Locos And Rolling Stock

So I Have An Idea For A Basement Railway, It's A 1960's UK Railway.
I Need Ideas For Locos And Rolling Stock To Run On The Layout.
I Already Know About The E2 Class And Class 08's, But Is There Anything Else?

[Super]

Is there a way to search the Internet for maybe pictures of rolling stock that would have been used in 1960 UK?

Just to give you some idea of what you have to choose from, I've just pulled this book off my shelf. (Inside the front cover reads "Christopher, from Grandma and Grandad, Christmas 1964"), so it's exactly the era you're talking about.



The book runs to 300+ pages, and almost every single page features between one and about four different classes of locomotive or multiple-unit, ranging from steam locos organised by region (ex. GWR, SR, LMS, LNER, and BR) through diesel locos, diesel multiple units, electric locos, and electric multiple units, with the number (and name where appropriate) of every extant example of each class listed (and of course underlined by me when 'spotted').



(This page I grabbed from the net is from an earlier volume, my 1964 edition has only 8 A2s left)

I've just counted the number of different classes of steam loco in the ex. GWR section, and it runs to 45. Diesel locos 75 classes, including a good number of which there were only one or two examples, and to confuse things further some built by a company called English-Electric!

A new edition has been published every year, I think, from 1944 to the present, though recently under different names.

You'd probably be best to decide which region you want your railway to represent, to cut the selection down to an even vaguely manageable proportion.

Since your avatar is Neville, maybe SR (Southern Region) is for you?  My 1964 book has only 9 left of the 30 Bulleid Q class built, but some or all of these lived at my local shed in the town where I went to school, so I have fond memories of them. I can smell the scene even now.

well i'm thinking of it being a fictional region, where all the regions connect

Wow Chris, that’s a cool story!

I’m sorry that I *just* missed the steam era and I’ve only seen two operating steam locomotives in person. One was Southern Pacific 4449 in her Freedom Train livery and the other was an excursion train I saw running on a Southern Railway main line back in the mid-80s.

[Super]

How nice to have that bit of nostalgia from your Grandparents an of your youth Chrisjo. I wish I still had some things from my youth to reminisce about.

well i'm thinking of it being a fictional region, where all the regions connect

It's called Sodor!

Steering back on topic, if it’s a fictional railroad, the sky is pretty much the limit. Within reason, of course....

What locomotives and rolling stock do you like? What purpose does the railroad serve? Is it a common carrier or a private road? Are there any regions you can base your operations on or in? But whatever you do, definitely include a Black Five, because it’s cool!

And are you intending it to be a BPT railway based on existing Tomy / Trackmaster locos and stock, however modified?