SOUTHDOWNS BUS RALLY AND VINTAGE SHOW

Although I often take pictures in the model tents of the outdoor shows I attend each year I have not (so far) written them all up in the manner of the indoor model railway exhibitions as they tend to either have too many different exhibits or lack a sufficiently detailed programme or both.

In the case of Southdowns Bus Rally and Vintage Show however, Vincent helpfully set out his manifesto on an A5 sheet of cream paper with a shaded green san-serif headline and the final disclaimer "The above is a mixture of fact and fiction but what is true and which is made up?  I'll leave you to work it out!"  "The above" is reproduced below:

It is in the territory of the former Sussex based bus and coach operator Southdown Motor Services and, as would be expected, a range of preserved Southdown vehicles are present.  Also, public service vehicles of former and current operators are displayed and used for bus rides and mystery tours.  A number of preserved commercial vehicles from the locality can be seen and there is a range of cars, motorcycles, tractors and other means of road transport and machinery.

The nearby railway was opened by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in 1881 as a branch line from Chichester to Midhurst.  It became part of the Southern Railway at the time of Grouping in 1923 and then British Railways Southern Region when the railways were nationalised in 1948.  The line was built to double track loading gauge but was only ever single throughout its operation.  There were three stations, Lavant, Singleton and Cocking designed in a "Country House" style, all with generous facilities.  Singleton was the destination for both passenger and horse traffic for Goodwood Racecourse.  Passenger services were withdrawn in 1935 with freight traffic carried until 1953 with the closure of Singleton and Cocking stations. ( I recall as a child seeing a plume of smoke from a small freight train crossing the countryside )  However, Lavant remained open until 1970 being the central loading point in the area for sugar beet traffic, although closed to general freight in 1968.  Gravel extraction south west of the village gave a resurgence of railway traffic in 1972 until 1991.

Today the line is in the hands of preservation and known as the Sussex Railway (SR), the "SR" being reminiscent of the former Southern Railway or Southern Region.  The railway operates throughout the year.  It runs from Midhurst to the former junction near Chichester but stops short of joining the main Brighton Portsmouth line - there is no running over the third rail section.  All the stations are in existence but Singleton is now a vineyard.  However, the owner allows trains to stop at weekends where a vintage bus service takes passengers to and from the nearby Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.  The locomotives, both steam and diesel, and other rolling stock reflect much of that which was seen on the branch in its former years.  The railway runs a special gala weekend in conjunction with the rally, operating an intensive service for the public.

This is a beautiful part of England and there are numerous other attractions for the visitor to see.  A stay in West Sussex is well worth it and highly recommended.

Similarly, there really was a line built by the LBSCR from Midhurst to Chichester with stations at Lavant, Singleton and Cocking - the LBSCR branch from Pulborough to Midhurst forming an end-on connection to the west with a London & South Western Railway branch from Petersfield.  At the southern end of the line meanwhile, Chichester was on the LBSCR West Coastway line from Havant to Ford with the Midhurst-Chichester line also linked to the Hundred of Manhood & Selsey Tramway heading south to Selsey Beach.

Cocking station lost its passenger services on 6 July 1935, although freight continued until the line between Cocking and Midhurst was cut by the washout of an embankment in November 1951. Cocking then became the terminus of the line north from Chichester, until 28 August 1953 when the station was completely closed.

Built like Cocking to the north and Lavant to the south in the LBSCR Country House style now preserved on the Bluebell Railway, Singleton was a grand station with four platforms linked by a subway, a buffet, goods shed and sidings for waiting trains, all requiring a signalbox at each end of the station.  However, as there was a steep walk from the station to Goodwood, most racegoers preferred to alight at Chichester and Singleton, like Cocking, closed to passengers and freight in 1935 and 1953 respectively.  For a number of years however, Singleton station really was part of a vineyard located close to the real life Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

Lavant, meanwhile, did survive for general freight until 1968 and for sugar beet until 1970 with a stump of the line south of the station remaining in use to serve a gravel pit from 1972 to 1991.  After that however, the trackbed became part of the Centurion Way cycle path rather than the Sussex Railway of Vincent's imagination!

And as for a stay in West Sussex being well worth it - I want to go myself now!

Although Airfix, Revell, Italeri and other injection moulders produce an increasing range of military figures, many of the 1/72 and 1/76 scale civilians available either painted or unpainted date from the 1950s and 60s and tend to be overwhelmingly Caucasian in nature. The same is also true of the respected - if expensive - German Preiser range which does however include a set of Arabs in traditional dress but very few Africans or Asians. Despite this however, a recent addition to the Scenecraft by Bachmann range is a set of six Station Passengers Standing, all of whom have skin tones and faces suggesting African, Asian or at least Mediterranean roots: a welcome addition considering that the footballing figures in the game of Subbuteo now have a proportional representation of players from a range of racial backgrounds after their previous exclusive whiteness was pointed out.

Indeed, if any model manufacturers are reading this I would like some Chinese people for a possible future project and also, less selfishly, some representatives of youth culture to help distinguish different model epochs such as Teddy Boys for the 1950s, Mods and Rockers for the 1960s, Skinheads, Punks, New Romantics, Goths etc. 

In the same way I notice that Preiser now include HM The Queen and HRH Prince Phillip (seen above at Dovington Camp) along with Pope John Paul II and Konrad Adenauer in their small H0 celebrity range but how about some more of the Royal Family in N gauge?  And for every set of The Beatles sold think how many Teenage Girls Screaming and Running would have to be bought!

On a practical level too, more sets of people associated with vehicles would be worthwhile such as binmen to go with refuse lorries, removal men to go with pantechnicons, AA and RAC personnel to go with patrol vehicles, air-sea rescue crews to go with helicopters and - now that Oxford Die Cast have started on a range of Auxiliary Fire Service vehicles - why not some wartime firemen along with other Home Front characters such as ARP wardens, Home Guards, spivs, Winston Churchill etc?

And while I'm being hauled down off my soap box, why not some more 4mm models of cars that would have been seen on British roads during the last 20 years - with right hand drives?