Friday 2010-10-15 Dev. update and Discussion

[peterwoods@supanet.com]

The picture below is a painting by well known aviation artist Nicolas Trudgian and is titled "Tangmere Hurricanes".
My scan does not do the colours of the original justice but that is not my purpose in posting here.



There are various elements of the scenery which have been much discussed in this and other threads on this forum of late.

The aircraft are over-flying what was in 1940 a typical Sussex small town/large village railway station. The station is served by a single track line branching into two lines to serve the station's up and down platforms.
Two terminating sidings would have been used for all varities of freight for the local area, (very little freight was moved long distances by road in those days). The goods wagon (van) in the siding appears to be being unloaded with freight for the RAF, (although I have never seen an RAF vehicle marked in this manner, I suspect poetic/artistic licence in view of the subject matter).
The level crossing, which has already been closed behind the recently arrived passenger train, is typical of all contemporary road crossings of the railways in the UK.
The steam engine and three passenger carriages again are typical of Southern Railways branch lines at that time, main lines had a third, electricfied, rail.
The single deck Southdown Ltd bus is again typical of the time and it looks like "Olegs MG" is dropping off/collecting a passenger.
The wheat sheaves and the horse-drawn cart are also how it was done then.
The church with its Norman tower and the various houses are typical of the Sussex/South Downs countryside, as are the stone bridges carrying the railway and road across the small river and the rolling South Downs in the background.
All in all a perfect example of southern England scenery in 1940.