GreenGiraffe22

Just wanted to share some photos I took today after having a good change up of the traffic running on my layout. This goods train (minus the brake van) is made entirely of Dapol wagons, at least half of which are special commissions from Simply Southern http://www.simplysouthern.co.uk/ My M7 & E4 I think my Hornby platforms look really naff, even after painting them to make them look a little less plastic, and they don't really fit properly against my design either, especially on the curve, passengers will have to mind the MASSIVE gap haha, my partner wants to try carving some from polystyrene. Also thinking about getting Bachmann's new C Class no. 1294, I think the 2 will look really good running together on heavy military goods trains, plus I love the locomotive, my favourite next to my E4. I want to go over the weathering on it, the clear varnish I had ran out as I was spraying it and it left it looking a bit blotted My T9 in the coal loading bay, this area needs some work. My Schools on goods

I'd quite like a new super detail version of their E2

I've weathered up my T9 now, I've got some brass headcode discs from Roxy moldings, I just need to paint them white and stick them on. There isn't much skill involved in my weathering, I just mixed up Humbrol weathering powders, mainly white and black with a bit of Oxide along the bottom, and just slap it on with a paint brush!

Many thanks! I'll check them out

Thanks again! I'll have to alter mine, are your letters and numbers hand painted or are they transfers? I've got some Bullied transfers but they're really too big for a terrier, can you point me in the direction of where I could get some to fit a Terrier, if any exist?

Thanks Graham, I'd attempt myself but I don't have that sort of skill level just yet, I don't want to go and ruin it. Slightly off topic but on sunshine livery for Terriers, should they be the same format - Southern on tanks and number on cab? Because the number decals I've got don't look like they'd fit on the cab so I put them under the 'Southern' on the tanks, but a limited edition Dapol released suggested the number should be on the cab, and the font looks a lot smaller.

Your E4 looks so fantastic!!! With regards to numbering, I think I'm going to send off no. 473 to be renumbered to 2473, is it just a case of renumbering or were there subtle livery changes aswell?

Wanted to join in the E4 discussion as it is probably my favourite loco on my layout followed closely by my C Class. It runs SO smoothly and it looks beautiful, I have the Southern livery one, I'd wanted one from the moment they were announced but only had the funds to get one recently, couldn't resist when I saw them listed for £80 on ehattons, I'd love to do an LBSC layout with one in the future too. Now, when I built my model railway I had no idea that radius 1 curves were incomparable with almost everything these days, but all the time I have such a small space i dont have much choice, my current layout is mainly just to practice on anyway, but it is a lesson learnt for the future, the E4 can make it round them in reverse however, so it isn't the end of the world. EDIT: it is only my inner tracks that have radius ones, everything seems fine on the outer circuit I will definitely be getting no .2517 when that is released, I was rather hoping they'd release one in sunshine livery as that would be more appropriate for my WW2 layout, perhaps they will next year? I suppose if they don't, an early BR one would be an easy repaint? I love the discs it came with too and have used some of them on my M7 too, I just wish Bachmann sold them separately because I want more! I did read through most of this thread, am I right in thinking that it is modelled as it was in the 1930s and not as it is today?

Thank you Gary, and I know, sometimes I wish I'd set my layout in the 20s/30s because it'd be a damn sight easier, having said that I would like to maybe have a small LBSC/SECR layout at some point, but that's for another day! From what I can gather about WW2 it seems a case of almost anything goes... It seems like anything could end up anywhere for the war effort! My Mallard & Flying Scotsman do make an appearance occasionally but that is just for fun ;]

I hadn't thought of that, however I did manage to find some etched in brass that were only £2.50 for a pack of 16 so I'm going to try them out. And that is good to know, I did read that the MNs were rolled out in Malachite but I get so confused reading articles about liveries, The previous Schools I had was Hornby's 'Stowe', well, I say had, I've still got it for now in a box, but that looks to be in a short lived experimental green that was ditched in favour of Malachite (unless it is a general green produced by Hornby before they became more livery-accurate?), and (if I want to be super anal about accuracy) I read that the real 'Stowe' was painted black in 1942 anyway haha. In any case, I personally really like the black liveries anyway, I think they look really smart and they weather up really nicely without me feeling guilty about ruining beautiful, intricate pre-war liveries haha.

very pleased with my latest addition to the layout, a Hornby T9 I managed to swipe off ebay mint in box for a mere £65, it must have slipped under the radar because I haven't seen one go for less than £80 in a very long time, I knew I'd get a bargain if I waited patiently enough! I just need to weather it up and add couplings and head code discs. Incidentally, can anyone point me in the direction of a company that sells head code discs? I thought Bachmann might as their E4 comes with 5 but apparently not... ?

Thank you! Yes I too enjoy doing the research, research has frequently saved me from spending lots of money on unsuitable things too haha. I am slowly getting around to weathering up everything, it is easy enough, just gotta be in the mood for it. It certainly makes them look a lot less like toys and more like accurate scale replicas of a period in time.

Thanks John, I am trying to make it as accurate as I can, but as you say, I'm certainly not counting rivets, as long as people could accurately guess the location and era based on what they can see, then I'm happy! I've done a degree research but there seems to be so little detailed writings about the railways during the war, but I've gathered what info I can, what locos were introduced and when and what liveries are and aren't appropriate, I very nearly pre-ordered one of Model Rail Offer's USA tanks in SR Black before I found out we didn't actually start using them till after the war - shame, but saved myself £124. I'm always learning new things, at first I thought all my engines had to be black, then I found out some never got repainted from olive, and then I had a schools class that was actually in a post-war livery but I soon replaced it with a black one I found haha. Details like that are the ones I'm most anal about. My E4, for example, should probably technically be no.2473 by this period in time, and it may yet become no. 2473 one day! The layout was originally set in the summer of 1940, but I really wanted a Q1 as it is such an iconic Southern war loco, so I brought it forward a couple of years! As for a back-drop, I would love to have one, but I think I shall wait itll I've got my own place, the sloping wall towards the back of my layout makes it a bit awkward too.

I don't know much about how wounded troops were transported about, but today I put something together that is supposed to represent a train that might have met wounded soliders upon arrival back this side of the channel. I don't know how accurate the ambulance carriage is but I found it on ebay ages ago that someone had repainted and thought it looked good. I presume PLVs would have been useful for medical and / or military supplies, the 3rd class carriage is for the lesser-wounded soliders.

Thank you! Yeah my dad was always the one that did the building and the electrifying and all that, I just did the playing, it is about time I learnt haha. Yes I have checked out Rowland's Castle and drooled with envy, that is pretty much what my modelling goals are! And I have considered a third rail, definitely one for the future layout ! Which I'm planning as being more of a straight line with a fiddlers yard each end, and probably a shunting yard somewhere. I have many ideas!

Hello, I posted a thread, here's the link http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/110498-wartime-sussex-1943ish/

Hello all, I'm Matt, I just joined this forum today as it looked like an excellent place to gain ideas, inspiration and knowledge! I've been collecting model trains since I was a baby (I'm 24 now) although until the past year I'd always collected all sorts - nothing specific - just whatever I could find cheap second hand and I never really bothered much with scenery. Only in the past year or so have I decided to sell off most of my collection of odds and ends (aside from things of sentimental value) and do a proper theme. Being both Brighton born and bred and a train enthusiast I've always been interested in the history of railways local to me, I used to volunteer at the Bluebell Railway when I was 12-14 ish and had my First cab ride in their E4, I've also always been really interested in WW2 so I've combined both interests and tried to create a representation of Sussex during World War Two. It has been a difficult era to research, I so far haven't been able to find an awful lot of information or photos, only that passengers services decreased while goods increased.. and everything was very dirty. My current layout is just a small ish circuit layout in the corner of a room at my parents house, I am currently in the process of slowly saving for a mortgage so until I have my own place to do something bigger and better, I'm using this layout to practise on. It's not supposed to be anywhere overly specific, just general East Sussex, probably somewhere between Brighton & Eastbourne. I tell you, this layout has been a massive learning curve for what not to do in the future, for example, avoid radius 1 curves like the plague and most definitely invest in some new points because most of mine are very temperamental and probably as old as I am. Anyway here are some photos I took today, feed back and or constructive criticism is very welcome! My partner deserves a lot of credit for the scenery including the farm field & crashed Messerschmitt. This is a general view of the whole thing I found these wagons on ebay, I assume they are scratch built? A wounded soldier being carried to a waiting ambulance The no. 12 in Waritme livery one end of my Station, in one platform Hornby's 2Bil and the other Hornby's Earlswood Terrier re-painted into the Terrier that went on to become Brighton Works, I don't know if the real one ever carried sunshine livery but hey ho, also, can someone tell me, am I right in putting the numbers on the tanks or should they be on the cab? They didn't look like they'd fit on the cab... it is still a work in progress anyway, I'd like less rust and more soot on the weathering. Also an ambulance carriage next to it that I found on ebay. I'm quite proud of this Spitfire load I made, it is an Airfix model I had lying around and an old necklace for chains. The other end of the station, my weathered Q1 on military goods. Weathered Bachmann C Class with Brighton wagons from Simply Southern Various Southern wagons in the yard The coal loading yard, I actually weathered the Hornby Schools Class today! Another view of the Coal yard, the turntable in the background is left over from the previous layout, I'm not really using it at the moment, in any case it isn't electrified at the moment either and the siding coming off it are barely big enough for my terrier let alone anything else, can see my rather rusty looking E2 on one of them. My weathered Hornby M7, for a £117 model it has a very noisy and weak motor, quite disappointing but it does the job on 2-carriage services. My E4 with with coal wagons and a rake of southern coaches in a siding, they'll all be weathered eventually. I figured my E4 would probably be more accurate if it was numbered 2473, thinking of getting it sent off to be professionally re-numbered, black engines are easy but I'd rather not wreck that one, I'd like to keep it pristine. I'm thinking of getting an early BR one to convert to Sunshine livery, will definitely be buying Bachmann's new one no. 2517. The crashed Me. 109, I think this is my favourite piece of scenery on the layout! The field in the other corner. And finally, another bit of scenery that suggests there is a war on.

Hello all, I've just joined up here as it seems like it'll be a better place to get specific Southern Railway modelling info rather than over at the Hornby forum. Anyway, my layout, I suppose you could call it "Wartime Sussex" is a 00 gauge layout themed on East Sussex in roughly 1943, whilst I am living at my parents' house saving slowly for a mortgage, it is just a smallish layout in the corner of a room that I'm using the practise scenery and weathering etc on, but I've got much bigger plans for when I have my own place! I can upload some photos here if people are interested to see