Two evocative photos of the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway appeared in the Railway Magazine in the spring of 1948.
This is a first brief look at the line .....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/02/19/the...e-railway/
By the time the photographs were taken the railway had been open for more than 50 years. Opened in 1834, the line was intended to link the quays at Wadebridge at the head of the Camel Estuary with the town of Bodmin in Cornwall.
A visit to Abergavenny on 25th April 2022 for a meeting gave me an hour so so to start a look at the historic transport hub that is the village of Govilon where Bailey's Tramroad, and the Llanvihangel Tramroad met on the side of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The site also includes the remains of the later Heads of the Valley Railway Line.
The linked post comes from just an hour spent in Govilon, following the line of the railway, the Canal and Bailey's Tramroad.
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/27/ba...at-govilon
This is a second offering relating to the railways in and around the Telford area. It begins a series looking at the waggonways/plateways/tramways/tramroads which preceded the coming of the more modern railways. There is probably a debate to be had over the correct names to use for these lines. I have not decided but I have used the word 'tramroad' in the title of the series. Perhaps 'plateways' would be better as most of these lines were in the end made up of a series of short L-shaped rails sitting on stone blocks and were used by trams/wagons which had wheels without flanges. Others may have firm opinions about this!?
OS Maps seem invariably to use the word 'Tramway' for these old lines.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/25/anc...-tramroads
The second post in this series covers the Coalbrookdale Company Tramroads as they are shown on the 6" OS Maps from 1882/83 and later map series, particularly the 25" series from the turn of the 20th century.
I have recently walked a major part of the network as it existed in around 1882 and have provided present day photographs of the routes where ever possible.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/26/anc...er-surveys
Our long holiday in 2022 was spent in the far North of Scotland. We stopped off to break the return journey close to Carlisle at a B&B in a hamlet called Boustead Hill adjacent to the Solway Firth.
This gave me an opportunity to find out more about the Port Carlisle Branch which was built on the line of the old canal between Carlisle and Port Carlisle.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/18/the...way-part-1
For around fifty years the passenger rail service to Port Carlisle was provided by a a horse drawn dandy carriages. ....
One of these Dandy carriages is preserved in the National Railway Museum in York.
The linked article focusses on this horse-drawn service. ....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/18/the...way-part-2
After 1914 and the reintroduction of steam power on the branch, there was a short period during the later part of the First World War when the line to Port Carlisle was closed. When it reopened, the hoped for increased passenger traffic never materialised. As the 1920s wore on, the LNER decided that it would replace locomotive power on the branch with steam railcars.
The first was 'Nettle', the second, 'Flower of Yarrow'.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/19/the...way-part-3
Sadly, their introduction did not significantly improve the financial position and the length of the line from Drumburgh to Port Carlisle was closed in 1932. .....
A comment by an acquaintance brought to mind the horse tram which served Fintona. I thought it would be good to look at what was a very short branch line. .....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/01/the-fintona-line
Quote: The Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway opened the railway station in Fintona on 5th June 1853. A short time after the Londonderry to Enniskillen Railway completed its mainline to Enniskillen (in 1854). mainline services were withdrawn from Fintona (in 1856), and the link to Fintona became a branch from the mainline at Fintona Junction railway station. Most passenger services on this branch line were then provided by a horse-drawn tram car. Since the line’s closure, the tram has been preserved at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, County Down.
In order to construct the network of reservoirs in the Elan Valley in mid-Wales, a contractor's railway was essential. This thread focusses on that railway. The first article provides a general introduction and then follows the first length of the line.
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/25/th...way-part-1
The latest issue of "The Narrow Gauge", the journal of the Narrow Gauge Society, carried an article by Iain Logie about the trams of Khartoum. The city was served by a narrow gauge steam tram network which was later replaced by Electric tram network.
This prompted some research into the railways of Sudan and first of Khartoum. The national system used trackwork set at a 3ft 6in gauge. There are plans to introduce standard gauge to Sudan, but in the meantime work to refurbish the present network is taking priority.
My first article centres on Khartoum and looks at the national network in the vicinity of the city. .....
The 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge railways in and around Khartoum. ....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/31/rai...67mm-gauge