Pete 75C

Looking forward to this one. My (old) neck of the woods. Definitely a case of familiarity breeding respect, not contempt. Excellent idea to model an earlier era. Just not a huge fan of present-day ops, me. It's that nostalgia thing again, isn't it!? Good luck with this one. Pete.

It was. Development of Leader was a little "hasty" shall we say, and Hartland Point was tested with sleeve valves not prior to the construction of Leader, but during the construction of it. I've always had a fascination for Leader as it was trialled on the Oxted line (amongst others), which is a favourite of mine. Pete.

This is how I remember Holmethorpe circa mid 80s. Entirely from memory and no doubt quite wrong in some respects. If anyone with local knowledge can point out any mistakes, I'd be grateful. For example, I'm not entirely sure where the loco shed was for the industrial shunters. Pete.

As an 18yr old secondman, unfortunately after operating the road gates at the entrance to the exchange sidings, my only interest was to get back up in the cab and finish reading the paper. I wish I'd have the foresight to carry a camera with me in the 80s - I know some railwaymen did and they were quite often mocked for it. Norwood and Redhill crews went to some interesting places, some now long gone. It must be a middle age thing that I now have an interest in some of the mundane things I used to do and some of the places I used to visit back then! Pete.

Ian - that would be terrific - I thought it had all been lost under development. I've managed to get a few images thru Flickr and Geograph including the connection to the main line, but nothing recent. I used to be a local lad up until the mid 90s and Holmethorpe is one of those places that holds personal memories as well as modelling potential. Many thanks, Pete.

Does anyone have a definitive date for the closure to rail traffic of BIS Holmethorpe sidings? Below is a link to a Geograph photo dated 1990 which states that "little or no sand traffic was handled". I'm sure that there is now no trace of the sidings but I remember there was an occasional Norwood diagram which took us to Holmethorpe with a Crompton around 1985-1986. Due to the torturous nature of the curve and incline back up to the main line, we used to have to bring loaded wagons up in two "parts" and reassemble them into a single train at Redhill. Possibly one of the shortest ever trip workings (less than 2 miles, I think). John Oxlade has a similar thread asking for info on the "other" side of the bridge, but I'm conversely more interested in the exchange sidings. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1619588 If anyone has a link to a photo showing a Crompton at Holmethorpe, I'd be delighted to see it (I don't remember ever going to Holmethorpe with an ED and I'm pretty sure anything bigger would not have been able to negotiate the descent from the main line or the curve into the sidings). Pete. Edit: Just Googled and sure enough, the sidings are now buried under a housing development. Surprise.

There's no level crossing at Riddlesdown - Lower Barn Rd passes under the line just to the north of the station. This is on the Oxted line near Purley, I know the line pretty well from Norwood days. Very tragic but I'll hang on until the facts are known.

Hmm. I even look a bit like Little Dom (just taller) and being born in Saaf Lundun, I even sound like him. It's definitely a misplaced conception that anyone would take more notice of someone like that, because my target audience (wife and kids) don't listen to a damn word I say...

Of course not, I'm a private seller on ebay, not a dealer. That doesn't mean the item isn't "new". I think you'll just have to live with ebay (re)sellers listing items as new when they are, er, new. Pete.

Agreed about "mint", but I've bought items new at retail, and for whatever reason have ended up reselling on ebay. If I haven't taken the item out of the box, "tested" it or messed with it in any way, I sleep at night listing it as "new". Why would I list it as "used" when it's only had a short journey from the shop in a carrier bag or on the back seat of my car? It hasn't been "used"...

Yep, in the "I don't think much of yours" category, I think the bike wins.

LOL - everyone's a critic! :no:

Truly amazed. I'd either bin this or bury it in the garden under cover of darkness in case a neighbour (railway modellers both sides!) should see...

For me it was Ian Futers' Lochside - probably circa 1980. This and Ian's many other layouts fostered a lifelong love of blue diesels and end to end layouts although I've never modelled a Scottish prototype or "might have been". I remember seeing Lochside in RM and actually writing a letter of appreciation via the Editor. Ian kindly replied a few weeks later. Big regret that I've never seen anything of his on the exhibition circuit - I should have made more effort. Pete.

For a hundred pounds less, I think I'd rather have a full bottle... http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/B-40-Ben_Wyvis.aspx

So that's how Axminster move their carpet remnants between stores...

Love the fingerprint clearly visible in the last pic... be interesting to try and get a match and see if the "professional artist" is responsible for any other crimes against weathering. Does anyone know a policeman that owes them a favour...

David, I think it was mainly "territorial". Although the driving style as you quite correctly point out was totally different to anything "SR", the DMMUs were seen very much as "foreign" motive power and if I remember rightly, the Redhill drivers didn't want the DMMU diagrams in the first place. Bizarrely, most of the drivers didn't mind heading east from Redhill as much as heading west. Again, I think it was purely a "territory" thing. As for the driving style, I doubt the Redhill drivers were using an EMU driving style as Redhill, like Norwood, was a mixed traction depot and a lot of the older drivers had no knowledge of EMUs, only diesels, EDs, DMUs, DEMUs and DMMUs. At the time, to drive EMUs on the Brighton line, your depot would have been either Victoria, London Bridge, Selhurst, Three Bridges or Brighton. It wasn't until the very late 80s, early 90s that I did a conversion from diesel to electric. Prior to that, my only traction knowledge was 09s, 33s, 47s and 73s. In time, we all became EMU drivers! My final tally included 319, 455 and 456 as well as slam door stock. I remember some of the Norwood diagrams taking me to North Pole Junction with the Brighton-Manchester stock on a "47" and with a Crompton to Ripple Lane, Willesden and Acton with a variety of freight and it is a little disconcerting to be away from your home region. Other regions do things differently and you're simply outside of your comfort zone. Fond memories of finding myself in Old Oak Common drivers mess room one day. The Western region drivers would have been more hospitable had an alien landed next to the tea urn...

I used to be a driver at Norwood depot and there were a fair number of Reigate / Tonbridge diagrams allocated to Redhill drivers. These turns were universally hated and the guys would go to extremes to get out of them. One driver who will remain nameless (JH!) failed a unit because the expected 117 turned out to be an Old Oak 119 and the driver's seat adjustment handle was too stiff! The seat was wound all the way up. I wouldn't mind, but he was only short... Don't you just miss the 80s...? Incidentally, I never saw anything other than blue and grey. (83-89ish), does anyone have any record of anything unusual?