SD85

Weren't Hornby planning to produce a Z class in the eighties? At least that's what I've heard. With regards to 4-4-0s, it always interested me that Triang chose to make the L1 back in the early sixties. Even now that is not an obvious prototype to choose, and in fact if one wishes to run inter war 4-4-0s of SR design one still is reliant on kits or scratch builds. Did Triang choose to model the prototype because the class was often used on Kent Coast services past their HQ?

Good show today. The Bridge At Remagen was the definite highlight, great to watch.

Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread but Askrigg Bank is another obvious classic from the late 90s. Shame I never saw it for real before Kendal MRC retired it. Jamaica Reach (RM 1995, can't recall the month) was another great layout but I can't find out much info on what happened to it. It was made by the North Devon MRC I think (they also made another layout called Cadiford Water?) but this group doesn't appear to be publicly functioning now. Any further info on this layout or the group? PS - I mentioned this already, but the April 1996 issue of BRM had an O gauge layout called Minima Bay built by someone called Mike Williams who ran a kit company called College Models. Any info on him and/or this layout would be good as I found it pretty inspiring.

Interestingly I spent most of yesterday sorting through and grouping about seven years worth of RMs from the late 90s and I have to echo the sentiments above. 96 & 97 were vintage years indeed and as my first ever RM was the Feb 96 issue I too have much nostalgia for this period. I echo the sentiments on College Grove which was superb and a great first effort into the senior scale. Wonder if the builder is still around? Engine Wood is also up there as well as Ken Webb's model of Exeter Central, Port St George, Gas Works, Horselunges and Aberhafren. All great layouts. From a similar time period I remember a small O scale layout in BRM called Minima Bay which was very inspiring.

Thanks all. Yes the triangular crossing was a distinctive part of it. There was a colliery on it too.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I had indeed thought of just modelling part of the shed as it would save space and building construction time. The turntable I'd probably prefer to keep on display as it provides a visual stimuli and keeps things moving, especially in an exhibition context. Regarding the withdrawn locomotives, yeah I think they were usually shunted onto lines in remote parts of the depot, though there are a couple of shots of withdrawn Standards sitting next to the coaling stage at Guildford, and sometimes locos were just dumped in the shed roads and left there towards the end. Not planning on using DCC as I know nothing about electrics and was just going to use the tried and tested route of DC with isolating switches. Want to keep electrics as simple as possible really. Definitely not planning on sound as I remain to be convinced by it in 4mm - it seems a lot of money for not much return. Graham Muz's Canute Road Quay layout has an ambient background noise file which worked well when I saw it a week or so ago, so maybe I could use something similar. A crane would be nice but that would be extra storage space. I think Guildford did have a 36T crane, certainly I've seen photos of it parked up alongside the shed. Warships don't often turn up on shed scenes in 1967 compared to 33s and Hymeks but I do have at least one photo of a Warship inside Salisbury shed. The shed pilot will definitely be a USA tank. I would like a B4 too but that's out of period sadly. Initially I was modelling the shed in the 1964-66 period, then 1966-67, now just 1967. I like the challenge of modelling the Bulleids this way. Done a few light pacifics so far and I enjoy the variations in weathering. Idea is to have some absolutely filthy, some cleaned but with grime rapidly overlaying the efforts, and a couple burnished up fully on the assumption that they've just done railtour duty. Most will be without nameplates (one of the disadvantages of modelling 1967, though it saves money on Fox etched parts) but a couple will run with them. I have modelled 34071 without plates but with the brackets still in place - had to scratch these up from card, would be nice if someone decided to make them as etchings.

double post, please delete thanks

Hello all, just wanting some advice if possible on building and operating a steam era shed layout. Being somewhat obsessed with Bulleid pacifics I have been acquiring them for a few years now and have been gradually weathering/renumbering/detailing them. I therefore have decided to build a shed layout based in 1967 at the very end of Southern Region steam and have been acquiring books/photos/source materials for the purpose. Currently am putting together a fleet of locomotives which will eventually all be models of individual prototypes that were running on the Southern Region in 1967 and am renumbering and weathering to that end, as well as acquiring the odd class 33/Hymek/73/Warship. I don't have a huge amount of space and as I haven't constructed a layout before I have decided not to model a specific shed (if I was going to then Guildford or Bournemouth would be contenders) and therefore I want to just build a relatively small shed (think Basingstoke or Weymouth size) as a first effort that won't take ages to complete and that I can hopefully exhibit. The key thing is that I want something that's operationally interesting within these parameters. However I am somewhat concerned that modelling a shed won't prove stimulating enough, especially not over an exhibition. My preferences for layout operation tend to be either large scale main line efforts (which the club I am a member of caters for on their system) or shunting puzzles. A loco shed seems to me a potentially tricky thing to model in a limited space while providing consistent operational interest - locos come in, coal/water/ash cleaned out, rest, go out again..... I will maintain interest in part through use of a turntable (and given the space limitations possibly a semi-roundhouse design) and a shed pilot a la Guildford for moving tool vans/coal wagons etc about, but a general track plan is stumping me a bit as I also want it to look reasonably realistic. The closest thing I've found suitable to my requirements is the old SECR shed at Cannon Street (closed and demolished in 1926) which was in a very cramped site with a 4/5 road shed served by a turntable and coaling/water facilities squeezed in on the approach roads. I would probably like something akin to this but with additional space for a little shunting of aforementioned coal and tool wagons, and a road where I can park locos that have been withdrawn (building a couple of Dapol 4MTs for this purpose). Size-wise, no fixed parameters but probably looking to work in a space of 8x2 ft or less and the layout must be portable or at least easy to pack up and move. Any suggestions or advice on track plans, operational procedures and scheduling would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, Just putting this here because I really can't think of where else to post it. I have had for many years a copy of RM from early 1971 (acquired secondhand) which had an article entitled 'A Scottish O Gauge Line' and featured a system built in a loft by Nigel McMillan. I was wondering 1) what became of the layout and 2) if the builder was still with us today. Despite it being years before my time I always found this layout interesting (I think the main station was called Eastwood Central) and wondered if anyone else recalled it or knew more info about it. Thanks

On a theme closer to my model railway, I have read that originally the post war electrification of the Southern Region would have entailed a gradual westward creep of the juice, starting with the Kent lines. Apparently the idea was that eventually all the remaining SR steam locos would have been gathered at Exmouth Junction shed or thereabouts serving the Withered Arm lines as a sort of steam redoubt. This would have entailed phasing out steam traction in the 1970s or so. I think what put paid to the idea was the transfer of the SR lines west of Salisbury to WR control, which meant that everything west of Salisbury ended up under diesels after 64/65, and the SR just electrified what they needed to in 1967 and got rid of steam then. I think the Irwell Press book on the history of the Bulleid WC/BB engines mentions this, but I can't find much else about it. Could someone enlighten me on this further if possible? It would be an interesting modelling challenge - I'm currently planning a Southern Region shed layout set around 1966/67 or so, but I'm getting intrigued by the idea of modelling a 'last bastion' of Bulleids circa 1971 or so - some still in steam era BR livery, others maybe in plain green or possibly corporate blue with the double arrow symbol on their tenders, perhaps a bunch of Standard 5s in unlined black with the same logo - it sounds quite fun.

It's really fascinating to speculate on what might have or might not have been built. So many ideas and proposals down the years. One of my favourites is a railway that would have traversed much of the country that was served by the S&C, which would have entailed a tunnel three miles in length in the Mallerstang region and a viaduct a quarter of a mile long near Appleby. Another one is the idea that the Stainmore line had its junction for the Eden Valley branch at Maiden Castle high on South Stainmore, and not at Kirkby Stephen East. In reality Maiden Castle was considered too remote a spot for a junction, but if they had built it there then in all probability there would have been a station at Brough which could have been fairly substantial. Yet another good idea for a model would have been the MR's proposed station at Mallerstang between KS and Garsdale, which was abandoned when the local community were asked to pay for the construction of the access road to it, and refused. Even more interesting is when certain lines got under way in terms of construction, but then were abandoned. The most obvious example near where I live is the Ouse Valley Line. This was actually started, but then the financial crisis of 1866/67 happened and work was abandoned. There are some remnants near Haywards Heath, a bridge and embankment leading to nowhere. I think several layouts have been constructed on this particular what if. Similarly, I also noticed recently that some of the old OS maps from the 1870s showed earthworks and tunnels along the route of the South Croydon to Oxted line, supposedly not built until the 1880s. This route was actually started as a Croydon - Tunbridge Wells line in the 1860s, but the financial crisis and other factors put paid to that. When the Oxted line was constructed they simply utilised the existing earthworks and structures which had been abandoned.

I'm a member of this club: http://www.ruspermrc.co.uk It's a bit different in that it's a railway system in a fixed location, and we all get together to operate it once a month. Emphasis is on operation, trains are run to a detailed timetable and using correct bell codes. I find it very good in that spending a whole day operating is usually a pretty absorbing thing to do, and it satisfies my urge to model main line railways, run my express locos, etc. I don't have the space for a big main line layout at home so it's good to be able to bring some of my locos along and give them a proper run. Since there isn't a set area [it's roughly Southern Region, 1948-64 period] I can also do a bit of scenic work and be freelance in my approach to it. The scenery and structures are secondary to the operative aspects but it's fun to build a new signalbox etc. once in a while and use the imagination. I used to be a member of a more conventional club some years back and while they were a perfectly decent bunch of people it wasn't the most dynamic organisation - a lot of members had left I think. They were supposed to be getting a new 00 project going but nothing much really happened. I did enjoy helping to put on the annual exhibition though. One of the problems which stops me from rejoining a more typical club is that I'm not really that motivated to model much outside of my own interests, if that makes sense. For example, 1930s GWR branch lines, US urban layouts or 1960s Essex electrification era [the last being the proposed subject of the club 00 layout mentioned above] are all fine but my modelling interests simply don't lie in those areas at present. I can't muster much interest in modelling a period or scene that I'm not overly enthused by, and this would probably be an issue if I joined a club. Nothing personal, we all have different approaches and preferences. I guess I like to be in charge of my own modelling a lot.