At the start of 2014, I was busy repairing storm damage to the old layout in readiness for another private weekend run for friends & family only. From there I received an invite to exhibit the old layout, which although had been smartened up for exhibition purposes, wasn't in the best of health and then we hit upon the idea of making a layout for exhibition purposes. The rest of 2014 was a year spent planning, building (spending lots of money) and then ultimately exhibiting the new layout for the first time. The first exhibition back in 2014 led to another offer to exhibit, from that exhibition came another, then another, then another. Before we knew it, we had ten bookings. 2015 has been a pretty full-on year of exhibitions, culminating in winning best in show!
Even though we've been busy exhibiting this year, we've also been hard at work redesigning the various bits that didn't quite work as expected, making subtle changes that have improved reliability. And then there's the more showy stuff like the automated signals, planned but never originally installed. We can now get the layout together and have stock running in under an hour - fully stocked in under two. On the old layout it could take in excess of three hours just to get the thing together and clear the track faults.
And of course let's not forget the rolling stock. In early 2014 I painted my first loco, the 0-6-2 tank, using sticky transfers I sourced from Ebay. I wrote at the time that I wasn't anywhere near trying to restore a Duchess or an A4 - this year I've done both having resprayed two Duchess locos and my Sir Nigel Gresley, along with several other repaints.
There's been plenty of experimentation this year - the scrap wagon graphics first of all and then the more ambitious blue EMU project, which started as an experimental three car set and has since spawned two more three car sets. Sadly the PC crashing means that the original graphics files for these are now gone but they could be recreated using the later blue & grey graphics, which although still in need of some final tweaking, look amazing and a far-cry from how they looked when they first arrived.
My painting skills are improving, they're not perfect and I still make my share of mistakes as I gain more experience with prepping, masking, painting and lacquering. Using waterslide transfers, meth-fix transfers and of course my own home made vinyls to ensure that I have a varied selection of original and neverwas locos to run.
Then there's this blog - it started as a personal diary for me to reflect upon over the many years that I intended to spend up in the loft creating my layout. Now it's a place where I direct people who come to see us and want more information. This little blog now attracts over 1000 hits every month (they can't all be me!)
As I reflect upon the achievements of 2015, it's been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun. After worrying that purists would not appreciate some of the things I've done, both with the layout and the stock, it's clear that I needn't have worried. We continue to be very well received and the diary is already up to nine bookings for 2016 - I probably won't take many more!
So as 2015 comes to an end, it seems only right and proper to say thanks to all the various clubs that booked us to attend in 2015 and 2016 (and even 2017!) thanks to all those who came to see us and said nice things about the layout. Thanks to all those who view and comment on the Youtube videos and thanks to all those who take the time to visit this site and read my various ramblings.
Expect more of the same next year...
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