Tales from The Room of Doom. Dipping a toe in various bucolic backwaters.

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Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
Hi Sheepy,

It was great to have a chat yesterday. You're right about Rye, a luverly little cameo.
I was also impressed by the Lebanese layout, something totally different to the norm.
I couldn't get near Laxfield, but fortunately living in Devon has the advantage that Teignmouth is not too far away and I have seen it up close.
Glad to hear that you got home without any issues.
 
S

Simon H

Western Thunderer
Flaxfield said:
Morning all.


Well, that's that. Uckfield turned out as expected. It really is a great show, organised by an excellent bunch of club members who simply cannot do enough for their exhibitors over the weekend. It can be tricky being a solo operator, especially over a two day show but the club kept an eye on me.



It was lovely to meet so many people ( at the risk of inadvertently missing someone too many to mention individually ) chat about Sheep Dip and generally catch up. At times, we were pretty much submerged so I do apologise if I didn't get to you. Inevitably, there are now a few small jobs to attend to before Sheep Dip goes out again but nothing too arduous. This was the second time SD went out as a DCC operated layout and I need to improve the running of the Pecketts with the fitting of stay alives being the obvious progression. The Hornby 08 was, as always, fine.

The two days were busy for pretty much the whole period with Sunday perhaps the busier of the two.....From a chat with Team Uckfield, numbers were pretty good over both days.


Rye Sands was a standout layout. Exceeded all expectations seeing it for real and Will is just a lovely chap. Given the fact that he was in the same room as one Jerry Clifford, I would never be surprised if Rye doesn't appear in MRJ at some point, and deservedly so. It is just a great bit of modelling.



Special mentions as well to East Lynn Quay, exhibited by Simon and Maurice and of course, Laxfield who looked smashing after the refurb. Hats off to John and Rod for being brave enough to haul a 40 odd year old layout up from Devon. The delightful Caledonian Yard was very nice indeed and it was lovely to chat to Tim and Richard over the weekend.

One thing I didn't manage was to pick up some P4 bits and bobs. I simply didn't get there but not a drama.

I did, however, pick up a couple of Peter Harding's booklets on a couple of backwaters, which are quite excellent.


Rob
Click to expand...
Uckfield always has been a super show, until 2019 it was just up the road for me, I think I actually took a layout there on the bus once.
Then I moved a little further away and now...175 miles! Sadly, it just wasn't doable for me this year.

I find Peter Harding's booklets are great for inspiration, especially for those obscure lines you find on old maps and want more information, but without necessarily shelling out large sums of money on definitive line histories that are out of print or whatever.
Glad you had a good weekend, Rob!
Simon.
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
MarkR said:
Hi Rob,
Nice to have a chat with you at Uckfield.
Could you please provide a little extra info on Peter Harding's booklets.
They sound interesting.
Many thanks
Mark
Click to expand...

Hi Mark. Indeed. Good to finally put a face to the name.

Here are the three picked up at Uckfield.

20251020_170906.jpg

Simon at the Tifield Thunderbolt carries stock but the website is currently having a wobble.

Rob
 
Willl

Willl

Western Thunderer
Flaxfield said:
Hi Mark. Indeed. Good to finally put a face to the name.

Here are the three picked up at Uckfield.

View attachment 249958

Simon at the Tifield Thunderbolt carries stock but the website is currently having a wobble.

Rob
Click to expand...

I saw you eyes these up on Sunday morning and thought something may be afoot...

The Fovant railways aren't ones I've come across before. I'll have to do some research.
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
MarkR said:
Hi Rob,
Many thanks for the information, the covers look rather familiar!
I will have to have a careful search, as I seem to be going through a phase of buying the same book, more than once!
Mark
Click to expand...
Last June I took a few 'duplicated in error' books to a local heritage railway, coming away as usual with more than I had donated.
On a visit in September I came away with a few more.
Upon my return I entered them in my index, only to discover I had brought one of my June donations back home.....:rolleyes:
 
T

Terry

Western Thunderer
Osgood said:
Last June I took a few 'duplicated in error' books to a local heritage railway, coming away as usual with more than I had donated.
On a visit in September I came away with a few more.
Upon my return I entered them in my index, only to discover I had brought one of my June donations back home.....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I think that you have hit on a way to get cheap storage! Donate all of your books and bring them back home when you want a read.

Terry
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
Morning, all.

Well, it's that time of year again. I always feel that with the clocks going back, it's time to start doing a bit.
That said, I already feel as if I'm doing a bit. Quite a bit, actually.

I've finally started looking at next year's SWAG exhibition in Taunton ( April 19th, as it happens). Pretty much all the layouts are confirmed, as are the demonstrations and traders. I'll pop full details on here in about a month or so.

I've a couple of locos to weather, one of which is for somebody else, but before tackling that, I'll get my eye in on something of my own. I'll feel happier about attacking someone else's pride and joy then !

Layout wise, I'm still dithering, so I won't bore anyone with that, but things are still being looked into, including the possibility of resurrecting this;

1000012960.jpg

1000012965.jpg

Before that, though, there are, however, a few test pieces planned to check on different materials, mainly ground cover, ballast, etc as it appears the local AK Interactive stockist has had a large delivery of all sorts of goodies.

Rob
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
Morning, all.

Well, after a quick jaunt to France over half-term, cool modelling things can at last recommence in the Room of Doom.....after a quick tweak and tidy.
Exhibition invites are starting to drop in as well and it appears that Ewe is the flavour of the month for next...er...year.

There's two outings within a month in roughly the same area so this had led to a slight quandary. I want to do both. I don't want to over expose the layout. So, a quick chat yesterday with the organiser of the one, who happens to be compiling the layouts for the other has resulted in a plan....

I've had this on the 'potential list' for a few months now.

The question I asked of myself back then was this.........

Having built a working layout on an IKEA LACK shelf ten years ago, thus...

post-14122-0-69734200-1457728578_thumb-1-01.jpeg

Could I build a 'proper' BLT on the same 110x26cm footprint ?

The answer appears to be yes.

Photos will follow but after discussion, if this progresses in the next month or so then this will replace Ewe at the earlier of the two shows. If it doesn't then Ewe will do both but I will look at changing stock etc so to provide a slight difference for the visitor.

A busy month then, what with SWAG to launch, small layout modellers day at Lord and Butler to bring together for early December ( details to follow shortly) and a couple of projects for friends to progress and return.

And the best thing about all of this ?

I appear to finally have the enthusiasm for all of it .

Rob
 
Willl

Willl

Western Thunderer
Flaxfield said:
Morning, all.

Well, after a quick jaunt to France over half-term, cool modelling things can at last recommence in the Room of Doom.....after a quick tweak and tidy.
Exhibition invites are starting to drop in as well and it appears that Ewe is the flavour of the month for next...er...year.

There's two outings within a month in roughly the same area so this had led to a slight quandary. I want to do both. I don't want to over expose the layout. So, a quick chat yesterday with the organiser of the one, who happens to be compiling the layouts for the other has resulted in a plan....

I've had this on the 'potential list' for a few months now.

The question I asked of myself back then was this.........

Having built a working layout on an IKEA LACK shelf ten years ago, thus...

View attachment 250805

Could I build a 'proper' BLT on the same 110x26cm footprint ?

The answer appears to be yes.

Photos will follow but after discussion, if this progresses in the next month or so then this will replace Ewe at the earlier of the two shows. If it doesn't then Ewe will do both but I will look at changing stock etc so to provide a slight difference for the visitor.

A busy month then, what with SWAG to launch, small layout modellers day at Lord and Butler to bring together for early December ( details to follow shortly) and a couple of projects for friends to progress and return.

And the best thing about all of this ?

I appear to finally have the enthusiasm for all of it .

Rob
Click to expand...

Very good to hear you're back in the groove Rob. Feels like far too long since we last got to see you at work on a layout. The big question is what genre of tank engine it will play host to...

Will
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
Morning all.

Thank you for the comments and 'likes' etc. It all helps, you know.

I'll post a photo of what is one option. It's actually quite exciting to have a 'slot' to fill with whatever I want so I'm as interested in what emerges, as it seems, you are !

On the subject of Panniers, the new RTR jobs from Accurascale are not THAT far away now, around the 18th of this month.....and yes, one is likely to find it's way here.

Rob
 
Flaxfield

Flaxfield

Western Thunderer
A quick question if I may. ( I think I've asked this before, sorry )

Does anyone have an article on the Critchel Down BLT that they could scan and send to me, please.

I thought I had it saved somewhere but can't put my finger on it.

Thanks in advance.

Rob


Update- I did have these saved but they've gone missing........
 
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