TJ52

Well, the photo is credited to the Brighton Toy and Train Museum - doesn't explain why a 'toy' train is posed on a finescale layout though!

Was this you?

 

No, I was fatter than that!

Terry

There were various AA batteries around the Sutton/Cheam/Carshalton/Mitcham area during the war and at at least one gun that travelled on the Wimbledon-Sutton line at night if I understand it properly. By Mitcham Junction station there was an AA battery of (I think) six guns. As a youngster in the 1960s we used to play in the concrete gun emplacements and watch the trains.

Terry

As it's a Western region layout why not check out Uxbridge Vine St for some ideas?

In An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations there are a couple of signalling diagrams and a detailed survey from 1942. The text suggests that goods traffic was never of much importance and was largely coal, though there is a loading dock at the end of one siding that could have handled livestock etc.

Terry

Egginton, Derbys

 

Manually operated gated crossing in regular use (at least twice hourly) on Derby to Uttoxeter line.

 

Note gates are truly manual (pic 2) and they close only to one side for the railway.

 

http://legacymedia.localworld.co.uk/276452/Article/images/21520173/1258825-large.jpg

 

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8893/18178190676_500863bbf1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Edit: added 'y' to create 'they'

Plumpton only lost its gates in the last few months. There was a row over replacing them, the crossing was closed and the village cut in two for several weeks.

Terry

Pete, as the first barrier crossings were introduced in the 1960s there is no reason for you to use gates. I clearly remember using West Barnes Lane crossing near Raynes Park in the 1970s and it was a barrier crossing with flashing lights.

Terry

Was it really??? Oh dear... that's my memory screwed, then!

They ran every hour on Sundays Pete - perhaps that's when you saw them!

1000 posts, Russ? What on earth have we all waffled on about to get this far??? I pity anyone trying to read this from the beginning. I reckon they'd give up!

 

 

I already had a go at that Matthew. I freelanced Waddon Marsh and even put in the gasworks incline. It didn't get finished though (see below). West Croydon - Wimbledon as inspiration, certainly. Just a station, no industry. A 12" wide board, a short island platform with one end hidden by a station building on a road overbridge. Never done a micro before... might be a fun little project.

 

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Hi Pete. I grew up in Carshalton and I've always been fascinated by the Wimbledon-West Croydon line and the Merton loop lines. When I was young my friend and I used to cycle to Mitcham Junction where we could play on the site of WW2 anti aircraft gun emplacements. It was an ideal place to watch trains and we always liked to see the single line token being handed over. Unlike you I've kept my Middleton Press books and still have the occasional flick through them.

There seems to have been another similar on the Clacton line . I suspect that the first Modernisation Plan 25kV electrifcations drew on available SReg practice - Gerry Fiennes complained about having Eastleigh-style slam-door stock imposed on the GE instead of 306 style sliding doors

The footbridge at Silverton is not the same as the one in my book, so it's a recent addition. I've had another look at my book and there is a suspiciously Southern type footbridge at Ockenden too (Sept 1958) so it does seem as if BR looked at the stuff coming out of Eastleigh or Exeter or wherever and decided that it was cost effective. Just shows that the Southern was ahead of the game!

I've made up the basic landform shape of the rest of the walkway sloping gently down to platform level. 50mm Knaufboard foam insulation - handy stuff to have around. Carved with a steak knife then roughly sanded with some 120 grit paper (wear a mask). I've tried to include a shot of the whole layout showing the camera-shy 3rd board which hasn't even had the track ballasted yet. Apologies for the brightness in the pictures. Costa Del Norfolk today.

 

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Now, a question for the East End history buffs amongst you... jonny777 uploaded a trolleybus film a while back "East End Trollies" and part of the film features Stratford to North Woolwich and shows, amongst other locations, Silvertown. I've pinched a still (below). Is it just me or does that look like part of a pre-cast concrete footbridge? Think "Ratio SR footbridge" kit. I'd assumed (probably naively) that things like concrete footbridges and those pre-cast concrete fence panel sections were a purely Southern Region thing. If I turn Limehouse into a through station with a small extension board, passengers will be able to cross the line using the road/level crossing by the station, but would there have been a footbridge too? If so, would the Ratio footbridge kit look wrong? The still from the movie would suggest otherwise. I'm still pondering what to do about the station, so thoughts are more than welcome. Another classic example of "making this up as I go along". I'll never learn!

 

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Hi Pete. I too am most comfortable with all things south of the river. However, one of the many railway books on my shelves is 'Railways in and around London Then and Now' by John Glover. In that there is a photo of Silvertown station in March 1977 with a concrete footbridge, Grays in November 1980 and Pitsea in May 1980. They all look very much like the Southern ones to my untutored eye.

Cheers,

Terry

For 7mm LSWR signals a search on the Gauge 0 Guild website shows parts from Roxey, MSE and Lasercaft Devon.