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

[Marcus 37]

Got to echo what everyone else has said. The platforms do look really effective. Shame about the two not matching up when you put them together as the actual colouring looks superb on both of them. The Tarmac section looks good as well from the picture above. The texture certainly looks right with out a doubt.

Cheers

Marcus

[Revolution Mike B]

Got to echo what everyone else has said. The platforms do look really effective. Shame about the two not matching up when you put them together as the actual colouring looks superb on both of them. The Tarmac section looks good as well from the picture above. The texture certainly looks right with out a doubt.

Cheers

Marcus

 

Cheers Marcus

 

They match up now 

[Revolution Mike B]

Back from Warley and and I have to say a massive thank you to Matt Taylor of Gaugemaster. I was short on a double station light and didn't really want to buy a whole pack just for one light - now these aren't cheap Chinese ones, they're the nice DCC Concepts ones that are a fair bit of money. I asked if they had any spare ones kicking around that I could buy as a one off and Matt gave me a whole pack for free! There was just one condition......that I take Oak Road along to their Gaugemaster show in 2018.......well I'm hardly going to say no am I?!?!     

 

Some of you may be thinking.....whoopee, a £12.95 pack of lights....what's all the fuss about? These guys very rarely give any discount, let alone give stuff away and just by offering to help out with something simple, it made my weekend. I know I've mentioned a few other shops that have helped out but to get Gaugemaster on-board is fantastic.

 

I should also say thank you to Richard Johnson too for his input. It's nice to see some retailers making sure you get good service for your hard earned money.

 

To my surprise, that's two shows lined up for 2018 and Fareham RailEx for 2017, just from you guys talking about my layout on here. Quite humbling! 

 

Mike

Edited November 28, 2016 by scoobyra

[pitbull1845]

Thats great news Mike,
Better start recruiting helpers...  

[Revolution Mike B]

Thats great news Mike,

Better start recruiting helpers...  

 

Funny you should say that Scott 

[SparxD428]

I'll have my agent check if I'm available to help crew the show 

Platforms look absolutely superb mate on a serious note.

Cheers

Stu.

[Revolution Mike B]

Well at least I'm not going to be short of people to help me crash the trains   

[WCML100]

credit were credit is due mate! For someone (as far as I can tell from your thread) who is as humble as you are about how you always start things over and are not the best modeller out there - i can honestly say your work is brilliant and you are a fantastic modeller. Hats off to you mate, keep up the good work - all these invites are more than justified by the so far, by the completed parts of your layout.

[Revolution Mike B]

credit were credit is due mate! For someone (as far as I can tell from your thread) who is as humble as you are about how you always start things over and are not the best modeller out there - i can honestly say your work is brilliant and you are a fantastic modeller. Hats off to you mate, keep up the good work - all these invites are more than justified by the so far, by the completed parts of your layout.

 

Thank you very much. I honestly don't see what you guys see and after seeing some of the fantastic layouts at Warley, I've got a long way to go yet. My iPhone seems to be me own worst enemy because I keep taking pictures with it only to find it doesn't look quite as good as it should......when in reality, it probably looks ok.

 

The hardest thing I've encountered is making stuff look like it would in the real world - ok, 90% of people would never know the difference but I still want it to be right.....and it can get very frustrating when the OCD kicks in!

[Marcus 37]

I'm one of the worst offenders for that. It's either my phone or my iPad for taking my pictures of my layout. Mind you their probably both better than my ancient camera.

Trouble is with me, why spend money on a decent camera when you can have another loco or a rake of wagons.........Or both. HaHaHa.

[Melangoose]

Hi Scoobyra

I saw 70807 (in Colas livery) yesterday between Bruton and Castle Cary, it had about 14 Mendip Rail bogie hoppers behind it.

Regards

Nigel

[01276]

Great layout, I've enjoyed spending my morning reading through this thread. Definitely inspirational stuff.

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Scoobyra

I saw 70807 (in Colas livery) yesterday between Bruton and Castle Cary, it had about 14 Mendip Rail bogie hoppers behind it.

Regards

Nigel

 

Thanks Nigel

 

I've got a video of that running through light engine but didn't realise the MR trains ran through there. That's another train to add to the growing list!

 

Mike

[Revolution Mike B]

Not much of a proper update because I've been trying to work out how to get my Ratio Castle Cary Station look-a-like building to actually look like....er....Castle Cary..........without much success! And this is when I really start to envy the guys that can scratch build stuff.

 

The canopy is completely wrong and no matter how much 'hacking' around I'm doing, it's never going to look right so I'll have to compromise a bit until my modelling skills improve somewhat or Allan (Downes) decides he likes Oak Road so much, he builds me one!   

 

Once I've got the O Gauge show out of the way at the weekend I'll make a concentrated effort on getting the basic bits and pieces in place around the station area (car park, embankment etc) and then I can get the 'land' formation at the front done. I seem to have so much to do all at once because I have have the attention span of a Goldfish with short term memory loss, and flit backwards and forwards from project to project. Couple this with trying to build the Club N Gauge layout and help my mate with his too and you begin to get the picture!

 

I must admit, I'm also feeling very humble and somewhat overwhelmed by the exhibition enquiries which I never expected at all..... I hope it doesn't end up a disappointment   

[Revolution Mike B]

While I'm having a bit of a break from building stuff I thought I'd have a look at how I should present the layout. I know it's set from 2013 to present but I'm really liking the new GWR corporate colours so I've decided to paint it the same as new station themes using dark grey, black and teal green. The leaves just one more thing to do.....make a nice silver GWR logo to go on the lighting rig.

 

I've been trying to convince the wife to run up and down the front of the layout with a buffet trolley but she's not having any of it!       

 

Edited December 7, 2016 by scoobyra

[Alister_G]

I must admit, I'm also feeling very humble and somewhat overwhelmed by the exhibition enquiries which I never expected at all..... I hope it doesn't end up a disappointment   

 

Mate, from what you've done so far and shown us on here, there is NO WAY this layout will ever be a disappointment.

 

Al.

[Revolution Mike B]

Mate, from what you've done so far and shown us on here, there is NO WAY this layout will ever be a disappointment.

 

Al.

 

Thanks Al, but my pictures make it look better than it is because you can't see anything else  

 

I just want it to be able to appeal to a wide audience including youngsters (jeez, I'm only 50 but sound so old) that want to watch trains speed by.......and may be the odd rivet counter. 

[treggyman]

Thanks Al, but my pictures make it look better than it is because you can't see anything else

 

I just want it to be able to appeal to a wide audience including youngsters (jeez, I'm only 50 but sound so old) that want to watch trains speed by.......and may be the odd rivet counter. 

 

In my experience pictures make things look worse than they are.......

 

Trust us.... Your modelling is EXCELLENT....

 

Cheers Bill

[Revolution Mike B]

Well another case of two steps forwards, three steps back again today as this had to happen....

 

 

Now I'm normally one for making mistakes through naivety, not through carelessness, so I'm pretty annoyed with myself that my latest mistake was down to the latter. Whilst I was relaying the mainline crossover this afternoon, I checked some MK3 coaches to see if they ran through without the nasty jarring that occurred previously and much to my annoyance, I stumbled on the fact that a train leaving the bay on to the up main hit the train on the opposite line! Time to lift it and relay it 4mm further over.

 

To make matters worse, the new crossover isn't much better than the previous one and I'm not happy with it....but I have no alternatives apart from hand built track.....and that isn't happening anytime soon!

 

But.....this did make me think...... Why don't Peco manufacture an extra long point with a sensible crossing angle? Gone are the days of people just having an 8x4 roundy roundy, and with some bashing around, the current code 75 system can appeal to a lot of people who aren't quite at the 'lets build our own' stage. (I'm now cursing the fact that I didn't use Tillig and C&L!)

 

Luckily, It's just one piece of track and it'll be all relaid by tomorrow night and then I can rewire everything again. I do like making things difficult for myself!

Edited December 11, 2016 by scoobyra

[Revolution Mike B]

After I'd ripped up the track last night I took a couple of pictures that I thought were worth posting.

 

This one gave me a good idea of what it's going to be like once I've got the trains whizzing (yep, rivet counters....get over it......., it never hurts to run your trains round like you did as a kid....it's healthy!)

 

 

..and this one made me feel like it didn't matter that I'd made a few mistakes....because this looked as good as I was ever going to get it!

 

[Marcus 37]

Looking really good now mate. The close up of the ballasting in front of the 37 looks spot on including the colouring of the sleepers. Proper job!!

 

P.S Nothing wrong with running trains round and round. Me and Al have got a new name for it. Its called "Testing  " 

Edited December 12, 2016 by Marcus 37

[Alister_G]

After I'd ripped up the track last night I took a couple of pictures that I thought were worth posting.

 

This one gave me a good idea of what it's going to be like once I've got the trains whizzing (yep, rivet counters....get over it......., it never hurts to run your trains round like you did as a kid....it's healthy!)

 

Class 37.jpg

 

..and this one made me feel like it didn't matter that I'd made a few mistakes....because this looked as good as I was ever going to get it!

 

Ballast1.jpg

 

Mike, that looks really really great, just love the weathering on the track, the footway, and the platform, it's very, very good.

 

 

Looking really good now mate. The close up of the ballasting in front of the 37 looks spot on including the colouring of the sleepers. Proper job!!

 

P.S Nothing wrong with running trains round and round. Me and Al have got a new name for it. Its called "Testing  " 

 

Yep, you've got to do lots of "Testing "

 

It's very important!

 

 

Al.

[d winpenny]

Looking great

 

David

[WCML100]

Looking really good!

[cozzed]

Excellent Mike