SECOND HAND N GAUGE MODELS #4 - CLASS 33 EASTLEIGH (33 021) REPAIRED

Recently acquired myself a very nice little set of N Gauge models in the Red Rail-freight livery that you see above with the real version. This set included a Class 33 [33 021 Eastleigh] which was a very popular class of locomotive in my local area on the Southern Region of BR during my trainspotting youth in the 70s and 80s. It was great to pick up one nice and cheaply which also came with a matching wagon set which I've decided to try and add too. Although the locomotive was intact and in great condition it didn't seem to run but that didn't deter me and even with the wagon set only one of these was slightly damaged so for £35 plus postage I think I still got a bargain. 
















Though this model did seem to take power initially there was little sign of life in terms of motion, but where there is noise there is hope. Carefully took it all apart, gave it a good clean and applied some oil (I use sewing machine oil seems to do the trick well if applied sparingly, do NOT use stuff like WD40) and within the hour I had her moving. Let it rest a bit and repeated the process at the end of which was gently running around my test track. 

CLASS 33 History
The British Rail Class 33 also known as the BRCW Type 3 or Crompton is a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives ordered in 1957 and built for the Southern Region of British Railways between 1960 and 1962. A total of 98 were built by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRCW) and were known as "Cromptons" after the Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment installed in them. Having been designed specifically for the Southern Region, with electric heating apparatus, and some for push/pull operations, in particular, on the Bournemouth to Weymouth line. This avoided the lengthy procedure of uncoupling, running around and coupling. A dozen locomotives, Class 33/2, were built with narrower bodies for traversing the Hastings line. They would see regular service around the Southern Region usually double headed running the Oil Tankers to and from Fawley Refinery in Hampshire and serving the long gone facilities at Staines (west), Earley and North Camp (Farnborough).

Preservation
Most of these locomotives have now been withdrawn from active duty, though three, 33025, 33029 and 33207 are available for use on passenger services with spot hire rail company West Coast Railways. WCRC also has 33030 as a spares donor. A large number of others have been preserved and are operational on heritage railways.

Table of preserved locomotives

1957 number	TOPS number	Name	Location	Current Status	Livery
D6501	33002	Sea King	South Devon Railway	Operational	BR Green
D6508	33008	Eastleigh	Shillingstone	Undergoing Restoration	BR Green (Yellow Warning Panels)
D6515	33012	Lt Jenny Lewis RN	Swanage Railway	Operational and Mainline Certified	BR Green (Yellow Warning Panels)
D6530	33018	–	Midland Railway - Butterley	Undergoing Restoration	BR Blue
D6534	33019	Griffon	Battlefield Line Railway	Operational	DCE Grey and Yellow
D6539	33021	Eastleigh	Churnet Valley Railway	Undergoing Minor Repairs	Post Office Red
D6543	33025	Glen Falloch / Sultan	Carnforth	Under Overhaul	West Coast Railways
D6547	33029	Glen Loy	Southall Railway Centre	Operational, Mainline Certified	West Coast Railways
D6548	33030	–	Carnforth	Stored (spares loco)	Direct Rail Services dark blue
D6553	33035	Spitfire	Barrow Hill Engine Shed	Operational	BR Blue
D6564	33046	Merlin	East Lancashire Railway	Stored (spares Loco)	South West Trains blue
D6566	33048	–	West Somerset Railway	Operational	BR Green (Yellow Front)
D6570	33052	Ashford	Kent and East Sussex Railway	Stored	BR Green
D6571	33053	–	Mid Hants Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6575	33057	Seagull (Name not Carried)	West Somerset Railway	Operational	BR Green (Yellow Front)
D6583	33063	R.J. Mitchell	Spa Valley Railway	Operational	Railfreight Mainline Sector
D6585	33065	Sealion	Spa Valley Railway	Undergoing heavy overhaul	BR Blue
D6513	33102	Sophie	Churnet Valley Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6514	33103	Swordfish	Ecclesbourne Valley Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6521	33108	Vampire	Severn Valley Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6525	33109	Captain Bill Smith RNR	East Lancashire Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6527	33110	–	Bodmin and Wenford Railway	Operational	Departmental grey
D6528	33111	–	Swanage Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6535	33116	Hertfordshire Rail Tours	Great Central Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6536	33117	–	East Lancashire Railway	Undergoing Repairs	BR Blue
D6586	33201	–	Spa Valley Railway	Operational	BR Blue (Full Yellow Ends)
D6587	33202	Dennis G. Robinson	Mid Hants Railway	Operational	BR Blue
D6592	33207	Jim Martin	Southall Railway Centre	Operational, Mainline Certified	West Coast Railways
D6593	33208	–	Battlefield Line Railway	Undergoing Repairs	BR Green (Yellow Warning Panels)

BEACONSFIELD MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITION -- SATURDAY 6th JULY 2019

ADDRESS:
The Beaconsfield School
Wattleton Road, Beaconsfield, 
Buckinghamshire   HP9 1SJ

OPENING TIMES:  10.30am-5pm
ADMISSION:    Adults £5.00      Children £2.50   

Their 52nd Exhibition, being held once again in the now regular 'First Saturday of July' slot, will feature 21 layouts, along with full trade support. Free Parking available and less than five minutes drive from M40 Juct.2 - fully signposted on the day.  Exhibits include Ealing Road and William Street Yard (finalist) as seen on the Great Model Railway Challenge TV Programme. Free admission to wheelchair users as there isn't easy access to the stage area - the rest is wheelchair friendly.

There will be 21 layouts on show, covering all the popular gauges and as well as the usual UK railways, representing both the American and European Continents. There will be two layouts which were seen on the Great Model Railway Challenge TV programme - the 'Fawley Flyers' layout 'William Street Yard' as seen in the finals, being exhibited for the first time, and 'Ealing Road' from the 'Missenden Modellers' among the layouts on show. We should also have at least 10 Traders, offering a wide range of products, who should be able to cater for most of your needs. The club's popular own secondhand sales stand will also be in full swing. Because we are using the stage area this year, wheelchair users will be admitted free to recognise their lack of access to the stage (reached via steps). Access to the rest of the exhibition should not prove to be a problem. We have links with the Bekonscot Model Village (the oldest model village in the world) which has an extensive Gauge 1 outdoor railway. This will be open all day on 6th July and is only a short drive away from the exhibition, allowing a full day out for the family by visiting both events. Discount available for those visiting both the exhibition and model village. Our extensive professional catering is well known for it's quality and wide choice of food on offer.

List of Layouts Attending

Addison Park “3mm” -- The unique character of London Transport modelled in 3mm and means that nearly everything here is scratch-built. A popular layout on the exhibition circuit and beautifully detailed. [pic above, by Phill Hutchings]
Bamfylde “N”
Bradfield Gloucester Square “OO”
Brinklow “N”
Cheffley “OO”

Clayton West
“OO” Gauge 4mm Scale -- Clayton West (left) was based on a station that closed to traffic in 1983 with the closure of the associated colliery. This layout is based on the premise that government funding was made available to regenerate this area, resulting in a shopping village, new homes and businesses on the colliery site. Electrification of the branch from the main line would have been instituted in the early 1990s, allowing services to run through from both Manchester and Leeds, though cost restrictions have meant that only the bay platform is energised.  [by Mark Lambert]
Elmwood Yard “HO” -- an American 'Switching' layout running with DCC built by the Little Layout Co.
Frampton on Severn “OO”
Great Bardfield “EM”

Kidmore Dark End (right) “OO” -- there have been many different Kidmore layouts and designs over the years this appears to be the most recent incarnation. Based on that familiar location of “nowhere in particular”, the layout represents that tired and dirty rail yard behind a row of terraced two ups / two downs. These are now all empty, semi derelict, & awaiting the demolition crew.  All that remains of any life is at the end of the street where a builder’s merchants still maintains an ever diminishing trade.
Mulldale “O-16.5”
Old Elm Park “O”
Rossiter Drive “OO”

Rotherbridge Goods 00 gauge 1950's shunting layout (left).  
San Maria Gandia “HO”
Thornfield “OO”
Trowland “S”
Vale View “O”

Whatlington “3mm”  The example above shows Peter Bossom’s ‘Whatlington’ a 3mm gauge layout, which depicts the station of a small town, with a goods trains delivering gypsum from a local mine. While Whatlington does exist as a village in East Sussex, and the London-Hastings main line does pass by the village this layout has been made into a larger town with a station building that is an accurate scale replica of the operational Stonegate station, two stops further up the line, made after extensive photographic research. [Peter Bossom]
William Street Yard “OO” -- as already mention this is one of the fine layouts shown in the recent model railway program and is being exhibited for the first time. 'Fawley Flyers'

Nearest Railway Stations:
Beaconsfield [0.52 miles]
Seer Green [1.55 miles]
Bourne End [3.45 miles]
Gerrards Cross [4.01 miles]

MAP Off Junc 2 M40 [Sat Nav use HP9 1SJ]

BLUEBELL RAILWAY - MODEL RAILWAY WEEKEND 29th - 30th JUNE 2019

8th Model Railway Weekend
The Bluebell Railway, Sheffield Park Station, 
NR Uckfield,  East Sussex  TN22 3QL

Enjoy steam train rides, explore their superbly restored stations and visit the exhibitions. This year’s show will see more exciting layouts, and new traders. The main elements of the show will be at Horsted Keynes and Sheffield Park stations. Exhibitions will be open from 10am – 5pm on Saturday and 10am – 4pm on Sunday.

Gauges represented will include N, OO, HO, O, P4, Gauge 1, 3 1/2″ and 7 1/4″. Usual site facilities of Cafe, Gift shop, Visitor Centre and Heritage transport displays all available.  In the picnic area at Kingscote station, there will be a 7¼ inch miniature steam railway running.

The Bluebell Railway is always worth a visit and will be running an extensive three train service over this weekend and the timetable for this can be found the the Bluebell Railways Website.

The weekend will also be the first occasion for the public to view inside our brand new maintenance shed at Sheffield Park, where some of the exhibits will be located.

Many layouts on show including:
Plumpton Green LB&SCR P4
Detford OO -- Detford is a fine scale layout in "00" gauge which represents a small terminus station on the western edge of the Southern region at the end of a branch line serving a fairly large rural community. The period is the late 1950's and early 1960's and is approximately 18ft x 2ft 6in in size. All the trackwork is hand built, including 3rd rail electrification of the platforms and single line.

Newchapel Junction O -- (above) Newchapel Junction is a large privately owned finescale “O” Gauge exhibition layout representing a railway in the post grouping period somewhere in the Yeovil area where the SR and GWR ran together. The layout recreates the operation of a busy railway in its heyday with frequent arrivals and departures from the main station. The locomotives in use vary from large mainline express passenger types to humble tank engines of both SR and GWR origin. Engines from trains arriving at the main station proceed to the loco yard to be turned before either going on shed and being replaced by a fresh engine or returning to their trains for the next outbound movement. A large 5-road goods yard enables continuous shunting and re-marshalling of freight trains. A complex triangular junction connects the main station and good yard to a double-track mainline circuit where trains can be seen running at speed. 

Forest Green Diesel MPD OO (right) -- The setting is a former Midland route through South Gloucestershire in the early 60s so several diesels are now appearing and the boundary changes mean that both Midland and Western Region motive power are in evidence. The Cotswolds location features Forest Green, a through station, near the junction with the branch to Kemble. Traffic is mainly local with some through workings from Gloucester and the North to Chippenham, Westbury and the South Coast.
Charlton OO
East Grinstead OO

Eastbridge MPD OO -- Southern 00 gauge MPD, running either Southern Railway (1930/40s) or BR (1950/60s) period locomotives. (Left) Eastbridge shed depicts a small but important depot situated at a busy junction in southern England. The layout is partly based on Redhill. The shed has three roads, as at Redhill, the other trackwork being adapted to fit in the space available. 

Hastings Tramway Museum OO
St Mellion OO
Hawksbridge OO
Meyers Hill OO
Hollywell Sidings OO
Victoria Old Dock and New Fish Harbour N
Hookwood N
Godon Yard N
Kiln Lane OO
Lidlhoe OO9
Holmill OO
Invicta Gauge 1
Arun Vale OO

From Budget Model Railways:
New Longmoore OO
A Mendip Moment, Eve of D-Day OO
Hampton Park Station OO
Tenapenny Junction OO
Sompting OO
Argwin Maintenance Depot OO
Mendip Vale OO

Entry to the Model Railway Show is free of charge with a valid ticket to travel on the day of your visit (see below). For those not wishing to travel admission is by platform ticket for the station you want to visit. The main areas of the show are at Sheffield Park and Horsted Keynes;
  * Sheffield Park - layouts, Traders and Exhibitors will be found in the Loco Works, ASH Project, Birch Grove Suite, the New Maintenance Shed and on the platforms.
  * Horsted Keynes - Layouts, Traders and Exhibitors will be found in the Carriage Shed, Waiting Rooms, Paddock Marquee, Cattle Dock and Platforms.
  * plus at Kingscote where there will be a 7 ¼” 'ride on' miniature railway.

Admission to the Bluebell Railway
All Day Rover Ticket 
Adult - £19.00   |   Child - £9.50
Family (2A+3C) - £49.00   |   Family (1A+3C) - £35.00