Subject:
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Re: Questions about doing a museum show
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains.org
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Date:
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Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:22:45 GMT
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Viewed:
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4074 times
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"Gail Meagher" <685721@ican.net> wrote in message
news:44B6734F.55F7940F@ican.net...
> I'm looking to pick the brains of clubs who have done longer duration
> shows, especially at a museum. NovaLUG (Nova Scotia, Canada) has been
> approached by a museum, but the longest show we have done before was one
> day setup and two day display. In this case we would be there on
> weekends, but let the museum staff handle things during the week (with a
> couple of members working nearby, available in an emergency). Time
> periods from three weeks to three months have been mentioned.
NCLTC has done several displays at one of the local malls. Each time our
display has been up, it has stayed up longer. We have done a 4 week, 6
week, and 9 week engagement. There is a model train store in this mall who
lobbied for us to do this display and basically looked out for us when we
weren't there. We did two displays as part of the mall's Christmas
decorations, the other was in the spring and not tied to anything in
particular.
>
> What sort of things have you required the museum supply? I'm thinking
> secure barrier, tables (we don't have them), electricity, and some train
> motors(1). Maybe a suggestion box for things to add to the layout if it
> is a three month show. Perhaps free parking and museum passes. Anything
> else?
We required electricitiy and the mall supplied barrier fences which
surrounded out layout. We didn't need anything else. If the only option
for parking is a paid lot, then asking for a pass or vouchers seems
reasonable.
> I'm also curious about how many train motors we might go through. I know
> motor life will vary depending on many things (track design, weight of
> train etc.), but does anyone have a rough idea for how many motors we
> might need for a three week show, running 9-5 7 days a week? How about
> three months? I was thinking n+1 motors for n loops, but I don't know if
> this is reasonable. If we are doing simple ovals, would it help to change
> the direction the motor is travelling every week? I haven't run my trains
> long enough to wear out a motor yet (no home layout and short shows).
This is a hard question to answer. The motors do wear and after running a
number of mine for several regular train shows and two long term displays,
we had 3-4 motor failures during our last mall display. The other thing to
consider is the amount of wear you will see on the pins on your bogie
plates. I had picked up some nylon washers from Kevin Salm at BrickFest one
year and they work great, I would highly recommend them. The dust build up
from bogie plate wear can be pretty significant.
We try to keep our loops fairly simple. We had 3 loops and I used wall
times (like you would use to turn your lights on when you go on vacation) to
control the trains. I had the on/off staggered so that there were always at
least two trains running. I would let the trains "rest" for about 5-10
minutes for every 2 hours of run time. The mall was open from 8:00 AM until
9:00 PM so I had the timers start just before 8:00 AM and turn off for the
night around 9:30.
After seeing people reach over the barrier and the plexiglass to "push" a
train which had just stopped, I added some signage around the layout to let
the public know that the trains would stop periodically to "rest". Even
though we had "Please do not touch" signs and a fence barrier and
plexiglass, some people still feel the need to try and reach into the
layout. I don't get this but it happens. Some people just don't think the
rules apply to them. I even saw one parent lift their child over the fence
"to let them get closer". Fortunately I was there when this happened and
stopped it but I have no idea what happened when I wasn't there.
The mall wasn't too far from where I live so I would stop by and check on it
at least once a week, twice if I could make it, usually on my way to work.
The store owners in the immediate vicinity also did a great job of keeping
an eye on it and would let me know if there had been any problems. The
train store also had my cell phone number for emergencies.
> Anything different in planning this type of layout? The only thing I can
> think of is to use an RCX 1.0 with power adapter for any controlled things
> (cows especially).
Make sure the layout will still work if you lose power.
> How have others planned for possible overheating power supplies? I know
> some have used timers to run for a certain amount of time, then shut off
> for awhile. Would a button to press to make the trains run for 10 minutes
> work better?
See above about timers. I am not sure about a button press. The one thing
I like about the trains moving is it discourages people from touching it.
If it is sitting still, people are more apt to try and touch it. I would
have liked to have more distance between the fence and our layout but fire
code limited us to some extent so we did the best we could. The barrier
fence was about 18-24 inches from the layout and we had 15" plexiglass
around the tables. A person had to be fairly tall to be able to reach
across the barrier and get their hand in the layout but it was possible.
>
> Any advice or tales of how you worked something like this out greatly
> appreciated.
I would shy away from anything battery operated as it wil require more care
and feeding than I would want to deal with. I don't think you could count
on museum personel either. We have never run a monorail on an unmanned
layout for this very reason.
I like these type of shows much better than the 1-2 day weekend show. There
is some satisfaction from seeing it set up for a period of time and I find
that I would come back and add detail which I would never get to on a
weekend show. The word-of-mount buzz is pretty cool too. You'll end up
talking to people who heard it about your layout from one of their neighbors
and had to come by and see it for themselves. You are also more likely to
get some press coverage since it will be around for a while.
Fortunately we never suffered any theft which I was conerned about. We did
have some derailments and worn components led to more mainternance the last
time we did a display.
>
> Gail Meagher
> NovaLUG
Have fun.
Mike
--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club
http://www.carolinatrainbuilders.com - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=mpw - CTB/Brick Depot
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Questions about doing a museum show
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| I'm looking to pick the brains of clubs who have done longer duration shows, especially at a museum. NovaLUG (Nova Scotia, Canada) has been approached by a museum, but the longest show we have done before was one day setup and two day display. In (...) (18 years ago, 13-Jul-06, to lugnet.trains.org, lugnet.trains)
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