E.E. Speight tells of his own experiences travelling by rail in Norway at the end of the 19th century.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/12/thr...mber-1899/
In an article which is primarily a travelogue rather than a technical piece. He fails to mention the gauges of the different railways that he travels along. The matter of the differing gauges of railways in Norway is covered in some paragraphs on the linked article.
In 1899, Norway had around 1,300 miles of railway. The principal elements were lines running:
• from Christiania South towards Sweden reaching the border at Kornsjo (169 km – the Smaalensbanen);
• from Christiania East towards Sweden reaching the border beyond Kongsvinger;
• from Christiania to Trondhjem (562 km) with branches to Lillehamer, Otta and from Elverum to Kongsvinger;
• from Trondhjem to Storlien (108 km) to meet the line in Sweden from Stockholm;
• from Christiania South to Drammen, Laurvik and Skien (204 km) with branches to Randsfjord, Kongsberg and Kroderen, Horten and Brevik.
• between Christiansand and Byglandsfjord (Saetersdal); Stavanger and Ekersund (Jaederbanen); and Bergen to Vosse (108 km).
The Lough Swilly Railway again
The L&LSR once again - a perspective from the 19th century! - The Railway Magazine, November 1899.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/14/the...mber-1899/
The November 1899 edition of The Railway Magazine carried a short article about the L&LSR which was not heavy on technical detail. It mostly reads as though it were a holiday brochure rather than an article in a railway journal. None-the-less, the article is still of interest, particularly for the fact that it was written during the period when the L&LSR was expanding.
New Zealand Railways – The Railway Magazine, November 1899.
The November 1899 issue of The Railway Magazine carried the first of a short series of articles about the railways of New Zealand. As you will discover if you choose to read on, the author does not hold back on offering his personal opinions about the state of the railways and choices made by the government of the day for the country’s railways.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/16/new...mber-1899/
Quote:It is a pity that I do not have access to the subsequent article(s) about New Zealand’s Railways nor to any debate that the article may have provoked.
It might be interesting to hear some present day reflections on the comments the author makes!
The article is also of interest for an introduction to the rather unusual decisions taken by the Southland government about its first railway.
One of the delightful things about reading early copies of The Railway Magazine is the perspective from which articles are written. In this particular case the existence of the Great Central Railway is a welcome novelty!
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/16/the...mber-1899/
Quote:This article begins: “Quainton Road is a name which has of late become familiar to the railway public owing to its being the converging point of the lines of the Great Central Railway’s recently-opened extension to London with those of the Metropolitan. It is situated in Buckinghamshire, at a distance of 45 miles from London”
At the end of August 2024, we visited Kielder Water Reservoir, passing through Bellingham on the way. We noticed a disused railway for which a good number of structures and embankments/cuttings remained in place.
This was the Border Counties Railway (BCR), a line connecting Hexham in Northumberland, with Riccarton Junction on the Waverley Route in Roxburghshire.
The BCR was also known as the North Tyne Railway as it ran beside the River North Tyne for much of its length.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/16/the...hollerton/
The line between Kielder and Falstone is now under the waters of the Kielder Water Reservoir.
Railway Statistics – The Railway Magazine, July 1903 and a brief look at modern figures. …
J. Holt Schooling produced a series of articles in The Railway Magazine after the turn of the 20th century. I came across the third of these in the July 1903 edition of the magazine. Elsewhere in the same magazine, there was a short note which highlighted the total net receipts of all Britain’s railways companies with the figures tabulated.
The figures show a small but significant increase between 1901 and 1902.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/17/rai...n-figures/
Holt Schooling’s article looked at some detailed statistics relating to British railways, with some comparisons made with statistics relating to the railways of the USA. …
‘Demountable Flats’ – The Railway Magazine – February 1922 – and developing methods of reducing freight handling costs in the 20th century. …
The Railway Magazine of February 1922 introduced its readers to the advantages of ‘demountable flats’.
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/17/dem...h-century/
Much Wenlock Civic Society
I completed the series about this line which ran from Wellington to Craven Arms via Much Wenlock just a couple of weeks ago. This was just in time to allow me to pull together a talk for Much Wenlock Civic Society on Tuesday 17th September 2024.
That talk can be found by following the link below:
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2024/09/04/muc...mber-2024/
While asserting copyright, I have no objections to the file being downloaded and used. Hopefully you will feel something of the joy I found in drawing the photographs and the journey together.