Rhysb Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 Looks fantastic Guys! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted October 21, 2018 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted October 21, 2018 It's been a busy time and I've got a bumper update to share from our weekend away at the Hornby Great Electric Train Show in Milton Keynes last week! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr My container train is gradually getting there with more weathered containers taking over from the shiny unfinished ones, here we can see Freightliner's 66555 piloting a service through the station past the newly-installed van hire depot. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And best news of all, following repairs by gangmember Martin Browning, our bright red 'Bendybus' is back in action again! It can be seen tucked at the back of the street scene on the Southern end of the layout below. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr We had to be careful in positioning to avoid the classic "bus on a bridge" cliche that pops up frequently!! Also new is the Oxford Diecast Ford Transit dropside, I've painted it blue and converted ours into a garden waste carrying version. It's amazing how many dropsides you notice on the roads once you start making a model of one! Highlight for me was friend-of-the-layout's Marcus Lambert appearing with his "Purple Penetrator" for us to run on Loftus Road! This beauty is Porterbrook's D9016 Gordon Highlander in it's now-classic but short-lived purple livery. It also has some of the best sound fitted via enormous speakers inside it's milled-out chassis, and was such great fun to play with! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It made sense to place this at the head of the Virgin XC train to recall the glorious late-90s times of random hire locomotives brought in on Virgin services, much to the enthusiasts' delight! One of the hardest parts of the weekend was having to reluctantly give this back to Marcus on the Sunday evening..! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The venue itself had moved from previous years, now being at the ArenaMK/Marshall Arena - the interesting part being that it has a football stadium as it's centrepiece. The accommodation was lovely, being based in the Hilton DoubleTree on site, and within a short walk of the venue. So it was most interesting opening the hotel curtains on the Saturday morning to be greeted with this view below..! Stadium MK by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And of course it goes without saying that aside from Marcus' purple 'Deltic', the other highlight of the weekend had to be the buffet breakfasts! This certainly filled a hole - and what a great way to kickstart the day! Catering at Hornby Great Electric Train Show 2018 by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr As is standard for our weekends away, my best mate scoped out the highest-rated curryhouse (going by reviews) in the area for us to try out - we went to the Jaflong in Milton Keynes, which gets a full thumbs up from the Loftus gang! There were reasonably nice sandwiches available during the day for exhibitors, along with Martin's newly-introduced Loftus Road Emergency Survival Kit (packed with biscuits, chocolates and crisps!) but to be honest I was still stuffed from the buffet breakfast extravaganza! Hornby Great Electric Train Show 2018 by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The show itself was great, very busy and featured a superb selection of other layouts familiar to RMWebbers including Talbot Lane TMD, Dubmill Sidings and many many more! In the hotel bar in the evening it was great to hang out with the likes of Ian Bishop (Legomanbiffo) talking about his beautiful orange Ford Focus and the great bunch of guys who form the Hatton's team...who, frustratingly, despite being very merry, commendably would not give away any secrets as to their future production plans!! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It was also the first show where I'd had my complete new rake of Virgin stock running, this includes my original Airfix RFB conversion alongside 6 Hornby Mk2Es that I've finally finished - the lights worked a treat in showing the interior. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr 47348 St Christopher's Railway Home takes over from a poorly 47817... Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Once pride of the RES fleet, EWS' tatty 47736 Cambridge T&RS Depot is relegated to performing engineering stock positioning moves on Loftus Road... Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr We've also undertaken some work on the scenery since the last set of photos appeared, I've been spending a lot of money on various Preiser figures to populate the layout and make it look more like the busy London that we know & hate! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Meanwhile, the vehicles are being focussed on now, each one being stripped down, passengers fitted, repainted where required and reassembled before being glued down. The aim of this is to have a gridlocked road when finished - watch this space! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Mike Denwood's detailed handiwork inside the station building can just be glimpsed through the window in this shot! Finally, you can't beat some heavy freight action! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Former Loadhaul 60038 takes a train of VGAs past the station... ...followed by 58017 Eastleigh Depot on a rake of petroleum TEAs. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Overall, it was a great show and we very much look forward to our next show season in 2019, kicking off with the Southampton show in January. Hope to see you there! Cheers, James 36 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick G Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Looking fantastic James. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Great photo's James, hope I get to see Loftus Road again sometime, there's loads I missed! Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themymysteryman101 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Layout looking great as always, Not sure what I'm more jealous of, the Deltic or the Breakfast! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium GWRPhil Posted October 22, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 22, 2018 Layout looking great as always, Not sure what I'm more jealous of, the Deltic or the Breakfast! I’m going with the breakfast being my choice 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie75 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 I would go with the breakfast, as having stayed at the Hilton Double Tree, I know how good it is, and quite fancy a full English breakfast right now. Weetabix will have to do for now! It's amazing sitting eating your breakfast, whilst over looking the M K Dons stadium. I'm not a huge fan of Deltic's, but that one looks very smart. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 Hi James, Great set of pics, the layout really is looking very good, all the extra detail does pay off. Sounds like you had a good time after the show too eating and drinking with the other exhibitors. Cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted October 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2018 just stunning mate the grass turf rolls look amazing . Great modelling. But if my local van hire place is anything to go by, there should be far more damaged paintwork on those vans. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted October 24, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 24, 2018 It's been a busy time and I've got a bumper update to share from our weekend away at the Hornby Great Electric Train Show in Milton Keynes last week! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr My container train is gradually getting there with more weathered containers taking over from the shiny unfinished ones, here we can see Freightliner's 66555 piloting a service through the station past the newly-installed van hire depot. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And best news of all, following repairs by gangmember Martin Browning, our bright red 'Bendybus' is back in action again! It can be seen tucked at the back of the street scene on the Southern end of the layout below. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr We had to be careful in positioning to avoid the classic "bus on a bridge" cliche that pops up frequently!! Also new is the Oxford Diecast Ford Transit dropside, I've painted it blue and converted ours into a garden waste carrying version. It's amazing how many dropsides you notice on the roads once you start making a model of one! Highlight for me was friend-of-the-layout's Marcus Lambert appearing with his "Purple Penetrator" for us to run on Loftus Road! This beauty is Porterbrook's D9016 Gordon Highlander in it's now-classic but short-lived purple livery. It also has some of the best sound fitted via enormous speakers inside it's milled-out chassis, and was such great fun to play with! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It made sense to place this at the head of the Virgin XC train to recall the glorious late-90s times of random hire locomotives brought in on Virgin services, much to the enthusiasts' delight! One of the hardest parts of the weekend was having to reluctantly give this back to Marcus on the Sunday evening..! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The venue itself had moved from previous years, now being at the ArenaMK/Marshall Arena - the interesting part being that it has a football stadium as it's centrepiece. The accommodation was lovely, being based in the Hilton DoubleTree on site, and within a short walk of the venue. So it was most interesting opening the hotel curtains on the Saturday morning to be greeted with this view below..! Stadium MK by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr And of course it goes without saying that aside from Marcus' purple 'Deltic', the other highlight of the weekend had to be the buffet breakfasts! This certainly filled a hole - and what a great way to kickstart the day! Catering at Hornby Great Electric Train Show 2018 by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr As is standard for our weekends away, my best mate scoped out the highest-rated curryhouse (going by reviews) in the area for us to try out - we went to the Jaflong in Milton Keynes, which gets a full thumbs up from the Loftus gang! There were reasonably nice sandwiches available during the day for exhibitors, along with Martin's newly-introduced Loftus Road Emergency Survival Kit (packed with biscuits, chocolates and crisps!) but to be honest I was still stuffed from the buffet breakfast extravaganza! Hornby Great Electric Train Show 2018 by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr The show itself was great, very busy and featured a superb selection of other layouts familiar to RMWebbers including Talbot Lane TMD, Dubmill Sidings and many many more! In the hotel bar in the evening it was great to hang out with the likes of Ian Bishop (Legomanbiffo) talking about his beautiful orange Ford Focus and the great bunch of guys who form the Hatton's team...who, frustratingly, despite being very merry, commendably would not give away any secrets as to their future production plans!! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr It was also the first show where I'd had my complete new rake of Virgin stock running, this includes my original Airfix RFB conversion alongside 6 Hornby Mk2Es that I've finally finished - the lights worked a treat in showing the interior. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr 47348 St Christopher's Railway Home takes over from a poorly 47817... Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Once pride of the RES fleet, EWS' tatty 47736 Cambridge T&RS Depot is relegated to performing engineering stock positioning moves on Loftus Road... Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr We've also undertaken some work on the scenery since the last set of photos appeared, I've been spending a lot of money on various Preiser figures to populate the layout and make it look more like the busy London that we know & hate! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Meanwhile, the vehicles are being focussed on now, each one being stripped down, passengers fitted, repainted where required and reassembled before being glued down. The aim of this is to have a gridlocked road when finished - watch this space! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Mike Denwood's detailed handiwork inside the station building can just be glimpsed through the window in this shot! Finally, you can't beat some heavy freight action! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Former Loadhaul 60038 takes a train of VGAs past the station... ...followed by 58017 Eastleigh Depot on a rake of petroleum TEAs. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by jamesmakin2002, on Flickr Overall, it was a great show and we very much look forward to our next show season in 2019, kicking off with the Southampton show in January. Hope to see you there! Cheers, James What date is the Southampton Show.? Would like to be there to see this layout but away for part of the month. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 What date is the Southampton Show.? Would like to be there to see this layout but away for part of the month. The Southampton Show is January 26th and 27th. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthernBlue80s Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Fantastic layout. Love the weathering and the small details Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantrogla Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Fantastic layout. Love the weathering and the small details Agreed - think it is up there with some of the best ever created Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wibble Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 It's not just the rolling stock modelling that makes Loftus Road special, it's everything else beyond the railway boundary that gives this layout a sense of a time and place - the attention to detail is some of the best I've ever seen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 5, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2019 Stunning work, looking forward to seeing it again at Southampton! Will be following your techniques on the containers James, that train looks superb, I remain extremely envious of your skills! Totally unrelated, and not meaning to be out of order, but can people please not quote huge posts when posting a one line response, even more so when the post is still on the page, it makes the thread very disjointed. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Having read the comments above about the detailing and look of LR, it set me thinking that it is nigh on sixteen years (Pete and/or James will correct me if I am wrong) since we first took three bare-ish baseboards to a very small show in East Preston (West Sussex). I seem to recall Pete and I spending a long while underneath LR, trying to get the wires on the Lenz unit to make James' EWS 37s run. I think that the amount of time we have had with the layout has meant that we have been able to develop ideas and look at what is happening around the Earl's Court area in order to make it as realistic as possible. Before we even started, Pete had taken many photos so that we could get the track, station buildings and even positioning of point motors accurate. Further pictures of other buildings nearby have been used over the years in order to build a wider picture of the local area - we lost James for about three months somewhere in Google maps when he was coming up with what is now Spanker's Row (don't ask why that name)... As many followers will be aware, LR is now in its second version, having undergone major surgery, moving from a twelve-road fiddleyard to an upgraded version which gives us eighteen roads now, as well as the scenic side boards. Without Pete, Mark, Martin and Mike, it would never have been possible to do this as seamlessly as it was. Over the years, we have had a very generous level of input (usually helpful) from other club members, not just the core Loftus Road group; past (and sadly, late) members Alan and Rex at the beginning, Gordon Forrester and all the others who have been willing to teach us techniques and theory of electronics - all these have helped to make LR what it is. Therefore, the comments from SouthernBlue80s, pantrogla, Wibble and njee20 are very much appreciated: they help us to want to continue with the layout. After all, we're just ordinary railway modellers who enjoy LR and from a personal perspective, I think that as long as we continue to do so, then running and improving LR in small ways will be what we are about. Looking forward to Southampton in a few weeks time - come and say hello and feel free to ask us any questions! 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Off to the club room shortly so that we can load up LR ready for the Southampton Show this weekend Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 25, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2019 Looking forward to seeing it again! See you tomorrow! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Looking forward to seeing it again! See you tomorrow! Come and say hello, you'll be more than welcome! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium James Makin Posted January 25, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 25, 2019 We’re all set up and ready to play trains at the Southampton MRC show this weekend in Eastleigh, if you’re passing by please do say hello! Cheers, James 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C.M Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Would love to see this layout. If only my recent Holiday had lasted an extra two week I could have dropped in I was only staying down the road. Have a good show cheers Peter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted January 26, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 26, 2019 Great to see the layout today, didn’t manage a chat as we were heading off and everyone looked pretty busy! Got schooled by a very enthusiastic 9-year old who pointed out very abruptly the Turbostar wasn’t a 170, but a 171! Definitely an enthusiast of the future! Seemed a decent crowd despite it being a bit tucked away. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Got schooled by a very enthusiastic 9-year old who pointed out very abruptly the Turbostar wasn’t a 170, but a 171! We get the same occasionally as well! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) If anyone has any doubts about the ability of model railways to make people smile, here is a link to some footage we shot at Southampton's Show on Sunday (27th January) before the public came in. Ian Bishop (Legomanbiffo of this parish) loaned us his HST set, fitted with sound and Earthmover speakers. The sheer joy on James Makin's face was like a small child getting everything they ever wanted for Christmas - forever. The video doesn't do Ian's work justice. Suffice it to say that we are seriously looking at learning how to mill out our chassis on our stock to fit suitable speakers as the sound was simply awesome! Edited January 28, 2019 by Harry Lime 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post James Makin Posted January 28, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted January 28, 2019 Following on from Chris' post above, we've just got back from a great weekend away at the Southampton MRC show in Eastleigh, which included lots of playing trains, some lovely cooked breakfasts and getting back behind the wheel of a large van again! I'd spent the weeks leading up to the show creating more cameo scenes and adding to our fleet of road vehicles to get more of that clogged, busy London atmosphere on our streets! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr There's still a lot of work to do, including the back scene (there's a cunning plan ahead!) but it's gradually getting towards the kind of scene I have in my mind! As always, the starting point to the weekend was getting the layout packed down and put into a large van ready to go to the show. I'd arranged the hire van for this show and decided to use Enterprise, with the hope that I'd get to drive one of the latest-shape giant high-top Ford Transits that you often see out on the roads from Enterprise. All looked good, I even passed by the pickup location the day before and a huge shiny '68'-plate Transit was parked up - that'd surely be mine, I hoped. But alas, with the hire car lottery, I was not a jackpot winner! I didn't even get '3 numbers' and a Mercedes Sprinter, no, it was a Peugeot Boxer! The handbrake was bizarrely on the right hand side of the vehicle, a first experience for me in a right hand drive vehicle! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr But after a smooth journey across to Southampton, we had the layout all setup and ready to go - in the drama theatre of all places! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr The show catering was pretty good, with almost-full-English breakfasts available and decent hot food for lunch - what was notable for the first time in my 15+ years of going to shows as a layout exhibitor was being given not a lunch voucher, but cold, hard cash - £5 of it, and being able to spend it how you wanted - the possibilities were endless! Funnily enough though all meals cost the magic sum of £5! It got pretty busy and we were about 3-deep at a number of points during the weekend, a good fun experience! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr As it was so busy, I didn't get a chance to record many still shots of the trains in action, however I did manage to get a reasonable number of videos which I'll be uploading to our YouTube account in the coming days. Instead though, here's a few updates showing the streets of Loftus Road, looking slightly busier than they did before, with a few more vehicles and longer traffic jams for our suffering residents! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr One scene I was keen to add was to replicate the many clashes you see between the Lycra-clad cyclists (with the head-mounted cameras!) and motorists in the city streets. Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr I made my Lycra chap using another one of the unpainted Chinese 1:75 scale plastic figures, who was chopped and bent heavily to pose him paused on the bike leaning down with one foot and engaging with the BMW X5 driver. His helmet was made from Blu Tak, believe it or not! Then I went online to research cyclist's Lycra clothes (I have done a lot of crazy research for Loftus Road, but this was a low point!) to select a yellow & black design, with pink and blue trainers and skintight black shorts. What a fetching combination..! Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr Loftus Road by Worthing MRC by James Makin, on Flickr Overall, it was a great weekend away and all went very smoothly, a big thanks to the team at the Southampton MRC for putting on such a great show and making us feel welcome. And most excitingly as Chris mentioned previously, Ian of Legomanbiffo fame dropped by with his EM2 speaker-fitted HST power cars pumping out classic Valenta sounds in a deep bass format that had me emptying my wallet very quickly! My First Great Western 'fag packet' green & gold HST will soon be screaming like the real thing used to! Our next show is at our annual exhibition in Worthing on September 28th & 29th - between then we'll keep adding things to the layout - watch this space! Cheers, James 23 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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