To Lymington Pier…

It was a couple of weeks ago when regular reader, Tom, sent through the photo (below) whilst on his way to visit his parents on the Isle of Wight…

Accompanying this was a short note:

“Not the best shot of the harbour station but I was standing on the ferry. Basically a single line flanked by a car park and a ferry! There used to be heritage southern region EMUs (VEP) on the line after all others were scrapped. An extra siding for TTA tanks (I.O.W. ferry fuel?), might help things. Otherwise South Western Railway Deserio units. Would it all fit on a Mosslanda?”

Tom Lloyd photo.

Would it all fit on a Mosslanda?

Now, there’s a question! How could I ignore that! However, it wasn’t just the question, it was the prototype! Here was a location I had seen in books, usually a tele-photo shot from the far end of the platform towards the buffers, but had never explored. With my recent interest in the railways on the Isle of Wight this felt like an intriguing place to spend a few hours diving into Flickr, OS Maps and Google Earth.

Would it fit? I can make it fit! The sketches below showing this and exploration of ideas offering a compressed view of the station. I also pondered Tom thoughts on a fuel tank siding as well as presenting the scheme larger layout or one of Chris’s overlap.

James Hilton illustration

I shared this with Tom before I have done with you all:

“I think a two siding layout would look great. I remember changing trains at Portsmouth Harbour station back in the 80's as a child, there was frequently a pair of dirty TTA tanks wagons in a siding . They were propelled up from Fratton depot once a week. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to have them at Lymington. One of the highlights of our yearly trip from Sussex to Somerset was seeing our train engine stabled at Fratton depot on the way through to the harbour. It often followed our train up to the harbour to pick up it's coaches for the run to Cardiff Central via Salisbury and Bristol”.

This has been an enjoyable distraction - in fact I was moments away from buying a Farish 4-CEP (the next best thing I could find in N). Musing on new (to me) prototypes is one of my favourite pastimes. Whilst I get sent photos quite often, just like turning the pages of a new book, not everything instantly appeals… but when it does, a response is inevitable. Thank goodness in this case there was no financial outlay! 

Thank you Tom. Thank you all too, for reading. If you enjoy my plans and ideas the Small Layout Design Construction book should be available in a month or so - more on that soon - but until then, have a good weekend and more soon…  

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