Exhibiting Hexworthy at Uckfield

Back in the summer I posted how I'd made new, longer, support beams for Hexworthy as it is longer than Awngate was. In the run up to the Uckfield show I painted the beams, and the upper part of the trestles, in the same grey paint as used for the facia of Hexworthy. I didn't bother to paint the lower part of the trestles as they are hidden by a drape. I've also marked on in Sharpie which way round the trestles go and where the beams locate. The bolt just pushes through to secure the beams in place - I could add a nut, but gravity does the job well enough!

I used to attach the drape with drawing pins but that was a bit of a faff. I know Velcro is often used, but that involves sewing. Much easier to just clip it in place... so I got a bulk pack of bulldog clips and screwed them in strategic places along the front beam and inside the trestle legs. They're located so they don't prevent the legs from folding together of course, shouldn't catch on things in transport. 

The coffee mug/tool shelf also got a lick of paint, as did the display board panel. I've added a 4-way extension lead to the inside of the inner leg one end to keep the wiring tidy, and help speed-up set up that little bit, the cable just wraps around the cross-members. 

Assembled and with the drape added it looks neat, the visible parts of the support structure in grey to match the layout. The bulldog clips are mostly hidden under the layout which overhangs slightly. It takes just a few minutes to assemble and dismantle. 

Finally, I made up a couple of information pages for the display panel, I've kept these brief with big text and pictures. The first gives the background and location for the railway, convincing enough that several people at Uckfield asked if the line was still there or wondered why they hadn't come across it! The second explains 009 and the stock used, provides a list of animals to spot (keeps kids amused), and has a QR code/link to the blog. There's also another sheet with maps showing the station location in more detail and the Tors visible on the backscene, just in case people are interested, that's kept in one of the bulldog clips. 

Here's Tim Sanderson casually at the controls, sitting on the high stool in front of the fiddle yard. 

More on the show itself to follow... but the layout seemed well received with lots of nice comments. The playground of course was a star attraction. There were some running niggles - couplings misbehaving, the occasional unexplained (and unrepeatable) derailment, and a mystery short-circuit which appeared occasionally, but fortunately went away quickly too. However, mostly things ran well and we were able to keep things moving - at times with four trains in the station!