bécasse

It was definitely circa 1959 (might have been 1960 but no later) and so much work was done - if there were a dozen new yellow signals, there have to have been several score red ones - that it must have resulted from a diktat, there just wasn't enough money floating around for it to have been a "new Chief's whim". I agree that BRB diktats on signalling generally don't seem to have been taken on board by the Southern before about 1965/6 (and some, AWS for example, were resisted for far longer) although the 1959 Kent Coast resignalling did see position light subs rather than motorised floodlit discs (which were still being installed by LT so it wasn't a supply issue). Perhaps, it resulted from an Inspecting Officer's "recommendation" after an incident somewhere, although the use of dollies as section signals (where appropriate) went back to LSWR days.

I reckon that there must have been a specific instruction on the subject from the BRB c1959 because on the Southern, at least, a lot of dollies giving direct access from sidings to a block section were replaced by semaphores (with short, subsidiary, arms), while these were mainly red there were at least a dozen examples of yellow arms where yellow discs had existed previously. This obviously only happened where there was no advanced starting signal, but it was a lot cheaper to replace a dolly with a semaphore (no changes to the locking being required) than to install a new advanced starting signal (which would have required an extra lever and at least some changes to the locking). Ironically, almost all the locations where the change was made became redundant within a couple of years or so as local goods yards closed.

When you say former LBSCR branch, what period are you actually modelling as I think that a lot of the original (unwieldy) ETS equipment got replaced, either by METS or tokens, although I seem to recollect at least one ETS installation was still in use on the West Croydon-Wimbledon line well into the BR era. There are photos and some drawings in the late George Pryer's "A Pictorial Record of Southern Signals", although no dimensions are given these wouldn't be difficult to estimate - and I reckon that one could knock a fair representation using plasticard in an afternoon. They were painted signal red.

Even that isn't right. They were surplus all-steel SUB motor coaches, heavily modified along their length, although with most windows retained, and with new steel panels with EPB-style sliding windows (but set marginally lower) replacing the SUB driver's doors. A new head code panel was welded in, too, to replace the former SUB ones. The interior of each car was dramatically changed, including the driver's cab, and EPB braking was fitted.

Using different solders with a variety of melting points I find that setting the bit temperature of a temperature-controlled iron to about 100°C above the relevant melting point is a good norm, although there will be occasions when you need to set a temperature higher or lower than that. Given their low cost relative to the cost of a temperature-controlled set up, I also recommend buying a complete set of different size bits, typically there are six of them for an Antex iron. Although there are unlikely to be many occasions when you need the larger bits for 2FS work, if you do need a large bit for a particular job it will enable you to complete the soldering (or unsoldering!) without overheating the job. Incidentally, you can also use a temperature-controlled iron to "weld" thermoplastics, sometimes useful in modelling but even more useful in repairing full size thermoplastic tools and the like.

The GW clerestories, or at least their carriage sides, will convert readily into ex-LBSCR (non-Balloon) pull and push sets as the panelling is remarkably similar. They are a poor basis for creating ex-LSWR or ex-SECR sets but that isn't a real problem as the pull and push sets moved round the whole Southern system far more than any of the other acquired carriages did. Pull and push conversions cost money and thus each conversion was intended to fulfil a specific, and justified, need, with the most suitable surplus stock (and usually that with the lowest book value) chosen for conversion. The SR standardised on the ex-LBSCR air control system for pull and push trains from the beginning of the 1930s and the four-window driving cab end became pretty much the standard at the same time (although there were already some examples in use). You really need to read Mike King's book on the subject to understand the development of the pull and push units on the Southern Railway (and Region) - it is full of drawings and photographs too.

It was blanked off, probably with just a piece of steel sheet the same size as the glass would have been. As I said, it wasn't unusual to find them without glass (or even a blanking sheet) in the green lens.

You can use Colin Waite (or similar) etched fishplates but soldered to only one, not both, of the rails, obviously leaving a sufficient expansion gap. This leaves the non-soldered rail free to move to and fro between the fishplates as it expands and contracts with the ambient temperature. You will need to provide a direct electrical supply to every length of rail as you obviously can't rely on the fishplates for electrical continuity, but that is good practice anyway.

Generally, as Mike Hughes infers, they looked just like worked distants but usually without the wherewithal to work them, they could though have lamp-proving circuitry if they weren't visible from the signal box. They could have wooden, lattice, concrete or rail-built posts depending on when the post was built, and, of course, could have upper (from c1930) or lower quadrant arms. Spectacle plates often had no green glass and, in some cases, there was no yellow glass either and the signal lamp had a clear yellow lens instead. At the approach to terminal stations on single lines which had no signals (and the SR removed signals from such locations wherever possible in the 1920s/1930s as an economy measure) a yellow marker light would be provided - effectively a distant signal without the arm but with a lamp with a clear yellow lens. Similar marker lights were often provided for unsignalled stations on both single and double line routes where the location wasn't obvious after darkness fell, but such marker lights displayed a white light, their lens glasses being uncoloured.

I would have to say that, looking at that three-set, the only thing that suggests to me that it might represent ex-LSWR vehicles would be the roof profile and even that I don't think quite captures the "bulbous" effect that LSWR roofs had. The carriage sides look much more Brighton but aren't laid out in a way that would suggest a Brighton set, and, of course, it clearly isn't a SECR set. When I was young the local railway was well served by "3-SUB" electric units expanded to 4-SUBs by the addition of an all-steel trailer. There was quite a variety of these units as they had been produced economically by putting rejigged pre-grouping wooden bodies on new underframes. Even I as a youngster in short trousers could tell instantly which of the three Southern constituents had built the bodies that had gone into any particular set, they were that distinctive. The same was equally true of steam-worked pull-and-push sets (where there were a few of obvious mixed origin).

On the "traditional" passenger railway facing points were never put in gratuitously, not least because they cost more in both first cost and maintenance than trailing points, but also because they were frowned on by the BoT/MoT and the Inspecting Officer would require an explanation before approving the track layout (as required by the 1889 Act). Failure to convince the Inspecting Officer of the need for a facing connection would almost certainly lead to a refusal to approve the layout.

OO gauge modellers are actually most unfortunate because Wills "roof slate" doesn't resemble roof slate at all. It might just, per chance, resemble a few of the roofs covered in stone flags but for most of those it would be a poor representation too. Fortunately Slaters' roof slates are available in 4mm as well as 2mm scale and are actually quite a good representation of the real thing. Real slates are only a few millimetres thick and so a slate roof in good condition appears to be almost flat with overlaps difficult to see even when viewed edge on. The most common slate size was Countess 10" x 20" but with the necessary lapping (the actual degree of lap varies slightly according to the slope of the roof, the typical annual rainfall at the location, and the extent to which the roof is potentially exposed to extreme weather conditions) typically only 10" x 8" of each slate is visible. Incidentally Wills plain roof tiles are equally useless for 4mm scale modellers but are fortuitously very close to scale (just under actually) for 7mm. Oh, and if either the original highly-skilled slaters who laid the slates on the original roof back in the 1880s, or the slate workers who produced the slates from the raw, heard your description of the rough hand cut of the original build, I suspect that you would in fear of your life. Victorian workmen were highly skilled, despite exploitation by their bosses, and proud of the work they did. "Anything will do" didn't become a British "trade mark" until the 1950s.

Out of copyright in May 2023, seventy years after first publication.

When the need for traditional goods yards largely died out, typically in the mid to late 1960s, some were certainly retained for engineer's use and, given that in many places the engineer only needed short sidings and that there was pressure to release land for other uses - car parking and/or redevelopment, it was unusual for the retained sidings to be significantly truncated/rationalised. The short sidings proposed here certainly wouldn't look out of place if the scenery was arranged in such a way as to make it look as if the yard had once been much larger but had been truncated - just a modern (for the 1980s) fence across the end might well be sufficient.

The Somerset Levels would have been significant producers of hydrogen sulphide (in addition to any gas works) so the resultant darkening effect may well have affected the Prussian Blue paintwork of locos and carriages allocated elsewhere than the Bath end of the line. The oily rags used to clean steam locomotives may well have produced a subtle tinting of the colour too, certainly the Southern Railway's white lining quickly turned a pale beige colour for the same reason - contemporary reports having been validated by experience with working preserved locos. Jerry's comment serves as a useful reminder that, although one thinks most of hydrogen sulphide darkening the white-leaded canvas of carriage and van roofs, it would have had an affect on coloured paint too - as would brake-block dust (although that would have been more important on Westinghouse-braked lines than vacuum-braked ones like the S&DJR).

Drawings being printed to the wrong scale (although usually less than 10% out) in model railway magazines is an occupational hazard brought about by printers not realising how important precise scaling is. I always check, the wheelbase is a good guide on locomotive drawings as it has usually been published somewhere as a dimension and is long, and visible, enough to be measurable with some degree of accuracy, but a quick check on height is advisable too as it is possible that "stretch" has taken place in one dimension but not another (and this will often be the case with photocopied drawings). With respect to the balance weights, I would be surprised if any of Don Townsley's Hunslet drawings were incorrect in this respect, given his professional background, but don't forget that the 16" Austerities were built by a number of builders and that, whilst they were all to the same spec, there are minor variations. Could this be one of them?

I wonder if one solution might be to cut up some sticky labels as richbrummitt suggests but to only place them every alternate plank, having already primed the metal. Then paint the area with a fairly thick paint which is left to dry very thoroughly before pulling the label strips back off (leaving alternate painted/primed-only "planks") and then paint the area again.

Not just a chance to show off their abilities, for skilled sign-writers it was almost certainly quicker and easier to paint the tare, which would have been different for every vehicle, by hand than to get out the relevant individual figure stencils. Rule number one of traditional railway work - do the job the easiest way (providing that that was safe, of course).

...... and, thirdly, which pre-grouping railway company is assumed to have owned the station. By and large, right up to the end of local freight services, stations, and especially terminal stations, were signalled in a way that was typical of their pre-grouping owner ....... and no other company. Generally, grouping and subsequently nationalisation brought (some) renewals and sometimes rationalisation to reduce operating costs, but the influence of the pre-grouping company remained clear to see and even renewals and rationalisation would have been typical of those applied to other lines of that company. Today's railway is very different but the massive changes have all taken place over the last few decades with a different type of distinctiveness largely relating to the era when modernisation occurred and the contractor who supplied the new signalling (if any) - and, since rationalisation/modernisation probably arrived in several different stages, there is often a rather different complex of overlapping styles apparent. However, with local freight sidings you are not modelling today's railway so that is all irrelevant, as almost certainly, would be colour light signals.

I did warn you! Those 1950s photos of Bridestowe show the station painted in chocolate and cream because at the time it fell within the commercial remit of the Western Region. Signs would have been chocolate and cream too. As you are aware, if it had been in Southern Railway or Southern Region colours the doors would have been all-green just as the paint specs show.

The motormen's cab front is from a 3-SUB (later 4-SUB) of LBSCR origin, the flat roof profile is quite distinctive. They were some of the last wooden SUBs to survive with a number of reformed (all wooden stock) sets numbered in the 45XX series, they finally disappeared, I think, with the service cuts implemented with the winter TT 1958/59.

The normal arrangements in such circumstances were to share the stock working on an alternate day basis. This was quite sensible because, if stock originated on its home territory on a Monday morning, it also finished there on a Saturday evening (and, of course, Tuesday and Thursday evenings). Any observed stock working of through trains would, of course, have been complicated by the fact that other portions were often included in the train for parts of the journey, and refreshment facility workings would have been made more complex by the need to match the provision every day and not just alternate days, and the fact that the two partners may not have had equivalent vehicles available. Sometimes provision of individual vehicles was linked to a desire to match vehicle mileage proportionally to the mileage of each company's track that the train traversed, although this was more often done as an accountancy exercise than a physical one.

I assure you that it did clear the locking and that the train was able to depart on its correct route well before any two minute delay device would have struck in. I thought at the time that it wasn't the first time that the bobby concerned had done it. It probably saved him from a Form 1 too, although it is possible that the train was wrongly described on the describer.

I am inclined to read the description as "Nr Munich", the nearest large German city to Austria, so not perhaps a bad fit with some of the rest of the collection (and also in English).

Conversation overheard: Driver to bobby - "Hallo signalman, driver of 2B13 standing at XX154 at xxx station. I have a green aspect without a feather and the road is set straight on, am I being required to divert?" Bobby to driver - "Sorry driver, my mistake, set the wrong road, go forward one coach length and then set back into the platform. That will clear the locking and I can reset the route immediately. Proceed as normal once you get the aspect and feather."