esngblog

A bit of a Jago Hazzard special today.  I always enjoy his videos, and these are a few that caught my attention in recent weeks.

Potential modelling ideas, perhaps, with some shared London Underground tracks.

And where the Underground logo came from….

Above ground, I always look out for the remains of this connection leaving Waterloo East…

Spitalfields is a fascinating area, but far too big to model….

My local station when we lived in London (though it was usually easier to get a bus to Victoria.)

And lastly, a trip to the seaside…. and beyond.

Enjoy!

And we’ll start 2023 with some more local pictures.  This time even closed to home.  I’ve attributed photos when I know the photographer – apologies when I’ve missed the credit.

We’ll start in Earlswood, just round the corner from home.  St John’s Road in 1905.  The horse and cart are crossing the Brighton line railway bridge.

Of course, there was once a Terrier called Earlswood that worked at Earlswood….

Whilst elegant expresses passed on the main line heading for Brighton….

Down the road in Redhill, the scale of change can be illustrated by this montage of the chapel in Station Road.  Once

A different view of Station Road (note the railway bridge at Redhill station in the background – one thing that hasn’t changed), and the cattle market (ex-car park, now building site) in 1904…

Redhill in 1949 and 1950….

And in the 1970’s….

And so to Redhill station.  In British Railways days, Redhill saw locomotives from all of the ‘Big Four’.  Here is an LMS Fairburn tank, borrowed till the BR standard 2-6-4T’s were available, and a GWR mogul from a Reading train (photo Ben Brooksbank.)

I wish that I had been old enough to have visited Redhill shed.  Though maybe not – I’m quite old enough these days.)  There always seemed to be something of interest on shed.  Here’s an ex-SR U class 2-6-0, again regulars on the Reading trains, and also across to Tonbridge.

And Ian Kruase has caught both the shed, and views of the town beyond.

Finally, from the air today, with the latest Thameslink stock leaving the station, probably for Bedford.  Redhill comes in for a lot of criticism, but it’s been a good home for us (down here in deepest Earlswood) for the past 36 years.

We’ll finish 2022 with some local pictures.  Brian sent me some old pictures of the railway at Horley.

John Chisholm of the Horley Local History Society (HLHS) showed these images last week at the Christmas quiz, and I asked if I could please share them with you.

Several of these are definitely for Horley, but others are allegedly from here. but I cannot be 100% certain.

If you would like to use them, please do credit HLHS.

So, with all credit to the Horley Local History Society…..

A quick google search added this lovely postcard from the 1900’s, with a Brighton Pullman service passing through Horley.

And a couple of pictures from the present day, credited to Arriva436.

According to the BBC:

Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing.  The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.  Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants – a day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters.  The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families.

Europe is more sensible:

The day also has religious connections and is celebrated as Saint Stephen’s Day in Ireland and the Catalonia region of Spain.  In some European countries – such as Hungary, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands – Boxing Day is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.

However, I hope that your Christmas boxes had lots on N gauge trains (or any other scale or gauge for that matter.)  I hope it’s not like this……

And just a few pictures to inspire the modelling juices…..

Two pictures of Pacific Electric freight on the Watts line.  That four track main line is very reminiscent of an N-mod module, but I don’t think the overhead would survive the members!

An ESNG moment in Littlehampton in 1920.

Two pictures of ex-SECR E1 4-4-0’s (photographer unknown.)  One of a line of most attractive locos.

That most beautiful of locos, the LBSCR L class at Victoria in Southern days.  Note the very modern looking building in the background.

Barnham Junction in 1900.

And the Terrier ‘Whitechapel’ with a long train for such a tiny loco – again at Barnham Junction.

West Croydon.  Probably late Southern or BR days as the engine shed had gone and the carriage shed over these sidings has also been demolished and electrified.

A very modellable location – Shepperton signal box with a water tower adjacent. 

This looks uncannily like a model.  Bricklayers Arms in 1968.  Edit – thanks to Dave C, this is actually the South London line crossing the Old Kent Road.  I’ve added the NLS map segment below, and the ambulance station next to the railway is easily seen.  Still, it’s a great photo…..

And finally, how Christmas trees travelled in the olden days.

Christmas greetings and blessings to all our readers!

No ESNG meeting today for some reason – and I’m told that if I play trains I won’t get any lunch.

If you’re thinking of going away by train this Christmas, you might have done better during the 1930’s!