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Railway General Knowledge.

John Hunt

John Hunt

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Leicester, Paradise of the midlands.
Thank you sir!

31s at Leicester were always guaranteed for the Peterboro/Crewe TPO and the Norwich/B'Hams. When a 31 wasn't available for the Norwich/B'Ham, some of us piled on to the replacement 'rat' (25) and 'gripped' the guard to pay the fare (on an excess slip) to get the haulage.

Open floor
 
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RailUK Forums

DerekC

DerekC

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OK. The metre gauge was extremely unusual in the UK, but there was a group of industrial lines that used it.

1) Where were they and what was their purpose?
2) Name three of them (I only know three - bonus points for any more)

For an extra bonus - where can you see some of their locomotives and equipment?
 
C

Calthrop

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The ironstone fields of the East Midlands -- for conveying iron ore from the points where it was extracted, to nearby ironworks / steelworks and / or to the national standard-gauge network.

One location was, near Wellingborough -- continued in action, and with steam, till a fairly late date (mid-1960s?)

There comes to mind, Scaldwell -- Vale of Belvoir area, linking with the GN & LNW Joint north-to-south route; and also with, I think, industrial s/g lines of the same iron-mining concern.

I have a feeling that there was a third, around the area mentioned immediately above -- but if I ever knew the details, I no longer do !


Where "relics" can be seen -- something of a guess: but -- the narrow-gauge museum on the Talyllyn, at Tywyn? (At least one m/g ironstone loco there, I'm reckoning.)
 
DerekC

DerekC

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Calthrop said:
The ironstone fields of the East Midlands -- for conveying iron ore from the points where it was extracted, to nearby ironworks / steelworks and / or to the national standard-gauge network.

One location was, near Wellingborough -- continued in action, and with steam, till a fairly late date (mid-1960s?)

There comes to mind, Scaldwell -- Vale of Belvoir area, linking with the GN & LNW Joint north-to-south route; and also with, I think, industrial s/g lines of the same iron-mining concern.

I have a feeling that there was a third, around the area mentioned immediately above -- but if I ever knew the details, I no longer do !


Where "relics" can be seen -- something of a guess: but -- the narrow-gauge museum on the Talyllyn, at Tywyn? (At least one m/g ironstone loco there, I'm reckoning.)
Click to expand...

Right industry and right general area.

Wellingborough is right for one of them - in fact the Wellingborough Tramway.

The Vale of Belvoir is also the right area for the second, but not Scaldwell - that was 3ft gauge.

There may be something at Tywyn but there is a lot more at a location much nearer the original action!


John Hunt said:
Vague memory (not living memory!) of this.
Kettering Ironstone Rail Co; to ferry ironstone to furnace near MML is all I can recall.
Click to expand...

Also 3ft gauge


So - @Calthrop or @John Hunt - or anyone else - want another go? At present I think @Calthrop would win on points but I will wait until later to adjudicate!
 
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C

Calthrop

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I've resorted to somewhat-random consulting of (non-rail-specialist) maps, which is maybe cheating -- but there hasn't been a rush of knowledgeable others; and I don't feel that I'm well-informed or good-guessing enough on this subject, to merit the floor; and am completely "dry" anyway, of questions of my own to put...

So, anyhow: for the Belvoir area m/g line, Eastwell and Eaton are now sort-of ringing bells with me.
 
DerekC

DerekC

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Hampshire (nearly a Hog)
Calthrop said:
I've resorted to somewhat-random consulting of (non-rail-specialist) maps, which is maybe cheating -- but there hasn't been a rush of knowledgeable others; and I don't feel that I'm well-informed or good-guessing enough on this subject, to merit the floor; and am completely "dry" anyway, of questions of my own to put...

So, anyhow: for the Belvoir area m/g line, Eastwell and Eaton are now sort-of ringing bells with me.
Click to expand...

Eaton is right - it was the quarry served by the Waltham Tramway (see below). Eastwell was 3ft gauge.

John Hunt said:
Bells are totally silent here.....
As this is a two-horse race can I submit to @Calthrop ?
Click to expand...

I am half regretting asking this question because the history of these railways/tramways is so complex. I am wondering whether to take the plunge and buy a second hand copy of the definitive book on the subject, published in (I think) 1957. There is a series of articles available on line in the archives of the Industrial Railway Society but they assume that you have read the book!

Anyhow - the metre gauge ironstone railways I know about are:

1) The Wellingborough Tramway - operated from 1874 to 1966. Why they picked metre gauge for what was initially a horse drawn tramway is hard to guess.

2) The Waltham Iron Ore Tramway -in the Vale of Belvoir - served the Eaton Quarry and operated from 1884 to 1958

3) The Loddington Tramway - three miles west of Kettering - not sure when it started but was converted to standard gauge in 1958.

The place to see the locomotives and equipment is the Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum - near Wellingborough, Exhibits include Cambrai - a Corpet-Louvet of 1888 which started life on the CF de Cambresis (Nord and Aisne), moved to the Loddington Tramway in 1936 and to the Waltham Tramway in 1956. The loco is owned by the Tywyn museum and is on loan to Irchester - so @Calthrop was right about the Tywyn connection and indeed I have some memory of seeing her there.

If @Calthrop is still out of inspiration and since @John Hunt has submitted it's

Open Floor
 
C

Calthrop

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DerekC said:
I am wondering whether to take the plunge and buy a second hand copy of the definitive book on the subject, published in (I think) 1957.
Click to expand...

Ironstone Railways and Tramways of the [?East?] Midlands by E.S. Tonks -- that's the one, is it not? Have briefly borrowed and part-"conned" a copy -- been nearly, but not quite, interested enough to get one of my own !
The place to see the locomotives and equipment is the Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum - near Wellingborough, Exhibits include Cambrai - a Corpet-Louvet of 1888 which started life on the CF de Cambresis (Nord and Aisne), moved to the Loddington Tramway in 1936 and to the Waltham Tramway in 1956. The loco is owned by the Tywyn museum and is on loan to Irchester - so @Calthrop was right about the Tywyn connection and indeed I have some memory of seeing her there.
Click to expand...

To my shame, I don't think I had ever heard of the Irchester N.G. Railway Museum before reading this post !
If @Calthrop is still out of inspiration and since @John Hunt has submitted it's

Open Floor
Click to expand...

I remain totally inspiration-less, sure enough -- Open Floor indeed.
 
GRALISTAIR

GRALISTAIR

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xotGD said:
Is that the shunter that hung around Reading Depot?
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It may have visited Reading - but I saw it on 5 occasions between 1973 and 1978 and photographed it in black and white on Tri-X 400 film with a Zorki 4 camera and then with my Minolta XM on color slide and color print. On all those occasions it was in the same location which is the one I am thinking about. On all those occasions my friend John Wade who runs Heritage Shunters Trust at Rowley now owns the machine. He purchased for the nostalgia amongst other reasons. We both were members of the long defunct NCTS - Northern Counties Transport Society.

So sorry no.
 
A

alistairlees

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Oh dear. The parking brake is stuck. I shall have to offer an open floor.

(Never heard of Newlands either!)
 
GRALISTAIR

GRALISTAIR

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DerekC said:
I am never ashamed to display ignorance on behalf of all those who don't know but don't like to ask - what is a PWM65X?
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PWM stood for Permanent Way Machine - basically a glorified shunter but purpose built for departmental duties.. They were in BR Capital stock so I needed to see them all to clear my locos. The Wikipedia article is not too bad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_97/6
 
C

Calthrop

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Which country had, for a long while: what was generally reckoned to be the world's longest section of metre-gauge double track? (Things there are rather in flux nowadays, and this distinction is thought no longer to apply.)

Would like the name of the country, and some indication -- needn't be rigorously chapter-and-verse -- of where the double-track section was in relation to the country and its rail system. (The more details which people might like to provide, the merrier !)
 
C

Calthrop

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You're not too hugely far off the mark -- but, not India; and gauge conversion isn't involved.
 
Peter C

Peter C

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GWR land
Could it be part of China? More towards the western end. I have no clue whatsoever though!

-Peter
 
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