GreenGiraffe22 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Hey all, I was searching the forum for an introduction section but either I'm blind or there isn't one so I shall do it here! My name's Matt, 24, and been into model trains since I escpaed the womb! (Thomas the tank engine holds most of the responsibility).I spent my childhood just collecting all sorts from all eras, often whatever me and Dad could find cheap 2nd hand. Only in the past year have I gotten back into the hobby and decided to start modelling 'seriously'. I've sold off most of my odd bits and pieces and started modelling what is supposed to be a representation of the Southern Railway circa 1943 (ish).It wasn't untill I started searching that I realised how few things there are on the market for that era, but I am very much looking forward to the new Southern Black locos that Hornby are releasing :) I've also found it really difficult digging out information about the Southern Railway during that time, most things I read seem to skip from the mid 30s to 1947, as if nothing of any significance happened in between.I only have a small space to work with at the moment whilst I'm still looking living with the parents (I am slowly saving for a mortgage and should probably stop buying trains... But it is not going to happen, is it.)Amongst my small Southern collection at the moment is:Hornby's old Schools class 'Stowe'. Hornby's E2 repainted black with sunshine lettering, no.2104. Although I put the number under the Southern wiritng on the tank and I susspect it should have been on the bunker... Hornby's Terrier 'Earlswood', painted black and renumbered in sunshine lettering '2653'. I've somehow managed to screw up the traction on it though through repainting and it jolts all over the place, forwards more so than backwards. I'm using the E2 & Terrier to experiment weathering on as they're both very old and cheap models.A brilliantly weathered Hornby Q1 C8 that I found on ebay, whoever did it did a wonderful job!Hornby's 2bil EMUBachmann's E4 '473'. Now I know the scheme on this is too early, so I'm either going to wait for Bachmann to release a later Southern version or perhaps repaint it one day when I'm a bit more skilled because I don't want to ruin it.Hornby's Southern Black M7 I got for Christmas :)And most recently Bachmann's Southern Black C Class.I have a few maunsell carriages in malachite and LOADS of wagons, mostly from SimplySouthern. Although Dapol wagons, great as they look have become the bane of my life. I do not know what is wrong with the wheels but they do not like my track and I am gradually replacing them all. I managed to cut up an airfix spitfire and put it on a GWR Bolster wagon with some chains which looks pretty good and I have a couple of other military bits of rolling stock.But yeah, that's the gist, I'm always on the lookout for wartime era Southern locos and appropriate rolling stock. I can upload some photos if anyone wants to see.That's enough rambling for now I think :)
RB51 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Welcome Matt - there is loads of help available on here and other forums, although at the moment you seem to know what you are doing. Photos are always welcome. Good luck. R-
Chrissaf Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 I was searching the forum for an introduction section but either I'm blind or there isn't one so I shall do it here!.Quite correct GG, there isn't one where you can introduce oneself, but there is a "Lets See Your Layouts" thread where you can post your layout details and photos. Click the red text link to see it..PS - Photos start to appear in the later pages of the thread. Earlier posts tend to link to external photo hosting resources..EDIT: Roger makes a good point (below) about the moderation delay. I forgot that too. If not sure how to post an image. The procedure is described with some screen shots in this previous post.
GreenGiraffe22 Posted January 7, 2016 Author Posted January 7, 2016 Well here's a few photos, some are a couple of months old and so the scenery etc has changeda bit.Bofors Gun on GWR Weltrol wagon before I repainted the station platform./media/tinymce_upload/38305a47eb641cc36c038458bc4d649e.jpgQ1, that goods shed and tanker lorry are both gone and the level crossing is painted grey now./media/tinymce_upload/68eafd6c1af9424cd08fdd1189c0e547.jpgMy Spitfire wagon, I got rif of the Beaufighter fuselage behind it, it was just too long and the tail fin was too tall for my new foot bridge!/media/tinymce_upload/7682584fc975bf2d1d23185e9e107013.jpgA view of the station, still a work in progress. It is completely ficitonal, just Somewhere in East Sussex.../media/tinymce_upload/adee7f4d1af48f97c1e5da68672ad99a.jpg2 passenger trains and the 2bil. /media/tinymce_upload/072412ccf46802527d840e17e4db3f34.jpgMy C class with various SimplySouthern wagons, I'm mainly interested in Brighton wagons (I'm local and my family have been for generations!)/media/tinymce_upload/d9bd103659fcae03c80cce4bff2c884a.jpgM7 with discs fitted/media/tinymce_upload/fb47e4e33cd0cfb38948496817c7aa9d.jpgE2 repainted & numbered and weathered with weathering chalk./media/tinymce_upload/22ea8f7bd9081a27651bf8c268887285.jpgMy repainted and numbered terrier, cocked up the number placement a little bit, the spaceing is totally uneven on each side but it's just for practise! /media/tinymce_upload/a40c32ac6936ff2d5c56986791904896.jpg
RB51 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 And what both of us forgot to say is that photos are moderated before they are allowed onto the forum so there will be a delay whilst the forum administrator ensures you are not posting anything inappropriate. The delay can be a few minutes (during working hours etc.) to several days (bank holidays and the like). Have a go though, it's all part of the learning curve :-) R-
RB51 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Looks very good Matt - well done on posting photos and having such a great layout. R-
mjb1961 Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Hi Matt ,welcome to the forum and all that ,i like the look of your layout ,please keep posting more ,but what size is your layout ,where have you got it set up and are you dcc or planing to go dcc in the future or are you staying DC ,,,,,,,mjb
Bulleidboy Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Welcome GG22 - This is a good forum with lots of very knowledgeable people - so if you have any questions - ask away. I'm a Southern fan - Era 1948-1967 (era's 4-6) - you really can't have enough Merchant Navy Class! BB
Postman Prat Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Hi GG22 Welcome I like the layout. The E4 in green isn't really too much of a problem - it simply hasn't had an overhaul/repaint. I don't know about the Southern but there were several locos in LMS prewar colours in 1945. Bear in mind a lot of goods rolling stock operated ln a 'pool' and therefore the more mundane items of rolling stock from the 'Big 4' companies could be found anywhere in the country. For reading matter I would suggest 'Great Days of the Southern' and 'SR 150' both published by David & Charles. They are both almost certainly out of print but books from the series they are from can normally be found on the various book stands at preserved railway sites. I bought the last that I needed to complete the set after a search of about 2 years so persvere (Since I bought it I've seen it everywhere - Life!!). Not quite as good, but still worth reading is 'Steaming to Victory' by Michael Williams, I was given 2 for xmas a couple of years ago. Hope the above helps
LCDR Posted January 7, 2016 Posted January 7, 2016 Good to see another contributor with impeccable taste! Welcome GG22!Like the other ;'Big 4' companies the Southern faced World War 2 conditions as pragmatically as they could. The Southern was indeed always in the 'front line' more so than the other three, because they were easily with range of Nazi aircraft and ships, and even the long range guns in France, and of course the Doodlebug V1 and Rocket V2 attacks of 1944. They shouldered the burden of Operations Dynamo, and Overlord, and of course were the main access to much of the military establishments in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Surrey. There was a huge increase in numbers of trains, mostly for military purposes, and coaches from the other railways were often to be seen in them. A good region and period to locate your model railway. From about 1941 austerity liveries were applied to locomotives and carriages, but only when necessary, so pre-War liveries were still around in 1946, sometimes after too. The Bulleid Green livery was only applied to a small proportion of the fleet before War broke out, and frequently the Maunsell scheme was retained but minus lining out. The Southern in fact always had a policy of not repainting vehicles unless really necessary, cleaning and touching up before applying fresh varnish instead. Some coaches appeared in grey later in the War. So you needn't worry about locos in green, but they need to be well weathered. Carriages in Maunsell lined green were still to be seen in early BR days!
GreenGiraffe22 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Posted January 8, 2016 Thank you everyone for the welcome and compliments and such :) Accurate liveries and rolling stock have been my main concern so the comments above have been very useful. Everything will be weathered when I've mastered the techniques :) In regards to my E4, should it not technically be numbered 2473 by the 1940s?Its good to know that big 4 wagons ended up all over the country, although I already have too many Southern wagons for that small layout let alone anything else and have started having to box some of them up for now! Me and my partner have plans for something bigger when we have our own place, the small layout at my parents' is just mainly to practice doing scenery and stuff on. :) It's all just old school DC at the moment, I'm still getting my head around everything you can do, my Dad was always the one that did the electronic side so I'm in the process of learning. I need to get myself some new track at some point, most of it is at least 15 years old and there are lots of dodger points and connections that constantly have me ripping my hair out! And I discovered a lot of the newer engines struggle on my bends, the outside track is fine, but the Q1, for example, can only make it around the inside track in reverse otherwise it derails at all the bends, which is frustrating but a lesson learnt for the future! After getting back into the hobby properly after about a decade away I've noticed how much everything has increased in detail, although the increased price tags that come with the detail were a bit of a shock to the system, £39.99 just for a carriage seemed someone ludicrous but I understand why now. I'll upload some more up to date photos at some point over the weekend! Any useful information about the Southern Railway during WW2 whether it's operations, rolling stock or liveries is always much appreciated!
LCDR Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 'War on the Line' by Middleton Press ISBN:978 0 906520 10 9 is what you want, sadly OOP but may be about second-hand. There also used to be a DVD which went with it, - all archive film. Also I recommend the LSWR & Southern Livery Register by Len Tavender, £2-00 from the Historical Model Railway Society, is excellent for information about the SR http://www.hmrs.org.uk/books/bookdetails.php?bookid=1003 .
Cronan Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 What a professional looking layout and a good idea to do wartime also the airfix kits are similar scale 1/72 so you could have american GIs about.
GreenGiraffe22 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Posted January 11, 2016 Thank you for the heads up about the reading, I'll definitely check those out! Here are some up to date photos taken just now! /media/tinymce_upload/e7b98bab300bdf9074670f20b730babb.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/3061f5008f2fa55c479adcfe578c81d8.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/1c9d80cce7b70f2da690e4af7728dcd3.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/f6e952bf987af7ae2d983980cf8b20c9.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/4b696483507fa941114f1a6426d8bfcd.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/da4d834d4d6184545ac641006fcfa3b5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/6aed9e35c8604591406bdb91dff53e70.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/412df1207615c66caa477f770fc9f438.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/30a4a3a6734a6742e933210f64410834.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/a744346cffdda456b5e70e8716c1df6c.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/7abdf29b3e3d7708361b18e59b17b642.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/ea8da3b3bd320dd83b714bcbb3624bcc.jpg
GreenGiraffe22 Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 So, I've been experimenting with weathering powder and Ivewbeen surprised at how easy it is to do! Everything is slowly starting to look a bit more life-like and less like toys. (I think anyway). Here are som/media/tinymce_upload/ced9fe79d738a7780eab1e7f1457cf83.jpge pics of what I've been up to, u particularly love the soot effect in the M7 & C Class /media/tinymce_upload/ff2bf4f8fe09fcab08f0c85ddf50c211.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/3b61b054a78eab71e89d07f288a44dda.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/1d654d195bade7aac858f1b6c5314920.jpg
Jimbo1707820979 Posted January 28, 2016 Posted January 28, 2016 Well done, Matt - a newbie like myself. As in your case, Thomas and Friends can be blamed for my venture into the "real" stuff. Though I am several centuries older and the Thomas was my grandson's.My small layout is also mainly Southern but straying into God's Wonderful Railway as I have 2 branchline stations. I started off DCC as I am pretty hopeless at wiring and no experience soldering. Doesn't diminish my enthusiasm, glad to say.I notice you have several wooden skirting boards. Me too and I have added contemporary advertisements - signs such as "England's Glory Matches" "Brylcreem" "Wills' Woodbines" and "Bisto" to these boards to try to simulate the posters stuck on walls. All part of the fun. Just an idea maybe you might/media/tinymce_upload/576616e78c458b6452056c42f94420e1.JPG want to follow.I am posting a photo of my layout. It doesn't aim for absolute realism but is much enjoyed by my 5-year old boy and myself. A pity I didn't take an interest in railways in my earlier years ! (too busy messing around with old MG's Singers etc)Anyway, the very best of luck to you. Your collection is pretty impressive.
Ruffnut Thorston Posted January 28, 2016 Posted January 28, 2016 With reference to the books....don't forget your Library. Libraries can usually get hold of just about any book through the Inter Library Lending Scheme....at a reasonable cost.... Enquire at your local Library. Then. if you find a book "essential" to have, you have all the details to find a copy...
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