Roger Farnworth Railways

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: Christmas 2025 - Books - Reviews and Notes ...
No. 3 – Christian Wolmar … The Subterranean Railway

The featured image for the article below captures the Metropolitan Railway locomotive No. 23 during the London Underground centenary celebrations in 1963. The locomotive is an ‘A’ Class 4-4-0T condensing steam engine, built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1866. It was designed specifically for use on the Metropolitan Railway’s Inner Circle line, where it was intended to limit smoke emissions in the tunnels. It was withdrawn from underground use in 1905 after the lines were electrified. Its appearance in 1963 at Neasden was a special event, marking 100 years of the London Underground.

This article is the third in a short series:

Christian Wolmar; The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground was Built and How it Changed the City Forever (2nd extended Edition); Atlantic Books, 2020. This edition includes a chapter on Crossrail.

Christian Wolmar’s book published by Atlantic is a 2nd extended edition of a book published in 2004, dating from 2020. The chapter about Crossrail is the last chapter of the book on pages p323-342. This article provides a potted history of the London Underground and a quick look at other similar systems around the world, which comes out of reading Wolmar’s excellent book.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/20/chr...n-railway/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Strathspey Railway Line
Part 1 – Keith to Dufftown

The featured image for this article is the last of the Great North of Scotland 4-4-0s was No.62277 ‘Gordon Highlander’, nick named ‘The Soldier’. Before being retired for preservation and resorted to its original green livery, No.62277 spent its remaining days in regular service working the goods between Keith and Elgin, and over the Speyside branch, © W.J.V.Anderson. [48]

The January issue of The Railway Magazine usually focussed on Scotland. The January 1959 edition was no exception. [1] Included in the Magazine were articles by:

H.A. Vallance about The Strathspey Line.
J.W. Grant about Scottish 0-4-4 Tank Engines.
G.H. Robin about The Lanarkshire & Dunbartonshire Railway.
M.D. Grenville about Scottish Railways in 1859.

Quote:This article picks up on the article by H.A. Vallance, and begins a journey along the Strathspey line which ran down the valley of the River Spey from Keith towards Abernethy. Initially the line ran Southwest along Strathisla before crossing the watershed to Strathspey.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/16/the...-dufftown/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Strathspey Line, Scotland
Part 2 - Dufftown to Ballindalloch

This is the second article following the Strathspey Line.

The featured image shows Carron Railway Station early in the 20th century, © Public Domain. [61]

We start this next leg of the journey in Dufftown at the Railway Station which is the terminus of the Keith & Dufftown Railway.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/29/the...lindalloch

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Railway Magazine - December 1952 - Advertising
A snapshot of advertising from a 1950s Railway Magazine. The featured image is the front cover photograph from the December 1952 issue. The adverts in this issue are an eclectic mix of modelling tools, books, railway equipment, chemical elements, British Railways jobs and miscellaneous items. …

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/16/the...vertising/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Strathspey Line, Scotland
Part 3 – Ballindalloch Railway Station to Boat of Garten

This is the third article following the Strathspey Line.

The featured image is a Manson O class 4-4-0 locomotive. When the GNSR Directors requested larger engines to handle increasing passenger traffic loads, and Manson designed his Class O (LNER D42) locomotives to meet this need. Initially allocated to main line passenger duties between Aberdeen and Elgin, as later 4-4-0s (e.g..the D40s) were introduced, they were displaced to secondary duties. By the time of the Grouping (1923), they could be found across the GNSR system, including at Boat of Garten working the Speyside Line.

We start this next leg of the journey at Ballindalloch Railway Station.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/02/05/the...tation-to/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Railway Magazine - January 1959
This article gives a quick review of the January 1959 issue of the Railway Magazine. …

Starting with the Editorial Notes. ....

Editorial Notes
Looking back at past editorials in The Railway Magazine highlights the ongoing debate at the time over the best form of terrestrial travel – road -v- rail.

Quote:In the January 1959 issue of the magazine, which saw O.S. Nock assuming the authorship of the long running monthly article, ‘Locomotive Practice and Performance’, the editorial focussed on:

Road and Rail Fares and Services
Public Reliance on Railways
First British AC Electric Locomotive

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/12/31/the...05-no-693/

[rogerfarnworth]

The Wolverton Works & the Wolverton & Stony Stratford Tramway
The featured image for this article shows a Bagnall saddle-tank engine and train of two 100-seat workmen’s cars in L.N.W.R. livery on the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway.

This article tells the story of the Wolverton Works, the McCorquodale’s Printing Works and the Wolverton and Stony Stratford Tramway.

Quote:“The line as authorised in 1883 received Board of Trade sanction on 20th May 1887, in respect of 2 miles 15 chains single line and 40 chains double. It was built to the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge instead of the 4 ft. originally authorised. Public passenger traffic was begun on 27th May 1887, between the Barley Mow Inn, Stony Stratford, and Wolverton Station, with tramway-type steam locomotives hauling very large covered-top double-deck tramcars. The ordinary fare was 2d., with a special cheap rate for workmen, whereas the horse bus that had previously served the route charged 6d.”

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/26/the...ton-works/

[rogerfarnworth]

The Railway Magazine - March 1959
Just a snap shot of the things appearing in the March 1959 issue of The Railway Magazine. [1]

1. There were adverts on the inside of the front cover – 5 of them. …. (Page ii of the March 1959 Railway Magazine.)

The 34th Model Railway Club Model Railway Exhibition was due to take place in Easter Week. It would run from Tuesday March 31st to Saturday April 4th at Central Hall Westminster. On Tuesday provision appears to have been made for the final setting up of layouts, with the exhibition not opening until 12 noon, but the show was to be open until 9.00 pm each evening with an opening time of 10.30am for the remainder of the week.

I wonder what today’s exhibitors and exhibition managers would feel about a show that was 5 days long and a total of 52 hours of operating time? Much of the work setting up for the exhibition must have taken place on the Bank Holiday Monday and dismantling may well have taken place on the Sunday. There must have been quite a few people who gave up a full week’s leave for the sake of the show! Think too of the logistics of providing refreshments for a week-long show!

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/03/the...arch-1959/

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: The Edaville Railroad, South Carver, Massachusetts, USA
The featured image shows a passenger train on the Edaville Railroad, made up of coaches from other narrow gauge lines, running on a shallow embankment over a cranberry bog, © Public Domain. [1: p555]

Originally known as ‘The Cranberry and Small Fry Line’, the Edaville Railroad is a 2ft-gauge narrow gauge line in Massachusetts. [1: p555]

It featured in a short article in the August 1952 issue of The Railway Magazine. This is the next article in a series looking at lines featured in early issues of The Railway Magazine.

Quote:Writing in 1952, Edwards comments: “Although never exceptionally numerous, lines of this type assisted materially in the development of many areas. As early as 1877, a 2-ft. gauge line, eight miles long, was inaugurated to link the Massachusetts towns of Bedford and Billerica, but the track and plant were removed to the State of Maine two years later, and used for the Sandy River Railroad. This line proved of great service to many previously isolated communities; its development was rapid, and extensions and branches soon brought its mileage up to 120. Other similar projects followed, mostly in Maine, and a sixty-year period of success resulted. In recent years, however, the usefulness of such small lines has declined. The present economic situation has proved an adverse factor … and nearly all of them have been closed.” [1: p555]

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/30/the...achusetts/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: Les Trains du Col de Tende again. ...
Part 9 – The Short Golden Age

I am writing this article having just returned to Menton where we were staying in November 2025. We travelled to and from Tende which is the terminus of Zest Bus Ligne 25. There was little action to observe at the railway station.

The line from Nice to Tende via Breil-sur-Roya was closed until the beginning of 2026. The alternative route from Ventimiglia was still active but we did not see a train during the two hours we spent at Tende.

This is the ninth article in a series relating to the railway between Cuneo, Nice and Ventimiglia. In earlier articles about the line from Cuneo to the sea we covered the length of the line from Cuneo to Breil-sur-Roya and then to Ventimiglia, before looking at the line between Breil-sur-Roya and Nice. As we looked at the two routes we also looked at the history of the line over the period before it’s opening in 1928.

This article covers the period from 1928 to 1939.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/02/06/the...olden-age/