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Hornby Magazine July edition features Vale of Oxbury ahead of its appearance at the Great Electric Train Show in October. Trevor Jones has done a great job on Photography, an unusual angle to capture a Brush 4 bursting out of the Tunnel on an Oil train graces the front cover. Hard to tell its N gauge.

Vale of Oxbury down for 2 from Hatton.

I have the book in my hands, thanks to speedy delivery from strathwood. It's superb, i probably have 95% of all western books published in my collection so having a new book with 96 pages in full colour is a treat, photos of all the class in all the liveries. Plenty of ex works make a great comparison to the faded work worn loco's ; those of the green livery show how bad that colour looked with rust showing through, be great to replicate though on a model. My personal favourite is 1041 from mr b Mills at Swindon works open day 1979, a queue of fans waiting to cab her, some with those ADIDAS bags, now I was there on that day aged 12, probably in the queue as well. Recommended.

Great to this layout at it exhibition debut at Cheltenham. It was running beautifully and Andy's buildings and railway infrastructure are exquisite to see the "flesh". Great attention to detail, the farm buildings caught my eye with the pigs and chicken shed ; I hope you can find those etch chickens to scratch about in the yard. The rakes of stock have been modified with close coupling , simple brass wire loop and hooks and it makes a huge difference over N gauge standard couplings. Had a good chat with Andy about his future plans to automate the fiddle yard so the operators can stay out front, that will certainly make life easier for operators. For me one of the most inspiring 2mm / N gauge layouts I have seen. A few pics to enjoy.

Class 43 power car waiting to be refuelled- this time at a Shell Garage at Gordano services! Driver may pick up a coffee to go as well

Class 43 power car waiting to be refuelled- this time at a Shell Garage at Gordano services! Driver may pick up a coffee to go as well

Next weekend ( 23rd & 24th March) VOO is appearing at Nailsea Model Railway show. It's a great one to attend for N Gauge followers, as 4 layouts appear showcasing N Gauge. Melton Mowbray North , Ludlow, Elmsfield and yours truly. Stop by and say hello. New weathered stock ready to appear just back from Tom at CF Locos. Green Peco Collett, late crest added and renumbered to 2221 an Oxford Loco. Farish Nunney Castle now renamed as Pendis Castle ( a loco my grandfather drove when at `swindon before it was preserved ) Pair of Panniers - Farish Green 64xx and Dapol 57xx renumbered to 7760.

Andy, I live only 25 mins from Cheltenham so really looking forward to seeing your layout and meeting you. Exhibitions are hard work but really enjoyable. I first took Vale of Oxbury out in 2013 and had similar thoughts of trepidation, now it's the best part of hobby for me. I am out with VOO at Nailsea on 23rd, if you plan to visit stop by and say hello. Best regards Carl.

A great weekend at Alton and as always good to catch up with friends from the Forums. The layout performed well and only a few locos needing remedial work after 2 days intensive operation. In the back hall James, the exhibition Manager did us proud to be alongside Bevois & St Denys a very large finely modelled N Gauge layout in Network South East era, i had yet to see it in its extended form. From conversations held with visitors it feels lots of people are contemplating change of scale to build N Gauge layouts, hopefully we were able to give them ideas from our experience. Thanks to Steve D helping to operate on Saturday, you did just fine as a DCC newbie, also I hugely appreciate the support from the core operating crew Nick, Mike & Ray without them the "show does not go on the road". Really appreciate the links to the Youtube vids, i never get round to taking any. I only managed a few photos as below. Next outing Nailsea, Bristol 23rd March. my new MGB that needs a grill repaint !

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.

Steve, the missing 4 6 0 in real life and in N gauge. Yes, there are the venerable old white metal kits but the opportunity to have a decent County to run with the new Farish Castle is wonderful ,look forward to seeing this progress and one day run on Vale of Oxbury.

Steve, thanks for sharing the progress on wagon kits, those outside frame vans are distinctive and will look great in a suitable mixed freight. Good to see you are another convert to finetrax, Fairford my next project will be done with Finetrax, i have build flexi track and biding my time on points, admire what you have do so speedily. Be good to see the point in the flesh next week when you pop over to cotswolds.

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.

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.

Looking forward to the weekend with Vale of Oxbury, operating team are on a promise that I will buy a round or 2 of local ales in the evening; any recommendations? Some new stock to run, including a 128 Parcels DMU ; shapeways 3D print body on a Dapol 121 chassis.

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

I have used Guilplates a few years back for bespoke plates, for my locos , no website but I recall very easy to deal with on phone. They did a complete set of Dartmouth castle; which was not available from usual sources, excellent quality ,cannot recall the charge though. http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/suppliers/40231-Guilplates

Many years ago I commissioned Dave to build and paint a Fox- hunter King kit based on the Farish Castle chassis ; I chose King George 5th with the proverbially bell & whistle. Originally DC but now converted to DCC to run on Vale of Oxbury my exhibition layout. It still looks a good loco but now with the prospect of a state of the art King from DJM , I am relishing the prospect of running one or two on my layout hauling the crack express trains. Order placed.

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

Andy, Great to see full length China clay rake, I have the earlier versions from kernow, I too should bin the coarse flat hoods, and replace them with some with more finesse. The semaphores look impressive, I was not up to soldering up the components so did a hybrid version using Dapol,ratio and etch brass parts from MSE. A tip for GWR finials and oil lamps for lights is consider Modelu. He 3D prints in N now and I have added these to my bracket/ junction signals . Fully recommend them. Carl

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

Vale of Oxbury at Railex Taunton 22 & 23 October. Thanks for comments following the show, it was a pleasure to speak to so many people; a large majority had not seen the layout before as it was its first time on exhibit in the south west. The operating team was down to 3 so quite an intense weekend, a big call out to my friends, Mike and Nick who again were expert operators and probably know the layout operationally better than me. The evening beverages were well deserved and the Pub called the Hankeridge near our Hotel was a great find serving very decent Badger ales. The layout ran very well, some locos did not, but we had plenty to chose from. Most comment again centred on the scenery and transition from fields to back-scene, the new GWR footbridge from Maurice at Osbournes really compliments the station buildings and etch fencing too caught many peoples eye as well. We were well looked after by Steve and the team at the Somerset Railway Modellers club, the venue at a large independent school was impressive ( think Hogwarts with modern extensions ); catering for exhibitors superb ( TINGS take note ). A big surprise late Sunday afternoon as the show closing was an award from the Club for the "Best layout " as voted by the members; an unexpected honour. A few photos below, if any RM webbers have other decent photos please PM me as I did not take many and would welcome a few more for my archive. 14xx on Shed. Type 3 on stone train with Brake Tender; going on new GWR Footbridge Type 4 on Bogie Bolsters Western Champion On mail train with Pullman now weathered and not shiny! No trains but the Railway worker must have won the pools if he can afford a new Ford Anglia parked in front of his cottage!

It feels I have actualy gone to Blueball Summit to " watch those trains go by". Fantastic work Andy.

A few more photos from TINGS courtesy of my friend Ged, these nicely capture a panoramic feel of the layout.

Thank you gents for the kind comments. It was a great to have so many people stop and watch the trains go past on the layout. What makes an exhibition is the conversations you have with people from across the range of modelling experience; its a positive experience to share my own knowledge and learning gained from building the layout and also get ideas and learn from others who have valuable expertise. The scenery has had a lot more work since being last exhibited in 2014 and the track / road weathering has made a huge difference. I am very grateful to my friends, Mike, Nick and Ged for again helping to operate the layout over the whole weekend; also to David and his Grandson, Harry (aged 4 1/2 !) as guest operators on Sunday. A request; if any RM web members has any good photos from TINGs of the layout can they kindly PM me as I the ones I took late Sunday were rushed not great! Hall on Parcels An overall shot that's not too bad. Next exhibition Taunton 22 Oct 16, a second request ; if anyone with Exhibition operator experience is up for helping out sat / sun or both days please PM me; we now need a 4th crew member! carl