david51

LB transferred to the Western Region . Closure must be imminent! Diesels everywhere, not a kettle in site !

I have always thought this was one of the best layouts on the RM site. It is just going from strength to strength. The rebuilt bridge is brilliant . More power to your elbow David

Hi Andyram thanks for your comments . I do have some figures- foot plate crew but none others . I thought about figures in natural poses as you suggest but the man reading his paper is still there after the train has been and gone and still doesn’t move .Even natural still poses the figures never move . It is a matter of personal taste however . There are no hard and fast rules. Thanks again

If you look at my photos you won’t see any people on the layout .I have never been a fan of having little people on layouts. The only thing that moves on the railway is the train . Even having model people in static poses doesn’t appeal to me . For the same reason I always try to have the station platform on the non viewing side of the train. After all when the train arrives the doors don’t open and nobody gets on or off. When you look at railway photos how many of them actually have people in them . Not many ,I suggest. Perhaps I am alone in this view but I’d be interested to see what others think .

Sunday working . Class 3 2-6-2t waits to leave Lulwind Bay

View of the point work looking toward the staging yard

Class4 2-6-4T waiting to depart.

Hi all Not much to report as I have spent most of the time this week playing trains(operating the railway). Surprisingly for such a small simple layout it provides a lot of operational interest. I don’t operate to any kind of schedule , but I run a passenger train with a van or two attached. Attaching and detaching a van and shunting it into the bay can be quite complicated. Even shunting a short goods train of two or three wagons takes some time . I have resited the loading gauge and removed the goods shed which I cut in half and is now placed as a low relief store by the coal dump. I have also place a water tank left over from a previous layout opposite the disused signal box and a bridge has appeared at the entrance to the staging yard. some photos will show the changes I hope

This thread is fascinating. I always find ‘might have beens’ very interesting and there where many in Kent. Perhaps the one I most regret was the line proposed but never built between Faversham and Lenham. At the risk of being a pedant the LCDR and the SER never merged , the companies remained separate legal entities. Theirs was a working union rather than a merger. In fact until the First World War intervened there were a number of works to link the two networks notably the loops at Chislehurst, and the work at Rochester bridge also the linking of the systems at Ashford . The plans for rationalisation in Thanet were drawn up by the SECR and dusted off and proceeded with by the Southern. Another casualty of WW1 was the proposal to build a chord from the Canterbury & Whitstable to the rebuilt (and resited )LCDR station at Whitstable which if it had been built might have seen train from Canterbury reversing at Whitstable reversing at Whitstable and proceeding to Herne Bay( and on to Reculver?) I look forward to seeing a layout based on Reculver in due course.

Hi I agree that a railway to Reculver might not have survived the Beaching cut but a line to Hampton Pier might However its your railway and in your alternative reality Reculver might well have become a viable branch especially if electrified . A branch to Hampton Pier might well have survived given the growth of housing in the area . Another possibility it the upgrading of Faversham Creek branch to passenger standards. I continue towatch with interest. good luck

I have followed this thread with interest as I live close by to Reculver Apart from a pub and several caravan parks there is little there . The Towers which are a prominent local landmark were actually rebuilt in the early 19th century by Trinity House as an aid to shipping. At the time the Southeastern came through Grove Ferry the Towers were all that was there . can I be permitted to suggest two alternative scenarios. Firstly the Southern Railway was very keen to attract business to potential holiday areas ,think Allhallows or the diversion of the New Romney branch closer to the coast in 1930s. Given the caravan parks at Reculver it might be that the SR decided to build a branch to serve them in the hope of developing a resort at Reculver a la Allhallows . The line could branch off the LCDR between HerneBay and Birchington at the point where it drops down to the Wantsum channel.Earthworks would be minimal and the station could be a version of Allhallows My alternative suggestion is set a few miles west on the western side of Herne Bay at Hampton. The LCDR came to Herne Bay in 1863 . The was a small fishing village at Hampton and there was a thriving trade in oysters. A tramway was built from the railway to the pier at Hampton which was much longer then than now . The oyster fishery died out in the 1880s and the tramway closed and was lifted at the same time. Hampton Pier Avenue is built on the trackbed. Suppose the tramway was improved and updated to passenger status . A station could have been built at Hampton. Trains could run from Faversham , the Medway towns and London . It could have been electrified in 1959 again with local trains running from Faversham. Google Hampton pier for more information. I hope this may provide some further inspiration

Just a few photos from this morning. one photo shows the new lazer cut fencing obtained from a war games firm .

I haven’t posted for a few days because I have repainted the room in which the railway resides. I was a little worried about paint getting on the layout or damage being caused by covering it with dust sheets. In fact I covered the railway with cling film! Very successful- no damage. I will post a few more photos later.

Here is track plan plus couple more photos. first is green liveried Thumper as I remember them on New Romney. The second photo is of a class 24 hauling Bullied stock . When I first travelled on New Romney branch steam was on its way out (usually class 2 2-6-2s with 3coach sets). On occasions a class 24 would substitute for a steam loco before the 205s took over ,although I recall on summer sundays six car Hastings units covered the branch services

Thankyou for the kind comments. The inspiration for the photo of the demu was swanage which sadly I only knew in its last few months before closure. i have always had a soft spot for Thumpers as I used to travel on them regularly from Ashford to Greatstone in the sixties andfrom Tonbridge to T Wells West and to Uckfield in the seventies and eighties. I have a green liveried demu with the V at the guards end as a reminder of those trips on the New Romney branch. From our bungalow window you could see a train leave Lydd Town and make its way towards Dungeness disappear for a while and then come back into view as it approached Greatstone halt and the on toward New Romney.Sadly all that is left of that Greatstone now is the approach road. Happy days I will post a track plan and a few more photos later thanks again for the kind remarks

Welcome to Lulwind Bay somewhere one the south coast. The location is vague because the layout is meant to provide somewhere to run my collection of southern (and some western) region locos and rolling stock. The layout is a lockdown project whilst I am furloughed. I do not pretend any great modelling merit or accuracy. It is just intended for my own amusement and is as basic and as simple as can be . LW is analogue controlled by an old H& M controller. There are no isolating sections . Isolation is made by the points all of which are hand operated. I am no electrician and past experience of point motor faults has not been good. In the past I used to model the Norfolk Southern in the USA. Many American modellers use walkaround controllers and hand thrown points on the basis that they are replicating the train crew on the real thing and I still use that concept since my return to UK modelling . LB is built on a floating shelf from A well known DIY provider of meatballs. The layout is 7 ft long and 10 ins wide with a 3 road fiddle yard . Another throwback to my American modelling is that I make no attempt to hide the fiddle yard . I stage trains in the yard and run them onto the scenic part of the layout. I know the trains don’t go anywhere or come from anywhere . My imagination provides the necessary illusion and as LB is intended for my own amusement it doesn’t worry me . when I modelled us railroads I had a fully semi Ed staging track on which I placed freight cars and I do something similar on LB though the yard has no scenery. In fact there is very little scenery, the track is peco code 100 much of which has been used before. Ballast is fine grey stone from a war game supplier , station platforms are Dapol and the station building is a heavily modified and extended Hornby platform shelter inspired by (but not modelled on) the original buildings at Seaton before the 1930s rebuilding. The layout is vey basic but gives me pleasure . I hope it may be of some interest to you

Hi I absolutely love this layout. It captures that feel of southern branch lines in their final days . there is a lot to be said for small layouts such as this which in spite of their limited track plan can provide much operational interest. it’s easy to lose interest in a large layout which never seems to progress but with a small layout you can see it develope to completion . well done, this is one of my favourite layouts on this thread.!

Western region takeover .

North Street in the rundown to closure

Welcome to North Street,my 'new' layout. I say'new' because it uses a large part of my previous layout 'Loose Road' which I featured here a year or so ago and which was exhibited at Folkestone in 2017. North Street is an inglenook layout and represents a truncated Southern Region branchline somewhere in Southern England. It was inspired by ,but is not a copy of Farringdon Halt on the old Meon Valley line which closed in 1955. After closure two sections became goods only ,the northern section running from Alton to Farringdon not closing until 1968. What made Farringdon unusual was that it had no runaround and was operated as a long siding from Alton, locos hauling from Alton with a brake van in the rear and then pushing back to Alton with the brake van leading. Kevin Robertsons books on the the Meon Valley railway has a number of good photos and a lot of info about Farringdon.. Although based on a LSWR branch I run any of my Southern region stock including diesels and use the layout as a test track for other stock. The track is peco code 100 with two live frog points which are hand operated( I like to keep things simple-less to go wrong) Control is analogue using AaGauge Master hand held controller

Seems a long time ago when I posted but I was talking about 1361 don’t have an O2 but I have both a P and a B4 both of which run really well

I have one. It was very jerky out of the box but on examination I found that the pickups weren’t touching every wheel and lost contact on curves. After some attention and adjustments it now runs pretty well . Taking off the keeper plate is the devils own job and the chassis is very basic but it was worth doing. I am now happy with the way mine now runs

Regarding coal staithes we have had this debate before . At some stations , Wadhurst is a good example the staithes were alongside the siding ,at others , Knockholt for example the staithes were on the far side of the cart road from the siding, at others the coal was left in heaps by the siding Brian Harts book on the Hawkhurst branch has some excellent photos showing the arrangements at Hawkhurst At Brasted on the Westerham branch a grounded van served as an office with the coal in heapsby the siding Again some useful photos appear in Ron Strutts book on the Westerham branch. it appears there are no hard and fast rules so I would never say never

I have received a1361 from Rails(excellent service even during lockdown) in late livery BR black. looked good but running was terrible. It stopped on every point and even on plain track. On investigation I discovered that the pickups were not touching all wheels and some lost contacts on curves and appeared to short out against the chassis block. A certain amount of tweaking and a degree of trial and error have resulted in quiet reliable running . It is still not wholly perfect but acceptable and bearing in mind the bargain price I paid I am happy with it. Not sure if I would feel the same if I had paid the original price. I also have a P class and a B4 both of which run beautifully although the P did need running in.