Hi All, As some of you may be aware, I am a very strong advocate for the pre-grouping British railway scene being introduced into train simulator, and am currently making limited progress on a couple of pre-grouping routes. Of these, one is due to have its beginning published in the free online publication, the 'LBSCR Modeller's Digest'. First, a brief explanation of what is generally meant by pre-grouping. The period of British Railway history commonly referred to as the 'pre-grouping' period can be roughly described as covering all railway history prior to the grouping (the creation of the 'Big Four', the SR, GWR, LMS and LNER) of the railways. More specifically, however, it can often be taken to refer to the period beginning at the creation of the first practical steam locomotives in the 19th Century up to the grouping. During this period there were very many railway companies and almost all of them had a unique identity, or certainly one that differed (however slightly) from others. This was a time of great prosperity for the railways, and many beautiful liveries were born in this time, some of which I have shown below in the section of this proposal that covers locomotives. Standards of cleanliness (on locomotives) also appear to have been higher, the standards even being maintained through the First World War. It was in this period that the railways in Britain saw their largest growth and highest passenger numbers, before the mass influx of Army-Surplus road vehicles arrived after the war. Despite its many attractions, the colour and variety, the era has yet to be represented by a route in train simulator, but has received numerous locomotives, including the recently released NER T2 (LNER Q6) and the LBSCR Class A1 from Victory Works. There have even been coaches produced, but very little goods stock. As such, I propose that a payware route be produced depicting the LBSCR route from Portsmouth Harbour to Brighton. As an LBSCR modeller, the route poses many advantages from a personal perspective, but from a more neutral perspective the route offers the following: Interesting variety in operations, everything from express workings down to local pick-up goods'. A variety of Branch Lines to explore. Any of the following could be included: Fratton - East Southsea Havant - Hayling Island Petersfield - Midhurst Chichester - Midhurst (Possibly shortened to Lavant or Singleton) Barnham - Bognor (Regis added in later years) Ford - Littlehampton Shoreham - Christs Hospital (Possibly shortened to Steyning or Bramber) LOVE Junction - LOVE Hove - Preston Park London Road (Brighton) - Kemp Town Two companies operating between Portsmouth and Havant. The route could possibly be arranged to include Portsmouth - Littlehampton, but include the LSWR Main line as far as Petersfield then all three branch lines radiating out from Midhurst. This may provide more interest. Interesting variety of stock. Some appropriate stock already in-game. Route (If modelling Portsmouth - Brighton, Bognor and Littlehampton) still extant to allow for ease of construction. Some parts of the route already in-game, albeit modelled in later periods. Of course, most routes now include some amount of all-new rolling stock and this route should be no exception. Whilst the LBSCR A1 class already exists on steam as a DLC, this version of the Victory Works pack is slightly limited when it comes to representing pre-grouping mainland machines. Therefore, I would suggest that it be included in this proposed route, offered in the following liveries: LBSCR Stroudley Improved Engine Green. (Source: http://www.semgonline.com) (Source: My Own Work) LBSCR Marsh Umber. (Source: https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com ) LSWR Drummond Green. (Source: https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com ) This loco would be suitable for light passenger and goods turns, particularly on the route's various branches. The LBSCR liveries cover that company nicely, and the LSWR livery can help to provide some realistic LSWR stock for sections shared with that company. All of these liveries are available for the Victory Works model, but I don't think that all are included in the steam version of the pack. The next loco that I think would be suitable is the LBSCR Class B1 - Also known as the 'Gladstone's. I have chosen to include this class for the following reasons: There is a preserved example at the NRM. The loco lasted into Southern Railway days. The class is relatively popular with Enthusiasts. The Class found employment on LBSCR Victoria - Portsmouth trains, so is eminently authentic for the route. As this loco has yet to be modelled in train simulator I would suggest the following liveries be included: LBSCR Stroudley Improved Engine Green. (Source: http://www.nrm.org.uk) (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LB&SCR_B1_class) LBSCR Marsh Umber. (Source: https://mikemorant.smugmug.com) SR Lined Green. Although this livery is post-grouping it warrants inclusion due to the fact that this loco is not yet in train sim. (Source:https://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/) The A1 and B1 are both very nice locomotives, but were mostly restricted to passenger work. What will also be required is a goods loco to manage that side of operations. For these duties, I propose the inclusion of the C2 Class, and maybe also the later C2x class into which many C2's were rebuilt. I have chosen the C2 because: The class is useful as a fairly mid-range 0-6-0. All of the C2's passed to the Southern, and lasted until 1937. The C2x Rebuilds lasted into British Railways Ownership. I propose that the locomotive appear in the following liveries: LBSCR Stroudley Goods Green. (Source: http://www.picssr.com/photos/16179216@N07/favorites/page22) LBSCR Marsh Lined and Unlined Black. (Source: https://mikemorant.smugmug.com) (Source: https://www.national-preservation.com) SR Lined and Unlined Black. (Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/31514768@N05/23985212943) (Source: http://mikemorant.smugmug.com) SR Wartime Black (C2x Only). (Source: http://www.semgonline.com) BR Unlined Black, Lettering, Early & Late emblems (C2x Only). (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org) (Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org) (Source: http://www.davidheyscollection.com) I would suggest that three locomotives is roughly standard for what is included in a route these days, so will leave the list there. If I were 'permitted' to include more, then I would suggest that the E4 0-6-2T's, D1 0-4-2T's and the E1 0-6-0T's be included. With regards coaching stock, I would suggest that the route include the Victory Works LBSCR Stroudley 4-Wheelers and also some Stroudley or early Billinton era bogie stock. I would suggest that the latter is included in Stroudley Mahogany, Marsh Umber, Marsh Umber & White and Southern Railway Maunsell Green. For wagons I am, I'm afraid to say, rather stuck as to what to suggest exactly as there are so many designs, but a brake van, covered van and an open of some description would fit the bill nicely. I think that's about it really! I would be interested to read the feedback to this proposal.
I personally wouldn’t mind the route. Although as far as the time period, I’m more interested in the most recent or present state of the route.
Hmmm... Shame. I would probably backdate such a route if it were released as some of the stations haven't changed much.
The national Rail Museum has a preserved loco from this line. I meant to take a pic when I was up there, but looks like I didn't
London to Brighton in the 'Steam Era'. You're probably thinking BR Steam aren't you. As far as I'm concerned, the 'Steam Era' on the Brighton Mainline ended in 1934 with electrification of almost all passenger services. To see the BML modelled either pre-1910 with the B4's on express workings would be stunning, but I'd almost equally settle for the BML between 1910 and 1923 with the Atlantics and HUGE Baltic Tanks.
Would it have the devils LOVE branch from aldrington halt? That would be interesting! Id love to see a portsmouth brighton line!
Yes, but unfortunately DTG didn't let me type Dyk(e) on here, and as an expletive replaced it with LOVE!
I think your voting selection restricts peoples choices. Having some choices which only cover a Seven year period seems pointless as they would have been some overlap in liveries and operation. I would go for this route in any period from 1970 to 2000 - you don't allow that choice
My apologies - I was misguided when I made the poll, and now (as you will note by the slightly different username on here!) can't access the account I made this thread with!
Not quite - On UKTS my polls died a death, and were done on a flawed principle that train simulation is much like railway modelling, which isn't the case in some respects. On UKTS I am still with the same account that I have had since May 2017, the only difference being the replacement avatar for this month.
Folks here might be interested to learn that Digital Traction have just released a Billington E4 in 31 liveries.