Ww2 era oo gauge layout?

[Model Builder 4]

Afternoon all,

I've had another one of my bright ideas again I've made some space in the attic room and decided to have a go at making a ww2 era oo gauge layout. It's going to be based on the British south coast not in any particular place just somewhere fictional. One question I have for the train buffs among the forum is what available oo gauge engine could I use from this era for military purposes to pull a couple of flatbed wagons with vehicles on ? I don't mind repainting it to look more authentic to it's use. I would also like to know what passenger train and carriages would be appropriate to use for the same period of southern rail that I could use for civilian use ie. for evacuation etc, any help or information would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks, Lee.

[Tiger6]

You should be looking at the Southern Railway and their rolling stock. Sadly I was bought up by an LNER train buff, so I'm not to up on what they had...
Early war you should be looking at the designs of Richard Maunsell, so Schools and Lord Nelson class for passenger trains:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203095541449
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Hornby-Schools ... 7023569808

For a bit later in the war (i.e. after 1942) there's always O.V. Bulleid's brutal looking Q1 freight loco:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275072410283 ... OSwkRNhftJ~

Also should add that all loco's would be repainted in matt black during the war as they passed thru the depots for mainataince, and by 1945 they would all be looking quite shabby due to the railways being essentially bankrupt by that point.

[43rdRecceReg]

My Grandfather was a Scottish railwayman, based at Newhouse, near Glasgow for some years. Unusually for that time, he was a keen photographer. With the passing of my Mum's generation, all the family pics ended up with me.
I know precious little about locos, apart from loving the smell and sound of steam trains when I was a boy. Here's a pic of a train passing Newhouse in 1929/30. My Grandfather took it. Doubtless, some of our keen spotters will be able to identify the loco type. What I can say, is that it's likely it would have been in use throughout the War. Newhouse (Airdrie) branch line closed in 1930, and Grandfather moved to Edinburgh. The through-line closed in 1941.

Steam train at Newhouse, Lanark

There are three nice pics here (but copyright). It's a useful example of a small branch line station though. Perhaps, it could be re-imagined in the South East.
https://www.railscot.co.uk/locations/N/Newhouse/

Oh, and here's Grandad. That's my late Mum in the pram.

[jarndice]

You should be looking at the Southern Railway and their rolling stock. Sadly I was bought up by an LNER train buff, so I'm not to up on what they had...
Early war you should be looking at the designs of Richard Maunsell, so Schools and Lord Nelson class for passenger trains:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203095541449
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Hornby-Schools ... 7023569808

For a bit later in the war (i.e. after 1942) there's always O.V. Bulleid's brutal looking Q1 freight loco:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275072410283 ... OSwkRNhftJ~

Well over 20 School class locomotives served throughout WW2 on Southern Region steadily replaced by Merchantman and Nelson class locos but for its time the school class was more than upto the job and it was one of those examples of if it looks right it is right

[Jimster]

What’s a pram. Is that another word for baby buggy?

[jarndice]

Perambulator shortened to Pram and while it was a vehicle designed for the carriage of infants nobody would call it a "Baby Buggy", It was far more imposing

[Meter rat]

Reading rail books about the period. It seems that pretty much anything from any of the four regions could be seen, especially towards the build up to D-Day. Freight was given priority, over passenger services. Passenger carriages would be from all regions, and be used for troop moments. I recall my granddad, who worked for the LMS, at Derby, telling me about preparing large express locos for use on long freight trains to the south coast.
A lot of engines would have their name plates removed to help the war effort, and some of the new builds were without splashes, ie the Q1, again all to save metal. At night tarpaulins would switch the cab area, so the fire could not be seen, this meant that the drivers were driving blind, and knew where they were by the sound of the track and how the felt. If you are building a fictional layout, and set it during the build up to D-Day, I would say pretty much anything would be acceptable, so long as it is accurate for the period, after all your justification would be “ prove it.

[Model Builder 4]

Thank you very very much for all of your input it is greatly appreciated It is going to be a fictional layout ie ( not based in any real named town or city ) but I would still like it to represent the area and running of the engines for that time period and while I'm no rivet counter I will be striving to achieve this.
A follow up question that I have is, would all locos and rolling stock used for military purposes be repainted and if so what would be a good standard colour to go with to do this. As always your help and information will be greatly received

Cheers,Lee.

[Will01Capri]

This sounds excellent.
I look forward to seeing some more wizardry from you

[Tiger6]

Loco's were all painted plain black and the lettering and numbering also simplified during the war to save on paint, can't remember if that was a day one thing or if it was just done as and when they went thru depot maintainance tho. I don't recall the reading about the rolling stock getting any special treatment.