Watts'

[Bilco]

Yes, I'm looking forward to the 15th, too! I wonder if we'll be close by this year - I guess young Master Demaine will be fully occupied with your new layout. There's no gravel for him to tidy up anyway!

I've been fine-tuning Watts and getting things spruced up generally. I'm in France on my hols at the moment, but I'll be back at Bilco Towers on the 10th and packing ready for Pewsey. I have some photos to post when I'm back, too.

After Pewsey both Watts and Wood Bros will be up for sale, as mai laidy waif has said that they are crowding her out of our join work room. Prospective purchasers are respectfully requested to form an orderly queue.

[demaine22]

Well the room isn't that big Bill...I'm sure we can find a way to harrass you - the way the boy has been of late he'll be more interested in gorping at a screen of some kind should there be one there (to keep him quiet I'll probabaly let him bring his tablet and a camera, he likes taking pics) plus we designed the layout so we could spend more time chatting and admiring other peoples work...and eating lardy cake of course.

You should plonk a for-sale sign on Watts' at the show, Les Coleman sold one of his layouts there in 2013 successfully, I bet Watts' would have a sign on it for more than an hour

[Bilco]

Young Master Demaine is very welcome to come and take photos of Watts on the 15th, and chat over matters model railway. I'll put a 'For Sale' notice up as you suggest - 'though I don't anticipate getting knocked down in the rush!

[Bilco]

Right - Watts' has undergone it's final pre-Pewsey tittification, with the rails cleaned and given a rub-over with the graphite stick, the grass thickened, and workers boots and helmets polished:



A general over-view, with personnel strategically disposed around the scenery.



Looking towards the mine entrance.



Young Master Bates looking excited at the prospect of going on show.



Health'n'Safety have insisted that the entrances on the left side of the man-rider have bars fitted across the stop the passengers falling over the edge of the gully, or bumping into the rock-face on the left side of the mine shaft. So far two have reported bruising from bashing into the bars.



The lady driver of the Eimco does not want her photo taken - "It'll only be posted on one of them porn sites" she says. "You should be so lucky!" her male colleagues reply. She is considering reporting them to the management for making sexist comments. Maybe she doesn't know what 'tittification' means.



And finally - a sign has been laboriously created to go over the layout to make sure viewers get to notice the terrible pun.

See you on Saturday.

[Willow Creek Traction]

Guess better a terrible pun than an unremarkable pun.

[Bilco]

Post-exhibition analysis has revealed that the problems Watts' had at Pewsey - uncoupling and derailments at the entry and exit to the end sections - was probably due to the table it was standing on having a slight sag in the middle. My cunning plan of having three foam board boxes under the layout to raise it by 7 inches - each box 20" x 20" to fit in my car - just accentuated the problem, and meant that the track at each join formed a shallow V so that, as the loco moved off the 'track at the back' the front lifted, the back dropped - and the DGs uncoupled. On re-entry the wagons behind the loco pulled it off at the front, hence the derailments.

There was a clue, if I had thought about it rather than desperately trying to find a fix - the middle box moved under the layout - because there was no weight on it. The problem was alleviated (mostly) by packing under the joins to raise the middle and ends, which removed the offending V. Packing was provided by the paper plates the lardy cake came on!. At least we were able to get something running by lunchtime, but our position by the entrance meant that we were the first layout people saw. Before lunch what they saw was a red-faced, cursing gent wielding glue and soldering iron in a frenzied yet futile bid to fix things. Not a good advert for Gn15, I'm sorry to say.

Many thanks to the Simons (Andrews and Demaine) for their sympathy and encouragement. Simon D - I went today to get some new hearing aids!

Anyway, grandson enjoyed the day, and we did get some trains running - 8 wagon trains seemed to please grandson most.

So, this marks the end of the Watts' saga, and it's officially open to sensible offers to purchase. At least I can say it's a good runner - on a flat table!

[Nevadablue]

Tell the lady Eimco driver that I enjoyed the photo from/of her backside. Very nice.
As far as the pun... he said "one more like that and out you go!" and I said "O-Pun the door!"



The little layout is looking good, nice work and nice photos!

[NotHarryPotter]

Terrific layout. Very impressive!
I love the presentation
regards
Geoff

[demaine22]

Good luck with the sale, Bill. I've think you'll increase your chances of success using the trade section on gnatterbox and for sale section on NGRM, shame it has to go but if it leads to something new I'm all for it!

[rue_d_etropal]

baseboard joint are my big problem when it comes to wagons uncoupling. The best couplings I have found have been the standard continental ones, but you have to hook it up right way, so weight of one look holds down the other. Still have problems though, especially with tables that are neither level or flat.
Simple chain and hooks works even better, as would be expected as chain can move easier, especially on sharp curves.

I probably build more small layouts than many here, but always find it difficult to sell, because I can't bear to see them go. One reason I liked the APA boxes as they were easier to store, and transport.

[Bilco]

The missing photos for the build of Watts are now in an album on Flickr

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6SuhPg

Also building the Watts' manrider

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm6SkGXV