Churminster & Stowe Magna, Southern Railway

[Tony Teague]

In my last post I mentioned the amount of time that had been diverted to the construction of Churminster Goods Shed.

 

This is now nearing completion, although the roof and supporting timbers remain to be constructed, lighting to be installed, and there is more weathering to be done on the exterior before I will regard it as finished.

 

So, subject to those caveats, here are the first pictures:

 

From above:

 

The small Goods Office sits at one end, whilst there is a small exterior platform at the other; I am thinking of mounting a yard crane on the platform, for unloading of the larger stuff.

 

 

The building is not of a particular prototype, however, I researched a lot of goods shed, especially Southern, and then came up with a pastiche design which suits the available space and I hope, looks Southern Railway in character!

 

 

The shell of the building was made from foam board, the exterior clad in Slaters brick plasticard, and the interior in Scalescenes white brick paper; the windows are by L-CUT Creative.

 

 

It perhaps looks a bit too tidy inside!

 

 

I'll post some further pics once it is a bit nearer to completed and 'planted' in its proper place.

 

Tony

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Tony Teague]

Well it has been a while since my last update, but I have not been idle - just diverted, and here's why.

 

Some time ago, after taking delivery of Geoff Taylor's wonderful model that now forms Churminster Station, I rashly mentioned to him the nearby vacant building plot which I had earmarked for a brewery. Following our conversation I visited Faversham in Kent, the home of Shepherd Neame, one of the two breweries that claim to be the oldest in the UK - the other being at Hook Norton in Oxfordshire - and I took a series of pictures which then formed part of the brief to Geoff.

 

 

The other part being the site plan, or footprint, as seen here:

 

 

So after a period of gestation, and rolling things forward to February 6th 2018, I visited Geoff and took delivery of an amazing set of completed buildings, seen here on Geoff's workbench:

 

 

So this was the source of my diversion, keen as I was to get the buildings installed, however, what was immediately obvious was that there was a significant gap just behind and above the brewery, which I had been meaning to fill, but was still on my "round-to-it" list. The gap is shown centre here, with two loose Bachman Scenecraft resin buildings standing on it, in front of the 'Hudsons' warehouse:

 

 

So I had a rummage through the unbuilt kits department and the only largish building I came up with was a P&D Marsh laser-cut wood kit for 'Wenford Clay Works', and so I set about building this as speedily as possible. I built the kit more or less as it is designed to be except that it came with a puny chimney which I replaced with one twice the size - with the following result:

 

 

I am pretty pleased with this as an industrial building, although it still needs some detailing, but as you will see later, it will be more than partly obscured by the brewery once installed; nevertheless I don't think it can be a clay works as it is not in the right surroundings - so I need to decide what it is - a custard grinding factory, or a glue refinery perhaps - suggestions welcomed!

 

So at last I am now ready to install the brewery, and in my next post I will show pictures of the first trial fit.

 

Tony

 

[Tony Teague]

Here now is the first attempt at installing Wadleys Churminster Brewery - you may remember their advertising:

 

 

Please bear in mind that I have yet to detail the central courtyard, which will have granite sets, the brewery siding, and the surrounding streets, plus the small site to the left of it which looks set to become a wood yard:

 

 

Here comes the Wadleys' brewers dray:

 

 

You can see here the extent to which the brewery obscures the buildings behind, yet the space could not be left empty:

 

 

All of this has meant that no further work has been undertaken on Churminster Goods Shed, however, in these shots you can see where it will fit in relation to Wadley's Brewery:

 

 

The brewery siding runs right behind Churminster Goods Shed.

 

 

So, plenty to do - finish installing the brewery, complete the Good Shed and install, build the woodyard, design and build the "Brewery Tap" pub that will stand opposite the brewery entrance, etc, etc!

 

Tony

 

 

[Mick Bonwick]

 

 

I regard the weathering as "work in progress" so any observations are welcome.

 

 

 

Beware the 'tide mark'.   

[Tony Teague]

Beware the 'tide mark'. 

Fair comment - much more practice needed, plus those referred to had only had a single pass of the airbrush as I recall.

 

Will try to do better!

 

Tony

[Jack]

Wow, only just found this thread ... love the goods shed interior!

 

As a point of reference, your pictures of the old brewery in Faversham arn’t from Shepherd Neame’s, they are on the opposite side of Court Street. The photos you have are of the old Rigden’s brewery (later Whitbread’s). Like what you’ve done with the model.

[Tony Teague]

Wow, only just found this thread ... love the goods shed interior!

 

As a point of reference, your pictures of the old brewery in Faversham arn’t from Shepherd Neame’s, they are on the opposite side of Court Street. The photos you have are of the old Rigden’s brewery (later Whitbread’s). Like what you’ve done with the model.

Jack

 

Many thanks for your kind comments - and also for putting me right about the brewery; I had no idea that Faversham had more than one!

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

One of the problems of being a 'solo' modeller but trying to build a rather large layout is that things inevitably take longer than you imagine, and there is always something else that needs to be done - so from time to time it feels like I have "mis-placed my mojo"! It must be a bit like 'writer's block' I suppose.

 

Although Wadleys wonderful Brewery buildings were made for me, installing them whilst doing justice to their quality has taken far longer than I would have liked; I feel that we are nearly there, but it will still be some time before all of the surroundings, the woodyard, Barkers Engineering factory, plus the Goods Shed and surrounding yard are all brought up to scratch.

 

Here are a few progress pictures:

 

Wadleys' shire horses hauling another dray loaded with Churminster Ale - the woodyard fence is on the left:

 

Inside Wadleys things still look a bit too tidy:

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the up pick-up goods makes it's way through Stowe Magna:

 

 

Oh, and we still don't know what the factory behind the brewery does - perhaps it is a secret?

 

 

Tony

[Jack]

Jack

 

Many thanks for your kind comments - and also for putting me right about the brewery; I had no idea that Faversham had more than one!

 

Tony

Yeah, there used to be 3 ... and one of the highest cncertrations of pubs in the country ... even in the 90s a pub crawl would end in tears before they’d all been bagged.

 

Love the progress, Wadley’s is looking superb.

[thegreenhowards]

One of the problems of being a 'solo' modeller but trying to build a rather large layout is that things inevitably take longer than you imagine, and there is always something else that needs to be done - so from time to time it feels like I have "mis-placed my mojo"! It must be a bit like 'writer's block' I suppose.

 

Although Wadleys wonderful Brewery buildings were made for me, installing them whilst doing justice to their quality has taken far longer than I would have liked; I feel that we are nearly there, but it will still be some time before all of the surroundings, the woodyard, Barkers Engineering factory, plus the Goods Shed and surrounding yard are all brought up to scratch.

 

Here are a few progress pictures:

 

Wadleys' shire horses hauling another dray loaded with Churminster Ale - the woodyard fence is on the left:

 

SJP2018-03-28 20-43-35 (B,Radius8,Smoothing4)02180328.jpg

 

Inside Wadleys things still look a bit too tidy:

 

SJPP328004502180328.jpg

 

SJPP328004902180328.jpg

 

Meanwhile, the up pick-up goods makes it's way through Stowe Magna:

 

SJP2018-03-29 09-36-57 (B,Radius8,Smoothing4)02180328.jpg

 

Oh, and we still don't know what the factory behind the brewery does - perhaps it is a secret?

 

SJPP301006302180301.jpg

 

Tony

Tony,

 

I love the brewery - it really looks the part. I know what you mean about lost mojo - I’ve hardly touched my layout since you visited in January. Although I have done some rolling stock in that time.

 

Andy

[Tony Teague]

Tony,

 

I love the brewery - it really looks the part. I know what you mean about lost mojo - I’ve hardly touched my layout since you visited in January. Although I have done some rolling stock in that time.

 

Andy

 

 

Andy

 

You're right - I find visits by other modellers are motivational - first you put in extra effort to get things looking and running as well as they can, and then post-visit, you feel encouraged to make progress!

 

Roll on the next visit!

 

Bets wishes

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

In focussing my efforts and updates upon the buildings and scenery, I have perhaps neglected what it is all about - the trains!

 

Given my pre-occupation with ultimately having a model of every class of loco that the Southern Railway had in their stock at nationalisation, Jack P - who follows this thread and models the Southern (excellently, I might add!) from afar in New Zealand - has suggested that I might run through the loco fleet alphabetically by class, which sounds like a great idea! (Well it does to me anyway!).

 

This may take some time, but here goes, dealing in this post with just the A's & B's (I'll leave the purely numeric classes until the end!). Where I have models from different manufacturers or in different liveries, I'll try to include a sample of each of them:

 

First up are two ex-LSWR Adams A12 locos,  both built for me from Nu-Cast kits by Chris Phillips, no.597 in wartime black - not sure why it has a front coupling / I must remove it! :

 

 

and no.614 in Maunsell olive:

 

 

Then from Brighton, an ex-LB&SCR Stroudley A1X 'Terrier' No.2635; this is the old Hornby model which I think was ex-Dapol at the point where they temporarily got out of OO gauge; it has had a complete re-paint (by Chris Phillips) but I think the model is now showing its age. It will be interesting to see what the newly announced Terrier looks like from Rails / Dapol:

 

 

You will have to excuse the lack of weathering on my fleet; as I have said previously, this is a long-term intention but I have really not yet started!

 

Next are the B4's - where confusingly both LB&SCR and LSWR had completely different classes bearing the same name / number; here is the ex-LSWR Adams B4 in both Maunsell and wartime black liveries, both from SE Finecast kits:

 

 

Finally for this first alphabetic update, ex-LB&SCR RJ Billinton B4 No.2042, from a kit by London Road Models; both this and the two B4's above were built, as ever, by Chris Phillips:

 

 

I don't have a B4x; when I set off on this mission I used the Colin Boocock Locomotive Compendium as a reference and he shows the two as variants of a single class, but looking at other references it is clear that most of the B4x was new, and so I should perhaps add the B4x to my list of missing classes. As there is no known model of the B4x this will just serve to make my mission less achievable!

 

Tony

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague

[chris45lsw]

In focussing my efforts and updates upon the buildings and scenery, I have perhaps neglected what it is all about - the trains!

 

Given my pre-occupation with ultimately having a model of every class of loco that the Southern Railway had in their stock at nationalisation, Jack P - who follows this thread and models the Southern (excellently, I might add!) from afar in New Zealand - has suggested that I might run through the loco fleet alphabetically by class, which sounds like a great idea! (Well it does to me anyway!).

 

This may take some time, but here goes, dealing in this post with just the A's & B's (I'll leave the purely numeric classes until the end!). Where I have models from different manufacturers or in different liveries, I'll try to include a sample of each of them:

 

First up are two ex-LSWR Adams A12 locos,  both built for me from Nu-Cast kits by Chris Phillips, no.597 in wartime black - not sure why it has a front coupling / I must remove it! :

 

SJPP405002002180405.jpg

 

and no.614 in Maunsell olive:

 

SJPP405000502180405.jpg

 

Then from Brighton, an ex-LB&SCR Stroudley A1X 'Terrier' No.2635; this is the old Hornby model which I think was ex-Dapol at the point where they temporarily got out of OO gauge; it has had a complete re-paint (by Chris Phillips) but I think the model is now showing its age. It will be interesting to see what the newly announced Terrier looks like from Rails / Dapol:

 

SJPP405000902180405.jpg

 

You will have to excuse the lack of weathering on my fleet; as I have said previously, this is a long-term intention but I have really not yet started!

 

Next are the B4's - where confusingly both LB&SCR and LSWR had completely different classes bearing the same name / number; here is the ex-LSWR Adams B4 in both Maunsell and wartime black liveries, both from SE Finecast kits:

 

SJPP405001502180405.jpg

 

Finally for this first alphabetic update, ex-LB&SCR RJ Billinton B4 No.2042, from a kit by London Road Models; both this and the two B4's above were built, as ever, by Chris Phillips:

 

SJPP405000202180405.jpg

 

I don't have a B4x; when I set off on this mission I used the Colin Boocock Locomotive Compendium as a reference and he shows the two as variants of a single class, but looking at other references it is clear that most of the B4x was new, and so I should perhaps add the B4x to my list of missing classes. As there is no known model of the B4x this will just serve to make my mission less achievable!

 

Tony

No Stirling/Wainwright B1 4-4-0 either, Tony?  Another gap which might be difficult to fill.

 

Chris KT

[Jack P]

Tony,

 

Thank you for your kind words Re: my work.

 

I'm glad (albeit a little surprised) you took up my suggestion! My only ask (aside from you cataloging your entire fleet, of course) is that the photos are uploaded somewhere stable. The Photobucket crash means that there are so many threads out there that are reduced to almost dead content, due to broken links, and photos that aren't there anymore. This collection of images is very important, as I would say it is up there as one of the biggest Post Grouping/Pre-BR collections of SR stock out there, and it would be a shame for it to be lost.

 

Chris Phillips is an excellent modeller, I have browsed the pages of his website more times than I wish to mention, I've seen, what must be plenty of your models in the BR/SR part.

 

When you're done with the loco's you can make a start on the coaches, maybe in set number, or would diagram number be easier?  

[Tony Teague]

No Stirling/Wainwright B1 4-4-0 either, Tony?  Another gap which might be difficult to fill.

 

Chris KT

You are right Chris - my omission, and this one is already on the short list of those models missing from my collection.

Again, I have no knowledge of any available kit and will have to get inventive if this gap is to be filled.

Thanks for pointing this out.

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

On 06/04/2018 at 06:18, Jack P said:

Tony,

 

Thank you for your kind words Re: my work.

 

I'm glad (albeit a little surprised) you took up my suggestion! My only ask (aside from you cataloging your entire fleet, of course) is that the photos are uploaded somewhere stable. The Photobucket crash means that there are so many threads out there that are reduced to almost dead content, due to broken links, and photos that aren't there anymore. This collection of images is very important, as I would say it is up there as one of the biggest Post Grouping/Pre-BR collections of SR stock out there, and it would be a shame for it to be lost.

 

Chris Phillips is an excellent modeller, I have browsed the pages of his website more times than I wish to mention, I've seen, what must be plenty of your models in the BR/SR part.

 

When you're done with the loco's you can make a start on the coaches, maybe in set number, or would diagram number be easier?  

 

Jack

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I think it will be quite a task!

 

For clarity I am not going to show every loco that I have - there are a couple of classes that I especially like where I have been "weak" and have more models than is sensible....  

 

Photography - particularly of steam! - is my other major hobby and so you can be sure that all my images are backed up multiple times - although I am not a great fan of "the cloud". I'm not sure my collection is quite as vast / important as you suggest, but who knows.

 

I think I'll probably pass on your coaching stock idea  although I have posted quite a few images already of less widely available stock.

 

Thanks again for your support!

 

Tony

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Tony Teague]

Whilst I divert into the alphabetical list of locos, I don't want to ignore progress on the layout - so here's an update.

 

My good friend Mike paid a visit on Tuesday and spent time improving the look of the "grassy knoll" just outside Wadleys Brewery, so things are now beginning to take on an "almost finished" look in this area:

 

 

Wadleys Brewery to the right, Wellard Timber in the centre, the Southdown bus garage in the foreground and Barkers Engineering, plus that un-named factory at the rear. Here are a couple of closer shots of the bus garage which is a Bachmann resin cast model that I have weathered, re-signed and installed lighting:

 

 

 

plus one of Wellard's Timber yard:

 

 

Despite significant progress there are a few things left to do - Barkers Engineering was constructed some time ago and does not now look up to standard, so it needs work, there is a clump of trees to be made and installed on top of the grassy knoll, the timber yard needs a couple of people including the proprietor 'Knotty' Wellard (short for Arbuthnot, obviously), the rail bridge at the back left needs painting, and finally, I have started building a pub to fit to the left of the bus garage's oil tank  and opposite the brewery - probably called "The Brewery Tap", which I will add as soon as it is complete.

 

Tony

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague

[Allegheny1600]

Hi Tony,

Some good progress and modelling there, great stuff.

I'm loving the alphabetical list of your stock (really beautiful locos) so far and am looking forward to the next instalment.

Cheers,

John.

[Denbridge]

Ive been gradually reading this thread. What a superb layout and stock roster. Oh for the space. Would love for my Southern stock to stretch its legs on a line such as this. Beautiful.

[Denbridge]

Longer term followers of this thread may recall my preoccupation with adding to my fleet at least one of every class of loco that the Southern Railway owned at nationalisation; although I have seemingly exhausted all known kits and RTR classes I have not been idel in terms of securing the last few classes that remain.

 

A while ago I persuaded my good friend Arun Sharma to get involved in producing a 3D printed body for an LSWR Drummond L12 - which is a T9 variant, having a larger boiler but identical wheelsets to a T9.

 

Our aim was to produce a body that could directly replace the Hornby model, so that the loco would run on the Hornby chassis.

 

The first print looked good and proved that it could be done, but we quickly realised that the Hornby T9 boiler was metal and that without significant weight our loco would not be balanced - so we changed tack.

 

DSC_0001.JPG

 

Arun then used the 3D print to develop white metal castings for key components such as the firebox and smokebox, some brass castings for splashers etc, and nickel silver etches for the footplate and cabsides. Whilst this is a far more complex approach, it is also much more robust.

 

I have now commenced building the "Mk.2" L12 and will post updates as the build progresses, but in the meantime I have also decided to look at whether the new body can be mounted on a SEF T9 chassis, so I shall be exploring this at the same time.

 

SJPPC03000902171203.jpg

 

SJPPC03000502171203.jpg

 

Incidentally, if this all works, then the LSWR Drummond S11 is next - same boiler as the L12 but smaller driving wheels!are there any plans to make these parts available? Please. Pretty please

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

are there any plans to make these parts available? Please. Pretty please

 

 

 

Hi Denbridge

 

I will send you a PM.

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

OK, so in the alpha-list of SR locos, on to "C"  which I think I will split into two updates, but first up of course, is the SECR Wainwright class C of which I have three variants; the first is No.1592 from an SE Finecast kit and built by Chris Phillips, however, I specified a Maunsell olive livery without having done my homework, and I don't believe they ever carried this!

 

Nevertheless I like the look of it, so have been reluctant to spray it black:

 

 

Second up is no.1294 which is a RTR model by OO Works which looks OK in its correct Maunsell goods black, however it has had a few running problems due to the strange way that it was wired - one side loco, other side tender; I have fitted some extra pick-ups and despite the lack of weathering to my fleet, all have a crew and real coal in the tender:

 

 

Last of the trio is the Bachmann RTR model no.1256 in wartime black livery with sunshine lettering; the tender on this one is extremely light and I feel that it too would probably benefit from some additional pick-ups:

 

 

If I am leaving numbers until last, then after C comes CC - the Bullied / Raworth electric loco No. CC1; the model is from a very old kit by Genesis but these are very hard to find. I bought it on E-Bay despite it being in the wrong (BR) livery for my layout, nevertheless some may prefer the original livery as no.20001:

 

 

I had to have it re-painted into Bulleid malachite, but re-painting has done nothing to improve the noise it makes - it has an old Hornby (or maybe even Triang) motor and would benefit from re-motoring. It weighs a ton and can pull anything:

 

 

I will leave the remaining "C"'s to a second post, which includes two more locos "missing" from my fleet.

 

Tony

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague

[thegreenhowards]

OK, so in the alpha-list of SR locos, on to "C"  which I think I will split into two updates, but first up of course, is the SECR Wainwright class C of which I have three variants; the first is No.1592 from an SE Finecast kit and built by Chris Phillips, however, I specified a Maunsell olive livery without having done my homework, and I don't believe they ever carried this!

 

Nevertheless I like the look of it, so have been reluctant to spray it black:

 

SJPP406000402180406.jpg

 

Second up is no.1294 which is a RTR model by OO Works which looks OK in its correct Maunsell goods black, however it has had a few running problems due to the strange way that it was wired - one side loco, other side tender; I have fitted some extra pick-ups and despite the lack of weathering to my fleet, all have a crew and real coal in the tender:

 

SJPP407000602180407.jpg

 

Last of the trio is the Bachmann RTR model no.1256 in wartime black livery with sunshine lettering; the tender on this one is extremely light and I feel that it too would probably benefit from some additional pick-ups:

 

SJPP407000202180407.jpg

 

If I am leaving numbers until last, then after C comes CC - the Bullied / Raworth electric loco No. CC1; the model is from a very old kit by Genesis but these are very hard to find. I bought it on E-Bay despite it being in the wrong (BR) livery for my layout, nevertheless some may prefer the original livery as no.20001:

 

SJP20001_102150611.jpg

 

I had to have it re-painted into Bulleid malachite, but re-painting has done nothing to improve the noise it makes - it has an old Hornby (or maybe even Triang) motor and would benefit from re-motoring. It weighs a ton and can pull anything:

 

SJPP407000802180407.jpg

 

I will leave the remaining "C"'s to a second post, which includes two more locos "missing" from my fleet.

 

Tony

I love the CC1. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of that in Southern livery before.

[Tony Teague]

The lettering is gold and seems to be correct according to the archive material that I was able to source.

 

Tony

[Tony Teague]

So to complete the SR loco classes beginning with C, we next come to the ex-LB&SCR Billinton C2:

 

 

No.2435 is from a DJH kit, and is followed by two models of the Marsh C2X:

 

 

No.2525 is also from a DJH kit, whilst No.2540 is from a Nu-Cast kit; all three of these were built by Chris Phillips:

 

 

I have to say that I think the C2X with its double domes is one of the ugliest locos that I can think of!

 

Following the C2 and C2x's are two of my "missing" locos - the ex-LB&SCR Marsh C3, and the tiny ex-LSWR Drummond C14. I am not aware of any 4mm model, kit or RTR of either of these two, although as I have reported previously on this thread, CSP / Agenoria have been threatening a C14 kit for several years. Unfortunately the new owners of this range simply ignore any communications and so I have been unable to find out whether it is still being worked on or not.

 

I thought that I might maintain the "missing" list as I work through the alphabet, and so here is where we are up to so far:

 

SECR Wainwright B1

LB&SCR Billinton B4X

LB&SCR Marsh C3

LSWR Drummond C14

 

All ideas as to how to cross off any missing models would be most welcome!

 

Tony

Edited November 4, 2022 by Tony Teague