Originally Posted by towdog:
So describe a typical movie night there. Is your layout on and running before the show and afterwards? Is there an intermission? Just wondering how many people have a chance to walk down to see it. Are you there every night to flip the switch and supervise?
Sounds like a great theater to see a classic movie as it was originally shown. And the trains are icing on the cake.
Movies are shown most Friday evenings starting at 8 pm, and Saturdays with a matinee at 2, and an evening show at 8. Doors open an hour before the movie and the trains run until then. The organ plays a half hour before the movie as well. There is a half hour intermission about halfway through where the organ plays and the trains run again. Our crowds vary depending on the movie, as low as 250 some nights, to upwards of 1000 others. The theatre holds around 1500 people and on an average show night, it's tough to find an open spot along the railing in front of the trains when they're running. I've been told by some visitors, that they only come when the trains are there. Our crowds are usually larger around the holidays. There's a massive christmas tree near where the camera was located, and the theater without the decorations is beautiful by itself.
The power to the layout is all tied into the lighting control board at the rear of the auditorium. One dimmer controls the building lights, a second controls the trains. The transformers are hidden under one end of the platform. When I'm there I usually hook my TMCC base up and run command stuff while answering questions. Other than that, it pretty much operates on it's own. If there's a problem on one track whoever is running the sound/light booth can shut down power to that loop using one of the on/off switches i mounted to my control panel, and I can attempt to fix it the next time I'm available. I live 30 miles away from there, so it's not really possible to be there both days of every weekend.
This is my second year doing the display. I try to keep stuff out of reach, and anything that is up front is secured to the table with a dab of hot glue. Didn't really have any issues with people grabbing last year which was great. An occasional derailment is expected with all the kids that like to touch things. I kept it simple this year, and the track plan is simply three ovals. No switches to derail on.
Probably more information than you were wanting, but I hope I answered your questions
When I was building the layout, one of the MCTOS members came up and was talking about the trains he had in the 1940's. I had brought my 1946 2020 turbine to test my tracks for power distribution (figured if it runs, shouldn't have problems with my can motor engines ), so I pulled it out. Brought a big smile to his face. So it is popular at all age levels