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.
