dseagull Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I see on the excellent Loco Shed Allocations website that Tunbridge Wells West was allocated some M7's in the 1955-59 period. I've seen pictures of them on Oxted services, but does anyone know if they worked down the Cuckoo Line? Also - looking on SEMG gives me a couple of absolutley legitimate coach sets for the line (on which my 'Horsebridge' layout is set. However, they are either too early or too late for my planned mid-50's period, looking at dates (or not available in the case of the ex-LSWR set). Can anyone suggest a suitable 'representative' 2-3 coach set (types rather than numbers are the priority, but if anyone does have any old notebooks to hand, that would be even better!) that I can make up out of, in the first instance, what is available RTR (00 Gauge). Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 22, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 22, 2012 'fraid the only images I have seen of loco-haluage on the Cuckoo (Eridge - Polegate) feature BR standard types on what appear to be Mk1 coach rakes in the latter days of the route but I would expect M7s would have got there at some time. Both might just fall within the 1955-9 timeframe however. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Hi As far as I can tell from my own 'archive' for Eridge of trains that would have passed through there M7s never made it to the Cuckoo Line. They were almost exclusively for the East Grinstead and Three Bridges services from TWW. On the Cuckoo Line though you could expect BR and Fairburn 2-6-4Ts, H 0-4-4Ts and various others. If Horsebridge is between Hailsham and Polegate you can have light pacifics on one-coach trains as I'm sure you know. Coaching stock from RTR sources - Maunsell 3-sets and occasional 4-sets (although many were Restriction 1, some Restriction 4s on this line though), Maunsell P-P sets when they come out, Mk1 and Bulleid 3-sets (BTK-CK-BTK). A lot of Birdcage sets and other pre-Group coaches which you can't get RTR. Have you got this book - The District Controller's View – 1950s BR steam operating No.15 Tunbridge Wells West & East Sussex, Xpress Publishing? Will tell you much of what you need to know. If you PM me your email address I can send you a copy of my 'archive' for Eridge which catalogues relevant photos in the books and magazines I have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RFS Posted February 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 22, 2012 There are a number of archive films featuring the Cuckoo Line here - http://www.youtube.com/user/SouthernRailwayFilms . These may provide the evidence you are looking for. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 22, 2012 As 10800 has said, the chances are not, or at least not at all regularly. The book he quotes - I bought my copy last Saturday - makes it clear that the M7s were drafted in in 1955 to suit a revised WTT that re-introduced "motor trains" or pull-push working to the Oxted group of lines - and these were not usual on the Cuckoo. Thus the M7s would have been motor-fitted, with additional gubbins (railway technical term) on the front of the engine, which Hornby make a fair job of reproducing on some of their M7 offering. They certainly performed other duties, but so far no sign of a Cuckoo working. A quick look through Elliott's "Cuckoo Line" reveals no pictures, either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Not necessarily on the Cuckoo line, but did the M7's ever run with just a single coach in push/pull mode? I've looked through all my books and can only find two-coach sets. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine coast Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 The only knowledge I have of an M7 anywhere near the Cuckoo line is a photo of one going through Polegate with a "theatre scenery train" towards Eastbourne..but not off the Cuckoo branch .....as usual I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it ... Regards Trevor .... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 22, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 22, 2012 There were, I believe, push-pull working Eastbourne - Hailsham from time to time and long before that place was the temporary end of the line. But Eastbourne didn't have M7s that I am aware of. Anything coming onto the northern end with motive power from TWW shed might have had an M7 but from all the comments and evidence presented it seems unlikely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 22, 2012 Not necessarily on the Cuckoo line, but did the M7's ever run with just a single coach in push/pull mode? I've looked through all my books and can only find two-coach sets. Not on a widespread basis that I have found, but there were a few. In the early '50s the Midhurst - Petersfield shuttle was just so. As a rule the Southern specialised in having passenger stock in fixed sets, and these were vehicles thrown up by re-formings. Pre-grouping services on SECR and LBSCR included locos running between a pair or pairs of coaches, but not so in SR days, or Southern Region. Just thumbing through Mike King's work on Southern Pull-Push Stock he notes there were Pull-Push workings Eastbourne - Heathfield - Tun Wells, but his footnote states that not all journeys traversed the entire route, so the OP has half a story there. Edited to include the post to which I was actually replying! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dseagull Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Wow! - Wasn't expecting quite so many responses so quickly - many thanks all! I have the AC Elliott book and couldn't see any in there, so it was just a thought for a bit of variety. Answers to specific posts: 10800 - No, not got that book but will look out for it, thanks! - You have a PM. Horsebridge (In Reality) is between Hailsham and Hellingly, and as it didn't have a station in reality, I have chosen to give it one as it would give a smoother curve to Hellingly Hospital (and no station on the line fits in scale into the space I have available)! - The information on plausible 'representative' rakes of coaches is very helpful too RFS - Many thanks, I have seen those videos which are certainly very nice, but I struggle to identify exact coach types from photos/video. More experience needed here! Sunshine Coast - Thanks Trev, I wondered if you would have seen anything at the Polegate end. Further to this, next time your reps come in, tell them mine's an H Class Olddudders - Thanks, I think this is one type I can cross off the list then! - Even if they could have feasibly come on at the northern end, the chances of them working so far south would have been remote, especially as Eastbourne never an an allocation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dseagull Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 Just come across something interesting tonight. Not sure how I missed it first time round! - Funny what you can find when you aren't looking for something! (Was actually looking for more photos of the goods lockup on Horam station platform with a view to modelling it!) http://www.bluebell-railway-museum.co.uk/archive/photos/jjs/b07/7-53-3.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Good find! That's a justification for using an M7 on Eridge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Just come across something interesting tonight. Not sure how I missed it first time round! - Funny what you can find when you aren't looking for something! (Was actually looking for more photos of the goods lockup on Horam station platform with a view to modelling it!) http://www.bluebell-railway-museum.co.uk/archive/photos/jjs/b07/7-53-3.htm Stu, I think that might be wrongly titled, the ground on the left is wrong for south of Hellingly as there was a goods yard in that location and the bridge doesn't look quite right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 A quick comment on Rod's post. Originally the Southern Railway had quite a few locations which permitted Restriction 1 stock only, so built quite a few 4 coach sets of 8' 6" width. As time went on, most of these restrictions were lifted, leaving a few in the Tonbridge Wells area (plus the line from Wadhurst to St Leonards at Restriction 0). However the Southern Region coaching stock ran in a complex cyclical pattern; therefore any sets which were required to run between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells would be Restriction 1, even if most of their work was (say) between Reading and Redhill. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 Further to my post #13 check out the pics on here http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hellingly/index1.shtml there are a couple that are from a similar angle and you can clearly see that the house in the Bluebell Museum photo isn't there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 4, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 4, 2013 Further to my post #13 check out the pics on here http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/hellingly/index1.shtml there are a couple that are from a similar angle and you can clearly see that the house in the Bluebell Museum photo isn't there. There is also the small matter of the train heading for Eastbourne. Since the overbridge at Hellingly is to the north of the station, it would be heading away from Eastbourne. I do wonder whether the train has just left Rudgwick, on the Horsham-Guildford line, which has the same headcode and a similar overbridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted April 4, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 4, 2013 There is also the small matter of the train heading for Eastbourne. Since the overbridge at Hellingly is to the north of the station, it would be heading away from Eastbourne. I do wonder whether the train has just left Rudgwick, on the Horsham-Guildford line, which has the same headcode and a similar overbridge. Anyone know where 30031 was based at the time he phot was taken? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I emailed the Bluebell Museum on this matter and below is their response note1.txt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted April 4, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 4, 2013 46 years ago I could have asked John Smid (his real name) as we shared an office - he was senior, I the office boy - but sadly.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dseagull Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 Cheers for that Kev - Funnily enough I was looking at the photo again last night, and comparing it with photos of Hellingly in the Elliott book, and wasn't sure if it looked quite right... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 I have had a further email from Tony hillman that clarifies the situation note2.txt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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