Vale of Oxbury BR Western Region N Gauge

[bridgiesimon]

Best layout award? Awesome, mega congrats!!!

 

SImon

[Nick M]

Just to echo Carl's comments above, another great weekend away exhibiting Carl's layout with Mike.  We were very well looked after by the Taunton team, and met so many nice people throughout the whole weekend.  Here is the first of a few shots I took, whilst operating, which shows the scale of the layout ( Men can multi task with a camera in one hand, and an NCE Powercab in the other !! ).  Will post a few more in due course, and look forward to seeing everyone at Warley in a few weeks. Nick

[Nick M]

And another one whilst operating from the other end

[bgman]

Certainly did it for me, first time seeing the layout and really captures an atmosphere.

Here are some of my shots taken on my iPhone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure who I spoke to operating the layout but extremely friendly and helpful with any questions which were asked.

Worth stopping and spending time watching

 

Congratulations for an excellent GW layout guys

 

Grahame

[Nick M]

Some excellent photos BGMAN.  Not sure who you spoke to, but Carl & Mike are in my first shot above ( behind the layout ), and I'm in another shot higher up helping the Son of someone " have a go".

[carlwooduk]

Warley 26th November.

 

When I returned to the hobby 21 years ago, Warley was one of the first exhibitions I ventured too and whilst I do not recall any specific layouts back in 1995 , I was hooked and the goal of being able to one day create an exhibition standard layout was sown into my mind.  Fast forward to 2014, I was pleased but somewhat daunted to receive an invite to Warley for 2016.

 

As we all know it took place last weekend and with the support of my friends, Nick Moon, Mike Berman  & Neil Watson we had really enjoyable weekend and the layout behaved very well. 

A new motorised turntable was fitted the week before and we had a few more guest locos fitted with sound that could still be heard above the Warley ambient noise. The crowds to view the layout were consistent and the conversations about how the layout was designed and made were wide and varied. I always enjoy those with OO or O gauge modellers who start to see advantages of N with Coal trains of 45 wagons trundling through.  

 

A few pics to share and it was a shock and honour to be awarded the Calvert Trophy  by Pete Waterman. He was not for turning to N, being somewhat committed to O gauge. A big thank you to the Warley club for the invite ( albeit packing up Sunday evening was a nightmare wait ) and to all those RM Webbers that stopped by for a chat.

 

Setting Up

 

Behind the scenes

 

2 Deep 

 

The Rogues with Pete Waterman.

 

Layout looking East with WD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bgman]

Warley 26th November.

 

" I was pleased but somewhat daunted to receive an invite to Warley for 2016."

 

"A few pics to share and it was a shock and honour to be awarded the Calvert Trophy  by Pete Waterman. "

 

 

My first viewing of this excellent layout full of atmosphere was earlier this year at Taunton and I was very impressed not only by the layout but also the friendly nature of the operating crew. Despite the "pressures" of an exhibition you manage to respond to questions and make the viewers welcome.

 

I am not surprised you've won the Calvert Trophy it is well deserved, congratulations.

 

Grahame

[sammyboy]

I saw Vale of Oxbury at Warley last weekend and if my new and much more urban based layout is just one tenth as good as this, I would be very happy indeed - truly inspirational N Gauge modelling!

 

Sam

[maq1988]

Enjoyed seeing this at TINGS and Warley, got to say it's one of the best N gauge layouts.

 

The balance between the scenery and the railway is spot on, excellent stuff. No surprise on the trophy win.

[Gordini5]

Congratulations Carl, a well deserved trophy winner.

[Revolution Mike B]

Hi Carl

 

As I've mentioned over on FB, you thoroughly deserved the award because Vale of Oxbury is a believable layout with great scenics which work well with that amazing backscene. I'm not saying there weren't any other great layouts at Warley (or TINGS - although your's was head and shoulders over any others) but to me, it's all about making everything look right, from the trees, the fences, etc etc and once you've done the bits you pointed out to me at Warley, it'll be even better.

 

Well done mate!

 

ps.......Can I run a few FGW HSTs on it please.....it'll look just like the modern day West Country      

 

Mike (Buick)  

[queensquare]

I would agree that Vale of Oxbury is a superb piece of modelling but, and I'm sure I'll but shot down for this, for me it's the photographic backscene which lets it down. It is so obviously a modern photograph with huge fields and tram tracks from modern combines etc, so typical of modern industrial farming. The model represents a period well over half a century ago and the agricultural landscape then looked very different. I do hope this is taken as constructive criticism, as I said, I am a huge admirer of the Vale.

With Copenhagen Fields and the Vale at Warley it was a really good year for 2mm/N. We had a very good weekend at Warley demonstrating locomotive and wagon building in the smaller scales and had many interesting, and hopefully useful chats with numerous N and 2mm modellers.

Jerry

[Belperjohn]

Visited Doncaster yesterday for the first time , this exhibition layout is one of the best  I`ve seen in along time. Every detail on the Vale of Oxbury just seems so right,blending together, no garish bright colours,also not many seconds,if any between train movements. A very worthwhile exhibition layout and credit to the builder.

[carlwooduk]

A great weekend up at Doncaster and was made very welcome by the BRM and local club team. Busy on both days and a pleasure to talk to so many people about the layout, its operation, construction and that Backscene remains the most talked about part of the layout ( including those dreaded Tractor tram lines in the cereal fields ).

 

3 new junction signals have been added; non working , made up from Dapol posts, Ratio, MSE and Modelu 3D print parts. Not much else has been changed.

 

Mr York of this Parish stopped by early Sat morning for a photo-shoot for a future BRM. LAter Kyle and Howard from BRM shot a video and an interview for their DVD; I do hope they edit out my cock ups that my Operating Crew fell about laughing at when I anaswered a few question, never mind!

 

Layout ran really well; Mike, Nick and Neil did a superb job as they always do running plenty of trains, we do run prototypical trains for the era and location but no timetable; the viewing public  regularly give positive feedback that something is always moving and on show.

I had some coaching from Andy & Kyle ( thanks chaps ) to get the best out of  my new Canon CSC. Here are a few shots.

 

4F on cement

 

33's ( Farish ) on Fawley oil train

 

Pannier on Shed

 

Station

 

My favourite shot of the day a Pullman

Cheers

Carl

[carlwooduk]

At BRM Doncaster back in February, the layout was photographed by Andy Y and I was interviewed on Video for the BRM additional media content. The June BRM features the layout and it is somewhat humbling to see your own layout in print to be shared with a much wider audience. The photos have truly brought the layout to life and Andy made the task look so easy; he gave me some quick training on taking a number of shots at different focus points with an explanation of the photo edit software to layer them all to get excellent depth of field.

Next outing is Railwells 12th August.

Here is screen shot of 1st page. Hope you all enjoy the article.

Cheers Carl

[carlwooduk]

Update on a successful weekend at Railwells, but only after we did a few circuits of the towns infamous one way system.

This was the 10th exhibition ; time flies since its first in 2013. We were in one of the small rooms at back of the town hall but we had good crowds both days enjoying the trains pass by, interesting that VOO was the only layout at the exhibition on a "circuit" basis, rest were end to end. Big thanks to the superb operating crew, Mike, Nick & Ray. Without operators the show would not go on the road.

Lots of interest in the DCC sound, Nunney castle from farish performed very well; definitely the best sound loco I have heard in N. A couple more invites for 2019; Epsom & Falmouth. Next outing Redditch 15th September.

Couple of photos from the weekend.

D1000 Enterprise

38xx on coal empties

 

2251 on shed

 

 

Covered footbridge from Maurice at Osbournes looking much better fixed to platform.

[carlwooduk]

Back on the 16th September the layout appeared at Redditch 50th anniversary show, located in a school with easy access to set up. A Bonus was the room had plenty of natural light, somewhat rare at exhibitions. The operating crew Mike, Nick & Ray did the layout proud again ensuring a procession of trains to entertain. At this show I took time to practice shunting with a new Farish Pannier fitted with Dapol easi shunts, a short freight was run down the branch, into good shed, brake uncoupled, then taken into yard to be reformed. I am getting the hang of it at last.

 

Great to chat to many visitors and again let a few younger guest operators have a go.

A real pleasure to receive a cup for " Favourite Layout" as voted for by the visitors; the club members confirmed that was a first for N Gauge.

 

A couple of pics from weekend. Next outing Alton Feb 2018.

 

[BobM]

Update on a successful weekend at Railwells, but only after we did a few circuits of the towns infamous one way system.

This was the 10th exhibition ; time flies since its first in 2013. We were in one of the small rooms at back of the town hall but we had good crowds both days enjoying the trains pass by, interesting that VOO was the only layout at the exhibition on a "circuit" basis, rest were end to end. Big thanks to the superb operating crew, Mike, Nick & Ray. Without operators the show would not go on the road.

Lots of interest in the DCC sound, Nunney castle from farish performed very well; definitely the best sound loco I have heard in N. A couple more invites for 2019; Epsom & Falmouth. Next outing Redditch 15th September.

Couple of photos from the weekend.

D1000 Enterprise

391378848_IMG_0278.JPG

38xx on coal empties

 

391378848_IMG_0288.JPG

2251 on shed

 

391378848_IMG_0280.JPG

 

Covered footbridge from Maurice at Osbournes looking much better fixed to platform.

391378848_IMG_0287.JPG

Hi.....

That footbridge is a superb piece of modelling....love it...sadly out of scale for my layout though!

 

Regards

Bob

Edited September 30, 2017 by BobM

[Keyboardist]

Just uploaded my video that includes your wonderful layout on display at the Railwells Show. Hope you like it! I am having some issues with focus with this camera - must upgrade asap! Cheers! John

 

 

 

[carlwooduk]

First Show of 2018.

 

Getting ready to pack all the layout bits and pieces ready for the Alton Model railway show -  "Eggars School in Alton, Hants (GU34 4EQ)."  10  mins form train station.

 

Usual motley operating crew  Nick, Mike, Ray and myself - Please stop by to say hello, we are a friendly bunch.

[Revolution Mike B]

 

First Show of 2018.

 

Getting ready to pack all the layout bits and pieces ready for the Alton Model railway show -  "Eggars School in Alton, Hants (GU34 4EQ)."  10  mins form train station.

 

Usual motley operating crew  Nick, Mike, Ray and myself - Please stop by to say hello, we are a friendly bunch.

 

 

Just up the road from me Carl and looking forward to seeing you. I'll bring an HST       

 

Mike

[Atso]

Looking forward to watching the layout in action on Saturday!

[richard brown]

Hi I enjoyed seeing you layout at Febex (alton Model Railway Group Show) here is my video of the show you are at 8.23 on the video

 

 

Richard

[Revolution Mike B]

I was going to photoshop this picture with some steam - I changed my mind because I think this demonstrates just how good Vale of Oxbury really is.

 

Edited February 4, 2018 by scoobyra

[Atso]

Thank you to Carl and the team for inviting me to play trains be a guest operator Vale of Oxbury on Saturday. Having viewed the layout at several exhibitions, it was a wonderful privilege to be able to view things from the other side of the layout. Having only operated DC layouts, the DCC system took a little bit of getting used to - thank you guys for being so patient!

 

I hope that Sunday was as successful as Saturday was!