South Western Main Line Working Info

[kaiwhara]

Hi All

 

I am tentatively looking at options for several locations to model on the South Western Main Line in N Scale, most likely centered on the Sectorised period as that was when I grew up in the area (I lived in Winchester till age 6, then shifted to New Zealand where I have been ever since). I now work as a Locomotive Engineer for Kiwirail in Auckland, New Zealand, having spent several years working in various Metro Area Signal Boxes before their closure.

 

I am trying to find out as much about the working of trains through this period, and have managed to aquire a Passenger WG section WTT from 1993 (I think, it's downstairs while I rebuild the Kitchen) which is good in giving detailed operational information from that time, but doesn't go into detail on what stock formations I could expect to see on particular services, nor gives any information on what I could expect to see in the way of freights. Sadly my childhood memory doesn't serve me with much more than Slam Door EMU's (I didn't know there was more that one type till several years after I left the country), Wessex Electrics, HST's, and the odd loco, but not what the were hauling.

 

Seeing as it is a little hard to get Print information here - or specifically where to look for it, I am wondering what everyone else has in the way of operational information for this area, particularly west of Woking.

 

Thanks in advance

[Ceptic]

Hi Kaiwhara, and welcome to RMweb.

 

Your question, regarding working of trains, throughout the NSE years, "Everything and Anything",. covers quite a time period.

 

Furthermore...West of Woking covers quite a large area / section / options.

 

Fer instance...the 'Pompey Direct';,...the Southampton, Bournemouth, Weymouth, the Salisbury and Exeter.(and beyond)

 

..This raises several questions, if not, more.

 

First off....What is your available modelling space ?

 

....What variations of NSE traffic are you / do you prefer, modelling ?.

Loco hauled, passenger / freight ?, ..EMUs ?

 

What sort of scenario are you looking to model ?..MPD ?...Mainline station?...Country backwater ?.

 

For prototype practices, this thread would be a good place to start,..

http://www.rmweb.co....n-photos-1980s/

 

For working timetables, there are a number of relevant publications available. ..It,. really just pays to look... or...I can look for you ?

 

Regards.

[PaulRhB]

As Ceptic says a little more specific in the locations you might model and it will be a lot easier to suggest traffic. Freight especially is only going to be seen between certain locations,Eastleigh is the major hub, so for instance West of Woking as you put it, Freightliners Soton- Basingstoke, Oil - Fawley to Holybourne, plus to Western via Salisbury, MOD traffic between Marchwood, Eastleigh Andover and Didcot. Engineers traffic densest around Eastliegh but heading in all directions. There's also all the stone traffic and then all the other docks traffic from Southampton. Poole Cement, Furzebrook Oil and LPG, etc etc

I'd also suggest looking up Nevardmedia on Flickr and the rest of Flickr as many who lost albums on fotopic moved them there.

It's also worth searching for dvd's from the era, see the two vintage Wessex titles from Nigel Crow here http://www.m-s-i-m.co.uk/dvd.htm

[kaiwhara]

Hi, thanks for the responses, and thank you for asking questions as that hopefully will narrow things down a little.

 

Realising I am spanning quite a time period, I am looking to run more or less down the middle between the REP/442 and Loco Hauled/159 transition periods, in the hope to justifyably switch either side as I feel at the time. I lived in Winchester from 1990 - 1993 so what limited memory I have is around that period. I do remember most things, but sadly was really a little too young to know or understand what I was looking at.

 

The modelling space I have available is penciled in at 4.8m x 1.2m but can be streched or moulded in both directions as a plan gets finalised. First and foremost theme would have to be "on the juice", mainline station preferable, but with the research I have done I am slowly narrowing down to Basingstoke (for variety in traffic and because the movements through is are "fiddly), and Southampton Central (Again because its Fiddly). Southampton is one area Ive got several ideas that I am toying with, lay it down as it is, or redesign the station with a little moddlers license (compromises will need to be made there). I have ruled out the West of England and Pompey area's on the above basis. I also realise both are big stations, so this isn't going to be a short term project!

 

If I were to be honest with myself I am leaning more towards Basingstoke, and am not terribly fussed if I have to model only one end of the station due to space - in which case the London End is the end to be building because of the Junction. As for Freight, would like to try to stick to what actually did pass through these areas, but of course that really depends what stock is available. Bit more research to be done on the Freight side.

 

In terms of publications, I guess the hardest thing is knowing where to look. I am quite prepared to buy items that are going to be of use, particularly as I live Down Under as it were. I managed to get my hands on the Passenger WG section WTT dated 4 Oct 1993 - 28 May 1994, which is an excellent source if information, but isn't the full picture as such so there are still bits missing. Additionally, it doesn't cover Reading to Basingstoke which makes that bit hard to figure out.

 

I managed to stumble across that 1980's Southern Thread this afternoon local time which was incredibly useful, and that DVD link looks worth trying. Thank you for these

 

Any other questions, please ask!

 

Cheers

 

Andrew

[woodyfox]

I was a Driver on this route during the period in question. One interesting working during the REP/442 changeover was double heading with 73's on the 91's (fast Weymouth) using 8TC (2x4) for coaching stock while the 442 teething problems were sorted. Usually pushing from London (IIRC). At this time many freight workings used class 37's, usually ex Cardiff but with surplus Yorkshire coal engines on weekend engineering etc... 47's were mainly used on Freightliner and oil trains and 33's were by this time mainly for civil engineer's workings. This was also the end of the speedlink workings with Ford Transits going to Dagenham etc...

 

HTH

 

Stu