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One reason why I hold this photograph so dear is that I had no idea Guildford Yard stayed open so long. To my shame I was quite ignorant of it till I bought Hymans's book. Thanks for the links, Paul. I would dearly love models of those two ferry-vans you illustrate. I remember the huge 'VTG's at Crawley New Yard as a child when we whizzed past 'up to Town', and struggled to start scrap-building a model of the Interfrigo IWA to fix to a Hornby VIX chassis as a crude representation. Then I realised the roof would be a 'challenge'... Which manufacturer must we bribe for models of these?!? Like the 'Night Ferry', international wagons have such a romantic aura about them. Thanks to you all for all your contributions, and best wishes. Really must get back to the ironing now, or my colleagues will send me to Coventry for daring to appear in an un-ironed shirt.

It looks like a 2-door (from the two 'strips' along the cantrail) but wooden design. I thought they usually moved 'en bloc', so it is good to see one alone in a yard in traffic.

Dear Mr Kazmierczak, Thank you for your kind comments and continued interest. You raise some apposite points, of which I have only now started to experience the results. The idea was for me to reach into the hidden yard 'head shunt' under the viaduct station to feed in wagons from a side table, and even have a parallel track beside it (not connected) to store a second train on. Sadly, the house's waste down-pipe, against which the layout end abuts, makes this less accessable than hoped, and I am considering constructing a couple of four-foot 'cassettes' to store on a rack underneath. Fearful of my lack of wood-working abilities and their ungainly nature, instead I might just store the wagons separately, and take longer to assemble a new train. The lack of the run-round loop gives me an excuse to have a little shunter ('03'/'04'/'08'/'09') resident to 'flutter around' and assemble the wagons daily for the departure road: the fun bit I hope. Only when the layout was built, did I realise it would need two shunters, plus the train loco, to extract the wagons: whoops! Invoking more license, I will pretend there is a short (the shunter plus four wagons) run-round loop under the viaduct. The 'Hand of God' will be swapping the loco between train ends. I can just reach inelegantly into the viaduct with a card strip to uncouple the propelling loco. Your suggestion of a run-round loop on the two 'forward' sidings on the left is good. However, the plan was to have one of these occupied with a train ready for departure, and the nearest one for the 'arrival'. The resident shunting loco would then nip out from the warehouse siding, and pull off the back of the arriving train, ready-marshalled for the warehouse and minerals siding. The arriving loco would then shunt its remainder into the right-hand, general merchandise, sidings. Would the new run-round loop thus be 'blocked'? Does this sound 'realistic'? One needs this arrival and departure capacity somewhere, I think. I will have a ponder after posting this, needing some 'free space' to doodle the consequent operation of the yard. The layout ends to the left. The station's 'loop' on the viaduct is a fiction, again requiring the 'Hand of God' to reach over behind the warehouse (currently cardboard boxes of the estimated height) to swap locos to the correct end. Not only did I make the layout protrude more into the garage than intended (it should really be only 2'2" width), nine-and-a-half feet is the maximum length without gross inconvenience to all. I hope this answers all your questions. Thanks again for your interest and advice. With my best wishes, Neil.

I quite agree; the Shunter hanging off the side of the '73', silhouetted by the dark background, is just one such lovely detail. I remember as a child watching a similar operation in Hove coal yard, with the Shunter 'riding side-saddle' on the 73's steps, as they propelled the HEAs into the sidings. As usual, neither my father nor I had a camera with us...

Certainly. Hope this link works: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/uploads/monthly_2020_11/PICT2209.JPG.bb428003901aab64d5a69f25d5320736.JPG The lower (East Yard) is laid and a start made on the scenery, the upper part on the viaduct - Atherington Victoria station - awaits the re-opening of the shops and more pay-days. Do say if you have any questions/suggestions. Best wishes.

I am much obliged for the commendation from one I esteem highly, and thanks for the trap point tip. I had not thought of this. Thank you for taking the time to give this your consideration, and so promptly. Just need the shops to open to get laying the track... Best wishes.

Sound advice, but being quite weak willed, I have not signed up to E-Bay, knowing if I do I will buy even more stuff to clutter the home and which I can not afford, starting with childhood Space Lego... I will keep an eye out on RMWeb's 'For Sale's section when the time comes. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Disappointing, I admit, but many thanks for replying so quickly. I will be getting a 3-pack of MDVs though. Best wishes.

Please forgive me coming late to this party - and I might have missed the answer in my quick scrolling - but will there be an option of single wagons? Three will take up a lot of room in a little goods yard... Many thanks.

For anyone interested in the book, the details are: Walking the High Line / Joel Sternfeld ; with essays by Adam Gopnik and John Stilgoe. : Göttingen : Steidl; London Thames & Hudson, 2002. I.S.B.N.: 388243726x. I see a new ed. is to be published in June: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joel-Sternfeld-Walking-High-Revised/dp/3958297641/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Walking+the+High+Line&qid=1617804357&s=books&sr=1-1

Many thanks for all your contributions; I like Fat Controller's idea of a timber yard very much, as I have made a plank load for an OAA to use up the endless drinks stirrers one accumulates, and have many remaining. It did not occur to me just what varied traffic in and out such a firm could generate, and I resent the banning of the smell of creosote: a happy memory from my childhood. Any more info on food preservation gases gratefully received! Best wishes to you all.

Ahhhh... that would account for both uses, as I readily consume both. I have just thought of such gases being delivered in those 'bottles' (some rather too large to qualify for this noun!) direct by lorry as well, and then 'piped in' to the factory supply, which would rule out any rail usage. Mind you, these gas bottles could arrive in OAAs, etc. Many thanks again for your advice.

Thanks for this. I saw "sulphur dioxide" on a food packet (I forget what) which got me thinking about the whole topic, and what could be delivered by rail to a more rural food industry. Nitrogen would be useful to deliver to 'light industry' as well - I had not thought of this. I believe it is used to fill packets of chilled foods, as an inert gas which retards the 'decay' of freshly picked produce (e.g., salads).

I was looking for an excuse to run chemical gas tanks occasionally into my model goods yard - sulphur dioxide, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide - to be unloaded into road tankers in conjunction with a food-preservation and packing factory. Does anyone know how these chemicals are handled in food plants? I assume they were stored in tanks like fuel oil on site until used. Are they only for 'Immingham'-sized chemical plants, or do/did more rural food factories use pressurised gases for processing local produce? Any thoughts if you have the time gratefully received. Many thanks.

Thank you so much for these. I did not realise the company was still sending over trailers into the 1990's. Corrected a few memories, and it appears the trailers were taken off the ferries by a port authority 'tug'(?), and then picked up by a British haulier. I remembered the tractor units in the same matching blue, so good to see my false memory put to rest. And now I know where to post my old lorry photos as well! Many thanks again, and best wishes to you all.

This thread might be of interest. Page two of the postings features our pictures of the 'tramway' to the old cement works site: Only yester-day I thought how pretty a '73' would look, trundling in and out along the track with a rake of VDAs to/from the replacement industrial estate.

I had a sudden thought this morning that it would have been wonderful if the replacement industrial estate had retained a rail connection, and dispensed light industrial goods in VDAs, etc. An idea for another 'what if' layout, if only I had thought of it years ago...

May I just say, "Be careful what you wish for." I have a horrible feeling your longed-for replacements will still have those interiors you (and I) loathe described in your first paragraph... The passenger counts for nothing in the comfort of new trains.

Much obliged to you for this warning. I will take another look at the point and loco a.s.a.p. and keep you posted.

Thanks for the suggestion, and apologies for the delay. Alas, my layout is old fashioned direct current. What I need is a 'Relco'(?)...

At the risk of turning this into another 'I remember when...' thread, I am pretty sure there were ex-Motorail car-flats parked at Newhaven Harbour station regularly when we went to the beach (Tide Mills, and then the east beach with some sand). I have been trying to find a picture of the blue and grey 'Toe'(?) T.I.R. artic lorries that were ten a penny round there then as well. Does anyone know of any, please? The semi-trailers had a dark blue '5-plank' side and large canvas cover, with "toe" and a long blue arrow on the side. I hope I have remembered this correctly! I would love to see a picture of one.

Thank you for your reply. As it all happened forty years ago, it might be difficult to remember, but if you could describe 'a typical day' for you at work, this would be of help. E.g., did you take the 'hopper' wagons (is this what you called them?) full of new cement up to the exchange siding by the railway line every day (Monday-Friday)? Is it true the little diesel could pull only five loaded wagons at a time 'up the hill'? What time of day did the B.R. goods train call to swap wagons? Can you remember how many hopper wagons of cement were taken away each day? Was any of it 'bagged' in vans instead of the hoppers? Sorry for all the questions. Please do not worry if you can not remember all the answers. I bet it was fun trundling up and down the slope on the diesel; I wish I had seen it in use. Thanks for any memories you are happy to share. With best wishes.

Forgive the brevity, but I hope I am not alone in wishing to thank you for your kind offer. Are you sure you realise for what you have volunteered...? Just for clarity, did you work on the cement works 'tramway', or on goods trains serving the exchange sidings, please? Thanks again for your help in advance.

Thanks as always @Rivercider for your comments and suggestions, not to mention your inspirational photographs over the years. Having got to grips with Freight Working Time Tables, I have only just discovered the 'hidden world' of trip-workings and Carriage Working Notices. Sadly there appear to be few available for sale from the usual vendors, so I am not quite sure how these worked, compared to freight trains in the W.T.T. with a 'head-code'. Indeed, were there any on the Southern, without its own marshalling yard? Bridgewater is a name I keep coming across in collections of photographs; there are other smaller yards as well whose names I forget as I type, but wonder if more pictures were taken when busy (e.g., Shrewsbury? Did this have a general yard until late into the Speedlink era?). I will invoke Rule 1 where necessary, but not, I hope to an excessive extent. Must stop larking around with the camera and do some more scenery!

Smashing. Looking forward to dinner to-night... (But then, when do I not?!?)