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Building a Southern Region layout


Tim Hale
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Guest Jack Benson
13 hours ago, Bulwell Hall said:

Lovely pic of Horsebridge - superbly nostalgic!  This line remained almost entirely LSWR in appearance until the end.  At Horsebridge there was a superb lattice post lower quadrant LSW signal at the Romsey end of the station (outer home?) - I remember climbing to the top of it one day and it was very high!  I walked the line from Mottisfont to Andover Town once along the track not long before it was lifted.  And yes - even the Hampshire diesel unit is nostalgic now!

 

Gerry

There was no need to close the  Andover-Redbridge line, the main reason used by its detractors were the level crossings that caused delays on the A303 but HCC intended to route the trunk road away from Andover as part of the plan to expand the town as the overflow for Basingstoke. The direct rail connection to Southampton would have been very useful and the initial use of 2H units indicated that they were insufficient for the passenger numbers.

Too late now and the Test valley has returned to its slumbers.

 

StaySafe

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Guest Jack Benson

Progress does indeed continue. 

 

The cottage needs a suitable garage, something old and locally made from whatever is to hand - corrugated iron.

This looks like a good place to start as it blighted the bottom of our garden for many years and was home to the local rat population.

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Here is a tidier version without Dad's collection of vital junk and without any 1/76th rodents. Naturally the toof is the perfect place to store timber.  The cream box is the cottage's coal bunker that was being made at the same time, vital for a '40s situation.

 

AVvXsEjCa2K7P7NVpeOdjGO0Zyb_eE6JBYVleNHR

 

A hole has been dug in the bank and a fine looking base created, it will be blended with the surrounding vegetation.

 

The garage is a credit to Mike, to whom I am very grateful.

 

StaySafe

(now triple jabbed and 'flu protected)

Edited by Jack Benson
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14 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

StaySafe

(now triple jabbed and 'flu protected)

 

Top stuff as always sir, and thank you for the reminder, I'm now booked for a good jabbing on Friday afternoon :good:

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Guest Jack Benson
3 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

Top stuff as always sir, and thank you for the reminder, I'm now booked for a good jabbing on Friday afternoon :good:

Tim, That's the idea, Well done.

Tim

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12 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

There was no need to close the  Andover-Redbridge line, the main reason used by its detractors were the level crossings that caused delays on the A303 but HCC intended to route the trunk road away from Andover as part of the plan to expand the town as the overflow for Basingstoke. The direct rail connection to Southampton would have been very useful and the initial use of 2H units indicated that they were insufficient for the passenger numbers.

Too late now and the Test valley has returned to its slumbers.

 

StaySafe

 

I quite agree.  We lived in Andover for a while, and the bypass was built within a very few years of the line closing.  Although it had lost much of its through traffic some years earlier, with the closure of the M&SWJ

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Guest Jack Benson

Although covered elsewhere, a recent conversation about the Hornby SR gangwayed luggage van prompted this short guide to the rather attractive vehicle. Somewhere I have a Lancing Works colour swatch and a short note about these was found inside.

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Thier relatively short life on BR(S) was only surpassed by the longlevity of the original Tri-ang model and I had one of Dave Hammersley's LSWR upgrades. A modified ambulance version forms part of the slightly bogus Royal Wessex currently in charge of the equally bogus D16/1 10001.  

 

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4 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

Further progress on 30311

At last, the ancient Wills T9 turns under its own power albeit it briefly. However, it did run in and out of the station sidings.

 

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That is the Hornby T9 tender complete with the lovely SOUTHERN logo from a RMweb member, many thanks. The HLK coreless motor seems to be happy with the Zimo decoder in the tender, hopefully no damage was done during testing. 

 

 

 

It has been mentioned that the some Bachmann decoders, that you originally tested with, do not work very well with coreless motors.  

 

Re the T9 are you working form a reference image that shows the Southern lettering on a black engine having black rather green shading that was the norm?

Edited by Graham_Muz
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Guest Jack Benson

Hi,

 

Whilst awaiting the arrival of Matt’s M7, a couple of odd thoughts. Should I radically change his late dad’s work and what would be the point? 

At the moment, my late father’s unfinished T9 is being completed (see above) it really need a full rebuild but it will be mostly his components except for the new tender as the Wills tender was lost in time. But Matt’s M7 is a runner and his dad must have spent both effort and time to complete the pre ‘37 Southern livery so why not keep it as is, whilst giving the unseen bits a total overhaul even it it means a new HLK motordrive as well as a minute Zimo?


After all, if I wanted a wartime black M7, there are plenty of Hornby examples…..

 

The T9 tender is a temporary affair, the example shown belongs to 30704 and a new ‘sunshine’ tender arrived this morning for the Wills T9.

 

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Guest Jack Benson

Hi,

 

Please note;

I have moved almost all the posts concerning the T9 to the kit and scratchbuilding area on RMweb in this thread about the T9 it seemed inappropriate to continue posting a description of a loco build in a layout thread, I will do the same for the Jidenco M7.

 

It won't happen again.

 

StaySafe

 

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On 07/11/2021 at 22:59, DLT said:

 

I quite agree.  We lived in Andover for a while, and the bypass was built within a very few years of the line closing.  Although it had lost much of its through traffic some years earlier, with the closure of the M&SWJ

The A303 Andover bypass has an over bridge for the Stockbridge line! It's still there, odd as it must have never had track under it?

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19 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

However the D&E would have been emasculated by the LSWR’s extension from Yeovil (E&Y) and the coastal route would have been slowly cut back by the new BR(W) in the ‘50s west of Bridport so that Bridport effectively became a terminus until complete closure in the ‘70s at the same time as Swanage. Presumably, Bridport would have been served in typical Southern style by a P+P only to be replaced by ‘Thumper’ for last few years? 

 

Very interesting!   

Seeing as there was much debate/competition about which route to the west to choose;  if Dorchester to Exeter had been chosen, then the Yeovil and Exeter would most likely not have been built; or at least, not in that form.

Had London to Exeter traffic have come via Southampton and Dorchester, the "Old Road" via Ringwood and Wimborne would not have become the backwater that it did, as It would have been an important route for through trains avoiding Bournemouth.

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21 minutes ago, DLT said:

 

Very interesting!   

Seeing as there was much debate/competition about which route to the west to choose;  if Dorchester to Exeter had been chosen, then the Yeovil and Exeter would most likely not have been built; or at least, not in that form.

Had London to Exeter traffic have come via Southampton and Dorchester, the "Old Road" via Ringwood and Wimborne would not have become the backwater that it did, as It would have been an important route for through trains avoiding Bournemouth.

Also, the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway could have relieved the line to Southampton of traffic heading for Dorset and Devon, and also would not have become a backwater.

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Guest Jack Benson
20 hours ago, petethemole said:

Also, the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway could have relieved the line to Southampton of traffic heading for Dorset and Devon, and also would not have become a backwater.

Hi,

 

Alderbury Junction for the SDJR was only accessible from the west (Salisbury) therefore any traffic between Devon and London would have to reverse at Salisbury. Perhaps, a connection, similar to Laverstock chord would have been built?
 

A similar problem was the lack of a chord at the Redbridge end of the Romsey line which prevented Dorset traffic avoiding Southampton.

 

Finally, the vote for the E&Y by the LSWR board was extremely close, it was decided by just one vote - J H Lucking Railways of Dorset. Ironically neither routes actually pass through any large towns of any great consequence in the 19th century except for Dorchester. Both were topographically challenging, the D&E would have been the more difficult but offered Bridport as a trade centre albeit in decline. 

 

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Guest Jack Benson

A rarity, a Southern Banana 10t Van, a whitemetal kit from ABS, very interesting brake gear. Hopefully, someone can help with the details, is this a Diag 1478?
 

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Guest Jack Benson

Addition to Tilly's Garage

 

Despite work on locos and stock, some progress continues on the layout. 

The rather higgledy-piggledy appearance of Tilly's Garage is entirely intentional, no rural garage is truly neat or tidy, there is always an air of make n'mend.

 

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A rather commodious sectional building has appeared overnight and the pile of tyres has been joined by some rusting oil drums. The workbench can just be seen inside the garage whilst the shiny Morris 8 still awaits its new owner.

 

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Guest Jack Benson

This time another ABS van from an estate sale. It is an exLSWR Diag 1410 van. These vans were built between 1899 and 1912. Some had wood underframes and some steel ones. Ten similar vans were built for the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, but without the end vents, these were fitted later.

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Ten similar vans were built for the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, but without the end vents, these were fitted later.

 

StaySafe

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1 hour ago, Jack Benson said:

This time another ABS van from an estate sale. It is an exLSWR Diag 1410 van. These vans were built between 1899 and 1912. Some had wood underframes and some steel ones. Ten similar vans were built for the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway, but without the end vents, these were fitted later.

Not that it makes any difference to the excellence of the work but I don't think ABS made the kit - most probably a David Geen product.

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Guest Jack Benson
10 minutes ago, Nick Holliday said:

Not that it makes any difference to the excellence of the work but I don't think ABS made the kit - most probably a David Geen product.

It could be but it was labelled as such.

 

Not a problem, as some DG and ABS kits are somewhat rare and the 1410 will compliment the 1409 that sits on the layout.

 

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I've had a look at that once or twice, I like the simplicity of the design.

 

I hope Artitec are OK, a lot of their stuff seems to be out of stock, including most of the buildings.

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On 06/12/2021 at 22:37, Jack Benson said:

This looks both familiar and interesting, a warehouse from Artitec models in the Nederlands. It is reminiscent of the Ministry of Supply buffer store on the S&DJR at Burgate just outside Fordingbridge.j
 

StaySafe 

 

08E769CD-0F12-45BE-96AD-891DAD30BECB.jpeg.d3979469b7686c52c3a64f511caff0da.jpeg

The sort of building that wouldn't look out of place on almost any continent. What is the footprint? I would like to see if I have room for it in Lucyville.

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Guest Jack Benson
1 hour ago, JZ said:

The sort of building that wouldn't look out of place on almost any continent. What is the footprint? I would like to see if I have room for it in Lucyville.

Finding a kit might be a tad difficult, this was NOS and out of production since pontius was at flying school.  Try this link for more info

 

StaySafe

 

 

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Guest Jack Benson

The ultimate conceit

My first exposure to railways was at West Wickham* whilst sat in a pushchair. Our home was opposite the the Hayes line cutting and a path ran down to the local shops. Looking at the trains seemed to be more entertaing than the rattle bought at Gamages.

 

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The odd pressed steel pushchair was rather popular in the early '50s, mother was quite small and petite and that blue blob would be me. Naturally, the figures are on the platform at Beaminster Road.

 

*where I saw my first loco, a Charlie, as recorded by Dad

 

StaySafe

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