‘Shelfie’
Shelf layout constructed by one person

2014 the year of the Shelfie, and a note to say thank you for taking the time to read this blog over the year. Its been quite a busy year, right the way through as far as modelling projects go, the biggest was working with my two good friends Paul Lunn, and Chris Walsh of Activity Media to produce the last in the series of the Right Track DVD series No19 Layout planning and Design.

This has resulted in my building a ‘Shelfie’, and learning a good deal more about how I can make an entertaining and captivating visual display. Paul Lunn did a huge amount of work behind the scenes, not just on his own contribution to the DVD material, but in formulating the core structure of the joint work. Without his efforts and those of Chris Walsh and Wendy in the filming and production of the DVD, it wouldn’t have happened. It was always going to be interesting to see the thoughts of those that have seen the DVD’s, and we decided to do something different in addition to sending the DVD’s out to the traditional media for review. The blogging community is definitely growing, you can see some links on the right hand side of this blog. When you visit another blog you’ll find similar links, some will be friends of the author, but pretty much all of them will have content of interest to the author even though they may have never met or corresponded with the blog/webpage writer or owner. I looked at my blogroll list and chose a number of writers whom I felt would give a fair write up of the DVD and asked them to review and comment accordingly. Specifically I asked them to free with critical comments on it, if they thought it was shite I wanted them to say so, and the reasons why. We, myself, Paul and Chris, were extremely pleased to see the reviews coming back posted on the respective blogs and websites, with very positive reviews. Using the blog format allowed the reviewers to write their thoughts in their own style and volume, its possible that other manufacturers may well take a similar approach too. So long as you trust the author to evaluate the product objectively, even if they don’t like the product, it has a lot going for it. Activity Media  www.model-railway-dvd is closing in the new year as Chris retires. He and Wendy will get to put their feet up so if you want one of their DVD’s then get one now before its too late!

The reviewers then, all of whom are linked on the right hand side.

Adrian Marks basilicafields.wordpress.com

Geoff Forster radnorailways.blogspot.

Phil Parker mremag.com/news/

Tom Foster tfmodelling.wordpress.

Ian Robinson iainrobinsonmodels.

Neil Rushby rushbys-railways.blogspot.

Tim Hale timhalesblog.blogspot.co.uk

I’d like to extend my thanks to them for taking the time to view and comment on the DVD, please have a look at their respective blogs, if you like reading this one, you’ll find something of interest on all of them, that’s guaranteed!

So whats coming next year? Well the ‘Severn and Dean’ project will start, I’ve had a good bit of feedback both on line and in conversations with offers of practical help from people who can really make a difference as to how I approach, and hopefully succeed with this extensive project. I’m awaiting confirmation of an exhibition for Bawdsey which will announced once it’s in the bag officially, and the terminus station for the Severn and Dean project ‘Mitcheldean’ will also be shown as ‘work in progress’ at a show I’m really excited about.

There may be a few changes regarding the blog too, which I hope will keep people reading, and coming back. Whats been very interesting this year is the numbers, roughly 54,000 views, after search engines, the top three referrers are fellow bloggers, in at No4 is facebook, and No5 is a group website. They are widely spread too from 79 countries, the majority being UK then followed by USA/Can closely followed by OZ/NZed and Europe. There are two pages/posts which have rated highly in the stats, this being of particular interest as that where I want the blog to develop. More on that next year.

Just to close, thank you again for taking the time to read what I’ve put up over the year, it is great to get feedback, and see the numbers continue to grow. Also please take time to read some of the blogs and web pages on the links, there’s some really good stuff on them from the world over, techniques, discussion, images, and negligible froth and foam. Tell them I sent you.

Have a good 2015, I plan to!