Little Bazeley not only owes its name to the 1960s Avengers television series, in some ways it works along the same lines of thought too - some basic assumptions may be outrageously far fetched, yet they serve the purpose of providing highly enjoyable entertainment very well.

BRITISH RAILWAYS

LITTLE BAZELEY SIDINGS

1960s FREIGHT OPERATIONS

The red brick warehouse sitting at the sidings beyond the station of Little Bazeley is left deliberately generic so as to allow for a variety of freight stock to be used. Not being too specific about who exactly receives and ships what here - further disguised by a very general sign reading "SUSSEX STORAGE" - can justify almost anything turning up here (again, assuming that business by rail is a lot more flourishing than it actually was by the time period the layout is set in).

Goods and a wide range of commodities are transported to and from the warehouse in one type or another of the covered goods van, of which a wide variety may show up at Little Bazeley, or 1960s style container traffic on 3-plank or conflat wagons.

The 0-6-0 diesel electric shunter is a 2013 model from Bachmann, expertly weathered by The Model Center. Its black livery, number without a D-prefix, and early BR emblem actually date this engine pre-1957, and to assume that this particular engine escaped renumbering and a visit to the paint shop for around ten years is stretching credibilty very far. On the other hand no other livery ever suited this class better than black, and the worn appearance of this particular model so hints at years of hard work exposed to salty seaside air that it is simply assumed that 13050 (which in real life started out in Crewe in 1954 and was withdrawn in 1980 allocated to Burton) ventured South and simply remained in the vicinity of Little Bazeley and thus far from any paint shop.

The 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunter D2228 (Class 04), on the other hand, did actually spend its working life on the South Coast. Also a Bachmann engine (released in 2004 as a factory weathered model) it carries the correct mid-1960's period paint scheme of BR green with wasp stripes. Used on the prototype in areas where smaller sized shunting locos were needed, this is actually a fairly prototypically correct engine to appear at a location such as Little Bazeley. Again it is assumed that this locomotive has its base not too far away from Little Bazeley which is why it is a regular for the shunting duties at the sidings serving the Sussex Storage warehouse.

According to specific regulations issued for the location of Little Bazeley, this arrangement requires a brake van to be at the end of the consist so that a guard can act as pilot and oversee the trip to the sidings (this also means that the brake can is a constant in the selection of the cars for the 5 car Inglenook formula).

Just like 0-6-0 diesel electric shunter 13050, the model used primarily for this was somehow lost in time, because the 25t "pill box" brake van - introduced on the Southern Railway in 1925 - still carries its SR markings and paint job. Very unlikely if not completely impossible, it is again a case of a Bachmann model exquisitely weathered by TMC simply being too appealing not to be run - and an example of just how much liberty a shunting puzzle layout can afford if the operator is so inclined.

VEA at East Usk Yard in 1990
(c) and courtesy Tony Dunkley Collection

The versatile Hornby VEA

The Hornby model is of a certain age and dimensionally inaccurate but fits the bill for any shunting puzzle purpose outside of finescale modelling (and anyone looking for a more accurate VEA might try the Parkside Dundas VEA BR Vanwide kit).