Jacq's Logging Project Discussion

[shropshire lad]

Ronald,

   It is good to see that Jacq's layout is back out of storage and being shown in public . I have good memories of coming over from England to help set it up and run it at various shows around Europe. I think the last time was in Munich in 2015.

   The layout was getting a bit tired by that time and needed some time spent getting it back to top condition .

   Surely it must be time to take it back to OnTrax next year ? Then I can come along and help/get in the way .


  Let us know if you go to any other shows .

 Greetz,  Nick

[Ronald]

Thanks guys! @Nick; OntraXS is onetime only, it was there 2011 and will not get a change I think. But who knows I was with you, Jack, John and EDIT Alan from Switzerland in Belgium. There we had a lot of problems and Jacq was as we now found out busy in changing some stuff. We did it now and it rusn good now. It also had a electrical malfunction in the module of the mill and that we have modified now.

So it is up and running!

[Chuck Doan]

Very good to see the layout again!

[finescalerr]

It must have required a lot of time and effort to restore, bring to the convention, and set up. It still looks wonderful. -- Russ

[Ronald]

@Chuck & Ross; thanks!

After coming weekend the layout will travel to Lingen Germany on the 10 and 11 january 2026. We als are in negotiation for end february 2026 in Neumünster Germany (above Hamburg). But that is not confirmed yet. That gives room to update the layout even more.

So still work to do. I will keep you guys posted!

[Ronald]

Some pictures. The nameboard is on again:

20250623_154236 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Cleaned the layout from dust:

20250623_154306 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

20250623_155251 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Backstage all works and the testruns with the biggest brass Shay where succesful!:

20250623_155301 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Here she rests for the weekend to come:

20250623_154231 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The logging machines still present:

20250623_125052 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

They will be placed on the layout.

Half of the present disconnects are ready for the show. The other half are modified with link and pin and not complete at this moment. They need some work. Also 5 flatcars for the loads out of the mill:

20250623_104642 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Jacq also had 4 boxcars, these are very fine in detail:

20250625_192449 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The brand, Arii?:

20250625_192612 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

keep you posted!

[Bill Gill]

Very nicely restored, a very good tribute.

One small nit-pick that may only be a photographic effect: The interior lighting appears quite a bit cooler than the overall exterior lighting.

[Ronald]

Yes, correct. For that you must complain to the builder however he is no longer with us  I think he did that with no purpose... and build it right of way then. I see no possibility to change that now without a lot of damage, so I leave it as is

[Ronald]

We als are in negotiation for end february 2026 in Neumünster Germany (above Hamburg).

And that one is confirmed today! 

[Ronald]

Most locos are running, only one Shay isn't working. Looking into that later on. Rest is ok, some oil and grease does wonders    :

20250626_192108 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Also my own Goose goes with us so the workers can travel to the mill 

More tomorrow!

[Ronald]

Layout stands in a small loco shop in the museum. Its located in heteren in the Netherlands. Look here: https://smalspoor.nl/ (sorry, only in Dutch langage).

Me in front of the layout testing it:

21cc7a41-fa50-443c-a96e-7aca1444dddd by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

We are in here, workshop annex locoshed:

20250627_162337 1 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Two 20ft containes with a middle extension build by themself. Neat isn't it?

I'll keep you posted!

[Ray Dunakin]

How nice to see this great layout displayed once again in all its glory!

[Ronald]

Hi all!

Well, we had a good weekend. Unfortunatly the weather was way to good and it was hot outside (30 degree celsius). For the outside of the museum perfect but not for the inside.... to much heat. The layout functioned good on saturday but there I got a Uhlenbrock servodecoder who tured the servo of turnout 1 (on the left) after DCC power coming on after a short or emergency stop. On Sundaymorning the decoder on turnout 5 (on the right) stopped completely! So I turned the servo by hand and de-connected the cable of the servo just to get things running. And it did!

We need to make some modifications to do at least for the 2 shows we have had confirmed now for the next year. One of that is replacing the Uhlenbrock 67800 servo decoders Jacq has build in the modules. Some track needs replacement in the staging yard and a lot of small cosmetic refreshment is needed.

Some pictures.

Sundaymorning. The Shay on track 2 is Jacq's, the rest are my own locos:

20250629_094151 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The 3-cylinder PCS Shay had a problem with the modified coupler on it. I couldn't get it working properly and no tools to modify another Kadee. So that one was out of the roster and ut in front of the shed. The Climax had a not yet defined problem so that one was also off the track. Still some work tot do but as I read in this thread the Climax and Shay where already troublesome around 2015.

There was a stool in the workshop, a sort of milking stool. Sitting on it gave me the "child look" on the layout    :

20250629_104818 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The ambience was great, it still is a narrow gauge museum:

20250629_113528 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

My Shay with the BM plantation kit. The roof needs some work:

20250629_114643 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Then it was 5 o'clock and time to break up! Here only the 4 modules are in place:

20250629_165116 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

My car with trailer. You see the typical landscape in the Netherlands next to the rivers we have. In this case we are next to the Rhine:

20250629_165627 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The layout is in my storage again and in 2 or 3 weeks we will putting here back on its feet to do more modifiations and tests:

20250629_194132 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

It has good company!    :

20250629_194501 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

And as closure of a show we always eat at our place with a traditional Holland/Indonesian meal:

20250629_202620 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

My wife has 1/4 Indonesian blood so she makes this very good  Traditions has to be honoured!

Some pictures of the layout. Me captured by a friend:

21cc7a41-fa50-443c-a96e-7aca1444dddd by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Our locoshed:

5705db53-03db-436e-baaa-3c3b8104ed2e by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

One of my own cars, this was a craftmanskit (brand unknown) with a Shay truck on it:

20250628_164403 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Nice setting!:

20250628_164408 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

20250628_164415 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Climax coming by:

20250628_164424 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

I like :

20250628_164442 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

The workshop is my favourite:

20250628_164256 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

And a joke of a friend of mine, his own personal 0N30 European society:

20250628_145400 by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

And yours truly captured by a visitor while highly concentrated running a logging train:

54621177521_8e33bd08a5_c by Ronald Halma, on Flickr

Last but not least a lot of good comments of visitors and friends who still where very enthousiast about this layout. And where glad it had survived the time.

I'll keep you posted with the progress!

[Bill Gill]

Ronald, Sounds and looks like you had a really good time at the show and that the layout behaved well (most of the time). And you sound encouraged to continue repairing and fixing up the display. It's good to see the layout preserved.

Tell me more about your "traditional" Holland/Indonesian meal! Sounds very interesting.