I have been exploring the history of the Metre-gauge Tramways in Nice through reading a french-language book about their history. To do so, I have had to use translation software as my French has not improved beyond O-level standard!
This is the next post in the series: .....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/08/12/the...rovence-87
It covers the period from 1935 to the liberation by allied forces in 1944.
Travelling South to Ludlow in late October, I came across an example of a Canal Inclined Plane at Coalport, Shropshire. It qualifies as a railway although its primary purpose was the carrying of canal boats between the Shropshire Canal and the River Severn. ....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/21/coa...ironbridge
This next post completes the length of the Strabane and Letterkenny Railway
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/10/29/co-...etterkenny
A Journey Along the Line - Strabane to Letterkenny - Part C - Convoy to Letterkenny
We return to Convoy Railway Station which sits to the East of the Village. While we are waiting for our train, a railcar from Letterkenny stops at the station.
A recent short article in 'The Colonel' reminded me that my maternal grandparents lived close to Colonel Stephens' Office in Tonbridge, Kent. This link is to a short article about that part of Tonbridge and the location of Colonel Stephens' office.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/05/col...ridge-kent
I was asked to give a talk in 2020 to a clergy discussion group on the subject 'Clergy and Trains'. This group had decided to have its annual outing on The East Lancs Railway and I was to be the after dinner 'entertainment'! It did not work out, for obvious reasons in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic altered everyone's plans!
However, as a result of the request, I began to study what was available online and in the press on this subject and the place it takes in the wide range of interests available to the clergy. ... Whether my research counts as original research, I very much doubt. However, you might find what follows of interest!
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/14/cle...d-railways
Quote:"It is a truth universally acknowledged that the clergy love trains." So started an article by Ed Beavan in the Church Times on 15th June 2011, entitled 'All Steamed Up About Trains'. [1] On the centenary of the birth of the Revd W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ed Beavan asked, in his article in the Church Times, why so many clergy are railway buffs.
This is another post in a series about the railways of Iran. It focuses on a narrow gauge system, some 40 miles in total length, which served the Abadan Oil Depot and refinery. Available information is sparse. ....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/19/rai...ompany-ltd
Since first posting about APOC/AIOC on 19th November, a number of people have pointed me to considerably more information about the 2ft 6in gauge and the 3ft gauge railways that served different part of the Company's network in Iran. If the original post of the 19th November was of interest it has now been significantly extended.
The link remains the same so the original more limited text cannot easily be accessed. It has been subsumed in the newer version on the same link. Just for convenience I have repeated the link here:
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/19/rai...ompany-ltd
I have just finished reading the first of two volumes by Richard Inwood and Mike Smith. It is a Silver Link publication. This is just a short review of the book. ...
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/12/10/mov...mike-smith
"Published by Silver Link Publishing Ltd in 2009, this excellent book is made up of the personal reflections of the two authors on their memories of following steam as teenagers in the years 1962 to 1967. This was a particularly poignant time in the life of Britain's railways as the Modernisation Plan saw the relatively rapid demise of steam power. ...."
It is a while since I completed this thread about The Uganda Railway. Or at least thought I had completed it.
In the autumn of 2020, someone kindly pointed out that I had not referenced the official history of the line which was published in 1949.
At the end of 2020 I acquired copies of the 2 volume series compiled by M.F.Hill entitled 'Permanent Way'. These two books were produced for the East African Railways and Harbours, Nairobi, Kenya and, while being focussed on the Uganda Railway were as much a social and economic history of East Africa.
This link will take you to some preliminary reflections which come from reading Hill's book and which I hope are not seen as being too far off topic:
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/12/18/uga...da-railway
Quote:In order to provide the context for the construction of the Uganda Railway, M.F. Hill saw it as imperative in his book to provide a social and economic history of the East African region. It is impossible for me to judge the veracity of what he writes, but it clearly is written from a British Colonial perspective. In addition to covering the strife between the European powers who sought to increase their influence in the Great Lakes region of the continent of Africa, Hill provides extensive quotes from leading British figures in the region about the Uganda that they knew before the coming of the railway.