The Bigbee Line

John There are pictures of them on Boat Trains between Newhaven and Victoria, plus they worked freight between Chichester and Norwood. I have a Southern Way magazine on them, need to did it out.

Graham, I agree the bogies are a long wheelbase, which is catered for by sideplay on the centre wheelset. Sideplay on the outer wheelsets as well allow that loco to swing out of line. I will let you know how I get on with some restrictions of the sideplay.

Good afternoon, Not posted on here for a while. I've succumbed to a 4mm model, the first for a long time. As a Brighton Boy it was a classic. Vague memories of them in the 'middle road' at Brighton and a very few sights of them passing on the line between Brighton and Lewes. So 20002 in green has arrived today. It looks quite smart. The buffers are slightly odd as the plunger behind the buffer face is a bit skinny, not the classic 'Heavy Duty' look. I was thinking of swapping for a set of Hornby spares from stock, or simpler, wrap that part in a strip of black electrical tape, until the desired diameter is obtained. I looked underneath and noted that all the wheelsets have a vast amount of side play. Not sure why this is... I understand the need to get around the toytown curves, but is this much side play necessary. I think some 'guides' from black styrene could be knocked up to give some restraint, keeping the outer wheelsets in each bogie with minimal side play, and a touch more on the middle wheelset. I would be interested in what other users think? By the way I will use a Kadee as the coupler. Just need to look through my OO remnants to scratch together a couple of trains for it to pull..... All in all though, a fine looking loco.

Reading this thread and looking at the images of the 'swinging arms' was a bit of a eureka moment for me. It completely eliminates the hornblocks. The biggest shock is that I have been looking at such arrangements for years, at work, As they say I couldn't see the wood for the trees.......

Not posted for a while…. Here’s something I did earlier. Took two Darstead coaches and swapped a side from each to give one side of the train maroon and the other blood & custard…

One of each.....

A bit late to reply, but the white is actually contrasting paint for non destructive testing of the cast steel instanter link.

Good morning I spend many hours 'wagon spotting'. Looking in the area that I model. Here is a 1963 image. Big thanks to John Law. It shows: B726119 branded as a 12T SHOCK with 'Empty to xxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx' (more research needed on that one needed. Fitted with Screw Couplings and low vacuum pipes. B486874 just shown as 13T, with Instanter Couplings and low vacuum pipes. It would be nice to have a facility to share, maybe a Facebook page. Care needs to be taken to avoid copyright issues. Most image posters are OK with re-posting with credits etc. If anyone is interested in the Facebook page, let me know.

I'll hopefully ping some stuff over later.

Good morning I work with the 12" to the foot stuff. Can you be a bit more specific regarding the particular wagon. Some pictures would be useful. Thanks Ernie

Nick Thanks for this list. It was on my to do list..

Good evening The workspace in the summer house is moving on, so hopefully production of wagons can restart. During the last week I spent a couple of days in the mendips and was able to drop into the East Somerset. I was able to check out the brake work on this beauty..

Well now were in 2022...... Plus we now reside in the west of Wales.. I've a smaller garage, 19' x 8'. Plus an 8' x 8' summer house that will be the modelling room and home office. Planning retirement from full time in February 2023, so on the wind down. My company have changed my role to become support and to transfer all the knowledge in my head. The IT guy did offer to fit a USB port for that purpose... Anyway, the baseboards of Hayling Island were disassembled, so now need to work out how to go forward. As part of the house move I'd disposed through ebay etc most of my 2mm, 3.5mm and 4mm stuff, just planning to keep the green BILs and HAL for a small SR station. However when packing I kept discovery stuff that I had stashed away and forgotten. Usually things with a more sentimental value or things with little retail value. To cut a long story short I have been diverted by an HO US outline shelf layout. However I have been spurred on by the purchase of some brass coach sides to allow some bulleid coaches that ran on the branch. However I will re-start with the major structures; the Station Building and Goods Shed. I can then think about the format during the summer...

Good evening Sorry about the delay in liking the post. It is a road I have an interest in.. Although now mainly in 7mm, I found I still had quite a bit of US HO stuff when we moved house... So resurrected some other track already on a board, into an HO south eastern, location to be decided line... I have a Bachmann NC&StL combine so wondered what diesels were about.. Thanks Ernie

The actual fuelling point, with the tanks visible behind...