Motive Power on Southdown
Two
American's #9 and #59, line up in the marshalling yard. #59 is a Pearse 2-8-0
and #9 is a 2-6-0 which began life as a Lady Anne.
On a running day, the members of the club take their places in the roster and
then they are responsible for ensuring their engine and train is ready in time.
To ensure smooth running, drivers are generally ready a couple of minutes early
to allow for controlled changeover and prevent the layout becoming a static
exhibit. There are also one or two members with electric locomotives on standby
in case of failure - these two fella's work really hard.....
A whole mixture of engines and trains will be seen over each half of a running day, here we see a Shay on the main line whilst my own No.3 waits to begin his run.
Alternatively,
an elderly Merlin (called "Merlin") waits in the loco siding and another unusual
Merlin "Corfe Castle" is made ready for steam.
A
Pearse Hunslet No.85 makes an appearance and some maintenance is
carried out in the operating well.
Owners usually bring their own stock, but unusual rakes made by mix and match are not uncommon.
This
GVT tram "Phurcombe Hall" is a star performer on 32mm, seen here at Lovedean
Station, the meths burner will run and run with little or no attention. Diesel
traction is provided for backup, but the model shown right features sound and
lights and is capable of easily recovering a stranded steam engine.
One
of the newest engines to round the curves on the layout made its appearance at
the Chichester show in 2004. This is an Accucraft Mogul, rumoured to be the
first in the UK, it is shown in three images here, including one with its owner
carefully tending to the water level.
The
newly rebuilt Southdown has seen recent additions to the roster of a brace of
C16's, 'substantial' American 2-8-0 units of varying colour schemes from the
yellow Bee livery to a more subtle representation of #34, shown here for a size
comparison with Engineer.
These loco's are all being modified by their owners to add radio control: out-of-the-box they are manual only.
Active scenes 'round the back' from Reading 2006.
Taking
time forward to 2009, we've still got the CSLR 'old faithful' Lady Anne "The
Chief" in service seen here in a general view with a train load of wooden bodied
coal hoppers.
Running
in the opposite direction on the 32mm gauge tracks we see a Regner geared loco
named Phoebe, in charge of a rake ballast wagons, interestingly employing
magnetic couplings (a-la Lego!), the smooth power of the gearing meaning the
magnets stay together.
From the South (of England), we have a famous import in the shape of Baldwin "Lyn", a 2-4-2 of L&B fame, seen here cooling after a run.
Next, a brace of Accucraft 0-4-0 tank engines, a yellow Edrig, burgundy Caradoc and green Excelsior, showing how each can be modified to represent a particular locomotive. The Caradoc for example is a significant look-alike for a loco presently running in France.
Not
content with representing local types, a highly detailed, scale
Saxon Meyer IVK
0-4-0 0-4-0 is seen running to the left, operating in compound mode - not easy
in this scale, the model employing six servos on the radio control and needing
high power LiPo batteries to keep the show on the road. Perhaps the opposite of
the complexity spectrum is the tram loco to the right, a geared oscillator lurks
within the high-finish bodywork and the loco quietly goes about its business,
happy with both goods and passenger stock.
Finally for this installment, there are no weeds on Southdown, thanks to this excellent and unique weed killing train.
