Somerset73

Today it's been confirmed by a friend of mine that Kilve is in the latest edition of Railway Modeller. I've yet to see it but it apparenty mentions the Derby exhibition at the start of May, which is its next outing. I hope if you read it you like what you see...

It's been a few years since incomplete the layout and since then it's only done a few shows, but finally after a wait it's about to be seen in print. The May 2016 edition of railway modeller to be precise which ties in with Kilve being on display at the Derby exhibition is May.

Since railex Taunton we've been enjoying a few weeks of running and enjoying the fruits of our labours. this week saw things move forward to the late 60s and early 70s as Steve went nuts with his stock selection of 10 Westerns and numerous other early diesel classes... Somehow it seemed to look right though...maybe an idea for future exhibitions....

Thanks to you all for your comments. We really appreciate them!

We would love to come mike. You send the invite and we'll be there! Be nice to see som western region that far north...lol. Steve will love it! Thanks for the kind comments...

We we managed to do the whole exhibition weekend with only few minor niggles, most of which we sorted on the day but a few things will be taken back and redone to make sure that our next venture out runs more smoothly. The weekend was great. Lots of learning for the operating team, most of whom have had no more than an hours practice prior to the weekend and some have never operated DCC before. We have a list of things we need to deal with over the winter but on the plus side we met some great people and got some really kind comments...and at least three invites to other exhibitions in the coming years. Sorry I didn't get to meet some of you as I had to take time out on Saturday and Sunday was spend doing a dozen other jobs around the halls, but thanks to those who have commented and liked and to those who came to see us. As for the operating team I can't say how proud I am to be part of it. Though the layout was kept alive by two of us until a few years back the work the others have done to detail, build, pack, run and move the layout has given us what we have today.

Well a few minor glitches on Saturday morning but on the whole it ran well and seems to be liked by most people. We have a few things to tweak this morning but otherwise we're happy with it Ben got the signals in place on Saturday morning and Steve added the speed signs...so all in all about as complete as we ever dared hope for our first outing. So here we go on day two..

Well this is it. Railex Taunton is on and with it comes our first opportunity to show Oake station on the exhibition circuit. It's been 8 months of hard intensive work. Although the layout started about 3 years back a combination of the groups family and work commitments meant that progress was steady. 8 months back it was confirmed we had this weekend as our debut show so things stepped up a notch and a majority of what you see in the photos has been done in this time. I'd like to pass my thanks and congratulations on to the group we have today for their efforts. Steve, Jack, Ian, Toby, Ben and Tom, to name the main players, but also to all who have helped in even the smallest way, because without evwey bit of help we wouldn't be here. So keep no eye on the blog to see how we did... We have everything crossed but the wiring (we hope) and a weekend to enjoy the fruits of our labours... Please send luck....or beer .... either to celebrate or commiserate... And thanks for all your kind comments over the past few weeks. We really appreciate them and the support from the railway modelling community.

Well a week today and Oake starts its exhibition debut. We always intended it to be an exhibition layout as well as a club running layout, but the day we actually took it out always seemed a distant dream. But a week today, on Saturday 24th we ate at running at the Taunton exhibition We still have things to do. Ben is frantically putting the signals together and we hope to install them before we start running. The stock's been sorted but as some of the guys haven't had more than an hour running the layout yet, we will hit the ground running when the doors open. But we have hope and determination so what could possibly go wrong? Please don't answer that! I'm more than aware of sooooo many answers to that ... The exhibition run over the weekend of 24th and 25th October at Taunton school. The exhibition is always a good one and the food bailable in the school itself if out of this world. Saturday's good but the sunday roast is Awesome! If you need a good line to spin the misses, just say you're taking her out for lunch... Please feel free to look at the exhibition section for more details and we hope to see some of you there.

With a week to the first show the task of taking the 12 boards for Oake down and ready to transport began. We've made shelf units for the boards to slide into to keep them upright and easy to stack for the van. I've done this on my smaller layouts in the past but this is the biggest layout we've exhibited for a long time. One more evening to finish off and then it's Railex Taunton on the weekend of the 24th and 25th of this month at Taunton school. If you do come along please feel free to say hello. Mention seeing this blog to any of the operators and you'll get a free smile.

Thank you for the shortcut! I uploaded it all then had work to do so didn't get round to that. Much appreciated. Hope to see you at Taunton! Make yourself known when you arrive!

Like most people I have a mobile phone that does about 1000 things, only ten of which I'll ever use. The camera I do use so imagine my surprise when I found "panoramic" settings and looked at the layout. How hard could this be... Well it's not perfect but look at the gallery and I've attached a panorama of all 18 feet of Oake station.

Thank you! We really appreciate your comments and it's a great feeling to have got it this far. The RMweb members have been really supportive and the Oake team do appreciate the positivity of you guys, especially as some are still relatively new to railway modelling. Thanks again!

With a smidgen over2 weeks until we go public were using all the time we can to make sure everything's running well. Evenings and afternoons all add to getting the final bits done. This weeks been running in. A lot of stock hasn't run for a few years so getting locks smooth and putting coach rakes together all takes time...but it gives a brilliant chance to take photos. We've uploaded a few of our favourites so hope you enjoy

Why is it the closer you get to a deadline the faster time goes and the more seems to need doing? We had a good night last night. A few small additions to the scenics in the form of mileposts and an electricity pole feeding the station were added. The wing boards were put up and painted and photos of the line addsed for a bit of interest to people wanting to see the original line we based it on. The rest of the evening was test running and ensuring all loco's have different DCC codes. Something important as the three of us supplying stock all have similar systems for numbering. It all went ok. A few re-codes were needed but it ran well. Now we just need to get up to speed so it looks slick at the exhibition.