Loxley Barton Falls

Loxley Barton Falls will be at Brighton Model World Exhibition this year. I have just had the invite paperwork through as a late invite (something about loosing my details!). I see that there are four other 009 layouts at the show which is not bad going for a general modelling exhibition.

Brighton Model World is on the 15th -17th February at the Brighton Centre on Brighton sea front. Apparently they have model ships, life size Daleks, radio controlled things and loads of other modelling stuff as well as railways so it should be entertaining thought the longest event I will have done. Having agreed to attend when invited last year I had not realised that it was the same weekend as the Small and Delightful's Narrow Gauge South West show in Shepton Mallet - a favourite exhibition of mine - though I have not been invited to exhibit yet... (ahem..)

See you at Brighton!

Posted by Simon at 1:42 PM | Permalink

My pizza layout has won the competition it was built for - the GDNGRS Pizza layout competition! It was a late decision to have a competition at this years ExpoNG so we kept it to members only. On the day there were five layouts but I know of five others that were underway but not finished in time - hopefully we will see them all one day. We needed an impartial judge for the competition so we asked Carl Arendt who runs the very popular Micro/Small layouts for model railroads website who kindly agreed.

The layouts and Carl's commentary on the Pizza layouts are on the November 15th breaking news section of his website where you can see some of the images we sent to Carl for judging.

I have also added some images on my Flickr site of the Pizza layouts.

Enjoy!

Posted by Simon at 4:23 PM | Permalink

My pizza layout has won the competition it was built for - the GDNGRS Pizza layout competition! It was a late decision to have a competition at this years ExpoNG so we kept it to members only. On the day there were five layouts but I know of five others that were underway but not finished in time - hopefully we will see them all one day. We needed an impartial judge for the competition so we asked Carl Arendt who runs the very popular Micro/Small layouts for model railroads website who kindly agreed.

The layouts and Carl's commentary on the Pizza layouts are on the November 15th breaking news section of his website where you can see some of the images we sent to Carl for judging.

I have also added some images on my Flickr site of the Pizza layouts.

Enjoy!

Posted by Simon at 4:23 PM | Permalink

I was asked last year to exhibit Loxley Barton Falls at the 2007 Norbury & South London Transport Club's exhibition on the 10th and 11th November. I was put in a small alcove next to the gents (quite handy) but this wasn't far off the entrance so nobody missed the layout. I forget how many more families go to general shows than the more specialist narrow gauge shows and it was a bit noisy!

On the first day I had four tentative invites for other exhibitions next year only one of which I have been to before so the layout might get seen a bit more in 2008.

Both my locos with Bachman chassis decided to play dead so I ran the weekend with my new Crochat railcar and a mix of my Stenning Corris 0-4-2 Huges and the little Japanese L class loco which ran superbly! I even built up a rudimentary operating sequence over 5 - 8 minutes of running which I might make a little more complex for its next outing - if I can move some badly placed magnets!

Posted by Simon at 5:02 PM | Permalink

Loxley Barton Falls features in the modelling section of Narrow Gauge World edition 53 September /October 2007 - there is a big grin on my face right now. The photos have come out much better than I dared hope and Cliff has done some close crops - so the hi resolution images were worth sending!

Apparently this has been out since mid August - I only just realised my subscription had finished earlier this year so was not aware of it being published till today...

Posted by Simon at 5:51 PM | Permalink

Amberley was great fun. I shared a table with Robin Winter who was showing Wee Donegal. Behind us was Richard Glover, also from the Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Society with his new small layout Sand Point and also his own Pizza Starbottom Lane so we had a good laugh as always when members are exhibiting together. Plenty to do on the Pizza before the competition and ExpoNG.

Posted by Simon at 5:36 PM | Permalink

I spent the weekend up at the NEC with the GDNGRS exhibiting Richard Glovers Pagham Harbour. Apart from the nightmare that is getting the car into the hall to take the exhibit away on Sunday we had a great time. I really enjoy operating Pagham - it has a great sequence to follow that is really flexible. Plus the track work is so well made that you can run trains at really slow speeds. It always attracts a good crowd and has been the inspiration behind many other layouts.

The NEC was packed but there was plenty of room - Hall 1 being an enormous space that even the showpiece full size locomotive seemed a little lost. We were in a section with a lot of Dutch men and a lot of very good narrow gauge models! Overall a very good high quality show.

Hopefully we will be back there next year with a different layout.

Line up - Bryn Goch, Pagham Harbour, H Bach, Castle Rock (town module) and La Trinité sur Mer. Behind us was Chapel Pill and Somewhere in Belgium.

Posted by Simon at 1:11 PM | Permalink

Well yesterday was a very long day. Terry and I spent the first hour and a half holding the doors open to the hall and greeting people. There was a continuous queue for the first 45 minutes, even with four people selling tickets and no delays in queue movement, and the hall filled up really quickly. Unlike other shows when visitors look around for an hour or two maximum, a lot of people spend all day at ExpoNG as there is a lot to see and a lot of people to talk to - so the atmosphere is very special. I did not appreciate that last year as I was exhibiting and didn't really get to spend much time visiting the other layouts and traders. 2006 though was very different as I am now a member of the Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society who organise and run Expo Narrow Gauge (ExpoNG). We arrived early evening at the hall and set up the tables and did a lot of routine chores. Saturday it was still dark when we were out putting up the direction signs and we arrived just as the first exhibitors turned up. The next few hours saw moments of frantic preparations interspersed with moments of old friends meeting up.

This year each visiting layout had a nickel silver badge to take away - I did the artwork for that and got them etched - and I was very pleased with my first time etching artwork efforts (now to try a few chassis ideas!) and I had some good feedback on the design as well. We also had proper Society polo shirts with the GDNGRS badge on so that everyone could find us easily – great idea that.

Pete Wilson’s Willesden Junction won the best of show award and it is a really huge and different layout so it deserved it. It has had two outings so far and I have not touched the controls once yet! The first was in France, I was unable to go, and at ExpoNG I was too busy – the Essex boys and Pete spent all day shunting great long WW1 trains around the marshalling yard.

I did manage to spend a bit of time this year looking around the show and it cost me a small fortune in bits and bobs I never knew I might need!

Overall the day was a great success with only a few minor teething problems and there were many beaming faces to be seen. We ended the day with a slap up meal at a hotel and started planning next year’s event.

Posted by Simon at 12:20 PM | Permalink

Well it's ExpoNG 2006 tomorrow which reminds me that this time last year I had taken some time off work and was busily finishing things off - a lot of things on the layout! A lot has happened in the time since winning the competition. Firstly and most importantly I was approached by the Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Society to consider becoming a member and in November I attended my first meeting and I am very glad I did. I really do feel that I am walking amongst giants at the Society meetings and I have learnt so much from the other members and it is great to be able to give a little bit back. If you live in the London area and would like to consider becoming a member drop me an email or pop over to the gdngrs.com website and fill in the contact form - any age at any level of modeling ability are welcome - just bring your passion for narrow gauge!.

So this year I won't be displaying anything - I have a railcar under construction but I have not had time to complete it for the ExpoNG Railcar Rumble competition - but I will be hard at work helping to make the show a success tonight in set up and tomorrow during the show.
I will be going round taking photographs of all the exhibits, and hopefully a few informal ones as well, for the websites and the society newsletter. If you see me please do stop me and have a chat!

Posted by Simon at 1:10 PM | Permalink

I had a great time at the show. Loxley Barton was in one of the small rooms with the Loose Chipping's 4mm Standard Gauge layout and a trade-stand. We had a good regular flow of people throughout the weekend though Sunday was reasonably quite compared to Saturday. The food laid on for the exhibitors was very good - Sundays roast beef and vegetables was very welcome! The layout stuttered to a start on both days but by the end of the day was running extremely well - though I realise I still have plenty to do to get things to run as well as they should. Paula helped me out on Saturday and Richard Glover on Sunday which meant I was able to wander around the show to view and chat. John and Jane Jacobs Nettlecoombe won the best of show as voted for by the public, no surprises there as it is always popular! I was informed that the tally of votes Loxley Barton received put it in 4th place which I have to say is very encouraging! I might be getting an invite from the Norbury MRC for their Nov 2007 show, they took my details and that's it until then as I have no other exhibitions invites to to fulfil - and my feet are glad of it right now!

Posted by Simon at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Loxley Barton is booked in for the Croydon Model Railway Society annual Exhibtion on the 7th and 8th of October - this weekend coming.

I have a few chores to attend to to ensure the layout is running well including putting on some Railzip for the first time - hopefully it will cut down the amount that I need to clean the track during the day. I also need to change some couplings and sort out one particular loco that was playing up at Amberley. There are a couple of other 009 narrow gauge layouts at the exhibition so if you are in the vacinity of Croydon this weekend please do pop by and say hello!

Posted by Simon at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Loxley Barton Falls had its first (and only so far) invite to attend another exhibition during ExpoNG2005 from Gerry Cork of Amberley Working Museum, to their Railway Gala weekend June 8th and 9th 2006. So the past couple of weeks have been a complete panic as I got the layout ready!

The first thing I wanted to complete was a stand - at ExpoNG it was too low for proper viewing on the table top. I designed a box for it to stand on - there will be a separate article about this later on. The box completed I decided to turn my attention to the couplings. I had used Bemo type couplings for the ExpoNG competition as they were quick to put on althoughI wanted to use Greenwich couplings as they were meant to be much better and it was their show! After winning the Cubic Challenge and having met the members I actually joined the GDNGRS and of course I had no excuse not to use the Societies own couplings so built a enough sets to convert all the rolling stock I was planning to use at Amberley.

I also decided that I would need a handheld controller so that I could operate and talk to people at the same time. Leaving it to the last minute I rang Kent Panel Controls and ordered an minimum feedback Fine Control Exhibition standard hand held controller and the parts to build a transformer. The hand controller was built and arrived by post on Wednesday - so a big thanks to KPC for the really fast turnaround!

I had a look at the wiring under the layout and cannot understand how it actually worked at ExpoNG! So I stripped most of it out and rewired it all including a new lead and plug for the controller and then build the transformer - which was much easier that I thought it would be. However I did drop my electric jigsaw in my leg when I was putting it away and had to go to hospital for 4 stitches... Fortunately it was unplugged at the time! Te really bad news was that I lost three hours Thursday night which meant making up time the night before the exhibition! The wiring was all finished off Friday night and everything tested perfectly. The speeds I was getting on the controller were comparable to DCC tests I have done – very impressive. At least one visitor to the exhibition asked how I got such slow running without the use of the black arts…

We arrived at Amberley on Saturday morning and the weather was glorious. We had a table next to Annie Winter’s Lazy cottage; Andrew Neal’s book stall on the other side (that was expensive for me!!) and Meridian models were behind us with Dave Brewer spending most of his time with his clockwork train set!

Most of the time the layout performed perfectly but did require a really good clean every few hours because of smoke, soot and fumes from the nearby full size exhibits.

The atmosphere was great and I will be back at Amberley next year – if not with the layout then certainly as a visitor.

Continue reading "Amberley Steam Gala" »

Posted by Simon at 11:54 AM | Permalink

Just dug up an old 009 Society leaflet I picked up from Imrex 90 - 16 years ago! I had intended to join the society at the time but life got in the way as usual and I didn't sign up for another 11 years. The society is still going strong so if you have an interest in narrow gauge railway modeling please do join - and its worldwide. Current details can be found at the society website www.009society.com -click on the membership menu item.
Meanwhile here is scan of the old 1990 leaflet. (Please note this is for historical interest purposes only - this is not the current leaflet and is way out of date - the addresses, prices etc are all out of date, so if you would like an up to date form please visit the 009 Society website - do not use thess images to join!)

Posted by Simon at 12:08 PM | Permalink

The Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society have a new website for the ExpoNG exhibition - www.expong.org.

Expo Narrow Gauge is on the 29th October this year and I certainly will be going along. Hopefully I will get a proper look at the layouts on show as I only spent a quick 20 minutes going round the hall in 2005 and didn't get a chance to really chat to anyone.

Posted by Simon at 12:22 PM | Permalink

The 2006 January edition of the Railway Modeller has a two page spread of the ExpoNG including a very good picture of Loxley Barton Falls and a small mention in the text. Available at most good newsagents.

Narrow Gauge World January and February Edition has a picture as well as a piece about the competition. I have not received my copy yet but was able to get a quick glimpse on Saturday. Available at larger newsagents.

The 009 News, magazine of the 009 Society also has a picture of Loxley Barton Falls at the ExpoNG in Swanley. This is only available to Members of the Society.

Posted by Simon at 12:31 AM | Permalink

I genuinely cannot believe this - I won! I did not think I had a chance and when I saw the other layouts I just put the competition out of my mind as the others were so good. Looks like Loxley Barton Falls struck the right chord with the judges.

I really enjoyed today especially the great camaraderie of the other Cubic Challenge layouts -
Chris O'Donoghue, David Woodstock, Annie Winter and her family, Michael Campbell (last years Shoe Box winner), Fried Lagerweij (runner up) and David Calderwood (who I did not get to speak to as he was tucked away in another part of the show).

Loxley Barton Falls will be in Narrow Gauge World, a fine publication and I won a years subscription, 009 News and we have been asked to exhibit at the Amberley Gala next summer. Gosh!

Perhaps, just maybe Paula will let me build something a little bit bigger now...!

Posted by Simon at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Only 8 and a half hours before the public get to see Loxley Barton Falls. It's 2am and I am not frantically getting everything ready having spent the evening finishing the layout, adding figures and finishing off the rolling stock. This is my first ever showing at an exhibition and ExpoNG is the premier narrow gauge model railway exhibition in Europe - so no pressure there then. Having seen the standard of work at last years ExpoNG competition I resigned myself months ago to the knowledge that there was no way Loxley Barton Falls could win the competition - this is the first layout I have ever made in 009 and there are soooo many mistakes! Hopefully it will be an enjoyable event. Hopefully no kids poke fingers into the layout and destroy everything (oh look a train - poke - snap. My eternal nightmare...) Hopefully I won't get befriended by wierdos who want to tell me about how the particular variant of Walschart valve gear was not invented in the time period of the layout (sod off weirdy...).
I had better get some sleep!

Posted by Simon at 1:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

In October 2004 I visited the EXPONG exhibition in Swanley held by the Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society (GDNGRS). The show is purely for narrow gauge model railways of all gauges and there were some excellent layouts there, many I had not seen before. Tucked away in a separate room down the corridor from the main exhibition was the entries for a challenge that the GDNGRS has set. This was the shoe box Challenge where an operating layout had to fit inside of a shoe/boot box and very creative the entries were as well.

As I do not have enough space at home to build a full layout this seemed like an excellent challenge for 2005 so as soon as I got home I started to plot in my head what I would like to do. Several months later the GDNGRS released a statement that the 2005 competition would be slightly different. It is called the Cubic Challenge and the layout must fit into a 500mm cubic space. That's not very big but bigger than most shoe boxes!

In March 2005 I started in earnest to build a new 009 gauge entry for the Cubic Challenge Competition and I am diarising the progress here.

Posted by Simon at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)