C126

I forgot to mention in the original post I changed the windows to Indo-Saracenic 'cusped arches', with which I admit I am pleased. Look closely at the elevation, and you can see the changes I hope.

Dear @simon b and @russ p , Again, thank you for taking the time to help with my query and giving such useful advice. I did a quick plot of the 3'x7.5" space available last night and decided upon (from left to right) the imposing 'Concrete Grain Elevator' but rotated so the silos are on the left of the elevation - thanks for @russ p 's photos confirming there is a loading 'porch' on both sides - and the 'Flour Mill' 'doubled' using its back wall. But now I am not so sure! Stretching out the 'Greatland Sugar Refiners' building would retain my preferred brick aesthetic and a Victorian look - excellent idea of converting the central openings on the gable-ended elevations to loading doors with a beam and pulley above, as seen on such buildings everywhere. Or there is the 1930's(?) option of the 'Champion Meat Packing Plant' which retains my preferred brick. I do like the sight of watching wagons shunting under a cantilevered building, so will try and model a more 'open' porch for the grain silos by taking the side off. More choices, more decisions! Thanks so much to you both for these contributions and photos; I hope they will be of as great a help to others in the future as me, and I will keep you posted on my progress thanks to you.

@simon b Thanks for these suggestions; I must have missed them because they are not called 'warehouse' or 'factory' in the model title. Please can you tell me where you got the (six?) plain, 3-storey panels to the right of the gable-ended 'Plant No. 4'; do they come with this kit? The windows look rather better than my Skytrex efforts, although I do not think the gable-ended elevation itself looks quite right for the U.K. If the panels can not be obtained separately, I am tempted to buy a Walthers Concrete Grain Elevator and the Flour Mill to fill the adjacent three feet. The conceit perhaps being the original, Victorian, warehouse/ factory was demolished in the 1950's, bar the small extension remaining, to permit a change of use to a modern rail-served terminal. The declining 'international provender' ekes out a trade in the increasingly-derelict floors next-door with its eccentric goods-lift, soon to become a victim of the early 1980's recession. There endeth the proud name of 'Chunnilal and Malcolm, East Indies Factors'! Thank you again for taking the time to consider this post, and bringing the kits to my attention. I am much obliged to you.

Sorry to pull this thread O.T., but please can this alarming sounding statement be linked to a source (I am not doubting the poster's veracity, I hasten to add). At my work, dealing with museum-like papers as part of our work, such 'de-accessioning' would be looked on very dimly. Do I have to clear my front garden for potential storage of a loco...? Thanks also for the quote of £2,500 a month as storage costs. Always wondered, and as bad as feared...

I wondered if it it was, and hoped someone would know. Many thanks for the confirmation. If anyone has more photos of it in its declining years, please post 'em!

... and in the old 'Southdown' colours as well. Clearly an omnibus company of class. 🙂

Taking a week off work recently, I started 'the factory' as what I thought would be a quick, simple, discrete project. This monolith hides the passenger station viaduct on the left of the layout, behind the minerals yard and arrival/departure sidings, currently substituted by cardboard boxes to give an idea of the 'massing'. I can not say the modelling has been enjoyable, but have been able at last to stage a cameo dreamed of when first mooting the layout's track plan. A VIX is shunted away from the loading dock of the 'international food-stuffs' company, while the warehouse men check and move the last of the pallets, dusted with sand from the Dasht-e Loot Desert and perfumed with the exotic orient: dates, pistachios, rice, and dried fruit. Here is the complete elevation, thus : The glazing must be installed and the canopy is un-finished, but I am impatient. I must sculpt the external corner element to join to a plain wall on the right, and glue on the 2" wide brick wall on the left, as part of what will be the main agricultural warehouse and grain silos. For this, I will be hoping to bodge a Superquick card kit or three...

And such a lovely, well preserved, 'bus station near-by. Although I expect this has probably been sold, demolished, and re-developed by now.

Just watch them on the train itself! It is just me and the resident nutter who look out of a window on my train journeys now. Life is too short to spend it gazing at a screen. Sorry, just a little obsession of mine.

Just wished to add my paean to Revolution Trains' S.R. General Manager's Saloon, 'Caroline'. Arrived on Monday, and on initial inspection it looks excellent to me. Taking the precaution of un-packing it on a white napkin, only the coupling hook fell off, which I am too ham-fisted to re-attach. Here it is, arriving at Atherington Victoria upon news of an out-break of Victorians populating the platform. (Please forgive my flippancy, but I have nothing better in which to pose it.) To paraphrase someone else on the thread, 'it is a d--n sight better than I could make from any kit!' The orange curtains bring back happy memories of S.R. E.M.U.s in the 1970's.

Lovely work as ever. Please could you tell us from what it is built? Bachmann Mk Is? Many thanks.

Are you looking at one specific COY block train per day, or a mixture? E.g., cement, containers, aggregates. Hope the project is making good progress.

Thanks to all for this issue. A very useful article with track plans by Paul Shannon on cement terminals, good photographs of the layout 'Southgate Park', and an informative letter from the wonderful Alex Dasi-Sutton about the Holmethorpe sand traffic. His book 'Southern region freight trains in view' (with Chris Wilson, 1987) was an inspiration all those years ago. Are more of his photos published and available? Looking forward to the next issue.

Perhaps we should start a 'Crowd-Funder' to build some new, modern 'Night Ferry' coaches. 😀 I must say prices appear to have increased rather more than inflation over the last 15 years or so. I was going to celebrate my 40th with a trip to Venice on it, and my partner very sensibly suggested we try a cheaper sleeper - the Night Riviera - first. So glad we did; I have never had so bad a night's sleep. Spent the money on a set of white tie and tails and some Sheffield cutlery instead. Just thought - the obvious thing to do is commission a shorter Class 374 with a luxury interior and V.S.O.E. livery (or whatever looks most romantic), and run that instead. That would get to London easily via H.S.1.

With their latest news-letter delivered this week, I have only just heard of the redevelopment of Liverpool St station, but the pages on the Victorian Society's web-site might be of interest, e.g.: https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/news/relaunched-liverpool-street-station-campaign-names-griff-rhys-jones-as-president-and-asks-public-to-sign-petition

No fault in your writings; I made the mistake of assuming the loading dock would be exposed to the outside on an external siding. Sorry. Thanks for the link.

Forgive me if others realise this already, but it appears the siding goes inside the shed, allowing loading 'out of the weather'. No loading-dock adjacent, or one would see it in the shadow of the roof-line.

Do not forget the oblique shots at the National Monuments Archive of aerial photos at Swindon. But again, this takes time and cash.

Any pics of Horam station environs around this time? Anything in the Middleton Press series? Just wondering if anyone has checked these. Just checked the Middleton Press web-site, which identifies "Horam" as being in: 'Branch Lines to Tunbridge Wells from Oxted, Lewes and Polegate', and 'Steaming through East Sussex'.

I fear it is way beyond my abilities, and am wondering about saving money to get a pro. to do it. I started assembling the white-metal body, and discovered the boiler did not sit 'flat' on the plate between the water tanks but appeared 'splayed' from above and was twisted. I.e., the cab-end of one bottom edge has a gap visible. Not sure how to cure this. They are lovely looking beasties though!

Is it Langley Models? My late father half-built one, subsequently sold on 'an auction web-site', and I still have one even less built lying around with a (recommended) Hornby Flying Scotsman chassis. An L.B.S.C.R. 'L', I think. Sorry, I am no expert on steam. Hope this helps. https://www.langleymodels.co.uk/awd1/index.php?route=product/product&manufacturer_id=11&sort=p.model&order=asc&page=13&product_id=5655

As a Southern Region chap, I am glad to see you have a 73. As @crompton suggests, what will these be pulling?

Please may I just add to this thread a query about the T.O.P.S. code cited in one of Colin Marsden's books, as "VFV"? I assume this was a bauxite-painted van, rather than the 'Express Parcels'-branded S.P.V. Also, I have seen an 'N'-scale model fish van in Speedlink red/grey on layouts at exhibitions, and assumed it is fictional. Can anyone confirm this?

Looking forward to my first visit to this, and crossing everything to stave off rail-strikes... Many thanks for the continuing info. and web-site.

Glad to read the layout is installed safely in its new home. Hope it will be working fully soon, and you can continue modelling on it.