Happy New Year!

May I wish all my readers a happy new year, and I hope you had a good Christmas!

I trust Santa brought you some toys. I must have been good, as here's my kit collection to last me a good while yet. The Narrow Planet crew van is an indulgence - like the Baguley Drewry loco kit and several 009 society RNAD wagons I also have waiting to be built  - as they are not in period for Awngate. The Chivers coach kit should look at home though so is likely to get built sooner, and I have plans for the Hunslet loco kit that I am keen to crack on with. The KB Scale Ruston LBT will add another loco to my growing O14 fleet - just because I like it! I also got some good railway books to enjoy.

At this time of year it is traditional to review the past year, and look forward to the next. Well to be honest 2014 wasn't a particularly productive year modelling wise. With no central project to focus on I'll admit to getting distracted, and there are some loose ends. That's not a problem - this is just a hobby - and looking at things another way it's been an excellent year. Awngate and Thakeham were out at 3 shows each, two of which were 2-day events, so it has been my busiest year by far on the exhibition circuit. The last few months I have been working on my son's train-set which is both fun and rewarding, if not "serious" in modelling terms.

This year though I have no exhibition bookings to distract me, the club are planning a new layout, which I've been involved with. Planning a club layout is quite different to a personal project so has been interesting in new ways, I expect being involved in building it will be different too. Perhaps it will feature here in due course. "Armchair modelling" has also led to some ideas for future layouts, including a possible replacement for Awngate, though I have no plans to start one in the foreseeable future so don't get excited.

However with the Christmas distractions out the way I do hope to get back to more modelling, there is certainly plenty I'd like to get on with, so you should see a few more productive posts!