Factoid #8

Excluding the approach to Butts Junction, the line was entirely single track. Only Herriard station was provided with two platforms.

Oh Mr Porter! Cliddesden Film stills

The Film Oh Mr Porter is a great research tool for working out what Cliddesden station landscape looked like at the end of the railways life. It also shows the scale of what the place was like. My model is going to try and recreate Cliddesden as it originally was, so things marked as Film props below will not be included. Although maybe in the future for a change of scenery I could replace the buildings with 'Buggleskelly' film props/ scenery/ buildings, and run the line with trains used in the film.
You can watch the movie (in parts) on YouTube

Factoid #7

There was a speed limit on the line of 25mph, although in some places, especially when reaching certain level crossings was about 10mph.

Factoid #6

The Journey typically took 45 minutes to reach the end stations (Basingstoke or Alton). Today by car it would take about 20 minutes.

Cliddesden 'Station' today - Hackwood Lane (2011)

A picture I took looking towards the station (towards the A339). framed between Station road on the left, with railway cottages and station masters house, and to the far right, Hackwood Lane and Level crossing. In effect the area I plan on modelling.

To begin with we were unsure as to how the line crossed Hackwood Lane, lots is written about the station road level crossing, as a fatality unfortunately happened there. But the only reference I could find for Hackwood lane, is a small map, of the 1911 layout. In fact there is no mention of it in the official inventory. So just to confirm that in fact it was a level crossing we took a closer look.

Foundations of railway shelter?  Floor is highlighted

Railway embankment, in woods looking towards
Alton, after just crossing Hackwood Lane

Hackwood Lane

Modern day embankment, the rail line would
have gone straight through the middle.

Although the picture shows a large embankment on one side, it drops on the other, modern day material was seen in the earth of the embankment, so we were pretty certain it was in fact a level crossing, and the embankment was made later. Hunting around further we found some foundations for a small building, on the side of the road, what we presume to be a shelter for the railway workers who worked the level crossing. If any body knows more details please contact me, as I might be completely wrong.

Factoid #5

The government paid £2000 per mile of track, just under 12 miles in total, to help efforts in WW1

A little inspiration

A few weeks a go, we visited the  Farnham 37th Model Railway Exhibition, on show was plenty of N Gauge (2mmFS) layouts. To my amazement there was a layout that depicts a portion of a proposed branch of Mid Suffolk Light railway, known as Framsden. In many ways the layout is similar to Cliddesden, and the other stations on the Basingstoke and Alton Line. The detail, and size of Framsden is an inspiration for my layout. Here are some pics:

As some people have pointed out Framsden in 2mm Finescale. Thanks for the comments.

Factoid #4

A small section of the line exists as a memorial, in the middle of the Viables Roundabout in Basingstoke.

LSWR 48' Brake Lav. Tri-Comp. - Final Part

The taller roof vents I believe are both part of the ceiling gas light holder and vent for fumes. The smaller vents coincide with those compartments that allow 'smoking' and simply vent the stale air from the compartment. They were all adapted from spare 00 gauge kit components that looked like vents but were designed for other purposes.

The roof is simply cut out from photo paper. It takes hole drilling for the vent spigots very well.


This was my first attempt at scratch building an 'n' gauge model. From normal viewing distances the coach looks good. Close scrutiny however, does raise eyebrows about the window frame edges. I'm sure this can be improved on the next build but there is no doubt etched brass body sides would be best.


We have also considered punched card or milled metal for the body sides and window cutouts but the specialist tooling required may be prohibitive.


You will see from the posting below that another M7 has been obtained. This one in Southern livery. That means I will be making a second coach, this time in Maunsell olive green with leaf spring bogies for the later period of the line.

To Part 1

Southern '37' M7

 My dad said, in a previous post:

"To increase variety for the model railway it would be nice to be able to run two M7s, one of each livery for the two periods."

Your wish is my command... Another troll through Ebay, and a Southern '37' 0-4-4 M7 made by Dapol, was up for auction. A few days later and I am now the proud owner. The M7 is exactly the same as the LSWR, but with different graphics. Although this was second hand, it was in pretty good condition, albeit the right vacuum pipe was missing, luckily we had a spare one to replace it with. This now gives the option of being able to run our model railway in the different periods (Pre and Post War).

...Now I just got to work out how to change the scenery at the same time.

LSWR 48' Brake Lav. Tri-Comp. - Part 6

Two attempts to make the under-frame. Problem was the solebars that I initially made from card but proved too flimsy. When I scoured my scrap box for ideas I found some double o code 100 flat bottom rail and surprise, surprise it virtually matched the required style and dimensions. The wide flat bottom even looks like the full length step board of the prototype.

Parts for the entire coach, except the bogies, have been hand made from materials already in my possession.

For the under-frame only the most noticeable fittings have been modeled; floor (aluminium), gas tanks (balsa), vacuum pumps (plastic sprue) , V hangers and trusses (brass sprue), buffers (hornby oo track pins) and coupling hook (copper wire), all held together with Superglue.

The final part in this series deals with the roof fabrication.

To Final Part

To Part 1

Factoid #3

The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, towards the end of it's life was used in 2 Films. Oh, Mr Porter! and The Wrecker