Oak Road - 2013 to present (a fictitious place somewhere in Somerset) - Raising Money for Meningitis Research

[Midnight-Freight]

This is one of my favourite layouts to look at. The attention to detail is amazing. I love the virtual quarry sidings and am hoping to come up with something similar on my own layout. I just hope it finishes up somewhere close to how yours looks. I also think that re-spacing the sleepers makes a big difference to how the track looks and is something I know deep down I will need to do. Was it just a case of removing all the webbing between the sleepers and then spacing them out correctly? Did the track become fragile without it?

Given how much of your detail is stuff I would like to add you may find me asking more questions in the future. You can't complain too much though as you did say that's what you have done 

[muddy water]

I managed to ballast round the signal bases yesterday, and although there's only two shown, all three have bee done and weathered in.

 

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...which lead to a bit more 'natural' weathering of the stone bridge. I still need to do the insides of the parapet walls....

 

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....and the track beneath it...

 

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I'm really pleased with this view and how the whole thing is starting to come together. Ignore the water on the underside of the arch - this picture was taken just after I'd drenched the bridge in a dirty wash. The stones are also horizontal but they look a bit weird from the angle I've taken the picture at!

 

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This evening's final job is to tidy up the wiring underneath the signals and then crate the boards back up ready for the long trip down to the West Country. Thursday evening I will mostly be finishing of the stock trays and making a 'do not forget' list!

Just show the missus this photo and she thought it was real!

Good luck with Taunton. Shame it is a bit far for me to see it!

[jamest]

Hi,

 

Looking forward to finally seeing this for real tomorrow.

 

I hope the journey and set-up goes smoothy.

 

All the best,

James

[GWRPhil]

Have finally seen oak road live today. Only had a short period of time whilst off duty from helping run Banbury. Oak road is everything I thought it was from reading the feed and more. Here’s a selection of the photos I took first of of the trains mainly. Videos to follow tonight

[GWRPhil]

Now some scenery shots.

[Charlie75]

Some great photos you have there.

 

It really is a beautifully modelled layout. One of the best in my humble opinion.

 

I hope to catch it at an exhibition sometime in the future.

[GWRPhil]

Here’s a few more

[stock_2007]

Really nice photos they show just how good the layout is

[Revolution Mike B]

This is one of my favourite layouts to look at. The attention to detail is amazing. I love the virtual quarry sidings and am hoping to come up with something similar on my own layout. I just hope it finishes up somewhere close to how yours looks. I also think that re-spacing the sleepers makes a big difference to how the track looks and is something I know deep down I will need to do. Was it just a case of removing all the webbing between the sleepers and then spacing them out correctly? Did the track become fragile without it?

Given how much of your detail is stuff I would like to add you may find me asking more questions in the future. You can't complain too much though as you did say that's what you have done 

It’s a bit of a pain but yes, just cut the webbing and push the sleepers along until they look right. You just need to be careful not to pull the rail out of the pandarol clips.

[Iron Horse]

As always Mike it looks awesome, I can't wait to see it one day. The scenery is just superb.

 

An aside question do you ever have problems with your Hornby 153, mine shorts like hell on just about every point frog and with just about all of my other stuff being OK.......it'll be going in the bin soon unless I can sort it......lol!!!!!!!!

[Revolution Mike B]

What a great show Taunton was.........once we eventually got there!

 

For those of you that have never been, it’s at a private school and just like being at Hogwarts......so much character.

 

As per usual the trains that usually run fine, fell off, and the ones that normally fell off, ran fine....or in one case, not at all! The dodgy point was still dodgy, even with the new motor and the wiring - it kind of wipes out it’s address for some reason but at least I now know how to fix it mid show.

 

Saturday was manic, and at times, the crowd was three deep... that’s just three people standing behind each other.....only kidding, it was packed and the layout took a bit of a battering but luckily, nothing got broken. Sunday was a little quieter but still busy, given that someone had imported some Scandinavian weather from Saturday teatime onwards!

 

It was nice to put some faces to names too, with GWR Phil (great pictures mate), BGman and JamesT to name a few, along with a whole load of people from Facebook - I think the people coming to see Oak Road more than covered the cost of getting it to the show, which is a nice thing for the exhibition organisers.

 

On Saturday, a chap travelled all the way down from Epsom (I don’t know his name) with an 800 for me to try it through the tunnel. Unfortunately it wasn’t DCC so we couldn’t run it, but I can confirm it goes through with plenty of clearance - so thank you that man! Jacob Hampson travelled up from Redruth with a Network Rail 950 and then left a Malcolm Rail 66 with me for the afternoon while he went to the pub.....

 

Then on Sunday, I had a surprise visit from Gordon Gravett, who came to see my scenic handiwork and by all accounts, he seemed to think I’d done a good job.

 

As with all these shows, unless you’ve never exhibited a large layout, it’s extremely hard work, and I must thank Dave, Rhys and Ian for making this show possible as there’s no way I could’ve run the layout on my own. I also need to thank Steve Cox for helping on Saturday and to the Taunton RailEx team for inviting us along.

 

The last thank you needs to go to Gilliams Car Spares in Wincanton, because without them, we’d have never got there in the first place!

 

That’s it now until Swansea next September.... I’m taking some time out

Edited October 29, 2018 by scoobyra

[sb67]

Love seeing pictures of your layout Scoobyra, the track looks fantastic, I read that you re spaced the sleepers of rtr track, apologies if I've missed it but did you use a gauge or do it by eye,  I'm thinking of trying it on my next layout. 

Thanks,

Steve.

[Revolution Mike B]

Love seeing pictures of your layout Scoobyra, the track looks fantastic, I read that you re spaced the sleepers of rtr track, apologies if I've missed it but did you use a gauge or do it by eye,  I'm thinking of trying it on my next layout. 

Thanks,

Steve.

Respaced by eye Steve

[Revolution Mike B]

As always Mike it looks awesome, I can't wait to see it one day. The scenery is just superb.

 

An aside question do you ever have problems with your Hornby 153, mine shorts like hell on just about every point frog and with just about all of my other stuff being OK.......it'll be going in the bin soon unless I can sort it......lol!!!!!!!!

My Dogbox is quite sporadic - it runs ok but at low speeds can be very jerky. I changed a few CV settings and it’s been a bit better although it never shorts out

[sb67]

 

 

However, there was one more thing that topped that......

 

In the pictures that Paul posted up earlier, you can see a little lad in a green T shirt who was....how can I put this without sounding like I'm being rude? Autistic? that at first was adding to my stress level as I couldn't understand what he was up to.....but then I realised that he kept coming back to watch the trains, and every time an HST whizzed round, he'd be jumping up and down with excitement. running from one end of the layout to the other just to watch it.....and this went on for probably the best part of an hour...maybe longer. He'd disappear for a couple of minutes to look at Loftus Road, then he'd be back again for ages watching the HSTs, and this made me feel quite humble, and reinforced the point of building the layout in the first place.......and then stressed me out even more, because I couldn't get the trains to run long enough for him without a hiccup.    

 

If anyone local to me knows who he is, or his parents, please let them know the layout will be back in Fareham in April so that he can come along and watch it again, and if he wants to, stand in the 'drivers seat' and have a go himself.

 

Thank you everyone that popped in and said hello, and also for Jase and Dave, and Ian for helping get it set up and taken down.

 

I'm having a month off now to crash trains on someone else's train set!

 

Hi Scoobyra, I'm loving flicking through the Oak Road thread, I'd love to see the layout sometime. This post caught my eye as it was such a nice post and a fantastic gesture, did you ever find out who the boy was and did he get a go in the ''drivers seat'' ?

 

Steve

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Scoobyra, I'm loving flicking through the Oak Road thread, I'd love to see the layout sometime. This post caught my eye as it was such a nice post and a fantastic gesture, did you ever find out who the boy was and did he get a go in the ''drivers seat'' ?

Steve

I did indeed - his name is Matthew, and although he didn’t drive any trains, he has been inside the operators well to see the trains in the fiddle yard

[sb67]

I did indeed - his name is Matthew, and although he didn’t drive any trains, he has been inside the operators well to see the trains in the fiddle yard

 

That's fantastic and I bet that would have made him so happy.  

Steve. 

[Marcus 37]

Hi Mike

Sorry for not looking in for a while. The layout now looks truly amazing. The attention to detail is superb. Must admit I do like the virtual quarry at the rear of the station and the look of neglect in the head shunt. Spending plenty of my time at work in those sort of places you've absolutely nailed it.

Great work mate.

Cheers

Marcus.

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Mike

Sorry for not looking in for a while. The layout now looks truly amazing. The attention to detail is superb. Must admit I do like the virtual quarry at the rear of the station and the look of neglect in the head shunt. Spending plenty of my time at work in those sort of places you've absolutely nailed it.

Great work mate.

Cheers

Marcus.

 

Hey mate, no worries.....there's a lot of folk like yourself that are really busy, and thanks for the kind words. 

[Revolution Mike B]

The train set is now back in it's home.....

 

 

....with the heating turned up a little to make sure it doesn't catch a cold 

 

We really do have some fantastic facilities here at the Fareham Innovation Centre, with various size offices and workshops to suit all sorts of businesses, and I consider myself lucky to have somewhere to set the whole thing up, otherwise it's back to the kitchen - two boards at a time!

 

After year year on the road, and as documented within this thread, there's been some minor, and major issues that appeared - it's nice to have the pressure off for a while so that these niggles can be sorted out. Ian (Tidworth) is going to give me a hand (as Dave needs to rest up for a while) to get some wiring issues fixed and I'm going to resolve the annoying backscene dilemma......but for now, I'm just going to play trains for a while and enjoy looking at the stuff that normally sits in the cupboard.

 

Oak Road has come a long way since Fareham RailEx 2017 so thank you Fareham & District MRC, Fareham Rotarail, The New Forest Railway Society, Gaugemaster, Worthing MRC and finally Somerset MRC for giving the layout some fantastic exposure. We're now looking forward to our international debut in Wales! 

Edited October 31, 2018 by scoobyra

[sb67]

I really like the size of your layout and the quarry behind the station, have you ever run it with an 70.s/80's theme, I can just imagine a western running through with china clay hoods or class 37's/47's on ballast trains and blue grey HST's and class 50's, guess I'm just showing my age! 

Steve.

[Revolution Mike B]

I really like the size of your layout and the quarry behind the station, have you ever run it with an 70.s/80's theme, I can just imagine a western running through with china clay hoods or class 37's/47's on ballast trains and blue grey HST's and class 50's, guess I'm just showing my age! 

Steve.

 

We run some 80s / 90s stuff at exhibitions in between the HSTs 

[GWRPhil]

Here as promised, but only just had time to sort, is the video I took of oak road at the Taunton exhibition

 

[stock_2007]

Very nice video shows off the layout very well, The public seemed very close to the layout! And I see the talkative kids were there

[Revolution Mike B]

Unfortunately, playing with the trains didn't last very long......6 exhibitions and getting battered around in the back of a van has taken it's toll on the layout, causing some of the board joints to have an argument...so I've stepped in as the mediator...and halted proceedings.

 

I'm never ashamed to put my hand up and say 'I've got this wrong', and I'll need to admit defeat at my first proper attempt at building something durable. Luckily, I've got a great group of modelling friends with a lot more experience of building layouts than I have, we're going to look at some upgrades to make things more reliable. 

 

There's a fair list of things to be improved, including bracing the legs, thickening the board end plates, adding proper locating dowels, splitting the bus up to make two separate supplies for accessories and track power, connecting up the frog polarity switches on the Conrad motors, thicker transit plates with spacers, further bracing for the leg joints, and some track realignment and board crossings in the fiddle yard.

 

That should keep me busy for a little while!  

Edited November 6, 2018 by scoobyra