Technical tour de force
His shed is set in the 1960s, but Ray Norwood’s exhibition crowd-pleaser is controlled by cutting-edge technology.
Model railway exhibitions are funny old places. The exhibitors are there with the product of decades of work, in some cases, and some of them haven’t built them with exhibitions in mind. The visitors are there to see the layouts and to be entertained, but that doesn’t always come naturally to those operating. Those watching, particularly of a younger generation, want to see things moving all the time, and if you visit any exhibition hall, the layouts with plenty of movement are the ones which have the big crowds.
What seems to have become more popular in the last ten years or so is builders creating layouts specifically for an exhibition, building them with movement or visual appeal in mind. Ray Norwood has done exactly this with his latest layout build, making sure nothing is off-limits to the viewing eye.
“I’ve created a depiction of Feltham MPD, where I worked for six years towards the end of steam as a fireman”, says Ray. “The depot has long since changed and isn’t at all like it used to be, but I was there for long enough to be able to remember the main features, such as the shed, so that I could build the layout. Rather than building the shed as completed, I elected to leave the middle section of the roof off so that viewers of the layout can see into the shed and look at all the interior detail. Naturally, there is so much compression and some of the elements aren’t strictly accurate, so I’ve added ‘Road’ to the title to differentiate it slightly from the prototype.”
Ray is no stranger to layout building. He’s been modelling on and off for 60 years, and after deciding from the outset that this was going to be an exhibition layout, he pulled out all the stops. No off-the-shelf track for him!
“All of the track at ‘Feltham Road MPD’ has been handbuilt using Code 75 rail and C&L Finescale chairs. Not only that but I have made all of the
sleepers from plywood using a bandsaw. It took a while to get the size correct but once I got the width right I was able to cut long strips of plywood and then cut across them to make individual sleepers. After I’d done this I thought to myself, ‘why not make it Finescale?’ My track is slightly thinner than the track you buy off the shelf, but it isn’t so thin that I’ve had to alter any of the wheelsets on my models to get them to run smoothly.”
ALL THE LATEST TECH
Ray might be exhibiting a layout based in the 1960s, but his technology certainly isn’t. Controlled from his phone, Ray has used a Raspberry Pi computer with
JMI software and Model Electronics Railway Group (MERG) technology to operate the turntable. And if that all sounds alien to you, don’t worry, it isn’t as complicated as it sounds!
“A Raspberry Pi is a small, versatile computer that is usually connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse”, explains Ray. “It’s about the size of a credit card, which makes it very useful at exhibitions as it doesn’t take up a lot of space. Easy to program, I’ve connected it to the layout on one side and my phone on the other, allowing me to control all of my locomotives from my handheld device. I also bought a small router to provide the necessary internet connection.”
There are several advantages to using a tablet or phone to control your layout and these are similar to using a computer, particularly when using DCC. The main bonus is being able to see all of the functions on the screen in front of you without having to try and remember which function is on each number, or which locomotive is on each address.
Staying with the electronic aspects of ‘Feltham Road MPD’, the turntable is the main focal point on the
left-hand side of the viewing area, and Ray has used MERG products to operate it.
“The turntable is a Dapol kit that I have modified. I first constructed the running rail and the table bed, but I did away with the walkway. This meant the four wheels that run on the rail didn’t meet up, so I cut them in half, removed some on each half and glued them back together. I also changed the wheels to roller bearings to make it run freely. I then worked on the centre pivot pin, replacing it with two brass tubes that slide into one another. For the electric connection I cut a piece of brass into a circle with a hole in the centre, then cut it in half. I then glued that around the centre plate. On the table, I soldered the wipers to the rails, drilled two holes, then put the wiper wires through to the underside so they would run on the two brass plates. The table is connected to a flexible coupling, then to the gearbox which screws to the stepper motor.
“The turntable took a bit of setting up as you have to program the system so that it knows where to stop to ensure alignment of the tracks. Now that it’s set up I can control it with the rotary switch at the front of the layout knowing that I won’t have any problems with track alignment.”
SMOOTH OPERATOR
Avoiding problems while operating an exhibition layout is vital, and Ray employs a couple of techniques to ensure everything runs smoothly and consistently at ‘Feltham Road MPD’.
“On the right-hand side of the layout is a 2ft traverser fiddleyard, operated at exhibitions by a friend of mine. From my position on the other side of the layout I can’t see the next locomotive he has lined up, so I decided to install a mirror on the wall of the layout’s frame to make sure I’m controlling the right model and saving myself any embarrassment when nothing moves!”
You won’t find Ray’s models in the familiar red and blue boxes that grace so many modeller’s shelves, either – and that’s because he has built all of his from etched brass PDK kits.
“I find that I get so much more satisfaction from running something that I’ve built myself rather than just taking it out of the box. Not all of the models are sound-fitted, but those that are have been equipped with Zimo products.”
With far too many models to feature on the limited space at ‘Feltham Road MPD’ (which has been restricted due to the available space in the transport vehicle), Ray has had to be selective about what he takes to the exhibition hall. Make sure you have a good look around ‘Feltham Road MPD’ when it is next on show at Tolworth in November, as Ray has left plenty of cameos to show you what life was like in the depots in the 1960s. Maybe there aren’t long trains thundering round in loops, but there’s still plenty for you to enjoy when you do come across this layout.