The Old West is changing, and people seem to have no manners nor respect for other people or their property anymore. After many years of operation at the Trainpark with the public aisle only inches away from the layout and the trains, the Sun'N'Sand has had to erect plexiglass barriers to try to minimize the damage. The barriers are a compromise in height, and I don't think they are going to keep very many hands off the layout. The barrier will keep the smallest children from touching anything, but I suspect everyone else will just reach over the barrier. The problem is, what to do about eye-level photography? I'm open to suggestions. East side of the layout with barriers in place: PS - I don't always run long trains. There are two new Atlas units doing break-in running in the picture, each paired with a LifeLike unit on 12-car trains. One car in each train has a slider type track cleaner installed, so the train has the resistance of 25-30 ordinary cars.
I can understand why they'd place the barriers. Too many rude, crude people, with their ill-disciplined kids, out there in our public these days. I can sure see how some closeups, and angles are eliminated. Boxcab E50
It's a sad trade-off for keeping your modules safe. Sign of the times. The N-trak club I was involved with set up ropes to keep people a certain distance from the edge of the layout. The only thing I can think of is maybe mounting the Plexiglas sections on hinges so they can be swung down (out of the way) if someone really wants to take a close-up. Not sure how you would do this and not have it cause too much of a vibration (or jolt) to the module if a train was passing by. Just an idea off the top of my head.
A Polarizing Filter would be a way to get around the glass. If you are using a flash unit, get a hot sync-cord and hold the flash unit in your hand above the glass. With a digital camera, you should be able to place it on the backside of the glass and shoot. Most all of my pics from a train show are taken when visitors are not present. That way we won't get in each other's way. My pet peeve is the operator or photographer who is shadowing the train. I want to see the scene, not someone walking around with a throttle or camera in their hand.
How about quick-locks instead of screws? These are basically cams that lock/unlock with a quarter-turn. I used them years ago when making knock-down display units for exhibitions. You can get them so they need a special tool to turn. They are not that expensive, fairly easy to install, and quite rugged.
Good suggestions. We do have ropes up, but the aisles are so narrow the ropes are of no value. The public and the operators share the same narrow aisle. I like to run on the green line (mountain division) and operate the train from inside the donut hole. I'm tall enough to look out over the backdrops comfortably, and that gives me face to face communication with our guests. If I am running a long train on red or yellow, I turn it on and go sit down in one of the corners, and let it run. I don't follow them around. If I need to keep a close eye on it, then I should have left it at home. I have a Nikon Coolpix 3200 - a point and shoot - so I will try some closeups with the lens against the sneezeguards.
LongTrain, For our N-TRAK club in CT, we use Lexan panels, but to ease the install / remove during each setup, we use Aluminum channel screwed to the bottom of each module to hold the panels. The channel spans the entire length of each module. Then the Lexan slides between the channel and the module front, and is held there by friction fit. Never had any problems with the Lexan coming loose, the little ones can't really reach over the top (unless their standing on a stool or chair), and the panels can be easily removed for photography. We went with Lexan over Plexiglass for safety reasons ( the plexiglass can crack or snap and leave a sharp edge). To cover up the channel and module legs we use 2 very long blue cloth "drapes", with the fuzzy Velcro part, sewed into the entire top edge. Each module then gets several coresponding strips of Velcro hook material, along the Lexan panel bottom. During each setup once all the connecting tracks are in-place, and the Lexan panels are in, then we roll the blue cloth around the entire layout, attaching to each module - makes for a very nice presentation. To make sure we met all fire codes, the blue cloth we purchased, was flame-retardant. We keep the manufacturer's label with the "drapes"
We use a blue denim "curtain" to hide the layout legs and whatever "clutter" is under the layout - tool boxes, whatever. Our skirt is also attached with velcro, but there is a custom fitted piece for each module, because the control boxes and plug-ins for the throttles are in different locations on different modules. The layout is semi-permanently installed in a building on the grounds of a city park, BTW. The aluminum channel idea makes sense. [ September 21, 2005, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
How about a sign: No touching Violators will be shot Survivors will be prosecuted. (then put a litttle smily face
Yeah - but half the little darlin's can't read, and the other half don't give a rat's **** anyway! Shortliner(Jack)away up here in the Highlands
One club in Holland had even one of their locos stolen. A visitor just took it off the tracks! And our last exhibition: even adults were touching the scenery ('can you remove the roof of this building?') ...........
Having set up NTRAK modules and run trains for the public many years, I have my share of horror stories. I find things have not changed much over the years. You just have to be on your toes and admonish the offenders. I remember once when a parent lifted the rope and ushered her little darlings under so they could get up close to "hold things because that is how they learn"...Argh
I've only been doing NTrak for 7 years, so I can only comment on the evolution of the public concept of respect during that time. We don't do as many shows as we used to do, but that is a different venue, and there is an operator's aisle between the layout and the public at a show. The clubroom is tight, with operators and the public sharing a narrow aisle. They walk though a door to come inside, and there is a greeter at the door who welcomes them to our clubroom, invites them to sign our guest book, and tells them a couple of very simple "rules" we expect them to honor while they are "guests" in our "house". The "no touch" rule is posted throughout the room, in English and en Espanol. About a year ago, we noticed a profound change in the attitude of our guests, accompanied by a quantum leap in the number of "incidents". The major cities of the Old West (Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Phoenix, Tucson, San Antonio and El Paso) used to be different. In the Old West, people treated people with respect for their person and their property. I used to travel a lot on business, and I was always happy (and sometimes relieved) to get home. I don't see or feel any difference in public attitude to strangers here, lately. Phoenix feels like any other big city to me now. Population Growth is at the heart of the issue, I feel. Phoenix population is now 1.5 million, and the City of Phoenix is itself 514 square miles, having surpassed Los Angeles as the largest American city geographically. Then you have at least a dozen other communities in surrounding Maricopa County that have grown up to become cities, too - Glendale, Peoria, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Sun City, Gilbert, Apache Junction, etc. Maricopa county is 9,226 square miles (larger than some states) and is home to almost 3.5 million people. The majority of us moved here from somewhere else, myself included. And they just keep coming...Phoenix moved up from 9th to 5th largest city population in less than 10 years. [ September 21, 2005, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
I've had a few problems with guests. I always discuss a few basic house rules before I lead a group into the train room. It's pretty simple: please don't touch stuff; please, no elbows on the layout; and please watch out for the ship masts! Some people just do not listen. Actually, they do listen. But then they do it anyway. The reason? Sometimes I think people are expecting a ping-pong table with Lionel trains chasing each other around a loop. When they see the layout, they are pretty much in awe--this ain't your grandfather's trains! So they point, touch, and stoop to see things. It sometimes goes this way: Point. Ask, "Is this tree really real?" Touch. Crumble, crumble. "Oops!" I've had only one minor attempted theft--a small Classic Metals truck. I dealt with the 12-year-old firmly, but gently and discreetly. I usually offer to let guests run trains. I had a problem with one young man running Kato RDCs at lightspeed and ignoring my requests to slow down. I just unplugged his controller. He was a little drunk--well, probably a lot drunk--and glared at me, but I'm big and fit enough to shrug off those glares. Dealing with the public is quite another matter! During my housebuilding mid-career break in the mid 90s, my partner and I would particpate in the local Parade of Homes. People would steal 40-watt lightbulbs and rolls of toilet paper! We caught one guy trying to unscrew (and steal) a fancy wall plate. Oh yeah, he was really an electrician looking to see how we wired up something. Someone backed up to our utility trailer in broad daylight, and was all hitched up and ready to go before we confronted him. Placemats were stolen off kitchen tables. And on and on. In my home, I don't have to deal with the public. It's why I will never have a public open house. It's why I hope Albuquerque will never become "another Phoenix."
This is an Ntrak club correct? That means the layout is modular and can be taken down and set up in any number of configurations. So why not reconfigure the layout to have wider aisles. You may loose some track but its a lot cheaper than plexiglas which will mar and be scratched in a short time. Then you can set up your rope barrier further out and the operators can walk unimpeded in the space between the modules and the rope.
Inkaneer, I've been there. It's my judgment (which is often wrong) that the "end" modules are very well integrated, so shrinking the "width" or short side, might be very difficult. True, it's a Ntrak club, but even the modules on the long side flow into each other seamlessly. I think an addition of a foot or two of aisle width won't solve the problem there. Perhaps limiting the number of visitors at any one time would? Yeah, you'd have lines outside the door in the brutal Phoenix heat, but Disney does the same thing in Orlando. Say, no one goes in until someone comes out. It works that way in nightclubs.
Well, it is not that simple. The room is just too narrow. The layout is in the center with an aisle around all 4 sides, and the entry and exit doors are side by side on one of the long walls. Your suggestion would require 2 aisles on all 4 sides, and would simply double the problem. The room is plenty long enough, but it is too narrow for a 180 degree turnaround (a pair of standard NTrak 90 degree corners) at the ends of the layout + an operator aisle + the spectator aisle on each side, and still comply with the minimum requirements for "accomodations for Americans with Disability" in an existing "old construction" facility. The only workable compromise in the space is to have the operators and the public share one ADA-compliant aisle. As it is, the layout is only using about 60% of the floor space. But, we are able to accomodate guests with mobility challenges, via walker, wheelchair or scooter, if just barely. If we cannot make a reasonable accomodation under the Act, I suppose we are out of business. BTW, the clubhouse is a city-owned building on the grounds of a city park, and the room is open to the public at no charge. We lease the space from the city at a very reasonable rate because whe have agreed to a published schedule of public operation, with the public access to tour the display during published hours of display operation given as "other consideration" for use of the premises. Said another way, letting the public inside to watch us run trains pays the rent. Bottom line: We need a bigger room. The club owns enough modules to assemble a second layout larger than the one on display. We rent a second facility off the park site for module storage, mantenance and construction. There are members with their own modules too, but I'm not even including those. [ September 22, 2005, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
As a guest of LT's last year (has it been that long?) I can tell you that with a full crowd, the Sun N Sand can get cramped. My long gangly arms could probably touch the edge of the modules with my back against the back wall. However, I'm train knowledgable and raised right and don't touch what isn't mine. My Father and I have been involved in a HO modular club for over ten years. We have roughly four "open houses" a year for the public. I am continually amazed at how many adults as well as children feel that they are entitled to stick their fingers all over stuff. We've had a few episodes where the kids are running underneath the modules to get to the other side of the loop, even with ropes up! As far as I concerned, there really just isn't any respect for other people's stuff anymore. Which is fine by me, I can play with my trains by myself.....although it's not as fun as sharing time with other train junkies.
