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Offline petestra  
#101 Posted : 16 September 2017 22:53:26(UTC)
petestra

United States   
Joined: 27/07/2009(UTC)
Posts: 5,824
Location: Leesburg,VA.USA
Very nice video, John. Any more expansion plans there? Cheers, Peter Cool ThumpUp ThumpUp ThumpUp
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Offline MikeR  
#102 Posted : 17 September 2017 18:58:25(UTC)
MikeR

United States   
Joined: 26/08/2012(UTC)
Posts: 263
Location: Denver
Hi John

Really nice videos and good to see the trains running under control of your CS2.

Hope we can visit and see your layout on our next visit to SA.
Mike
Digital - C track with CS2 and Railroad&Co TrainController; feedback using LocoIO via a Locobuffer
Analog - M track with solid centre rail (after C track layout is complete)
Collect all Eras - especially Crocodiles
Member of ETE
Previously a member of the Marklin Modellers' Group Johannesburg
Offline Johnvr  
#103 Posted : 03 April 2018 22:45:25(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi everybody,

The summer was excellent in the Cape.
I played some golf and went windsurfing on the West Coast.Cool Cool
It gets too hot for trains during the summer months, so I usually take a train and get outdoors.

Now, with cooler days ahead, I have invited some Marklin folks over to my house on Saturday.
So a 'spring clean' was required in order to ensure that the layout looks good and operates well.
I removed all of the buildings and additions from the layout, and gave everything a good clean.

IMG_5893 - Copy.JPGIMG_5894 - Copy.JPG

I sent the workers back to work on the layout, to clean the tracks and to pick the apples.

IMG_5901 - Copy.JPGIMG_5902 - Copy.JPG

And I invited the band to start playing, which brought out the passengers onto the platforms.

IMG_5903 - Copy.JPGIMG_5898 - Copy.JPG

Next step will be to run some trains again, to check that everything is still working.
I haven't run trains on the layout for about 6 months, so it will be good to get back into the swing.

RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline David Dewar  
#104 Posted : 03 April 2018 23:28:31(UTC)
David Dewar

Scotland   
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 7,332
Location: Scotland
I sent you a cheque to buy all your stuff a few days ago when you said it was for sale ...how is it that it is not in the post to me.

PS looks good John.
Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
Offline Johnvr  
#105 Posted : 04 April 2018 07:23:51(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Originally Posted by: David Dewar Go to Quoted Post
I sent you a cheque to buy all your stuff a few days ago when you said it was for sale ...how is it that it is not in the post to me.

PS looks good John.


Hello David,

I believe that you are referring to the other John River6109 who lives in Australia and who indicated that he would be selling all of his stuff.

Regards
John

Offline Johnvr  
#106 Posted : 05 April 2018 20:05:51(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all,

A layout looks interesting at night when the lights come on.

Some trains are arriving at the station with lights shining, and the Matterhorn is lit up by a strong spot light.
I don't mind that the houses around the Matterhorn are showing the light through the building, I think it looks fine !
I am still getting ready for hosting about 6 Marklin friends on Saturday afternoon, so I have to run trains and test out everything.

IMG_5921 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5923 - Copy.JPG

RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline utkan  
#107 Posted : 05 April 2018 20:08:37(UTC)
utkan

Turkey   
Joined: 14/07/2009(UTC)
Posts: 19,116
Location: Istanbul,
Lovely sights, John🤗
Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you...
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Offline mmervine  
#108 Posted : 07 April 2018 14:59:28(UTC)
mmervine

United States   
Joined: 30/01/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,883
Location: Keene, NH
John-it was great to join you and the gang 'virtually' today!
Märklin C-track, Marklin Digital & ECoS, multi-era French & Swiss
http://www.ete-ene.org/m...mervines-layout-gallery/
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Offline Johnvr  
#109 Posted : 07 April 2018 22:56:28(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Originally Posted by: mmervine Go to Quoted Post
John-it was great to join you and the gang 'virtually' today!


Mark,

Thank you so much for joining our Marklin meeting today, virtually from the other side of the world. BigGrin BigGrin

I had invited about 8 Marklin friends to my house today to chat trains and operate the layout in Cape Town.
Mark used the video on his phone to video in from New York and joined in the meeting and chatted 'virtually' with my friends.
Mark also showed me the new additions to his layout at his house, so it was very interesting for us to see his layout too.
As a matter of interest, are there other members who would also find it interesting to have a video meeting ? Let me know.

I took some more pictures of the layout after the friends had left in the afternoon.
(Power to the layout was switched off by this stage of the afternoon, so lights are not on in the pictures.)

IMG_5929 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5933 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5931 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5930 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5934 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5935 - Copy.JPG

RegardsBigGrin
John


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Offline David Dewar  
#110 Posted : 07 April 2018 23:43:47(UTC)
David Dewar

Scotland   
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 7,332
Location: Scotland
Looks really good John. Like your buildings.

PS you mean there are two John Rivers lol.
Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
Offline Johnvr  
#111 Posted : 28 May 2018 17:25:26(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all,

I hosted another visitor at my house on Saturday.
So I got out all of the trains again from their boxes in the storage room.

He was a first-time visitor to my layout, and was totally enthralled with the Marklin automation and scheduling of trains.
Same formula as before - when it all works well, it works well. No glitches at all during the afternoon session with him.
Marklin CS2 and MS2 controlling, with Marklin Decoders and Marklin k83, k84, etc.

The total schedule runs for about 30 minutes, after which time the full schedule is complete, but not all of the trains are in the same position as when they started. The schedule would have to run 3 times before the trains would be back in their starting positions, and would take 90 minutes overall.

So, these are new pictures of scenes similar to before, but I just felt in the mood to take some more pictures.

IMG_6077 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6079 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6083 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6078 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6084 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6081 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6080 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6086 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6085 - Copy.JPG

IMG_6082 - Copy.JPG

RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline baggio  
#112 Posted : 28 May 2018 17:47:00(UTC)
baggio

Canada   
Joined: 21/09/2012(UTC)
Posts: 1,729
Location: Toronto
If only you were not on the other side of the world, John, I would invite myself over for the 90 minute trip! BigGrin ThumpUp
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Offline David Dewar  
#113 Posted : 28 May 2018 20:56:25(UTC)
David Dewar

Scotland   
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 7,332
Location: Scotland
Very nice John. Lots of nice buildings as well. Does it all light up at night.
Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
Offline Johnvr  
#114 Posted : 29 May 2018 10:37:17(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Originally Posted by: David Dewar Go to Quoted Post
Very nice John. Lots of nice buildings as well. Does it all light up at night.


Hello David,

Yes, most of the buildings have lights installed inside, and there is a bright spotlight shining on the Matterhorn mountain.
For information, Table Mountain has bright search lights lighting up the massive rock face. It looks dramatic at night (see below)
The station clocks have lights and the station lights and bright lights from the trains looks good too.
I am not concerned about the lights shining through the house walls at this stage, it just adds to the effect at the moment.

I have worked on a simple computer program / Arduino chip for having the lighting in the buildings switch on and off in a pattern to simulate the habitants inside switching lights on and off, eg in the lounge, then in the upstairs rooms, etc, but this is still in formulation stage. It is actually very easy to do this, I just need to take the next step.

RegardsBigGrin
John

IMG_5921 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5923 - Copy.JPG

IMG_5924 - Copy.JPG

Table Mountain 2.png

Table Mountain.png
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Offline David Dewar  
#115 Posted : 29 May 2018 11:30:57(UTC)
David Dewar

Scotland   
Joined: 01/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 7,332
Location: Scotland
Thanks for pics John. Very nice and looks great. Viessmann do a lighting system which lights individual windows and avoids lighting the inside wall. Not cheap and quite a lot of wiring though. Faller also do something that switches lights off and on but I have not tried this.
If a building kit does not include the black paper insert I just give the walls two coats of thick black paint which works OK.
Do keep us up to date with any further work.

all best
David
Take care I like Marklin and will defend the worlds greatest model rail manufacturer.
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Offline Johnvr  
#116 Posted : 28 October 2018 16:22:49(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all,

We enjoyed another Marklin day at my house on Saturday.
About 13 of my Marklin friends from Cape Town came over to enjoy the day with me.
Joe kindly took some pictures which I am posting here.

SHUNTING YARD PUZZLE
I have for some time wanted to build a small shunting yard puzzle layout. I used to have one several years ago.
The main purpose of this will be to exhibit it at Model Railway Exhibitions.
It's a good way of finding other Marklin enthusiasts, because it is easy to recognize the brand.
So we gave it a try-out to see whether it worked.
I have to say that I think it was a huge success, and people enjoyed the puzzle side to it, of shunting wagons around to make up consists.
The idea comes from the Inglenook Shunting Puzzles, which you can read about on the internet.
This is the layout of the shunting puzzle which I have now built :
Shunting Yard 3D.jpg

We then went to the garage to run trains on my layout.
BPRJ9659.jpg

EZBQ1609.jpg

OVWV4765.jpg

BDVG5247.jpg

CWRM8438.jpg

IARC5378.jpg

WVXC6980.jpg

PRFF3768.jpg

QPNA0218.jpg

UTTP6207.jpg

CSVC7842.jpg

And finally finished with a few frosties

IMG_7137.JPG

IMG_7136.JPG

Another great afternoon with Marklin friends !

RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline petestra  
#117 Posted : 28 October 2018 18:26:30(UTC)
petestra

United States   
Joined: 27/07/2009(UTC)
Posts: 5,824
Location: Leesburg,VA.USA
Great idea and lots of fun, John. I'm sure a good time was had by all! Cheers from 8000+ miles. Peter. Cool ThumpUp ThumpUp ThumpUp
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Offline Joe Meiring  
#118 Posted : 28 October 2018 18:40:48(UTC)
Joe Meiring

South Africa   
Joined: 27/12/2009(UTC)
Posts: 106
Location: Fish Hoek, Cape Town
A truly Wonderful Day! Thanx John.... Great to connect with the Cape Town Marklin guys again....Been a while since I've been able to meet with the fellow Marklin chaps again. Was very blessed to spend some time recently with our family in Florida USA. Managed to get to a Marklin dealer in Florida and bought a few bits n pieces🚂🚂 Also spent some time with family in Johannesburg.... So it's good to be back and run my trains again👍🏻
Thanks John for a Great Train Day👌
Joe M....
Medium digital C track layout with MS2: When I grow up I want to be a steam engine driver....
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Offline Tony  
#119 Posted : 30 October 2018 09:38:37(UTC)
Tony

South Africa   
Joined: 18/09/2004(UTC)
Posts: 726
Location: Cape Town
Hi John,

Looks like you guys had a great time. When we settle back in Cape Town in year or so, I look forward to hopefully being able to share your group's expertise....ThumpUp

cheers Tony
Regards Tony
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Offline Johnvr  
#120 Posted : 31 March 2019 15:19:31(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all,

Been a while since I posted here.
Been summer in Cape Town, so trains get a break during the hot summer.
I felt it was the right time to get the trains running again.

I ran these trains and made a video for you to watch.
Turn the sound up loud for maximum effect :


Johns Trains Sounds


Also took a few pictures :

IMG_8046.JPG

IMG_8041.JPG

IMG_8045.JPG

RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline petestra  
#121 Posted : 31 March 2019 15:32:23(UTC)
petestra

United States   
Joined: 27/07/2009(UTC)
Posts: 5,824
Location: Leesburg,VA.USA
Nice video, John. Your layout looks great too. Cheers, Peter. Cool ThumpUp ThumpUp ThumpUp
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Offline Johnvr  
#122 Posted : 15 September 2021 08:44:56(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all,

During the winter months, I generally close down the layout.
In the springtime, it's good to run some trains again.

I was running some trains during the past weekend.

Johnvr running trains


RegardsBigGrin
John
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Offline Joe Meiring  
#123 Posted : 15 September 2021 19:03:57(UTC)
Joe Meiring

South Africa   
Joined: 27/12/2009(UTC)
Posts: 106
Location: Fish Hoek, Cape Town
Originally Posted by: Johnvr Go to Quoted Post
Hi all,

During the winter months, I generally close down the layout.
In the springtime, it's good to run some trains again.

I was running some trains during the past weekend.

Johnvr running trains


RegardsBigGrin
John


Great John....love that rake of Shell wagons👌
Medium digital C track layout with MS2: When I grow up I want to be a steam engine driver....
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Offline marklinist5999  
#124 Posted : 15 September 2021 20:54:31(UTC)
marklinist5999

United States   
Joined: 10/02/2021(UTC)
Posts: 3,075
Location: Michigan, Troy
So like me in summer about the same months as I'm in the northern hemisphere. unless it's extremely humod or hot, I'm outside doing garden and lawn work, walking/jogging, or out on the lake, or on a day trip. I got lot's of construction done as a result of the Covid lockdowns and restrictions. Otherwise, I may have became depresed.I've also become a shopaholic of the hobby. Either at the local shop, or online. I expanded my collection sizabley, including Marklin, Herpa, Roco, Faller, etc.
Offline Johnvr  
#125 Posted : 01 November 2022 20:31:27(UTC)
Johnvr

South Africa   
Joined: 03/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 1,269
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Hi all

It's been a while since I have posted updates on my layout.
However, during the past couple of months, I have been working on the biggest upgrade to my layout since the layout was built 7 years ago.

After visiting a friend who had a Staging Yard, I decided that I needed a Staging Yard on my layout.
So, after designing the modification, work began earnestly to build the Staging Yard.

It is a 4-track Staging Yard, each track can hold 2 trains. So that's 8 trains altogether in the yard.
Each train can be up to 2.2m in length to fit in the block.
There is a single entrance / exit line through which all traffic must flow.
The Staging Yard sits underneath my existing layout.
It will all be operated by Memory Event programming in the CS2.
One train coming into the yard will send another train out of the yard.

And of course there is a big open hatch for me to climb under the layout to check out what is happening !

IMG_7184.JPG

IMG_7189.JPG

IMG_7323.JPG

IMG_7243.JPG


Today was the first day when I could run some trains on the Staging Yard.
It has been quite fun seeing which trains manage the 2.5% gradient with ease.
Of course, the mighty BR44 conquers the gradient climb with ease.

Check out these two videos of testing various trains and wagon loads on the gradient :

Johnvr first train running

BR44 pulling wagons up gradient

Regards BigGrin
John

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Offline Joe Meiring  
#126 Posted : 01 November 2022 21:35:29(UTC)
Joe Meiring

South Africa   
Joined: 27/12/2009(UTC)
Posts: 106
Location: Fish Hoek, Cape Town
Awesome John! Need to come around to see it "in the flesh"😊 well done......👌
Medium digital C track layout with MS2: When I grow up I want to be a steam engine driver....
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