. We were ready just as the doors officially opened.

The day went very well, although the relatively poor weather kept some people from attending. We saw lots of old friends and met some new ones. We had a great time as usual.

I wonder how many lies are being told!
Brian and Jean survey the show as Ryan talks to Doug Whitman.

Brian and Greg talk to attendees while some other UMG members take a break (right, in the background)

One of the things we love about train shows is talking to attendees. We try to answer all questions, and if we can’t we try to find the answer. We also love to provide an opportunity for someone to try running a train. We go along with them as breakman and give them a taste of model railroad operations.

Some views of the UMG layout.

The layout at this show was an arrow shape (very different from past shows). We try to not have the shame shape we’ve used in previous shows. The main part of the layout was 40′ long and the edges of the arrow were about 20′ long each (total 80′). This layout was definitely fun to operate.

Some details on Brian’s Northern Light and Power module

We try to keep modules fresh from show to show by adding new details, but some modules are in their 5th season. We’d like to rebuild some of them to keep the layout fresh looking. So, our goal is to completely rebuild, and redesign, about 20′ of modules (Hazard Bend) for the Truro show next fall. The Northern Light and Power module is one of them.

Well, that’s all for this update. I hope to have new pictures of the Bayside and Tidewater nest week.

Scott

I wanted to post this entry earlier, but…

Anyway, here are some photos of our trip to Saint John last Saturday. We visited and operated the layouts of Lou McIntyre, Doug Devine, and Steve McMullin. It was a very full day, to say the least. It was also well worth the trip (leaving at 6:30am and getting home at almost midnight)!

Lou’s St. Martin’s Railroad is one of the best detailed layouts I have ever seen!
Here are some scenes from Lou’s layout…

Doug’s Island Central layout is one of the largest I have ever operated on.
Left: Derwin and Ryan wait “in the hole” – Hmmm… I think they were running 104!
Right: Dever Road and Saint John are busy places – Clayton, Brian, and Ken

Steve’s Carleton Railway is definitely one of the most comfortable layouts for operating.
Left: Steve explains operations on his layout.
Right: Brian and Greg check their orders to make sure they aren’t forgetting anything.

So, it was a great trip. I’m sure we will do it again some day. The drive home was just long enough to talk myself out of making major changes to the Bayside and Tidewater. I’ll have to wait until the next version is constructed.

Scott