Lapford station in N gauge.

[Cowley]

Scrap line / awaiting repairs as were many 47s, you like weathered locos so maybe weather on some fire damage!

I can’t bring myself to do that (and even though I had thousands upon thousands of miles behind the things, I only ever had two, oh no hang on. Three! Fail on me)!

Very nice shots those. Always a fan of the toothpaste livery!

Me too actually and especially the original version…
I remember walking into St David’s one day after school in 1986 and spying a loco on the far side of the station (platform 6) with white window surrounds.
Up until then the only locos that had ever looked like that were Hymeks (auto correct always tries to turn that word into ‘Hymen’s’, which is an entirely different topic ), upon closer inspection there was an immaculate 50017 ‘Royal Oak’* in a livery that I’d never seen or even heard of before and that was the start of it all.
No internet in those days!

*50017, 50023 and 47573 were the three locos chosen and painted up for the launch of NSE in 1986:

R3022 - Powderham

EE Type 4 Co-Cos no. 50017 (NSE) and no.50047 (large logo) head light to Laira. June 1986

www.flickr.com

50023 Portsmouth Hbr. 5.2.88 Portsmouth - Waterloo (33012 in background)

50023 Portsmouth Hbr. 5.2.88 Portsmouth - Waterloo (33012 in background)

www.flickr.com

47573 . Liverpool Street Station , London . 10th-June-1986

As well as launching N S E on the world at Liverpool Street Station , 47573 recieved a name EVENING STANDARD . For the benifit of you provincial types who do not reside or commute into Englands Capital City . The'' Evening Standard '' was one of our then two Evening News Papers ( Evening News...

www.flickr.com

Everything's so expensive at the moment, and n gauge is crazy fiddly. I can definitely see the sense in getting somebody to do the repair

It really is expensive.
One of my Dapol 33s packed up last year (out of warranty of course @takno) and that cost me about £60 to get it repaired.
What can you do though? Like you say it’s so fiddly to tackle yourself but I haven’t got a huge amount of locos, so I have to get them repaired if they go wrong really.
Argh!

Those are really, really brilliant photos. I do like this thread

Thanks Steve. I really appreciate you saying that sir.

 

[Gloster]

I see that Lapford will be in the next RM.

 

[Cowley]

I see that Lapford will be in the next RM.

Really?
I looked on their website (admittedly briefly) and didn’t see anything?
I thought it would be in the March edition…

 

[Gloster]

Really?
I looked on their website (admittedly briefly) and didn’t see anything?
I thought it would be in the March edition…

Well, that will be the March (dated) edition. It is in the the preview column of the edition that has just come out.

 

[Cowley]

Well, that will be the March (dated) edition. It is in the the preview column of the edition that has just come out.

Ah ok. Thanks @Gloster .

 

[Peter C]

Dear Mr @Cowley,
Following recent developments the fields of space and time, and it therefore being some weeks since your previous notice of progress in the wonderful world of Lapford, I'm writing to enquire if any further developments have been achieved, and if so, the extent to which any changes have been implemented.
I eagerly await your response.

Yours, etc.,

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

Dear Mr @Cowley,
Following recent developments the fields of space and time, and it therefore being some weeks since your previous notice of progress in the wonderful world of Lapford, I'm writing to enquire if any further developments have been achieved, and if so, the extent to which any changes have been implemented.
I eagerly await your response.

Yours, etc.,

-Peter

Services on the branch have been suspended due to staff shortages caused by C**** to enable main line services to run elsewhere.

 

[John Webb]

Yes, "Lapford and Eggesford" is in the March-dated issue of Railway Modeller (Vol 73, issue 857) which dropped through my door yesterday. Pages 170-176 with some nice photos. Well done!

 

[Cowley]

Dear Mr @Cowley,
Following recent developments the fields of space and time, and it therefore being some weeks since your previous notice of progress in the wonderful world of Lapford, I'm writing to enquire if any further developments have been achieved, and if so, the extent to which any changes have been implemented.
I eagerly await your response.

Yours, etc.,

-Peter

Ah well, seeing as you asked…

I did spend a couple of hours having fun and games making a YouTube video yesterday.
Unfortunately the captions come and go a bit too quick so you have to read them really fast! I don’t fancy going back and editing it again though so that’s a lesson learnt for the next time…

Services on the branch have been suspended due to staff shortages caused by C**** to enable main line services to run elsewhere.

Chickens?
Yes they were a bit of a problem last week. It was caused by Wayne doing a bit of chicken rustling from Farmer Palmer.
Luckily they’ve been returned to their rightful owner now.

Yes, "Lapford and Eggesford" is in the March-dated issue of Railway Modeller (Vol 73, issue 857) which dropped through my door yesterday. Pages 170-176 with some nice photos. Well done!

I haven’t seen it yet John! I spoke to them last week and they said that I’d receive a copy through the post probably before they go on the shelves on the 10th (I haven’t got a subscription).
Maybe I’ll get one tomorrow morning then.

 

[xotGD]

I love the video sequences with added sound effects. Great fun.

 

[Cowley]

I love the video sequences with added sound effects. Great fun.

Thank you sir.
I just wished they really sounded like that!

 

[Peter C]

Services on the branch have been suspended due to staff shortages caused by C**** to enable main line services to run elsewhere.

Ah - thank you for this vital update @reddragon - much appreciated. Who needs a Journey Planner when you've got the RailForums

Ah well, seeing as you asked…

I did spend a couple of hours having fun and games making a YouTube video yesterday.
Unfortunately the captions come and go a bit too quick so you have to read them really fast! I don’t fancy going back and editing it again though so that’s a lesson learnt for the next time…

I saw that this morning - lovely work. The narration and the captions are something you don't get on a lot of YouTube railway videos - and yours is all the better for them!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

I saw that this morning - lovely work. The narration and the captions are something you don't get on a lot of YouTube railway videos - and yours is all the better for them!

Thanks Peter, much appreciated.
I did that you’d commented too.

I’ve just put a minute and a bit long video together of the outtakes and sent it to a friend.
I might keep them all and put an X rated video together at some point, although I might get banned from YouTube.

 

[Peter C]

Thanks Peter, much appreciated.
I did that you’d commented too.

I’ve just put a minute and a bit long video together of the outtakes and sent it to a friend.
I might keep them all and put an X rated video together at some point, although I might get banned from YouTube.

You're very welcome. Seeing some of your videos makes me wonder if I might be able to do something similar - I think this means you're an influencer now?
You could probably make a railway-related "It'll be alright on the night" - depends how bad the expletives are though Perhaps a loco horn could replace the beep over the rude words?

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

You're very welcome. Seeing some of your videos makes me wonder if I might be able to do something similar - I think this means you're an influencer now?
You could probably make a railway-related "It'll be alright on the night" - depends how bad the expletives are though Perhaps a loco horn could replace the beep over the rude words?

-Peter

That’s a good idea actually. But god for the sake of the children, please don’t be influenced by me!

 

[Peter C]

That’s a good idea actually. But god for the sake of the children, please don’t be influenced by me!

Your modelling skills are definitely worth taking influence from, though. Seeing some of the bits in your latest video has given me a couple of ideas for Oldmoor actually.
(I'll have my fee in cash)

-Peter

 

[Iskra]

Excellent, I like the sound and night effects clips the most, but the whole compilation shows off your work and stock really well. I'll be buying the digital magazine too when they update their website

 

[TheEdge]

Now you are published @Cowley will you be doing autographs and cameo appearances? I'll have to go out tomorrow and buy an RM for the first time in a long time.

 

[Cowley]

Excellent, I like the sound and night effects clips the most, but the whole compilation shows off your work and stock really well. I'll be buying the digital magazine too when they update their website

Well thank you very much Mister Iskra.

Now you are published @Cowley will you be doing autographs and cameo appearances? I'll have to go out tomorrow and buy an RM for the first time in a long time.

So what I’ve done for you here is my best autograph what I can do…



There’s plenty more where that came from and I can actually send you a photo of £10 if you need some money as well?

 

[Gloster]

Now you are published @Cowley will you be doing autographs and cameo appearances? I'll have to go out tomorrow and buy an RM for the first time in a long time.

And if you do you will get an excellent magazine, but not a sight of Mr Cowley’s masterwork. That will be in the edition that should hit (*) the newsstands on Thursday.

* - I have long regarded the phrase ‘hit the newsstands’ as very silly as it suggests an act of violence alien to the relaxed act of reading. (Perhaps this should have gone in the ‘Comic things you would ban’ thread.)

 

[TheEdge]

And if you do you will get an excellent magazine, but not a sight of Mr Cowley’s masterwork. That will be in the edition that should hit (*) the newsstands on Thursday.

I'll wait then. Although that reminds me, I do need to get myself a subscription to Continental Modeller.

 

[Cowley]

I can’t even tell you how much I’m frothing right now…

 

[Gloster]

I can’t even tell you how much I’m frothing right now…

You should get a freebie from Peco. I did when I wrote an article for Continental Modeller, although this was ten or more years ago.

 

[Cowley]

You should get a freebie from Peco. I did when I wrote an article for Continental Modeller, although this was ten or more years ago.

According to them I’ll be getting a magazine plus some money for them featuring my railway…

 

[reddragon]

According to them I’ll be getting a magazine plus some money for them featuring my railway…

When are you hosting the party then?

 

[TheEdge]

I can’t even tell you how much I’m frothing right now…

Making this content available on, erm, other, websites I presume?

 

[Cowley]

Well if anyone wants to read 7(!) pages of Lapford stuff with some superb photos it’s on the shelves today (never thought I’d be saying that).
I must say that I’m really pleased with it.

 

[reddragon]

Well done!

 

[hexagon789]

Well if anyone wants to read 7(!) pages of Lapford stuff with some superb photos it’s on the shelves today (never thought I’d be saying that).
I must say that I’m really pleased with it.

View attachment 109983

I've finished reading the article, and it was most enjoyable. An excellent selection of photos and a good in-depth rundown on the layout - I would be pleased too!

Thoroughly deserved, from reading this thread over time it's clear it's been a real labour of love and a feature in RM is arguably the prefect reward for your hard work, it also allows a much wider audience a view into your superb layout.

So, what's next? BBC Breakfast?

 

[Cowley]

Well done!

Thanks @reddragon

I've finished reading the article, and it was most enjoyable. An excellent selection of photos and a good in-depth rundown on the layout - I would be pleased too!

Thanks Hexagon. I knew the day was looking up when I saw the NMT this morning.

Thoroughly deserved, from reading this thread over time it's clear it's been a real labour of love and a feature in RM is arguably the prefect reward for your hard work, it also allows a much wider audience a view into your superb layout.

So, what's next? BBC Breakfast?

Thanks again.
I’m slowly planning for the next project really. I know that sounds a bit mad but the greatest outlay is in the locos, stock plus controllers and I’d keep all that.
In order of enjoyment for me I think it goes:

1) Making the scenery and little cameos.
2) Planning it all out and thinking about it.
3) Running trains.
4) Making buildings, trees, bridges etc.
5) Laying track, electrics and ballasting.
6) Woodworking stuff.
7) Going to work to pay for all of it.
8) Appearing on BBC Breakfast.