Roger Farnworth Railways

[rogerfarnworth]

RE: Stockport's Tramways
Stockport Corporation Tramways – Modern Tramway Vol. 12 No. 138, June 1949 – Part 1

P.W. Gentry wrote about Stockport’s trams in the July 1949 issue of Modern Tramway.

He says: “Besides possessing several interesting features of its own, the Stockport system today commands added attention as the last last surviving member of that once network of standard gauge undertakings encircling Manchester. It is an unusually pleasing system by virtue of its compact and simple arrangement, its focal point being Mersey Square.”

This article in Modern Tramway caught my attention because for about 9 years I worked in Stockport as a highway engineer.

We know that tramways arrived in Stockport in the 1880’s from the Manchester direction when “the Manchester Tramways and Carriage Co, Ltd., [opened] a horse-car service into Mersey Square via Levenshulme.” l

In 1889, the Stockport and Hazel Grove Carriage and Tramway Co. Ltd. was formed and “instituted horse car services southwards to Hazel Grove and Edgeley at Easter 1890.”

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/01/15/sto...949-part-1

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: Khartoum Trams
Khartoum, Sudan Again – The Modern Tramway, Vol. 13 No. 156 – December 1950.

The Modern Tramway reported in December 1950 on the purchase by the Sudan Light & Power Company of the new 4-motor bogie tramcars. The bogies and equipment were being “supplied by the English Electric Company and the underframes and bodies by Charles Roberts and Company Ltd., under sub-contract to the English Electric Company. All motor tramcars and trailers [were to] be fitted with air brakes. As will be seen from the drawing reproduced, the body design [was] a pleasing example of modern British practice. The trailer cars [were] of similar outline.” [1: p270]

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/01/18/sud...ember-1950

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Giants Causeway and Portrush Tramway
In the Summer of 2024, my wife and I visited Giants’ Causeway as part of a few days meandering along the North coast of Ireland. When reading a series of older copies of the Modern Tramway, I came across an article written in 1950. … The Modern Tramway of September 1950 featured an article by D. G. Evans about one of the very early electric tramways – The Giants’ Causeway and Portrush Tramway. His article is quoted in full in this article.

Wikipedia tells us that The Giants’ Causeway, Portrush, & Bush Valley Railway & Tramway was a “pioneering 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge electric railway operating between Portrush and the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The line, 9 1⁄4 miles (14.9 km) long, was hailed at its opening as ‘the first long electric tramway in the world’. [2] The Giant’s Causeway and Bushmills Railway today operates diesel and steam tourist trains over part of the Tramway’s former course.” [3]

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/01/19/the...-13-no-153