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Just a little photo-dump of another favourite locomotive – the Southern Region Co-Co electrics.

Early days – Southern and British Railways.  I am not sure what colour the strange Southern livery is – I’ve never seen that one before.  It gives the loco a very American look?

Into the green British Railways era.  I think this livery really suits these locos.

And British Rail blue.  This looks a lot better than on some classes of loco!

And the three locos individually.  The changes to the cab design can be seen clearly.  20001 at Norbury (photo Derek Buckett.)

20002 (Photo John Hayward.)

20003 at Wandsworth.

As we enter September, and perhaps autumn (though a minor heatwave is forecast for next week), here are a few odds and ends from the Bartlett household.  Once again the week has gone by with little modelling, mainly due to a couple of days sorting out all the toys for the church toddler group.  And also struggling to get 3 Mobile to transfer Maxine’s mobile number, at the third attempt.  A final hour and a half on the phone with three people in a call centre doesn’t encourage careful modelling…..

However, there are interesting modelling developments afoot, that I hope to report in due course!

I don’t often buy coffee table books, but I was tempted by this one.

It arrived today, and flicking through it I thought, “That looks familiar.”  In the middle of the book are about 20 pictures of the Redhill area.  Great to see my local area in the days of steam.  Recommended.

Prototype for everything department #1

Prototype for everything department #2 – exported Class 86 electrics on the Danube.

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Prototype for everything department #3 – get the Dremel out!  Somewhere in the USofA….. A mid-train helper lost it’s controlling connection with the lead locos and the driver.  So when the train stopped, the helper’s wheels just kept going…. 

Prototype for everything department #4 – building the Piccadilly tube line in 1906.  Is this an early use of open-topped baseboards?

And Fiddlesticks….

I came across this lovely picture on the web, and typically, I forgot to note the photographer.  It’s Waddon Marsh Halt, taken from the A23 road bridge, and the power station that is now the Croydon Ikea lies behind the photographer.  This little single track link ran from a junction at Waddon to one at Mitcham.  It started very industrial, feeding all sorts of works and the power station.  The Micham end near Beddington was almost rural in nature.  And it was the final resting place of old EMU’s such as those converted from LBSCR overhead electrics.

There are so many interesting details in this photo, all making interesting modelling subjects, though this area as a whole is surprisingly large and probably too expansive to model.

There’s the single track electrified line surrounded by industrial sprawl.  The National Library of Scotland maps show, post-WW2, all sorts of industry including a tar works, a cement works, and multiple engineering works.

Note the signal box, island platform, and a fine multi-arm semaphore in the centre of the picture.

No doubt the pylons and power lines come from the power station, or perhaps they are just supplying all the surrounding industry.  Alternative power comes from gasometers on both sides of the photo.

On the far left, in the middle of it all, is housing, including lots of washing on the line.  Was it still white when they took them in?  (Mind you, I recall seeing flats in HK, with lots of white clothes on bamboo poles drying above a packed multi-lane road.  Somehow, the sun defeated the fumes and they always seemed to come out perfectly clean and white.)

Also on the left are the allotments.  Not something seen modelled, but very much a part of the railway scene, using up odd bits of land adjacent to the track.

And a solitary pedestrian marching along the footpath by the line, probably having crossed the line on what seems to be a typical Southern Railway concrete footbridge.

And last but not least, here we are in the depths of Southern Electric land, probably in the early 1960’s and there are steam locos shunting the power station on the right.  (This is Croydon ‘A’.  Croydon ‘B’, now IKEA, lies behind the photographer.)  These lasted well beyond the end of steam on the main line.  Here are two of the little locos in action.  Derek Buckett’s delightful shot (hope it’s OK to show it here) shows the coal wagons dwarfed by the wall of the Croydon ‘B’ power station.