Nick C
Western Thunderer
So, having caught up with a few threads, time to start my own on my current project - For those who were following on RMWeb, the story has changed a bit since first posted!
A little known part of the Colonel Stephen's empire - so little known, in fact, that the history books forgot to mention it, The Hundred of Easwrith Light Railway meandered it's way through a sparsely-populated patch of rural West Sussex, petering to a halt at the small village of Plumtree Cross. Like most such lines, it's entire existence was a struggle, with passenger patronage rarely justifying more than one coach, and most of it's revenue coming from a factory adjacent to the terminus. Facing bankruptcy and closure, it was taken over by the Southern Railway, and found a bit of resurgence during the war, as the factory became busy producing important stuff for the MOD, and at the end of hostilities, used it's new-found contacts to secure some lucrative export contracts, keeping the line going until the late fifties. Other than a repaint into SR colours, and the ubiquitous anti-blackout markings, nothing of note changed over the last 30-odd years of the line's existence, merely the colours of the stock, and the road vehicles in the goods yard, denoting the passing of time.
This then brings us to the era of the layout - either '46-'47 after the war, or into the mid-fifties approaching closure, as my mood takes me - initially it was intended to focus on the earlier era, but most of my current stock is from the latter, so that's more likely to appear in photos for a while...
The track plan is pretty simple, shamelessly pinched from @NHY581, although with the start of the loop off-stage for reasons of space. Track is Peco Bullhead, with British Finescale pointwork. Trees are from MBR, still in their boxes at the moment for protection!
Here's the current state of the layout - the left-hand exit goes to the factory, the other two to the end of the loop and the rest of the world:
And the station building, based on that at Northiam:
A little known part of the Colonel Stephen's empire - so little known, in fact, that the history books forgot to mention it, The Hundred of Easwrith Light Railway meandered it's way through a sparsely-populated patch of rural West Sussex, petering to a halt at the small village of Plumtree Cross. Like most such lines, it's entire existence was a struggle, with passenger patronage rarely justifying more than one coach, and most of it's revenue coming from a factory adjacent to the terminus. Facing bankruptcy and closure, it was taken over by the Southern Railway, and found a bit of resurgence during the war, as the factory became busy producing important stuff for the MOD, and at the end of hostilities, used it's new-found contacts to secure some lucrative export contracts, keeping the line going until the late fifties. Other than a repaint into SR colours, and the ubiquitous anti-blackout markings, nothing of note changed over the last 30-odd years of the line's existence, merely the colours of the stock, and the road vehicles in the goods yard, denoting the passing of time.
This then brings us to the era of the layout - either '46-'47 after the war, or into the mid-fifties approaching closure, as my mood takes me - initially it was intended to focus on the earlier era, but most of my current stock is from the latter, so that's more likely to appear in photos for a while...
The track plan is pretty simple, shamelessly pinched from @NHY581, although with the start of the loop off-stage for reasons of space. Track is Peco Bullhead, with British Finescale pointwork. Trees are from MBR, still in their boxes at the moment for protection!
Here's the current state of the layout - the left-hand exit goes to the factory, the other two to the end of the loop and the rest of the world:
And the station building, based on that at Northiam:
