Peter Heather

The bells at Uckfield were cast at Whitechapel in the late 18th century and were taken to London in 1905 to be recast and tuned. Presumably not all of them were recast, as at least two have the original casting date on them, and they were probably just retuned. The assumption is that they were taken back to the Whitechapel foundry, but they could have gone to Gillett & Johnston's foundry in Croydon, who were not only internationally known for bell casting, but they were also responsible for perfecting the art of tuning bells. The firm was in the business of casting and tuning bells until the late 1950s and some of their bells were enormous. One sent to New York weighed 20 tons. The foundry was not rail connected and access for materials in and bells out was via a back street with right angle bends, albeit traffic was virtually non-existent then. In my copy of the book on the history of the company, there are numerous photos of bells being loaded on flat bed lorries, generally sitting on the rims without any obvious ‘padding’, although the very large ones, such as the Freedom Bell for Berlin in 1951, were loaded hanging from their steel headstock. The company still exists, now concentrating on the clock making side of the business, which was just as well known as the bell casting side.

That's some unusual weathering on the front of one end of the unit. What is up there under the panel that is rusting so badly and staining the front? Peter

Do these, not very good, photos of the block over Thornton Heath station help?

If you were modelling a relatively small industrial site, albeit with quite a few wagons arriving every day, you could install a wagon tippler that would provide some interesting movement. The pre war Croydon A power station, which was on a comparatively small site, had one tippler that is shown alongside the loco in the photo. The much larger Croydon B power station built in 1951 had a much bigger arrangement that did much the same thing but was enclosed in a brick building, presumably to reduce dust. Peter

I don't know about a standardised livery but you might find these photos of a couple of the Pecketts at Croydon B Power Station useful. As far as the gas Works is concerned, their saddle tanks weren't Pecketts. Moss Bay was a Kerr Stuart while Elizabeth was a Bagnall. Photos of both attached as well. Peter

C2x were certainly the most commonly seen locos on the freights but Norwood Junction would turn out almost anything at times. I've seen E4x, E6, E2, N classes as well as standard tanks and even a W on one occasion. What we now know as 08 or 09s also turned up now and then on the freights. I'm sure there were others as well Peter