[SRman]

Ok, where do I start.

HI!

Some of you who inhabit other forums might already recognise me - I've been lurking around for quite a while now. I live in Melbourne, not too far from Neil Wood, in fact, I am British-born and bred and spent much of my childhood in the Home Counties (West Sussex, Kent and Essex, not necessarily in that order!) with a brief excursion to Cornwall (went to school in Tintagel for a short time).

I'm not trying to bore you all with my heritage, so much as explain where my interest in railways of the south came from.

My first memories of the Southern Region were of watching trains on the London - Dover and London - Hastings lines at Petts Wood, from the kitchen window of my Grandparents house in Queensway. The back garden ended at the low embankment leading up to the fast lines and south-eastern end of the Petts Wood station platforms. I am old enough to remember steam on the Kent Coast lines (particularly the steam-hauled Golden Arrow), just before the electrification to Dover was switched on.

Later I lived near Three Bridges station, on the London - Brighton line, at Pound Hill.

So, my interests have been primarily BR Southern Region but I have also always had a fascination with the London Transport system, both trains and buses (again, I am old enough to remember meeting my other Grandfather off a London trolleybus).

Even so, I have an interest in Diesels in general, and EMUs and DMUs in particular, so have several "foreigners" with running rights on my OO layout, which I always describe as having a Southern flavour, rather than being an accurate SR model.

In recent times I have dabbled with DCC and thoroughly enjoyed the experience enough to expand the DCC to the whole layout, whilst retaining cab control and the ability to switch any section to either DC (any of several controllers) or DCC (an NCE Power Cab system, soon to be expanded to their PowerHouse Pro system).

The layout itself is incomplete but developing constantly. It has a double-track freelance main line continuous circuit, and a double-tracked branch based on C. J. Freezer's "Minories" plan, mirror-imaged and stretched, with an additional double-slip added to ease entry to the turntable and engine sheds.

I have been in the process of (ve-e-e-ery slowly!) adding another separate branch, end-to-end, for the LT EMUs to run on. This has an East London line flavour, allowing me to mix surface and tube stock.

Scenery and signage is set in the 1960s but I do like modern image as well, so sometimes run modern stock on the main lines and "preserved" stock on the branch (another excuse for buying non-SR stock that I just happen to like!).

Please feel free to chat or discuss things with me - I have some expertise or knowledge in particular areas that I am happy to share. I also don't claim to "know it all" and I'm just as happy picking other peoples' brains! That's what our wonderful hobby is about, I think.

I'll eventually get around to creating a signature - give me time. I should also join the procrastinators' society ... if anyone has actually got around to forming one.

 

[neil_s_wood]

Hi Jeff, welcome to the forum. I know Jeff from the BRMA (British Railway Modellers of Australia) and we meet regularly to run and talk trains. Jeff is a mine of information on trains and buses, especially the Southern Region. It really astounds me how much he knows.

Good to have you onboard mate

Neil

 

[Swingcats]

Welcome

 

[Al]

Hi there. Welcome.
What are the models in your Avatar..?

 

[Richard Johnson]

Hello Jeff

Nice to see you here...

Apropos yout LT comment....Ring me next week - I was going through some stuff I put aside when I was intending to do a sort of pseudo Euston approaches / Camden Bank sort of layout and I have just discovered a 100% new set of tube stock and some black beetles with the right sized wheels

Richard

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 2 Mar 2008, 01:29) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hello Jeff

Nice to see you here...

Apropos yout LT comment....Ring me next week - I was going through some stuff I put aside when I was intending to do a sort of pseudo Euston approaches / Camden Bank sort of layout and I have just discovered a 100% new set of tube stock and some black beetles with the right sized wheels

Richard
That should be right up your street Jeff!

 

[brookletscottage]

Hi SRMan,

If you're into Southern 'stuff' and spent some time here in Tintagel, have a look at this website (www.northcornwallrailway.co.uk) about the Withered Arm North Cornwall Line that use to run through Camelford near here. Also try www.tintagelweb.co.uk for local information (including pictures of Tintagel School through the years!!).

Hopefully these will bring back some memories.

 

[velomac350]

Use to live in Poverest rd in the late 50s and caught the train from Petts Wood when I serveing my apprentiship at Bricklayers Arms & Stewarts Lane as a electrician on Bullied Pacifics which had a steam generator underneath the cab right by the ash pan. the apprentice was always sent down underneath to unbolt it (bloody hot and dirty thing)

So my large layout is SR steam that I have been adding to for the past 30 years controlled old DCC (zero1) which works fine as long as the track & contacts are kept clean. I Stayed in Boronia Heights with my mate Steve who runs the Lotus elan factory out there, I had a day out on the Daniog narrow gauge steam railway and was talking to the loco crew about Bullied chain valve gear, at the turn round, they must have thought I was an old pommy engine man.

Because as they were about to leave I was handed the shovel. The fireman went and put his feet up the first compartment.and I had the job of fireing the loco on the return journey, fortunatly I did faguely know what to do, as Ive been on the footplate 35 years ago several times running light to Victoria or Charring Cross,must have got away with it, as the Driver said,you have not lost it cobber! thats a good fire you got there. It would not happen over here now in our nanny state !!! long may you remain free in OZ.

regards Clive.

 

[7113]

Hi Jeff (SR Man)

welcome to the mad house known as MRF. I sort of model the SR but at the time of the green/blie transition with a bit of artistic licence.

As dbclass50 will tell you I also have a thing for buses - but they have to be East Kent.

At the last count I had about 150 books on the Southern.

We should get on well!

Regards

 

[cig1705]

Hi SRMan, good to see you on here!

As you no doubt already know, I too am a SR modeller, concentrating on the Eastern Section in the 1966-69 period. Hope you have fun here and remember: as a SR modeller, you are not alone!

 

[SRman]

Thanks all.

To answer Al: the models in my avatar are some Harrow Models white metal kits of CO/CP stock (marketed as Q38 stock, but who's arguing if I number it as the COP type?) and my one and only built F stock car. What you can't see in that small and cropped pic is that one of the panels on the F stock was crooked and I pulled it off and fixed it after spotting it in the photo.

Clive, Poverest Road rings a bell but I don't know why!

Brookletscottage: I'll have a look later at those links you've provided. I'll be very interested to see the school again. Even though i was only there for a short time and very young, I still remember the teacher - and her name.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. I'll look forward to sharing knowledge and stories.

Richard: I'll call soon - I might be very ... ahem slightly interested in the Underground set (don't want to seem too keen!).

 

[SRman]

Oh yes, nearly forgot. Britho - I have a few East Kent buses but have soft-pedalled on them because I'm running out of space, so concentrate more on London Transport and Southdown, but I still have almost every major operator from south of the Thames in my collection, plus Premier Travel of Cambridge (I like their blue and worked out how to mix it consistently!).

Even so, you might like to look at The Little Bus Company's range as Tony Asquith does a few specific East Kent types. I was chatting to him the other day about the Beadle rebuilds, of which he currently has the East Kent and MAidstone & District variant in the range. He is actually coming to visit us this week end so I might get to see a sample in the flesh (apologies if the free plug offends anyone).

 

[7113]

QUOTE (SRman @ 3 Mar 2008, 23:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have a few East Kent buses but have soft-pedalled on them because I'm running out of space,

I know space is a problem - at the last count the bus fleet stood at 56 with two in paintshops. Additionally I have a couple on order and am still actively seeking two more.

Then there's the conversion to a tree lopper and the AEC Matador recovery wagon currently under construction.

Regards

 

[velomac350]

QUOTE (SRman @ 3 Mar 2008, 23:46) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks all.

To answer Al: the models in my avatar are some Harrow Models white metal kits of CO/CP stock (marketed as Q38 stock, but who's arguing if I number it as the COP type?) and my one and only built F stock car. What you can't see in that small and cropped pic is that one of the panels on the F stock was crooked and I pulled it off and fixed it after spotting it in the photo.

Clive, Poverest Road rings a bell but I don't know why!

Brookletscottage: I'll have a look later at those links you've provided. I'll be very interested to see the school again. Even though i was only there for a short time and very young, I still remember the teacher - and her name.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. I'll look forward to sharing knowledge and stories.

Richard: I'll call soon - I might be very ... ahem slightly interested in the Underground set (don't want to seem too keen!).

hi poverest rd continues on from petts wood rd at the cross roads with chislehurst rd, and down the hill to st marys cray, I use to live on the hill which use to be called sherwood rd but change to poverest after the war.
regards clive

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (BRITHO @ 5 Mar 2008, 00:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I know space is a problem - at the last count the bus fleet stood at 56 with two in paintshops. Additionally I have a couple on order and am still actively seeking two more.

Then there's the conversion to a tree lopper and the AEC Matador recovery wagon currently under construction.

Regards
Dave, you really have to see Jeff's bus collection to beleive it. It's big.

How many buses do you have Jeff?

 

[SRman]

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 5 Mar 2008, 08:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Dave, you really have to see Jeff's bus collection to beleive it. It's big.

How many buses do you have Jeff?

I stopped counting at 250! I have a mixture of diecast and kit-built, with quite a few unbuilt kits still around (I've been stocking up on low-priced eBay kits, since I still enjoy building and finishing them even though a diecast model of the same type might have been released). I also customise some of the commercial models too.

I am a member of the Model Bus Association of Australia and of the Model Bus Federation in the UK. I actually look after the MBAA's web site but have fallen behind in updating it right now - if you do look for it I'm afraid the info is a little out of date (December 2007).

 

[7113]

QUOTE (SRman @ 5 Mar 2008, 06:17) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I stopped counting at 250!

If I include the non East Kent and the HO fleet the number reaches almost 200 it's almost as contagious as railway modelling!

Regards

 

[neil_s_wood]

I daren't start down that path if it's that addictive.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 5 Mar 2008, 20:39) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I daren't start down that path if it's that addictive.

In BRITHO's case it's just sad

Know what you mean though, it's bad enough "tangent collecting" as it is - at least I've only got one 1 : 1 fire engine now !

Seriously though Dave's EK bus collection is quite impressive (did I really pay him a compliment ? - nurse - where's my medication).

 

[7113]

QUOTE (dbclass50 @ 5 Mar 2008, 21:08) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Seriously though Dave's EK bus collection is quite impressive (did I really pay him a compliment ? - nurse - where's my medication).

I feel faint.......now I need medication.

Regards