This page provides a collection of route descriptions provided by
their authors. Most of the material was previously published on
the site as a collection of text files, this new page allows
users easy access to any of the information using standard web
page links. I have enjoyed reading what the various contributors
have provided, there is good variety of styles and experiences. I
suggest that you browse through the page, reading the bits that
take your fancy. Please let me know if there are any factual
errors in any of the information supplied.
17) Two Welsh Narrow Gauge Lines - Owen Chapman 9/11/99
18) The Puffing Billy Railway - Australia - Owen Chapman 9/11/99
21) GWR Main Line Paddington to Bristol - Richard Gibbs
36) Doncaster to Newcastle - Martin Greenland
38) Charing Cross-Hastings
Mark Ayliffe mailed this to me to accompany the two routes he
supplied, i.e. sherman1.rut and sherman2.rut
Here's Jim Boyd's description on the page I sent the link for earlier. I've included his map for additional information, but I've not used his grade profile, mostly ecause the map is not legible enough. As I said before there are serious discrepancies between different profiles of this route:
"There are two routes over Sherman Hill, the old main and the Harriman line, which cross the backbone of the Rocky Mountains--though not the Continental divide--in high prairie country between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. It's a harsh landscape of open but rocky terrain, minus the snowcapped peaks that loom on the horizon to the south and west. Today's "old" main line, built in 1868 as part of the original transcontinental railroad, climbs westward out of Cheyenne with grades over 1.5% to the summit at Sherman and then drops down through Dale Junction and Hermosa Tunnel to Laramie, a total distance of about 57 miles.
"There have been four major line modifications in the history
of Sherman Hill. The original Sherman summit and crossing of Dale
Creek were about 2.5 miles north of their present locations--the
line between Buford and Hermosa (Tie Siding on the highway map)
was relocated via Hermosa Tunnel in 1901, and the old route was
abandoned. As part of the same project, a second main line was
built between Hermosa and Laramie; the new line, via Colores,
kept a .82% grade, while the old main via Red Buttes has a
stretch of 1.92%. The third change came in 1950 with the
completion of the "Harriman line," a new single track between
Cheyenne and Dale Junction looping to the south using nine
additional miles, high fills and deep cuts to avoid Sherman
summit and keep the westbound grade to .82%. The fourth and most
recent change was the double tracking in the mid-1970s of the
Colores line between Laramie and Hermosa. With the exception of
the double-track segment through the twin bores of Hermosa
Tunnel, Sherman Hill has three tracks for the entire distance
between Cheyenne and Laramie. The tracks are numbered 1, 2 and 3
from the north. In normal freight operations between Cheyenne and
Dale Junction, the Harriman line (Track 3) is used for westbound
and the old main line
(Tracks 1 and 2) is used for eastbound traffic. Between Hermosa
and Laramie, westbounds drop down the steep Track 3 Red Buttes
line, while eastbounds use the easier Tracks 1 and 2 via Colores.
Since everything is under CTC control from Cheyenne, however,
moves can be made in either direction on any track".
NOTES FOR NYMR 1960
-------------------
From the original route, modified by Alastair Dalgleish 1999
The Scene
---------
It is approximately 1963, the lines to Coxwold and the Forge
Valley route to Scarborough have closed, and the "Good Doctors'"
axe hangs over the mainline from Whitby to Malton/Scarborough.
The route still sees some local passenger and pick-up goods as
well as trains to the rest of Yorkshire. There is still also
some excursion traffic with visiting locos, but the stalwarts of
the line are the ex-NER types. Mainly the A8 in this simulation,
but it is very hard to get up to the other end of the line
without running out of water (most took water at Goathland or
Grosmont, sometimes both).
(No it's not!! - BA)
The route
---------
The route is best started from Whitby, although it is as I have
said quite difficult. Some people may want to get to Goathland
and restart from there to represent the top-up of water. I have
included some speed limits, reconstructed from memory and that of
others, the 40 mph limits around Whitby and Goathland are on
account of the tight curves at these points. The limits at
Pickering start with the tight curves at Kingthorpe and I have
included the 30 mph limit at New Bridge to simulate slowing down
to hand over the single line staff for the Levisham section. The
other 40 limits are assumed for the level crossing at Pickering
about 4 in total. The rest of the route to Marishes and
Rillington uses a reconstruction from memory so may not be all
that accurate in the gradients though the mileages are right.
There is no station at Rillington having closed in the 1930's so
the user may want to extend the route ny 4.5 miles to Malton,
with 1 mile of 1 in 38 and the rest around 340ish. With a 40
limit after 1 mile to simulate joining the main line.You may also
want to put water troughs at Goathland to represent the use of
the water crane (!) believe me I think you need it.
Stock
-----
For a passenger train select a small LNE loco, and about 150-200
tons (local), possibly use an A8 or a V3. For a excursion train
select up to
350 tons, and an excursion type loco from another company. You
could use a BR Standard 4/5 Tender/tank for any of the above. And
above all enjoy yourself.
Please email me with any comments at
A.M.Dalgleish@hw.ac.uk
There are many reasons why the rail passenger would choose Bundanoon as a destination for a relaxing weekend.
Bundanoon, along with the other villages and hamlets in the region, is a delightful holiday town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Its many resorts are conveniently situated within easy walking distances of the railway stations.
The Friday evening and weekend rail passenger services are well patronised by Sydney people hoping for a rejuvenating stay in the cool relaxing atmosphere of the many resorts in the Southern Highlands.
Upon arrival, the holidaymaker can enjoy relaxed dining in one of the many eating establishments that can be found in the region, than spend the night in one of the delightful comfortable hotels and guesthouses.
The many tourist attractions in the area include Morton National Park. This peaceful area can be explored on foot or by hiring a bicycle. Included in the National Park is a glow worm glen.
The business centres spread through the area attract many rail
customers as well as guards van parcel traffic. Moss Vale,
Bowral, Mittagong and Picton
would be perhaps the main commercial centres.
Sydney, the capital of New South Wales [NSW], is a large city
that spreads out to include the areas around the historical
region of Campbelltown. Country
passenger trains pick up at Sydney Terminal, Strathfield,
Liverpool and Campbelltown on they journey along the Main
Southern Line. This line eventually continues to connect
Goulburn, Yass, Wagga Wagga with Albury on the Victorian State
Border. A line connects Albury with Melbourne, the capital of
Victoria.
Goulburn, 140 miles from Sydney, was the main railway center for the region. Its locomotive roundhouse serviced the multitude of locomotives that provided the motive power on the various trains that travelled over the Sydney / Goulburn sector, as well as the branch to Crookwell and the semi mainline to Canberra, Cooma and Bombala.
As Sydney is a large city, many workers live in the peaceful Southern Highlands and commute daily by train.
******************
Rail Passenger Services;
In 1968 rail passengers travelling to and from the Southern Highlands were catered for by the "Southern Highlands Express". This left Goulburn at 6:43 am to run all stations until Campbelltown than Liverpool and Strathfield to arrive in Sydney at 10:56am. Its evening return left Sydney at 5:20pm and operated the same station pattern to arrive at Goulburn at 9:42PM. This train, complete with its own carriages adorned with a nameboard, was hauled by a 38 class 4-6-2 steam locomotive until diesels took over in October 1969. Before that, the 36 class 4-6-0 express locomotive hauled the express.
The 38 class hauled "Southern Highlands Express" was 246 tons during the week and 271 tons on Friday night. The Down [outbound] service [#19] was allowed 3 minutes for locomotive purposes at Picton and 7 minutes when it later paused at Moss Vale. The Up [Sydney bound] 38 class hauled service [#20] may not have needed the Picton water stop. In the earlier days smaller locomotives may have been glad of the Picton "drink"!
Another steam hauled service [#50] left Moss Vale at 5:49
weekdays to arrive in Sydney at 8:27 am. Its return [#49] left
Sydney at 3:54 PM to terminate at
Moss Vale at 7:01 PM. Its stopping pattern was similar to the
Goulburn based passenger service. Its locomotive requirements at
Picton, however, were longer than that for #19. Train #49
attended to "loco" 5:36 to 5:49pm, yet it was timetabled for the
same type of locomotive. It too saw its steam haulage replaced by
diesels in October 1969.
The holiday maker could return to Sydney on Sunday evenings if they travelled on #18 Fast Passenger from Canberra.This 300 ton train left Goulburn 6:32pm, Bundanoon 7:20pm, Moss Vale 7:38/7:44 [6 minutes Locomotive purposes] and called at the main stations to arrive in Sydney at 9:54pm. In 1969 it was 38 class hauled.
246 and 271 ton load were the published loads for the full Southern Highlands Express. Another one on the route was the airconditioned Riverina Express at 304 tons. Later on around Harden [239 miles from Sydney] on the same route to Albury there are 1:40 banks that required an assistant loco if the train was full. The Melbourne Limited [1950's sleeper overnight Sydney / Melbourne train] was usually at the full passenger load.
The full goods load for the 36 & 38 on the Sydney to Goulburn route was 575 tons in 1964.
The passenger full load for the same route was 390 tons for the 36. The 36 class also worked #9 Mixed with a load of 370 tons. On passenger trains the 38 class was allowed 460 tons if non stopping and 440 tons if stopping.
Goulburn to Sydney loads [1964] for 36 class; full goods 595
tons / passenger 390 tons / Fruit express 450 tons. Moss Vale to
Enfield [Sydney suburban freight yard]; full goods 900 tons. The
branch to Enfield connected to the Main South route at Sefton
Junction.
For 38 class Goulburn to Sydney; Full goods 550 Tons / passenger
550 tons.
For 38 class Moss Vale to Enfield goods yard 1000 tons.
The 36 class in true life on the Sydney to Goulburn route had the following test results. Canberra Express in 1946 so a reasonably heavy train. Throttle fully open for all cases. 36m 44% 42 MPH [36 mile post / 44% cut off / 42mph]; 43m 47% 40mph; 75m 51% 29mph[1:75 grade]; 96.5m 52% 35mph[1:66 grade].
This data is for the Belpaire boilered locomotive [200 lb]. It can be converted to the earlier round top boiler [180 lbs] by altering the boiler pressure.
Several railmotors could also be found servicing the Campbelltown / Picton sections.
The journey through the suburbs is mostly on the main western
express tracks. This track continues west through Parramatta. The
main southbound
tracks divert south at Lidcombe Junction. This involves a low
speed cross over at Flemington, than passage through Lidcombe
Station and the southwards points at Lidcombe Junction.
******************************
Simulator Details
The station heights need explanation. The simulator starts at Sydney Station which has an altitude of 67 feet above sea level [ASL]. As all stations in the simulator reflect their height difference from Sydney Station, their true height ASL will be 67 ft more than found on the simulator. This is better shown in the attached spreadsheet.
The actual real life grades and speed boards [1999 data] were
used to design this route. Unfortunately, not all changes in
track profile and speed could be
reflected in the simulator. Some small changes in profile and
speed were averaged.
Steam locomotive ashpits and water columns were located at Picton, Bargo, Mittagong, Moss Vale and Goulburn. Water columns were also located at Campbelltown as well as Sydney.
Bibliography:
Working Timetable / Southern Division, Department of Railways, NSW, 5 May 1968
Country Timetable, Department of Railways, NSW, 5 May 1968
Southern Highlands Express, by Charles M Covell. Published in Australian Railway Historical Society [ARHS] "Bulletin", June 1988.
Steam Working on the Short South, by KT Groves. Published in ARHS "Bulletin" May / June 1980.
The track profile and speeds were kindly supplied by David
Johnson.
trainman@ozemail.com.au
Visit his extensive web site;
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/
Material for the 36 class taken from "PIGS, a History of the C36 class Locomotive" by J Thompson; published in "Roundhouse", the journal of the NSW Rail Transport Museum, April 1976.
The locomotive loads were kindly supplied by Krel [krel4203@netconnect.com.au], a frequent adviser / poster on the aus.rail newsgroup.
This project would not have been possible without the data
supplied by numerous fellow railfans, especially those who are
part of the "aus.rail"
newsgroup.
**************
Please advise of any corrections and suggestions.
******************
Peter Cokley, Queensland, Australia.
7 March 1999
petan@ion.com.au
www.ion.com.au/~petan
Two more routes from Peter Cokley. This time featuring surburban
passenger and goods traffic on the Queensland Government Railway.
Strict speed limits, small engines, and a switchback profile make
these a difficult proposition!
BEENLGH and GABBA Routes
South Brisbane Terminal Station to Beenleigh. Queensland, Australia.
Wooloongabba Goods Yard to Beenleigh.
Time era is before 30 June 1968 when diesel haulage took over all services on the south side of Brisbane. Some diesel locomotive hauled trains, as well as railcars, operated some services before this date.
The route travels in a South-Eastern direction through suburbia from South Brisbane until Kingston. Small farms are the main feature of the area beyond Kingston. Previously the line continued to Southport and Coolangatta / Tweed Heads. The Southport section closed in 1964 and the Coolangatta /Tweed Heads section in 1961. This Beaudesert traffic branched off at Bethania. The Beaudesert line remained open until the min 1990's.
STATION Distance
Sth BNE Buffers 0
Vulture St 0.63
Gloucester St 1.04
Park Rd 1.6
Dutton Pk 2.1
Fairfield 2.8
Yeronga 3.7
Yeerongpilly 4.3
Moorooka 5
Rocklea 5.7
Nyanda 6.1
Salisbury 6.6
Cooper's Plains 7.8
Banoon 8.8
Sunnybank 9.4
Altandi 10.1
Runcorn 10.8
Fruitgrove 11.6
Kuraby 12.4
Trinder Park 14.6
Woodridge 15.2
Kingston 17
Loganlea 18.7
Bethania 20.6
Holmview 22.7
Beenleigh 24.2
The Logan River bridge was crossed just past Loganlea. Only PB15 class locomotives could cross this bridge. Heavier locomotives did operate north of the bridge. D17 class Tank locomotives terminated at Kingston while B18 1/4 class Pacific express locomotives could turn at Kuraby. After the closure of the Wooloongabba Loco shed in September 1967, heavier DD17 tank locomotives and BB18 1/4 Pacific locomotives appeared on the passenger runs from South Brisbane.
The bothersome Logan River bridge was not replaced until 1972. After the bridge replacement, the only DD17 and BB18 1/4 locomotives to enter Beenleigh were the restored locomotives operating special Heritage tours.
The line junctions with the Cleveland line [closed beyond Lota 1960 but reopened 1987] at Park Road Junction. The 15 mph speed restriction at Park Road Junction is out of respect to not only the fact that the inbound tracks from Cleveland are crossed by the outbound tracks to Beenleigh but that they are crossed as part of a 10 chain radius curve.
The junction with the cross town connection with the main Brisbane rail system is at Yeerongpilly. This link enabled heavy coal and general freight traffic, as well as livestock traffic for the meatworks on the Cleveland branch, to work across the Beenleigh line from Yeerongpilly to Park Road Junction. Beyer Garratt locomotives were known to work trains to the meatworks.
The low speeds reflect the many curves while the steep grades are the result of the pioneer style construction methods. The low level wooded bridge over Compton Road was later replaced by a higher level modern bridge; but after the diesels replaced the steamers.
The normal passenger loads were six car sets for a gross of 115 tons. This is about the max that the PB15 can start from some of the stations on the heavier grades. Some four and five car sets operated as well. Special low mass carriages were usually found on South Brisbane services.
An example of the tight timetable is the 1960's era all stations #88 10:49am from South Brisbane. If the simulator clock shows 56 minutes running time when you arrive at Kingston, congratulations, you have achieved an on time arrival!
Travelling back to the city on Monday morning, service #13 departed Beenleigh at 6:25 for the all stations to South Brisbane. The simulator travelling time of 1 hour 18 minutes would give an on time arrival.
Beenleigh line water columns; Sth Brisbane, Wooloongabba, Kingston, Beenleigh.
***************************************
The Wooloongabba Goods Yard.
This yard was once the main freight terminal for the southern regions of Brisbane. It was replaced by others newer yards in the late 1960's. The new yards were at Moolabin and Acacia Ridge. The official closure date for the tracks from Albert towards the Gabba was 19 November 1969.
Locally the yard name was shortened to the "Gabba".
Across the road from the Gabba railway yards was the Brisbane Cricket Ground. This too was frequently refereed to as the "GABBA". Many cricket battles between the Australian X1 and the MCC [The British cricket X1] were fought out on the Gabba wicket!
The tracks left the Goods yard and crossed the Gabba "Five Ways". To cross this busy road junction, all rail traffic was preceded by the often photographed "Bell and Flag Man". This explains the 10 mph speed limit while the flagman walks in front of the locomotive waving his flag and ringing his bell. A lantern was used at night. The train crosses 6 major and minor roads in this sector before it gains the safety of its own "right of Way" and steams to the Albert Crossing Loop.
While working Goods trains through to the terminus, the PB15 class locomotives could handle up to about 180 tons on this line, provided the train is not brought to a stop by signals on the heavier grades.
The goods only line from the Gabba joins the Beenleigh line on the city side of Dutton Park Station.
*****************************
These tracks, like all Queensland Government Railway [QGR] tracks, are laid to the 3 ft 6 inch gauge. In 1999, this gauge is used to operate Australia's only Tilt Train which operates in regular service at speeds up to 170 KPH. No Standard Gauge [4ft 8 1/2 in] passenger service exceeds 160 kph in regular service. The QGR Central Queensland coal trains operate in the region of 10000 tons hauled by two locomotives in the front and two remote radio controlled locomotives mid train. These 2900 kW BO-BO-B0 electric locomotives are fed by a 25kV AC 50 Hz overhead supply.
*********************
Main source; "Destination South Brisbane" John Kerr and John
Armstrong, Australian Railway Historical Society [QLD Division],
Brisbane 1978.
The main track grade and curve profile was kindly supplied by EK Hancox.
*********************
Peter Cokley
Queensland, Australia
petan@ion.com.au
The last steam main line to enter London. This route has been
provided by Malcolm Braim, who has also furnished us with a short
history and description of the line, together with some train
times and loads.
Notes on GCR Route
History
At the very end of the last century a very remarkable thing was happening in the English shire counties - a new railway was being built which could have become part of a through route from Manchester and London to the Continent of Europe via a proposed Channel rail tunnel had history turned out a little differently. Yes, this was 1899! The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway's new line from Annesley (north of Nottingham) to Marylebone, at 135 miles, was the last main line to be built to London and on completion the company adopted the much grander and more familiar title of Great Central Railway. Opened on 15th March 1899, the line fell victim to railway politics in the 1950s and was closed as a through route on 3rd September 1966.
Route
The line is really two railways which joined at Quainton Road
north of Aylesbury. The northern section was newly built and was
laid out for the fastest mainline running. There was only one
junction on this section but it grew into the major traffic
interchange centre at Woodford Halse where a branch to the GWR at
Banbury provided the potential for NE to SW passenger and freight
services. South of Aylesbury the route was shared with London's
Metropolitan railway. This route was never intended as a through
mainline and throughout its life there was an uneasy mix of GCR
main line and Metropolitan suburban working. The gradients and
speed restrictions on this part of the route are very different
to the new construction to the north. The terminus at Marylebone
was however of new GCR construction and was a fine building well
suited to be the London terminus of the important new railway. To
help overcome the bottlenecks, a line was later built leaving the
main route at Grendon Underwood Junction and rejoining our route
just outside Marlebone at Neasden South Junction.
Services
The basic express service was based on the Manchester - London route and included for a time electric haulage over Woodhead handing over to steam at Sheffield. In BR times most trains had 5/6 intermediate stops between Nottingham and London, the premier up train being the Master Cutler (Nottingham Victoria [NV] 8.46; Leicester 9.14/19; Rugby 9.46; Marylebone 11.24). Perhaps the hardest northbound working was the newspaper train which left Marylebone at 1.45am (Rugby 3.26/37; Leicester Central 4.1/8; Arkwright St 4.36; NV 4.57). The frequent stops meant hard running - you could try Loughborough to Leicester in 11 minutes with a B1 and 300 tons in tow (8.5 mins if not stopping). Freights too were speedy on the GCR: the basic Annesley - Woodford service ("Windcutters") were allowed about 2.5 hours for the trip and loaded up to 50 wagons. It was said to be the most efficient unbraked freight service in the land.
The game
The route has been developed from information in Robert Rowbotham's book "Last Years of the Great Central Main Line" (Ian Allan 1986). As the details were taken from a simple gradient profile, distances used may not be absolutely accurate. Speeds are as shown for the 1950s except for the main line proper where I have raised the line speed limit from 75mph to 90mph to allow you to recreate the best loco performance of the era rather than what BR officially sanctioned! The game contains many of the locos which worked over the route and the speed merchants amongst you should enjoy trying your hand at getting from one end to the other in less than "even time," a start to stop average of more than 60mph.
Malcolm Braim
1/4/1999
Further Particulars
I hope that Malcolm won't object to my adding a few details taken from "The LNER 4-6-0 Classes", by John F.Clay and J. Cliffe. Ian Allan 1975, ISBN 0 7110 0622 9-88/74. This book is one of the better locomotive reads that I have come across, the authors interviewed footplate and other railway workers, and, as a result, it contains an "inside" view of the locomotives involved. Highly recommended!
Here are some train weights and times: -
B17 Marylebone-Manchester 360 tons gross. Schedule 109 mins, actual 107min 42 sec.
B17 Marylebone-Manchester 365 tons gross.
Marylebone to High Wycombe 27.9 miles 33.98 mins
High Wycombe to Princes Risborough 8.1 miles 13.04 mins
Princes Risborough to Brackley 28 miles 27.18 mins
Brackley to Woodford 9.8 miles 13.37 sec
Woodford to Rugby 14.1 miles 15.62 mins
Rugby to Leicester 19.9 miles 20.7 mins
I believe that these are start to stop timings, but can't be sure, perhaps someone could help. The authors mention the use of 40% cut-off on one section in order to stay within the booked time.
A southbound B17 run loaded to 465 tons gross took just over 110 mins from Leicester to Marylebone, including a 30 pws just before Harrow.
Another interesting snippet involves a comparison between a Black 5 and a B1 running between Leicester and Rugby.
Black 5 400 tons gross, B1 395 tons gross. The left hand data refers to the Black 5
Miles Place Mins MPH Mins MPH
0 Leicester
4.7 Whetstone 7.33 56 7.07 57
9.2 Ashby Magna 12.42 53 12.05 53/51
13.1 Lutterworth 16.58 68 16.28 70
16.3 Shawell 19.42 78 19.08 76
19.9 Rugby 22.75 22.55
Observers noted that there was nothing to choose between the two types.
The highest recorded speeds with 4-6-0s on the GCR are cited as 92 mph for a B17 near Whetstone in 1937, and an estimated 94/95 mph by double headed B1s between Gotham Sidings and Ruddington.
BA
1/4/99
Alastair Dagleish has provided extended the NYMR line to Malton
(NYMR60.RUT) and introduced another two lines from that area. The
first is the Forge Valley Route, from Pickering to Seamer
(F_VALLEY.RUT), and the second the very hilly line from the East
coast resort Scarborough to Saltburn (SCARBORO.RUT). Alastair has
also provided the following notes to accompany these last two
lines.
New Routes - North Yorkshire
----------------------------
Route 1 - Forge Valley Route
----------------------------
This route goes from Pickering to Seamer along the Forge Valley,
it was closed in 1956 under the Beeching axe. This route was
fairly lightly travelled, traffic wise, with most of the traffic
being holiday diversions, or freight. The average load for an
excursion train was about 9 carriages or around 270-300 tons,
with many different locomotives in charge, mainly LNER type.
Route 2 - Scarborough to Saltburn
---------------------------------
This route follows the coast along a steeply graded line, mainly
halfway up cliffs, or on cliff tops. The Whitby to Saltburn
portion was closed in 1959, but Whitby West Cliff survived up
until 1963 for excursion traffic, I will attempt to take you on a
tour of the line, but as this is gained from ex-railwaymen, local
stories and my own research, it may be slightly inaccurate.
Upon leaving Scarborough - always platform 1A for Whitby
trains, we pass Londesborough Road excursion platforms built for
the heavy holiday traffic for which Scarborough was at one time
famous - Gallows close carriage sidings held about 20 complete
trains each up to 14 carriages in length. Anyway, we negotiate a
sharp curve and pass under several buildings and Falsgrave
road,
through Falsgrave tunnel (now sealed up), and after a short while
we reach Scalby station overlooking Scalby manor. A little
further up the line we come to Cloughton, with a small stone
goods shed, and passing place it is a fairly impressive station.
It also houses two camping coaches.
Moving on up the line we reach Hayburn Wyke which is the most
remote spot on the line. This station is now only used in the
summer by camping coach residents, and in the 1930's the wooden
waiting room actually blew away on one very windy night! Moving
on still further we reach Staintondale still wearing its NER
colours up to the line's closure in 1967. Again there is a
camping coach. Staintondale station had a passing loop, and a
large wooden goods dock, all of
which is gone now unfortunately. We have been climbing since we
left Cloughton, and after a 1 in 49 climb we finally reach
Ravenscar, one of the bleakest points on the line, but home to
Whitaker's Brickworks, and its approach road paved with bricks
each of which has the word "Ravenscar" printed on it.
This section of the line is hard on the engine crews, and more than once crews had to be revived here. Because this area was prone to thick fog, and the rails soon became very slippery, Ravenscar was dreaded by many enginemen in the winter and spring. Passing Fyling Hall and Robin Hoods bay station we can get a marvellous view down into the bay itself. This was where Robin Hood was, according to legend, carried off to France to recover from his wounds. We now drop down into Hawsker catching our first glance of Whitby itself, and the ruined abbey on the south cliff. Hawsker Station itself is a smart red brick building typical of those all the way up to Saltburn (the rest on the line from Scarborough being sandstone). It has a passing loop and also some basic goods facilities, but does boast a first class waiting room.
Dropping down still further we pass over the river Esk on Larpoole viaduct approximately 110 feet from parapet to mean water mark. Whitby at one time had 2 stations, West Cliff, and of course Whitby town. Passing through the former and after a couple of miles we cross over two impressive tubular steel viaducts and enter Sandsend. This is a single track station with no signalbox, only an ex-NER clerestory coach, used as a camping coach. It was common for trains to pause here to get a good head of steam before tackling the climb up to Kettleness through two tunnels. It was not uncommon for locos to stall here and have to back down to Sandsend for another go. The line here runs down a ledge in the cliff, and when originally built ran even further down the cliff but was washed away at the turn of the century and rebuilt further up the cliff. The tunnels are interesting because they meet on a 300 yards long ledge carved out the cliff only visible by walking through the tunnels or from the sea.
Upon reaching Kettleness, officially Yorkshires most remote village, and station, the chances are the driver will pause for more water and a cup of tea. Leaving Kettleness we pass Runswick Bay, rebuilt after much of the village dropped into the sea in 1685, and reach Staithes with its spectacular steel viaduct. This viaduct was so exposed, that it had a brass bell attached and when the wind got above a certain level a speed limit of 20 mph was imposed, and if the wind got stronger the viaduct was closed to rail traffic. The bell itself is in the National Railway museum at York, but the viaduct is long gone.
The rest of the line rapidly begins to become urbanised and loses its charm, so I will not bore you with descriptions of factories etc.
Traffic
-------
The line saw much excursion traffic usually 7-8 coaches with a
B17 in charge, (214+ tons) and the other motive power was mainly
A8 tanks (I think) hauling up to 5 coaches.
Alastair Dalgleish
19-Apr-99
You might want to read "Men of Steam" by Raymond Flint, whose fictional young fireman gets involved in working trains through the steeply graded tunnels on this line. Raymond Flint was an engineman, and he describes in detail how the crew gasped for breath, while the engine struggled through the tunnels on slippery rails. "The three riders in the cab could see each other only faintly through the black sulphurous smoke that had entered the cab only to be sucked into the eternal draught torrenting into the gaping firebox doorway." His story involves A8 tanks working the line and confirms Alastair's reference to to a five coach train.
BA
This Malcolm Braim offering comprises a round trip from Newcastle to Consett and back, along lines long closed to rail traffic but now highly popular as the C2C cycle route. Read Malcolm's reconsruction of a journey around the route below: -
Consett Route Notes
Let us take a trip around the Consett circle some time in the
early 1950s .....
Our train is simmering at the west end of Newcastle Central station and consists of a V1, 67639, two old coaches and a van. Tare weight is about 80 tons and as I appear to be the only passenger, the gross weight cannot be much more!
Punctually at 6.13am we are off on a journey full of interest which more than compensates for the lack of main line action. We start by using the route of the Carlisle line also closely paralleling the Scotswood Road. We occasionally see the yellow buses of the Venture Bus Company whose frequent services up the Derwent valley have so damaged the railway traffic. For most of this section, there are regimented rows of terraced housing running up from the river to our right. I am reminded of the Great War cemetery of Tyne Cot at Yypres as it is said to be named by Geordies who reckoned the view hereabouts bore similarities to the view looking uphill to the German pill boxes up on the crest line at that horrible place. Now, to my left are the munition works of the Armstrong dynasty, a real powerhouse of industry in the previous Century but facing difficult times with the run down of Empire. Despite the main line standard of the track, station stops at Elswick and Scotswood mean our top speed hereabouts is no more than 50 mph or so. Train timing is not a worthwhile activity today.
Passing a B1 on a Newcastle bound train from the Carlisle direction distracts attention whilst crossing the Tyne but not for too long as we slow right down to take a left hand curve onto what I always consider to be the start of the Consett branch proper. Running on a high embankment across the flat flood plain of the Tyne the next mile sees railways everywhere and all of them seemingly joined up by connecting spurs. Not counting the main Carlisle line itself, three routes mingle here (they don't seem to meet as a dictionary would define the word) and it is just about possible to work out that any to any connections are feasible - I think! We also catch sight of a real piece of railway history below at one point as a 1954 built NCB saddle tank puffs along the route of the Old Western Way, originally a wagon way with parts dating back to 1712. We are watching one of the last ever UK built steam locos running on one of the first ever railways.
On entering our next stop at Swalwell the train enters the Derwent valley proper and for the next 10 miles to Consett the steep valley sides will restrict our views to the immediate valley. We also start to climb seriously here with a ruling gradient of 1:66 against the engine for most of the way. Our train presents no problems to 67639 and it does not struggle to maintain a steady 30-35 mph between stations. The local industry is mining and even in this relatively rural area we pass mine sidings at regular intervals. There is also evidence of the riches to be had from mining as we pass Gibside Hall on our left, ancestral home of the Bowes-Lyons, the Queen mother's family. Further along at Shotley Bridge I recall too that for many years the emerging middle classes provided railway traffic whilst journeying to a local spa, now abandoned.
After rumbling through a deep cutting the train enters Blackhill station, the main station on the line. This always carried a heavy traffic and was in railway terms the Crewe of NW Durham. In days past two routes from Newcastle met traffic from Durham and Darlington. At times the three platforms (two through and one bay) must have been very busy. It was also the scene of a fascinating 1859 railway "might of been" as a proposed LNWR line to Newcastle from the west coast line via Stainmore would have followed our route but the Bill was narrowly defeated in Parliament through the lobbying prowess of the mighty NER.
In the next two miles we pass round three sides of the Consett Iron Company works. Emerging from another deep cutting the V1 barks up a short 1:49 gradient on the connecting spur between the Blackhill - Durham and the Waskerley - Consett lines. To our left is the MPD - empty of Q6s during the working day - and behind it a large fan of sidings which are the main exchange sidings for CIC traffic. This is Consett Low Yard.
I wish I had been there on the day my father was going about his normal duties as a wagon number taker and came across an incoming scrap wagon brim full with O gauge Hornby tin plate rolling stock, this being his life long passion!
On the route now of the old Stanhope & Tyne line we continue to climb to the summit of our journey at some 800' above sea level located just after the junction used by the iron ore trains from Tyne Dock to gain entry to the works. 92099 is on the gantry unloading as we pass. Unusually, Consett station is an island platform, the only one in the area and its broad width lends our extended pause here a sense of importance. To our left a fan of sidings offers yet another access route to the works, this one used exclusively for exchange of coking coal in rake after rake of grey, loose coupled, 21 ton hoppers. Q6s rule this traffic and two Consett based ones, 63345 & 63404, are observed shunting and taking water respectively. This is Consett High Yard.
Getting underway again we are now heading back to Newcastle as the 7.34am Consett - Newcastle. The scenery is quite different now and we are running through much more open land falling away to the sea in the east. The buses have changed as well, to the red livery of the Northern General Bus Company. The route partly follows the original 1832 Stanhope and Tyne Railway and partly later NER improvements built to cut off the inclined plains which slowed traffic and prevented passenger services until the 1890s, by which time all the diversions were finally finished. The nature of the land however meant that even the new parts had to be built on a ruling gradient of 1:50 with a shorter stretch at an incredible 1:35.
These gradients are of course with the train and it is only the driver's skill with the brake which is tested on this section. All too soon we pass the complex of junctions at South Pelaw, where the iron trains from Tyne Dock join the Consett branch and Ouston junction where we join the NER main line. Once again thoughts of a fast run are dashed by stops at all stations, and again we never quite manage to exceed 50 mph at any point. There is one final highlight when at King Edward Bridge Junction we take the line to Gateshead and have a frantic two minutes noting the loco numbers as we pass Gateshead MPD. With a glimpse of one of the utilitarian new "standard" emus for the South Tyneside electric services on the way, our route crosses the High Level Bridge and we rattle over the points into the terminating platforms at the east end of the Central station. We have journeyed 36 miles to travel 100 yards in 124 minutes!
The Game (Game ???!!*! BA)
As the details were taken from a simple gradient profile, distances used may not be absolutely accurate. The source is the NER Society's publication "Gradient Profiles" (1996). Speed restrictions are a complete work of fiction on my part. Tyne Yard was not built until later but has been added to the route to give extra interest and a starting point for freight traffic (in later years all the CIC's output was sent from the Low Yard to Tyne for re-sorting and onward forwarding)
Typical passenger timings from the 1948 BR timetable are: -
Newcastle am 6.13 pm 4.51
Elswick 6.17 pass
scotswood 6.21 pass
Swalwell 6.28 4.41
Rowlands Gill 6.38 4.35
Lintz Green 6.46 4.28
Ebchester 6.57 4.20
Shotley Bridge 7.1 4.16
Blackhill 7.6/7.10 2.43/4.12
Consett 7.18/7.34 2.36
Leadgate 7.38 2.31
Annfield Plain 7.45 2.23
West Stanley 7.51 2.16
Beamish 7.56 2.10
Pelton 8.1 2.4
Birtley 8.7 1.57
Low Fell 8.13 1.50
Bensham 8.17 1.46
Newcastle 8.27 1.40
There are a good selection of locos available which are suitable for the route: G5s,J39s,K1s,& V3s (a V1 would be more historically accurate) for passenger services and 9Fs, Wd 280s, J39s, K1s, O2s, Q6s, Q7s for freight. B1s visited rarely, for those that need the excuse one V2 may have visited once, but the Pacifics alas never.
Malcolm Braim
29/04/1999
If you have enjoyed Malcolm's description of the route, you might want to read Harry Friend's book "Track Record" ISBN 0 9522877 0 6. Harry was a BR(NER) footplateman in steam days and started his driving career at Consett - the first chapter focuses on his time spent there. My own (signed!) copy is now, sadly, falling to bits due to over-use. Highly recommended.
You might also wish to take a look at the video "Reflections on North Eastern Steam" which includes some superb footage of 9F and Q6 locos climbing up to Consett. That is published by Transport Video Publishing.
As a child I used to live adjacent to the Tyne Dock - Consett line, and many a night I would lie in bed and listen to the gradually fading exhaust as yet another ore train blasted its way up to Consett behind an ex LNER 2-8-0 or 9F.
Last but not least, get on yer bike and ride the routes. They are now part of the Sustrans Coast to Coast cycle route, and attract thousands of cyclists every year. The Beamish line ends at Sunderland (Howay the lads, Cheer up Peter Reid etc.) and the Derwent valley line ends at Tynemouth (not far from the home of another football team that will remain nameless). It is possible to cycle a big circle taking in both routes.
BA
Taken from David Wardale's book "The Red Devil and Other Tales
From the Age of Steam", this is the route of the Orange Express.
You can drive it using the famous "Red Devil" itself. The route
is KIMDEAAR.RUT and the loco SAR_26.LOC.
South African Railways and the Red Devil
The British engineer David Wardale worked for SAR between 1974 and 1983. Despite the largely anti-steam regime in power at SAR at that time, Wardale managed to persuade the authorites to allow him to modify two locomotives using the design principles of his mentor, the Argentinian engineer L.D. Porta. The several modifications included a producer gas firebox, and Porta's Lempor exhaust system. Significant savings in coal and water consumption resulted, while the modified locomotives could produce considerably more power on the road than the standard machines. Inevitably, when dealing with prototype designs, there were problems. In addition, running two non-standard locomotives in a common user system posed particular difficulties, but Wardale was able to demonstrate that real improvements were possible. It should be remembered that both the locomotive types he modified were of "modern" design, Wardale proved that there was room for further improvement.
He felt that it would be cheaper to operate certain services using modern steam locomotives, using indigenous coal supplies, rather than diesels requiring imported fuel. He hoped that his improved locomotives would make a case for the continuation of steam power on SAR. Sadly it was not to be, political decisions had been taken and rational argument was not listened to.
Of the two modified locos, the more famous is the "Red Devil", a SAR 25NC 4-8-4 that was re-classified SAR 26. The name came about because Wardale had the locomotive painted buffer beam red, something that got him into trouble with his superiors, but ensured good publicity for his work. The loco has survived, but, rumour has it, many of the improvements have been abandoned.
David points out in his book that the railway was not able to make full use of the power output of "Red Devil", as although it could produce more power and hence speed than the standard locos going up-hill, speed restrictions prevented any higher than normal speeds on the level or downhill. Further, it did not have any greater adhesive weight that the standard locos, so the limiting load that could be re-started on the worst gradient was the same. Thus the scope for accelerated/heavier services was limited. It did use less water however, and needed less attention to the fire, so some stops could have been shortened or even eliminated.
For a full story of Wardale's work in SA and elsewhere, read his book "The Red Devil and other Tales from the Age of Steam".
Within that book he publishes details of runs with the "Orange Express" between Kimberley and De Aar. I have used that data to provide a route for the computer program, and I have also modelled the Red Devil SAR_26. Unfortunately the simulator is not sufficiently sophisticated to enable it to distingish the finer points of locomotive design, and the true advantages of the SAR 26 are not apparent.
Now the SAR operated with 90 km/hr (56.25 mph) speed limit for passenger trains, and the highest logged speed appearing is 70 mph. There are a few local speed limits along the route, but they seem to have been routinely ignored by the drivers of the Orange Express. For the record they are: -
Modder River 25 mph over ash pits (logged speeds 31, 50 and 54
mph!)
Heuningneskloof 47 mph over facing points. (logged speeds 58, 59,
49 mph)
Graspan ditto
Belmont ditto
Witput ditto
Kraankuil ditto
Poupan ditto
Potfontein ditto
Houtkraal ditto
Schedule times as follows (minutes):-
Kimberley 0
Modder River 36
Heuningneskloof 54
Graspan 68
Belmont 77
Witput 90
Orange River 104
Best time 84.4 mins with 820 tonnes gross
Onwards from Orange River
Orange River 0
Kraankuil 21
Poupan 36
Potfontein 51
Houtkraal 68
De Aar 96
Best time 79.8 mins with 820 tonnes gross.
I expect that the train stopped at Orange River for watering and fire cleaning, and that stop was probably 15 minutes. I would welcome any further information about this train.
The Trans Karoo express, from Johnannesburg to Cape Town also ran between Kimberley and De Aal. That train stopped at Modder River, Orange River (15 minutes allowed to take water and clean the fire) and a conditional stop at Belmont. Wardale describes a trip with a gross load of 755 tons and a schedule of 3 hours 57 minutes. The locomotive gained 45 minutes on the schedule without exceeding the 90 km/hr speed limit down the hills. Climbing the 1:110 gradients with a 35% cut off the loco was developing 3351 DBHP at 90 km/hr (56 mph).
The loco file is SAR_26 and the route file KIMDEAAR.
Bryan Attewell
3/6/99
Two NER routes that involve crossing the pennines from Malcolm
Braim and Duncan Wilcock. A section of one of the routes, the
Eden Valley Line, is being restored at present. The routes files
are BISHOP.RUT and DARLINGT.RUT
THE STAINMORE AND EDEN VALLEY LINES
HISTORY
The network of transpennine lines which centred on Barnard Castle and Kirkby Stephen was built in three phases between 1856-1863. The first line was the Darlington & Barnard Castle (D&BCR) which was opened by an independent company supported by the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The S&DR absorbed the independent line in 1858.
The line across Stainmore was opened in stages from 1861 by the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway. As with the D&BCR, the line was supported and later absorbed by the S&DR.
The final link was the Eden Valley Railway which opened in 1862. As with the rest of the network the line later became part of the S&DR.
The lines passed into the hands of the North Eastern Railway in 1863 and the London & North Eastern Railway in 1923. At nationalisation in 1948 the lines became part of the North Eastern & Midland Regions.
The network was cut back during the 1950s with station
closures and the loss of local passenger services between Tebay
and Kirkby Stephen. The through route was closed in January 1962,
with freight services having been diverted in 1960. Local
services from Darlington to Barnard Castle were withdrawn in
1964.
SERVICES
The transpennine lines were built to transport County Durham
coke to West Cumberland ironworks, and Cumberland iron ore to
Durham ironworks. The former traffic was still the mainstay of
the route 100 years later in 1960.
The coke traffic was originally worked from Shildon sidings to
Cockermouth over the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway,
and from St Helens Auckland to Millom via Tebay. By the 1930s
most of the traffic was concentrated on the Tebay route.
Passenger services centred on the route from Darlington to
Tebay with the Eden Valley line worked as a branch, later
changing to the Darlington to Penrith route with the Tebay line
worked as a branch. From the 1930s regular summer Saturday-only
express trains ran from Newcastle/Darlington to Blackpool. In the
1950s these sometimes ran as three separate trains to Tebay.
PRESERVATION
The Eden Valley Preservation Society (EVPS) is currently
preserving the line from Warcop to Appleby (last used by freight
traffic in 1989), with the aim of rebuilding the whole line from
Kirkby Stephen to Appleby in stages. The EVRS magazine "Online"
is a must for all Stainmore enthusiasts. The station at Kirkby
Stephen East has been preserved by a group from the EVRS and is
being restored in anticipation of the reintroduction of services.
Details of both groups can be found below.
STAINMORE SIMULATOR
By 1961 the line speed between Barnard Castle and Bishop
Auckland had been reduced to 30mph, owing to the condition of the
track. On this simulation the speed has been raised to 45mph - to
something like its former glory.
LOCOMOTIVES USED OVER STAINMORE
Goods& Local Blackpool
Minerals Services Trains
1930s Q5* D3 J21
J21 E4
J25
1940s Q5* E4 N/A
J21 J21
J25
1950s Q6* 2MT J21 J21 3MT
J21 3MT 3MTT J39 3MTT
J25 4MT DMU 2MT 4MT
1960s 2MT DMU 2MT
3MT 3MT
4MT 4MT
*Banned from the Kirkby Stephen-Barnard Castle section.
#LMS and BR 2MT and 4MT locos used
MINERAL LOADINGS 1955
West Auckland - Tebay
J21 /J25 /2MT 12 x 21T loaded (270 tons)*
3MT 15 x 21T loaded (335 tons)
4MT 16 x 21T loaded (355 tons)
Tebay - West Auckland
J21 /J25 /2MT 21 x 21T empty (220 tons)
3MT 24 x 21T empty (250 tons)
4MT 27 x 21T empty (275 tons)
* includes 20T brake van and empty hoppers at 9.5T
SAMPLE PASSENGER LOADINGS
(from observations)
J21 3 bogie coaches + 1van
2MT 3-5 bogie coaches
3MT/3MTT 5 bogie coaches
4MT 6 bogie coaches
SAMPLE TIMINGS
North East - Blackpool Down Up
Bishop Auckland 24 mins
Barnard Castle 28 mins
Barnard Castle 42 mins
Kirkby Stephen 41 mins
Kirkby Stephen 22 mins
Tebay 21 mins
Darlington - Penrith Down Up
Darlington 37 mins
Barnard Castle 39 mins
Barnard Castle 47 mins
Kirkby Stephen 43 mins
Kirkby Stephen 51 mins
Penrith 47 mins
REFERENCES
History
Ken Hoole "The Stainmore Railway" Dalesman 1973
Peter Walton "The Stainmore & Eden Valley Railways" OPC
1992
Robert Weston "The Eden Valley Railway" Oakwood Press 1997
Working Details
"Steam Days" September 1996
"Railway World" April 1983
"Steam World" March/April 1992 & August 1997
Preservation
Eden Valley Railway Society: shawwarcop@aol.com
Stainmore Properties (Kirkby Stephen East station): Peter please
advise!
Malcolm Braim/Duncan Wilcock
5/6/99
If I can add my twopenneth, there is a great description of working the Stainmore line with the Blackpool train and an Ivatt 4MT in "Track Record" by Harry Friend 1994. This was a Gateshead (52A) duty much disliked by the staff, largely because of the involvement of the "Flying Pig". The eight coach train was double headed, by a BR 3MT 2-6-0, from Bishop Aukland to Tebay. The pilot driver was an experienced West Auckland man who said "Rough job this, time they got some decent engines to work this train." I leave you to read the whole story in Harry's excellent little book!
Other books of interest include "Memories of the LNER - South West Durham" by Allan Stobbs 1989 (includes a photo of a double headed freight being banked past Spring Gardens at West Aukland), and a good read generally, and "Railway Memories 2 - Darlington and South West Durham" Bellcode 1990. No specific Author - more a picture book (some real gems), but some interesting text.
BA
This famous railway, one of the most difficult steam mountain lines in Italy, was built in 1864 by F. Protche to join Florence to Bologna via Pistoia through the Reno valley. It was steam-run until 1927, the year of electrification. In 1934 the "Porrettana" became a secondary line with the inauguration of the new "Direttissima", with its long tunnel. During World War 2 it was very seriously damaged and it was rebuilt in 1948.
For more details see : http://www.dicea.unifi.it/~leo/toscana/porrettana.htm
From Bologna to Pistoia you could find many large wheeled locomotives, like the 640, 670, 680, 685, 690, and 746. From Pistoia to Bologna the same engines were helped by specialised mountain class units : 730 and 470 compound classes (the second type were really typical of this line) and later 740 and 940 in usually two or three locomotives trains. From Bologna to Porretta some local passenger trains were hauled by 875 and 880 classes.
The goods traffic was handled by types 420, 450 (before 1907's
railways nationalisation with a different classification) 473,
730, 470, 471, 480, 740 and 940 classes.
Ugo also provided a series of links for those interested in Italian railways:-
* The Italian state railways museum (Pietrarsa, Naple) has a
terrible (but in English) web site with a few loco data (but the
locomotive collection is the best in Italy !!!). You can find
here a 625, a 740 (re-transformed only 10 years ago from 741
Franco-Crosti class, debatable idea), a 744 (Caprotti
sub-series), a 680 (compound ancestor of 685 class) and so
on...
http://www.microsys.it/pietrarsa/welcome.htm
* The second Railways museum in Italy is based in a section of
"The Science and Technology museum Leonardo da Vinci" in Milan.
In the (poor) site we can find some data about the 691 class and
history, two good old photos and the list of the other
locomotives preserved. Some of these are comprised in the files
that I sent you, like 691.022 (the only unit preserved), 880, 940
001, the most part of the others are not actually simulatable
with your program, as 746 or 470 compound locomotives, or S.685,
the "Super" version of 685 class, fitted with Knorr feed-water
heater, Caprotti valve gear and a special 29 m3 tender
(2'2'T29).
http://www.museoscienza.org/treni/index.html
* "I Treni ", the main Italian rail fans review :
http://www.itreni.com/
Please note that you can find here some good articles and some
free photos about the italian locos that I sent you (422, 691,
880 but also about 835, 473, 480, 746 ...). Download the index
and search...
* The official site of the "Rolling stock maintenance service"
of Italian State railways (FS): with some external link... No
steam, I suppose (but look better...), only ETR 500.
http://www.asamrt.interbusiness.it/mancorr/frameset1.html
* A very interesting non-official site (but in English !!)
about some FS lines in Toscana and in particular about the
reopening, 54 years later the World War 2 destruction, of the
last section of "Faentina" line (Florence - Faenza). A lot of
pictures and motion (quality variable, some of them good) about
625 and 740 steam locomotives. A hypertext about the "Porrettana"
(the old Bologna - Florence railway, one of the more difficult
steam-run lines in Italy, that stops in my actual village Sasso
Marconi) is also available.
http://www.dicea.unifi.it/~leo/toscana/faentina.html
* You just know the MFP ("Piedmont Railways Museum", Turin) official site (with 422 and 640 technical description).
* An Italian links selection site, that need further
investigation, with a lot of good things...
http://www.interrail.publinet.it/IRA/link/italia.html
You can see here a lot of links to other rail sites in Italy and
abroad.
Try it, if you want, and upgrade the list !!!
I had to use weighted average gradients for some short sections
as the 200 section limit kicked in. I don't believe it detracts
from the accuracy of the route and important sections such as
the dip down to the River Tay crossing at Cargill (possible 90
mph here) and the last couple of miles down the hill into Glasgow
are not averaged.
I will build also separately Glasgow to Aberdeen as some sections will need to be renamed and different speed restrictions apply to the up and down roads.
On speed restrictions, I have used the 1960s limits but prewar there were some differences and lower limits applied such as 15 down into Glasgow compared with 25 and 20 through Larbert compared with 40.
I have driven the route once only with a Stanier class 5 and 265 tons on the 3 hour schedule and it came uncannily close to a similar run described in the January 64 Railway magazine. I used coal at 13000 BTU (similar to Fife coal supplied to Scottish sheds) and 25% minimum cutoff. There were difficulties with boiler pressure at some stages.
The overall speed limit is 75 mph, which was the overall limit for the Scottish region. Largely it was ignored on the Aberdeen - Glasgow trains and there are plenty recorded instances of running at up to 90 mph down Gleneagles bank into Perth and both ways on the Perth - Forfar section. Kinnaber Jnct. at 60 mph does seem to have been respected by the drivers in the logs I have examined.
There was a 3 hour express in 1938 called the St. Mungo and
operated by LMS class 5XPs. Departure from Aberdeen was at 9.35
am. Forfar departure 10.40
am. Perth arrive 11.15 dep 11.19 and Glasgow arrive 12.35. Load
was restricted to 7? coaches. Water was taken at Perth.
In the 1960s the A4s (sometimes substituted by Stanier 5s or BR standard 5s incl. the caprotti ones )ran the 3 hour trains. These were generally 8 coaches and with more stops than prewar it was a tough proposition for a class 5.
The timings of the 7.10 am from Aberdeen per the working timetable were:
Aberdeen Start
Stonehaven arr 19 dep 20
Laurencekirk pass 36
Kinnaber pass 43
Bridge of Dun pass 47
Forfar arr 63 dep 65
Alyth Jnct pass 77
Stanley pass 88
Perth arr 96 dep 101 (water taken
here)
Hilton Junction pass 105
Gleneagles pass 120
Dunblane pass 132
Stirling arr 137 dep 139
Alloa Jnct pass 146 ( very tight from
Stirling)
Larbert pass 149
Greenhill pass 153
Glenboig pass 162
(Recovery time included 6 minutes)
Glasgow arrive 180
I have included the above times in the various place names.
Jim McDonell
Enfield is the main Sydney freight marshalling yard. I called the
file E'south as I did the route from Enfield to the Main South
line which goes to
Moss Vale and Melbourne. E'South.rut
Enfield Freight Marshalling yard and the Main South mainline in New South Wales, Australia.
New South Wales Government Railways [NSWGR]
Enfield Marshalling Yard is situated in Sydney's inner western suburbs. This large freight marshalling yard was the center of a "freight only" rail network that serviced several freight loading terminals scattered throughout Sydney. Wagons would be loaded at these freight terminals and the loaded wagons would be hauled to Enfield. At Enfield they would be marshalled into trains based on their destinations.
The freight only line joined the Main South mainline at Sefton Junction.
More details about the NSWGR Main South railway line can be found in the "Bundan" route file.
*************
Locomotives
Freight locomotives; D53 / D57 / AD60
Passenger locomotives that also hauled freight trains; C36 & C38
*******************
The track grade profile is taken from "Steam Working On The Short South" by Ken Groves, in the Australian Railway Historical Society's "Bulletin" May / June 1980.
"The 60 Class" by Ken Groves, Harry Wright and Mick Morahan, published by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, Sydney ,Australia 1994.
Other material from the NSWGR "Working Timetable-Southern" of May 1968.
********************************
Peter Cokley
August 1999
Petan@ion.com.au
http://homepages.msn.com:4890/PicnicPl/petan-oz
Richard worked this line as a fireman between 1957 and 1965, and remembers loose coupled freights powered by 8Fs and 9Fs, and fully fitted freights with Black Fives and Scots. Richard provided the following route description, outline timetable, and a collection of anecdotes about firing steam locos: -
St Pancras to Derby and Firing Experiences
I never made it all the way to Derby, but did make it as far as Syston just north of Leicester.
Cricklewood (14A) was nearly all freight workings. For cross London coal and goods trains we went east, west, and south of the river Thames. Trains going north were fully fitted and semi fitted goods. I believe the max. for these was 45 vans plus brake, the empty wagon trains were loose coupled. The largest I ever worked was 99 of the BR iron clads, as we called them, or 16 ton'ers for Toton marshalling yards north of Trent
Express work was virtually non existent as this was handled by Kentish Town (14B) men just up the road closer to St Pancras. We did however some times work specials and one I remember and will never forget was a train taking school children and parents to Chessington Zoo at Luton. They had come up to London from Brighton. The engine was an un-rebuilt Battle of Britain Class No. 34055 Fighter Pilot. Bill Brightwell was my Driver and neither of us had been on the footplate of one before. For the fireman the firehole doors were opened by a foot pedal and Bill had to contend with a steam reverser. Tuition was 2 minutes at the most. I couldn't make out what the two large lumps of metal attached to the firebox crown were for (thermic siphons). Bill was playing about with the reverser, at 40 MPH we were passing under Silkstream flyover just north of Hendon when he manages to put it into full reverse. Mr Bullied must have made these engines strong because I swear to this day she jumped off the rails. Her name plates now rest in the Battle of Britain Museum at Hendon. We made Luton, but Bill did not attempt any more notching up until he had played about with the reverser while we were stopped for servicing at Bedford.
Once St Pancras or West End Sidings and Brent were left it was climbing all the way to Elstree Station. The short down hill run from Cricklewood to Welsh Harp Junction was nothing of a respite for a crew in trouble, I've seen many with the dart or rake in the box passing Brent sidings!
The only real ease up you would get was going down the Bedford bank, as the Simulator will show, but not always.
The hardest night's work I've ever done was on the 11.25 pm West End Sidings to Nottingham. The engine was a converted Crosti classed as a 9F, No. 92023. The load was 45 wagons and brake, all fully fitted and put out onto the main line at Watling Street.
Johnny Bull was my Driver. I think the wagons must have been filled with lead but we ran none stop until we reached Leicester some 2-2/5 hours later where we were relieved. I had emptied a 7 ton tender of all bar about 5 cwt. The engine had to be taken off the train and re-coaled. So much so for the 4000 lbs an hour for the fireman. Little and often, as they taught you, was really never the case if the regulator is open, you just keep on bailing it in. Johnny had to answer a "please explain" as to why he had used so much coal.
The next landmark along the line is Elstree Station, after passing a short run down Radlett bank. You then pass on towards Napsbury and St Albans climbing all the way and on to Harpenden. Chiltern Green was next before dropping down into Luton, us freight lads could ease up a bit here. Sometimes some drivers would even stop for water here depending on the run they had had. Once Luton was passed Leagrave was next then the top of the Bedford bank. You will see in the Simulation I have put in a bridge called St Saviours. This was named by Enginemen, because it was said that on an up coal train if you could get to this bridge you be okay for the rest of the trip to Brent sidings. Only once was I in the position of looking into the bottom nut of the gauge glass looking for the water. I was 17 then and this was my first coal train. Hookie Goodson was my driver. He was called Hookie because of the shape of his nose, never did find out his Christian name.
It should be mentioned here that this was the Garratts' home ground, 1000 - 1600 ton trains were regular, being replaced by class 9Fs but with reduced loads. Class 8Fs were used a lot as well.
Anyway Leagrave down the bank with a can of soup on the shovel. If this is a empty wagon train we are on, I used to rock the grate on the way down to clean the fire up a bit. On class 8Fs rake, dart and shovel were used. This all took place after we had passed Ampthill and Millbrook, the lads on expresses they just kept on going but were well notched up. Bedford slow lines now become goods lines and on to Oakley and the troughs. Putting the scoop down you would be lucky to get it up again until the end of the trough. It depended on the Driver's judgement here on how fast he was going.
The next bit of heavy going was Sharnbrook. Expresses went over the top while freight on the goods road went though a tunnel at a somewhat lesser gradient. There was a donkey that stood in a field at this location known as the Sharnbrook donkey and it was said that if he shook his head up and down you would be alright, side to side not so good.
Wellingboro came next and used to be quite a large MPD. Here it has been said that on some trips when London passed firemen were on driving turns, that they and their mates were younger in joint years than the Wellingboro fireman who was in his 40s. In any event Findon Rd Wellingboro is where we were relieved. The empty wagon trains then go on to the big coal yards at Toton.
We very occasionally had a trip with a big wheeler, this was the 6.35 am West End to Nottingham. Black 5s usually were used but Scots, 5Xs and Baby Scots were used as well. Us young firemen at 14A loved to get on them. The road from Wellingboro to Kettering was not arduous, more of a gentle incline. The route they took was via Corby. You branched right at Glendon Junc.
Only one special memory here. Bill Brightwell was my driver as he usually was in that link. We had a Scot that day, I can't remember the No. or name but the safety valves went up coming down Irchester bank approaching Wellingboro at 200 lbs. One of them was still up, although not at full force, when we stopped. While standing in Kettering Station waiting to be relieved I climbed onto the cab roof under Bill's direction. Seeing that the back valve seemed to have a crack in one of its rings Bill handed me the straight dark. I closed my eyes and clouted the top of the valve - it went pop and stopped.
Well that's that, I always had a great fondness for the
Midland and I always will regret that the diesels came along but
that's progress. They came ..... and I went!
Here's some times for you, I have taken them from a 1960 copy of Bradshaw's British Railways official guide for the 7th November to 4th December of that year.
Down Thames Clyde Express, Sundays Only
St Pancras Dep 09.45
Kettering Arr 11.12 Dep 11.16
Leicester Arr 11.51
Up Thames Clyde Express Sundays Only
Leicester Dep 5.16 (17.16)
Kettering Arr 5.48 (17.48)Dep 5.49 (17.49)
St Pancras Arr 7.05 (19.05)
A Scot Jubilee or Britannia was sheduled on this train.
The Down Palentine
St Pancras Dep 7.55
Wellingboro Arr 9.06 Dep 9.07
Motive Power the same as Thames Clyde Express.
Down St Pancras Bedford
St Pancras Dep 09.25
Luton Midland Arr 10.01 Dep 10.03
Bedford Arr 10.24
Up Bedford St Pancras Sundays
Bedford Dep 9.34 (21.34)
Luton Midland Arr 10.02(22.02)Dep 10.04 (22.04)
St Pancras Arr 10.42 (22.42)
Motive Power Class 5s, Staniers or Standards
Luton St Pancras Flyer
Luton Midland Dep 1.57 (13.57)
St Pancras Arr 2.32 (14.32)
Motive Power Class 4 2-6-4T St Albans 14c men worked this one, which was supplied with Welsh Coal.
Thames Clyde Express, Palentine always 9 plus coaches
Bedford trains 8 on, Luton Flyer 7 commuter stock
I picked the Bedford to London trains and Luton Pancras Flyer because they are trains I have worked.
Richard Gibb
4/10/99
The SP's coast route was completed in 1894. It is one of two
routes running from northern California to Los Angeles. The line
was built from the north and from the south at the same time. The
line is 470 miles long and 100 miles of it are along the Pacific
ocean, hence the name. The average speed on this line is not high
because of the mountain range that is climbed at the half way
point San Luis Obispo. Here the track curvature is sharp and
climbs 1100 feet in 10 miles. The ruling grade in this section is
2% and reaches 2.2% on either side of the summit. There are two
horseshoe curves both with a 2% grade.
The line has been changed very little over time. Passing tracks have been lengthened and a few right of way realignments due to storm damage.
The Coast Daylight, for which this line is famed, had a
different time depending on direction. The SP trains heading
toward San Francisco were considered west bound and trains
heading away from San Francisco were considered east bound. The
west bound daylight (train 99) had a running time of 9hrs and 30
minutes while the east bound daylight (train98) had a running
time of 9hrs and 40 minutes. The Daylight made only 5 stops
because it was an express coach train.
Here are the times for both trains as it was scheduled in 1952.
98 99
station
San Francisco
arrive 5:45pm
depart 8:15am
San Jose
arrive 4:54pm
9:08am
depart 4:58pm
9:12am
San Luis Obispo
arrive 12:50pm
1:17pm
depart 12:53pm
1:20pm
Santa Barbara
arrive 10:30am
3:37pm
depart 10:35am
3:42pm
Glendale
arrive 8:33am
5:42pm
depart 8:36am
5:45pm
Los Angeles
arrive 5:55pm
depart 8:15am
San luis Obispo was a water stop and the train was often there 10 minutes and not the posted 3 minutes. The train could easily make up this extra time, especially the west bound train.
The train was originally 12 cars, and one engine could handle this over the steep grade. After a short time the train became so popular it was run in two or three sections (trains running with the same number). The train length was increased. In the late 1940's until 1955 (last steam run) the train length often was 21 coaches (just over 1000 US tons).
[According to Hollingworth and Cook in "The Great Book of Trains", the 12 car train weighed 568 tonnes (559 tons), and was handled by a single locomotive, the GS 4-8-4. That loco was fitted with a booster however, a feature available on the simulator. Again, according to H&C, the helper engine was wheeled in if the train exceeded this weight. - BA]
When the train was more than 12 or 13 coaches a helper engine was added at San Luis Obispo on the west bound, and at Santa Margarita for the east bound. At first the helpers were matching engines but as time went on huge SP 2-10-2s were the preferred helper power.
The schedule never called for speed in excess of 70 mph but the faster sections were used to make up time when late. The Daylight trains had an interesting feature for braking. Electro pneumatic brakes applied pressure from the rear of the train first eliminating slack action when decelerating.
The engines were rated by the builder for 90 mph, but SP used to test locomotives just south of their shops in Sacramento and took engines including these up to and beyond 100 mph. The only remaining one is used on excursions through this area from time to time.
[If I may interrupt again, H&C reckon that No. 4460 is displayed at the Museum of Transportation, St Louis, while No. 4449 is used on specials, but Morgan tells me that 4460 was built during WW2 and did not have streamlining and is not considered to be a true "Daylight" loco - BA]
On one such occasion my friend decided to show me just how fast these things go, even on an excursion. I expected that because of the age of the locomotive they would not exceed track speed which is 82 mph in this section. I video taped while my friend drove. The train grew smaller in my view finder as it accelerated away at an almost unreal rate. I asked my friend to drive faster and he said he could not go any faster. I looked at his speedometer and was surprised to see we were travelling at 99 mph.
Steam loco's are fun to watch but steam in excess of 100 mph is very impressive.
Morgan Trotter
26/5/99
[ I would recommend having a look at the specification of the
Southern Pacific GS-4 , file SP_GS-4, note the high boiler
pressure, large grate and superheater - a very powerful beast
indeed!]
The Durango and Silverton (D&R) line was built in the 1880's
as an extension to the Denver and Rio Grande Western RR
(D&RGW) which had recently finished building its mainline
from Denver. The line was known as the Silverton branch and was
fairly prosperous with mine produce and supplies. It is
particularly famous for the area between Rockwood Cut and Tacoma
truss bridge as in this section the line is built into a cliff a
sheer 400 feet above the Rio de los Animas Perdidos (River of the
lost souls). The D&RGW pulled out of narrow gauge in 1970
when it removed the dual gauge track between Alamosa and
Antonito, and the section between Chama and Durango.
Durango was a major junction with a twelve stall roundhouse and turntable and was the starting point for the Rio Grande Southern. The Silverton branch was built with standard gauge structures in the hope of the three foot gauge being widened but fortunately this never happened. The Silverton passenger train was continued by the Rio Grande after the rest of steam and narrow gauge had finished, as a tourist attraction, but left it much to itself. In 1981 it was bought by a private owner and the line has continued to prosper ever since. It is the Severn Valley of the US!
The line was upgraded and larger locomotives are now in use to handle the heavy trains, of which there are four a day in the high season, while the D&RGW only operated one in the warmer months. In the winter the top portion is inoperable as it is covered with deep snow, however the new company still runs winter trains to Cascade Wye.
Train weights of the D&S have a range of 400t - 750t. The usual practice is to stop for water at Tank Creek and Needleton. The speed limit is a guess but the timetable allows for two hours between the two termini. The speed limit on the high line is actually 5mph but the program would not accept this. This is due to allowing the passengers to appreciate the view rather than for curvature or other reasons.
The D&RG would have originally worked the line with classic 2-8-0s dating from the 1880s. In the 50s the largest locomotives to be found on the line were the K28 "Sportmodel" 2-8-2 Mikes. Only three of these remained after the war as the others had been requisitioned by the Army and used on the White Pass RR in Alaska, where they ended their days. The three that remain are still used regularly on the D&S. The other frequent visitors to the line were the "Mudhen" K27 2-8-2s which were originally built as Vauclain Compounds. They were rebuilt as simples early on and two now remain. One on the Cumbres and Toltec and the other on a tourist line in Michigan. Now the D&S Supplements the K28s with four K36 2-8-2s which were the last new build locos for the NG. There are also three K37s which were rebuilt from standard gauge 2-8-0s in the 1930s and were the largest locos on the NG. These three are unrestored and are unlikely to be as one of the other four of the type was originally restored at Durango and was found to be too long for the sharp curves on the line and so was swapped with a K36 from the C&T in 1992. Also seen on the line have been "Galloping Goose" railcars and Dan Marcroft's 4-4-0 Eureka.
The K36 and K37s are as large as a Britannia and have in the region of 36000lb of Tractive effort - on 3 foot gauge!
Owen Chapman 15/10/99
[There are several web sites with details and photos of this
line and its locos. The scenery looks terrific, while the line
hugs a cliff face many feet above the river. I have pencilled in
this location for a possible future visit if I ever get to see
the States! - BA]
The Perth to Inverness route – The Highland Railway
(HR):
The route is represented as it was in 1950 and is the down line. The up line is available separately since the speed limits were different.
The Perth- Inverness line was completed as far as Aviemore by 1863. At that time trains to Inverness from Aviemore travelled via Forres.
In 1892 a direct line from Aviemore to Inverness via Carr bridge and Slochd was completed and this is the route represented.
The first 7 miles from Perth are on the Caledonian Railway (lease charges paid) and only at Stanley Junction you enter the HR’s own tracks. The line is then single to Blair Atholl (35.3 miles). From Blair the line climbs up to Druimachdar Summit at 1484 feet (53 miles) and is double line from Blair to Dalwhinnie (58.6 miles) and thereafter is single line to Aviemore (83.3 miles). From Aviemore the line is single until Daviot (107.1 miles) and is then double to Inverness.
The Inverness to Aviemore section includes a heavy climb up to Sloch summit (1305 feet). At Slochd there is no level section. The line changes from 1 in 70 up to 1in 60 down so you need a good level of water in the boiler to avoid melting the fusible plugs.
Happily the main line is still open although the Aviemore to Forres section was closed in 1965 but the Strathspey railway society have re-opened a few miles with steam traction and they use the HR engine shed at Aviemore.
Crossing Points
All station had crossing loops and there were additional crossing
loops at :
Inchmagranachan
Moulinearn
Inchlea
Etteridge
Dalraddy
Slochd
By 1950 you will notice that Inchmagranachan and Moulinearn loops had been removed so that there is no speed restriction at these points.
The speed limit through loops and stations was a maximum of 40 mph and single line tablet exchange was by the Manson apparatus from Highland days right up to the end of steam in 1962. This apparatus would work even at 60 mph.
In practice in Highland, LMS and BR days the drivers would run
through loops in excess of 50 mph and I have thus adjusted the
speed limits from 40 mph to 45 mph to reflect reality. Some loops
or stations had lower limits so I have not changed these,
(Stanley 30 down, 15 up, Dalguise 30, Killiecrankie 30, Aviemore
20, Tomatin 35)
Locomotives:
The coal supplied to Perth and Inverness sheds would have been
13,000 BTU Fife coal.
In HR days and up to 1935 the front line motive power
included:
1874 Duke Class 4-4-0 (last one scrapped 1930)
1894 Jones Goods 4-6-0 (goods and excursions. Last one
scrapped 1940 altough one is preserved and it was used until 1966
on specials. Now in Glasgow museum)
1896 Loch Class 4-4-0 (last one scrapped 1950)
1900 Castle Class 4-6-0 (last one scrapped 1947)
1919 Clan Class 4-6-0 (last one scrapped 1950)
All above are available on the simulator. (also available is the River class which returned to the Highland railway in the 1920s after the 1915 fiasco when they were too heavy for the line as built and were sold to the Caledonian)
In LMS days from 1935 right up to BR end of steam in 1962 the Stanier class 5 reigned supreme. Horwich crab 2-6-0s were used for a spell in early LMS days.
In 1948 an unrebuilt SR West Country ran on the line during the loco exchanges and BR Clans were very occasionally reported but with no tablet exchange mechanism would have run through the loops at around 10 mph.
Load limits were as follows:
Down line: Loch Castle Clan Class 5 Class 6
Perth – Blair Atholl 240 285 340
370 415
Blair – Kingussie 160 205 240 255
285
Kingussie Aviemore 240 285 480 435 495
Aviemore – Inverness 170 205 240 250
285
Up Line:
Inverness – Aviemore 135 200 240 250 285
Aviemore- Kingussie 240 285 480 340 405
Kingussie- Blair Atholl 170 230 315 340 405
Blair Atholl-Perth 240 285 340 370 415
(The Duke Class is not mentioned but I would estimate a load
limit of 100 tons on the
steepest sections).
Where load limits were exceeded, Blair Atholl to Druimachdar was banked and the climb up to Slochd piloted in both directions. Pilots were also available at Kingussie on up trains.
Many trains were remarshalled on route especially at Aviemore
so on one train the loads taken could vary at different
points.
Timetables and running times
Typical train times from 1892 up to 1962 were:
Perth – Blair Atholl 55 arrive 60 depart (water
taken)
Blair – Kingussie 119 arrive 121 depart
Kingussie Aviemore 138 arrive 143 depart (water taken)
Aviemore – Inverness 192 arrive
The overall running times were slightly more but the times I have given represent actuals for individual sections. Actual overall best times on down trains
1898 195 minutes
1922 215 minutes
1939 205 minutes
1947 202 minutes
1962 196 minutes
The fastest steam time ever was a press run in 1906 with 2 Lochs drawing 4 coaches weighing around 120 tons. The non stop Perth Inverness time was 146 minutes. I have no other details of the passing times.
Other times noted pre 1914 (unassisted engines)
Down trains
Perth – Blair Atholl non stop - Castle with 220 tons in
50 minutes
Perth – Blair Atholl non stop - Loch with 160 tons in
47 minutes and 45 seconds.
Up trains
Inverness – Aviemore non stop – Castle with
175 tons in 58m 30 secs (Slochd 44m 35s)
Inverness – Aviemore non stop – Castle with
240 tons in 65 minutes (Slochd 50m 55s)
Blair Atholl – Perth non stop - Castle with 195 tons
in 44 minutes
Blair Atholl – Perth non stop - Castle with 325 tons
in 48 minutes (45 mins net)
Other times in BR days (unassisted engines)
Aviemore – Inverness non stop – Class 5mt
with 255 tons in 43 minutes and 33 seconds.
Perth – Blair Atholl non stop
I have driven the route once only and tried to emulate a run made
on April 30 1951 with driver John Traill of Perth. He had class 5
no. 44704 and 10 coaches weighing 330 tons. He observed all 40
mph speed restrictions meticulously and even with a 20 mph p.w.s.
slowing through Pitlochry station made the run to Blair Atholl in
51 minutes and 4 seconds.
(I managed the run in 54 minutes using coal at 13000 BTU.)
Jim McDonell
I have been able to research into a few new locomotives and
routes to add. Two of them should need no introduction, the Ffestiniog Railway
and Welsh Highland Railway [To an outsider the WHR saga is a long
and apparently troubled one - there appears to have been two
companies so entitled, working from each end of the line and
possibly not given to speaking to one another. I believe that
this dispute has now been settled and that track is being
actively laid along the length of this line, but there still
appears to be two web sites( http://www.whr.co.uk and
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/ml/whr/whr.htm ). Whatever the
circumstances, I wish them luck with the venture and look forward
to travelling on their trains some day. BA] I have been able to
model both of them fairly accurately based on data from their
respective guide books and an old article in "Steam Railway"
magazine dating back a few years. Included with these routes are
three locomotives.
The ubiquitous Linda 0-4-0ST built in 1863 by Hunslets and bought by the Ffestiniog from Penrhyn quarries in 1963, and rebuilt as a 2-4-0 STT. [Saddle Tank with Tender - BA]
Prince of is the Ffestiniog's oldest working locomotive and is of the 0-4-0STT wheel arrangement.
The largest narrow gauge locos bought for use on the Welsh
Highland Railway are two (3?) ex SAR NGG16 2 foot Garratt
2-6-2+2-6-2s. They were members of a class of Beyer Garratt
locomotives supplied to South African Railways in 1958. No. 143
was the last Garratt to be built by the Manchester firm. Of
course this locomotive could be used in conjunction with a South
African route as well, unfortunately details of the SA NG lines
are hard to come by, otherwise I would have held out longer and
included it here.
The 2'6'' gauge Puffing Billy Railway in Victoria Australia was
built at the turn of the century along with three other similar
routes. They were extremely steeply graded and in some cases
quite long. They would have carried timber and farm produce and
they also started from early on to carry tourists and local
passengers. None of the routes made much money and they were all
closed in the 1950s, but the PBR had gained such a popularity
that it was saved though a local newspaper campaign and
preservation society. The line was the first railway to be
preserved in Australia, though due to a landslide halfway along
the line they only realised their goal of operating the full
length of the line to Gembrook in September last year.
The original line ran from Upper Ferntree Gulley to Gembrook but the section between Upper Ferntree and Belgrave has been a broad gauge electrified commuter route now for almost forty years. My model includes this section as an extra point of interest. The speed limit is also guessed though due to the tight curvature on the line I would not expect it to be above 30mph. The railway is the monopoly of one standard type of locomotive, the NA 2-6-2Ts, which were designed by Baldwin. There are still SIX of these superb locomotives surviving, with four currently operating and I have modelled this type for use with the simulator.
The line also has a Garratt that was employed on one of the
other Victorian NG lines and it is in the process of a long term
rebuild. They also have stored an NG G16 from South Africa which
they eventually intend to re-gauge. This line is considered to be
the Severn Valley railway of Australia and is very well known for
its wooden trestle bridges in thick forest. For more information
visit The PBR is officially
twinned with the Welshpool and Talyllyn railways on account of
their many similarities, and there are rumours of a swap being
arranged between the Welshpool and the PBR!
This is the former Great Eastern main line and is 115.00 miles
in length. It is now operated by class 86 electrics pulling
trains of around 9 MK3 coaches on the up journey and propelling
them on the down. (I have spent many miserable delayed hours
commuting between Diss and London, since, from electrification in
1987 the electrics have proved unreliable and not substantially
faster than the best steam services). Multiple units have
recently been introduced to Norwich and the line is very busy and
with an amount of freight also revolving around Ipswich and the
container port at Felixstowe.
The line as built for the simulator is as it was in the 1950s when the BR Brittanias ruled. Unrebuilt West Countries, BR Clans and BR standard 5s were also tried but seem to have had no great success.
The Brits. were welcomed by the drivers as the motive power prior to 1951 was LNER B1 4-6-0s, B12s and B17s. Prewar there was a fast train up and down in 140 minutes operated by 2 streamlined B17 4-6-0s. The front end resembled the A4. I believe Claud Hamiltons were used in pre-grouping days and early LNER days
The Brits. were based at London and Norwich and each was allocated to 2 sets of men and they seem to have been well maintained and kept clean. From 1958 English Electric type 4s were used on some of the trains and the Brits became available to work Clacton trains and also the Easterling which was non stop to Beccles (109 miles)on the East Suffolk line (turn right shortly after Ipswich) where it divided with a portion for each of Lowestoft and Yarmouth.
Soon after 1951 the Brits operated 2 hour trains up and down with 1 stop at Ipswich. The down timetable for the 2 hour Broadsman express departing London at 3.30 pm was as follows:
Stratford 8
Chadwell Heath 15
Shenfield 26
Chelmsford 36
Witham 44
Marks Tey 50.50
Colchester 56
Manningtree 64
Bentley 67.50
Ipswich 74 (arrive)
Ipswich 76 (depart)
Haughley 90.5
Tivetshall 105
Norwich 120
The Brits were allowed 9 coaches at 310 tons.
From logs I have read it would seem they could get down to Ipswich in about 65 minutes net. The best time I have seen for Norwich to Ipswich is 39 minutes.
The timetable for the diesels was altered to include an extra stop at Colchester and in case you want to prove that a B1 or Brit could run to diesel timings the 2 hour down times operated by Brush type 4s (class 47) or EE type 3 (class 37) or EE type 4 (class 40) were as follows and they were also allowed 9 coaches at 310 tons:
Stratford 7
Romford 16
Shenfield 23.50
Chelmsford 31.50
Witham 48.50
Marks Tey 44
Colchester 50 (arrive)
Colchester 52 (depart)
Manningtree 60
Bentley 63
Ipswich 69 (arrive)
Ipswich 71 (depart)
Haughley 84.5
Tivetshall 99
Norwich 120
Steam finally disappeared from the line early in 1962.
London’s Liverpool Street station in the 1950s was a very smokey,dirty place. Ask the railway police sergeant on duty (my uncle, John McDonell) for directions to the 3.30 pm Norwich train.
Soon after leaving, you will see on the right hand side, East London Junction where excursion trains from the north could, after reversal in Liverpool Street station travel via the Thames Tunnel and reach New Cross and lines to the Kent coast. In earlier days this line would have brought in commuters from Kent who were working in the City.
The train passes under the Bishopgates goods depot approaches and begins the climb up to Bethnal Green past slums on the left hand side. At Bethnal Green the line to the left goes to Cambridge. After a couple of miles the train slows to 40 mph through Stratford and then maintains a 60 mph limit till Ilford. Shortly before Romford station you will see the dog racing track on the left hand side and then the Romford brewery.
The line is climbing now through Haroldwood and Brentwood until Ingrave summit at milepost 19.25. With a clear run so far speed could be as high as 60mph at the summit. (Class 40 diesels could barely manage 50 mph). The train now begins to pick up speed through Shenfield and Ingatestone until the 60 mph restriction through Chelmsford.
The train will accelerate again and speed will be in the 70s and 80s until the 45 mph slowing through Colchester. Then follows a 2 mile climb to Parsons Heath box and then at Manningtree another 70 mph restriction just before you cross the Essex/Suffolk border on a viaduct with fine views downriver towards Harwich.
The line now climbs Bentley bank and then its downhill to Halifax water troughs where the driver will pick up water at the same time as slowing for Ipswich Tunnel and station. (it's tricky to pick up water and slow sufficiently for the 30 mph through the tunnel)
At Ipswich the train will stop for 2 minutes (or longer if it has arrived early) before continuing on to Norwich. On your right hand side you will see the Ipswich football club’s Portman Road stadium. It's hard work to maintain the 14.5 minute timing up the Gipping Valley to Haughley Junction where the line turns left for Cambridge and right for the Mid-Suffolk light railway which closed in (?) 1951. Once over the top, the grades are favourable through Finningham and Mellis to Diss on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. By Diss the driver will have eased the regulator well back and speed through Diss station will be around 90 mph. (I have seen one log claiming 94mph). The train will continue with speeds in the 70s/80s and the driver will probably not need to pick up water at Tivetshall troughs where you will see the junction for the Waveney Valley line to Beccles. At Forncett there is a junction for Wymondham, Dereham and the North Norfolk coast. Tivetshall troughs would have been dipped by excursion trains taking this route. However the Forncett – Wymondham section closed in 1951.
Approaching Norwich there is a 30 mph slowing over Trowse Upper Junction (for Wymondham, Ely, Cambridge and Peterborough)and a more severe slowing to 20 mph over the swing bridge which crosses the river Wensum.
With an on time arrival at Norwich Thorpe at 5.30 pm, there is time to look around the station before retiring to the nearby Compleat Angler for some fortification and to watch the pleasure cruisers on the Wensum river.
Jim McDonell
11/22/99
The Denver and Rio Grande built the San Juan extension during
1880. The first train arrived in Chama, Colorado from Antonito,
New Mexico on December 31st.
The line crosses the New Mexico-Colorado border 11 times while
meandering westward over the most rugged and scenic trackage in
America. This portion of
the D&RGW became the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
when the division was saved from the scrapper in 1970 as the
result of a long sought purchase by a
bi-state commission. Since narrow gauge equipment was useless on
other parts of the Rio Grande, a large measure of equipment was
received in the transaction. It is America's longest and highest
narrow gauge railroad crossing 64 miles of mountainous terrain
between Antonito and Chama. The highest point on the railroad is
Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,015 feet, which is reached eastbound
after a spectacular 4%, 13.4 mile climb from Chama or a more
gentle 1.4% 49.9 mile westbound climb from Antonito.
Trains eastbound from Chama were assembled in the Cumbres Yard
after being brought up in 12 to 15 car drags by two engines. Two
high trestles, at Lobato
and Cascade Creeks, are landmarks on the western side of the
mountain. The more gentle eastern slope has a wider variety of
scenery. It also has the only two tunnels, Toltec (or Rock) and
Mud.
Not only is the route steep but it is curvy. The sharpest curve is 20 degrees and there are many of that curvature. This coupled with heavy snow, bitter cold and uneven, unballasted narrow gauge track resulted in some of the harshest operating conditions in the United States. There were many derailments, mud slides and avalanches, some of them fatal. For these reasons, operating times were slow due to slow orders and cautious trainmen.
Segments for the simulation were chosen based on significant
landmarks and elevation data available in "Ticket to Toltec" by
Doris B. Osterwald, 2nd Ed.
1992, Western Guideways, Ltd., PO Box 150532, Lakewood, CO 80215.
$9.95 (An excellent reference with geologic and equipment data.)
Where elevations were unknown, interpolation and knowledge of the
line were used between known data points. Westbound, over the
2,127 foot rise and 2,152 foot fall, only 2 feet
of error accumulated in calculating the grade.
A K-36 engine, available with the simulation, (C&T has
five) can pull only 6 to 8 loaded cars up the eastbound 4% and
perhaps 36 up the westbound 1.4%
grades. I figure this to be about 275 and 1300 tons,
respectively. (A typical narrow gauge box car weighs 22,700
pounds and can carry 50,000 pounds of
freight.) Water in the old days was available at Antonito, Lava,
Sublette, Osier, Los Pinos, Cumbres Pass, Cresco and Chama. Today
the tender is topped
off at Sublette and Cumbres Pass. The simulation is recorded for
westbound travel. Watch out for the slow order at M.P. 288 after
a rather flat and fast
start from Antonito.
Web sites with additional information are:
Interim site for the C&T at
http://www.cumbresandtoltec.org/
Friends of the C&T at http://ctsfriends.railfan.net/
Our June 1999 Vacation at
http://members.aol.com/anon5000/anon5000/cumbres
Please help me find a Fairlie or two 36" gauge 0-4-0 Vulcans to
make one!
http://members.aol.com/anon5000/fairly.htm
Charlie Crail, Los Angeles, Charlie20215@hotmail.com
I have produced the GWR route from Paddington to Bristol. In my
early firing days one of the jobs was to Acton Yards where once
stabled I could watch
Kings, Castles, Halls and many other classes pass by on the main
line. In that period of 1958 -59 they were all clean and handsome
looking and barely made a sound as they passed, even on the down
road.
The route itself is not severe all the way to Bristol, Swindon being the point where the grades really change. I have completed the down route and found it was enjoyable, stopping for water at Swindon at the water column gives you a target to stop at, actual times are included thanks to Bradshaws.
The route file is GWR_PDBR.RUT
Down Train Times
Stopping Fast
Paddington dep 9-5 am dep10-5
Didcot arr10-9 dep10-11
Swindon arr10-41 dep10-47
Chippenham arr11-4 dep11-5
Bath arr11-22 dep11-24 arr11-40 dep11-43
Bristol
arr11-45 arr12-0
Up Trains
The Bristolian
Bristol dep 4-30 pm
Paddington arr 6-15 pm
Stopping
Bristol dep9-35
Bath arr9-51 dep9-53
Chippenham arr10-11 dep10-14
Swindon arr10-35 dep10-47
Didcot arr11-14 dep11-18
Reading arr11-42 ----------pass
Paddington arr12-25
Richard Gibb 30/12/99
This was the last great steam route in Britain and finally it
succumbed to an electric shock on July 9th 1967.
It was built by the London & South Western Railway, passing in to the Southern Railway ownership in the grouping of 1923 and then into the Southern Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948.
There were no water troughs at all in the Southern Region and in British Railways days the overall line speed limit was 85 mph. (Take care running into Bournemouth with its 20 mph restriction as I derailed myself the first time round).
The line leaves Waterloo on the Thames South bank and for the first 31 miles it is fairly hard work up to milepost 31. After a short downhill stretch it is more hard work for the next 20 odd miles and then it is downhill all the way mainly at 1 in 250 to Southampton Central where the locos would fill their tenders before continuing on to Bournemouth through the New Forest.
Locos used pre-war included King Arthurs, Lord Nelsons and the 4-4-0 Schools class. Post-war, Merchant Navies and the West Country/Battle of Britain class in both original and rebuilt forms were the most common locos supplemented by British Railway Standard class 5s.
In 1951/2 a BR Britannia was used for a spell on the Bournemouth Belle Pullman train.
In 1952 all 30 Merchant Navies were withdrawn temporarily for examination and locos were drafted in from other regions. These included ex LNER V2 2-6-2s and B1 4-6-0s. I have seen one photo of a V2 heading the Bournemouth Belle and the Southern drivers quite liked them.
There was a proposal in 1964 to transfer the remaining LMS Duchess class Pacifics to work the Bournemouth line but unhappily the clearances at Worting Junction up line flyover were too tight and their 4000 gallon tenders provided insufficient capacity for the 80 mile non stop run from London to Southampton.
Prewar there was a nonstop service from London to Bournemouth in 116 minutes.
In 1949 there were certain test runs made and one was with an
unrebuilt Merchant Navy drawing 17 coaches weighing 520 tons and
on the 116 minute timing. Bournemouth was reached in 112 mins 46
secs actual time notwithstanding a signal check to 28 mph at
Woking which cost 3 minutes.
Details of the test run are:
Schedule Actual
Clapham Junction 7 7 mins
30 secs
Worting Junction 54 52 mins 3
secs
Eastleigh 75 mins 30 secs 72 mins 30
secs
Northam Junction 80 mins 30 secs 77 mins 15
secs
Southampton Central 83 79 mins 31
secs
Lymington Junction 100 97 mins 16
secs
Bournemouth Central 116 112 mins 46
secs
Top speed was 80 mph at Winchester Junction.
One other 1939 run of which I have details is a Schools 4-4-0 (Driver Allen of Bournemouth shed) taking 510 tons gross down to Southampton in 86 mins 32 secs:
Schedule
Actual
Clapham Junction 7 8mins 13
secs
Woking 29 30 mins
22 secs
Basingstoke 54 54 mins
20 secs
Worting Junction 57 57 mins 8
secs
Eastleigh 79 mins 30 secs 77 mins 52
secs
Northam Junction 84 mins 30 secs 83 mins 20
secs
Southampton Central 87 mins 30 secs 86 mins 32 secs
Top speed was 82 mph at Winchester Junction.
In the 1950s and up to the summer of 1965 the best trains were timed in 2 hours up and down with one stop at Southampton Central. These were generally worked by rebuilt/unrebuilt Merchant Navies and they were allowed 12 coaches which weighed 400 tons excluding passengers. Timings were:
Down trains: Schedule
Clapham Junction 7
Hampton Court Junction 18
Woking 28 min 30 secs
Worting Junction 52
Winchester Junction 66
Eastleigh 73
Northam Junction 78
Southampton Central 81 arrive
Southampton Central 86 depart
Lymington Junction 103
Bournemouth Central 120
Up trains: Schedule
Lymington Junction 17
Southampton Central 32 arrive
Southampton Central 36 depart
Northam Junction 39 mins 30 secs
Eastleigh 46
Worting Junction 73
Woking 93 mins 30 secs
Clapham Junction 113
London Waterloo 120
In addition the daily Pullman service (the Bournemouth Belle) ran on similar timings and this on occasions could load up to 550 tons. Unfortunately it was operated by Brush type 4s (class 47) in its last few months. The service was withdrawn upon electrification in 1967.
In 1966 Stanier class 5s could be seen on the Pines express between Bournemouth and Banbury travelling by way of Basingstoke, Reading West and Didcot. These engines were occasionally used on London trains and as the drivers were used to the similar BR Standard 5s this is not surprising.
In the last weeks of steam traction there were several reports of Bulleid Pacifics exceeding 100 mph on up trains on the racing stretch east of Basingstoke.
I first travelled on the line in September 1965 but in June 1965 the schedules had been eased to 2 hours and 15 minutes to allow for electrification work. Even so it was unforgettable to experience Bulleid Pacifics on first line express work. I was fortunate then to have started work, but on such low pay that I continued to qualify for generous free rail travel courtesy of my father’s employment on the railway. Many of my weekends in 1965 and 1966 were spent travelling from Perth to London on the up Royal Highlander on a Friday night, down to Bournemouth and back on the Saturday and arriving home in Perth on Sunday morning.
My last steam trip was in January 1967 when I took the chance to travel on a local train from Southampton to Lyndhurst Road behind unrebuilt West Country 34102. Four of these unrebuilt engines lasted up to the end in July 1967.
The last journey I made on this route was in October 97 when I travelled from Bournemouth to London in an overcrowded, uncomfortable (late) electrical multiple unit service which the operators had the audacity to call the Bournemouth Belle. There was no comparison to sitting in a comfortable spacious restaurant car, sipping beer, behind a Merchant Navy racing up to Roundwood summit with 12 coaches at 60 mph.
Jim McDonell
January 8th 2000.
I have had a go at another one, LMS again or I should say LNWR, one bank I had noticed that had not been included in the collection of yours. Preston to Carlisle, that is SHAP and its famous 1in 75 climb from the south for something like 4 miles. Bankers were use from Tebay on most trains, but that famous Locomotive Designer Sir William Stanier developed the Princess (Lizzies) and Coronation (Duchess's) classes to work 15 coach trains unaided over Shap summit, so this is one for fans to try I hope.
I have travelled over the route many times as a youngster on visits to my Grandparents, who were Scottish, mostly at night but on occasions by day, I'm sure looking back and remembering the railways in the 1940's 50's that it was this that moulded me towards the love of steam.
I have constructed the route from the Gradient book from Ian Allan, O/S maps and my collection of video's I have used it both ways and it seems to work well, Shap really knocks the speed down both ways.
Here's some times from Bradshaws for you
SEMI FAST DOWN
PRESTON dep 5-59
LANCASTER arr 6-23
dep 6-27
OXENHOLME arr 6-53
dep 6-56
PENRITH arr 7-45
dep 7-50
CARLISLE arr 8-11
This is an up Perth Euston
CARLISLE dep 3-44
PRESTON arr 5-35
And THE ROYAL SCOT Down
PRESTON dep 1-15
CARLISLE arr 2-44
P.S. About the Duchess Locos, did you know that the "Duchess
of Gloucester" 46225 was recorded as the highest steam output of
any British loco in this country. Read Locomotive Panorama, it's
an old book but still about. [In C.J. Allen's book "British
Pacific Locos" he states that 46225 generated 40,000 lb/hr of
steam and developed a drawbar horsepower of 2250 dbhp as a
continuous output, while in 1939 Duchess of Abercorn briefly
produced 2511 dbhp while climbing Shap. BA]
I have edited Morgan Trotter's SP Coast line to give a file of the Cuesta Grade. I have found it useful to test locomotives over over the grade before spending ages getting there finding out I have too heavy a train! It is extremely interesting running British locomotives over this route, it is normally impossible to run these locomotives on the whole route as they run out of coal before they get very far! Will there be a facility in the program for attending a refuelling point in the future? [Possibly, this was standard practice on some lines in the USA - BA]. The edited route is called CUESTA.
Owen Chapman
This line could have been in existence to this day had it been
extended to Inverness as originally conceived. In steam days you
would have seen Stanier class 5s speeding along the shores of
Loch Ness. However it was not to be and it remained throughout
its life as an unimportant backwater and doomed to certain
failure.
The History of the line
The Great Glen divides Scotland and runs southwest from Inverness to Fort William, a distance of some 60 miles. It includes 3 lochs; Loch Ness at the northerly end, Loch Oich in the middle and Loch Lochy at the southerly end. In the early 19th century the 3 Lochs were joined by canals with access to the sea at both ends and this is the Caledonian Canal which is still in existence.
The original West Highland railway proposal of 1884 for the line from Glasgow to Fort William included a continuation of the line through the Great Glen to Inverness. This would have brought the distance from Glasgow to Inverness down to 160 miles compared to 207 miles by the existing route via the Caledonian Railway to Perth and the Highland Railway from Perth to Inverness. When the Bill came before Parliament the Highland Railway opposed it successfully.
The Bill was revived 3 years later and although the extension to Inverness was not included the Highland Railway still objected. They were not successful on this occasion and the Bill was approved by Parliament on 12th August 1889.
The proposal was not yet dead and in 1893, being the year before the line to Fort William was completed, both the Highland and the West Highland/North British Railway made proposals for the line to Inverness. After much argument both sides withdrew their plans.
In 1896, a local Company called the Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway (I&FA) proposed to build a line from Spean Bridge (9 miles east of Fort William) on the West Highland Railway to Fort Augustus at the southerly end of Loch Ness leaving a gap of only 30 miles to Inverness. After much opposition, the Bill was approved by Parliament on the 14th of August 1896.
In 1897 the Highland and the West Highland/North British Railway both made proposals to have running powers over the I&FA and build their own extensions to Inverness. The I&FA made its own proposal. The Highland Bill was approved by the Commons but thrown out by the Lords and that was the end of any chance for an extension.
The I&FA were left with the prospect of building a 24 mile branch rather than an important main line route.
The engineering works were completed by 1901 at a cost of Stg 344,000 which exhausted the Company’s equity and loans. There was no money to buy locomotives and rolling stock so both the Highland and the North British were asked by the I&FA to work the line. Eventually the Highland agreed to do so for an annual payment of Stg 4,000 and they reiterated their agreement with the North British not to build any extension to Inverness. Negotiations delayed the opening and it was only on June 30th 1903 that the Highland obtained its Act to work the line.
The Railway was officially opened on 22nd July 1903 and at the ceremony in Fort Augustus, the Chairman of the Highland, William Whitelaw, (who was later Chairman of the LNER and had A4 no. 600004 named after him) recognised their responsibility in ensuring a good steamer connection between Fort Augustus and Inverness by way of Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal.
Traffic was sparse and on May 1st 1907 the Highland withdrew and the North British took over the working. The I&FA Company closed the line on 31st October 1911 and reopened it on August 1st 1913, again worked by the North British. In 1914 the line including the Railway Hotel at Fort Augustus was sold for Stg 27,500 to the North British. This was a good price for a project which had cost Stg 344,000.
On December 1st 1933 ,the LNER (successor to the North British in the 1923 grouping) closed the line except for a once a week goods train. During World War 2 the line saw an increase in traffic to one train per day mainly for the movement of timber.
Finally, the LNER closed the line completely on December 31st 1946. A timber merchant surveyed the line on 28th March 1947 on a one coach special train with a view to hiring it for the removal of timber but nothing came of it.
The Line
The line was built with 75 lbs per yard rail in 30 feet lengths and laid as a single line with crossings at the stations but enough land was acquired to make it into a double track line to cater for expansion and/or extension to Inverness. The ruling gradient is 1 in 66.
I have built the route with a line limit of 45mph (same as the West Highland) with 30 mph though the stations, 20 mph at Spean Junction and 10 mph over the canal swing bridge at Fort Augustus. That’s enough to run the trains to time if you can get away from Aberchalder cleanly, on down trains up the 1 in 68.
The end of the line at Fort Augustus Pier Station is 160 feet below Spean Bridge.
The trains left from the main platform at Spean Bridge (the I&FA booking hall was still in use as a post office when I was last there in 1984) and after a short distance branches off the West Highland line and runs down the Spean Gorge, crossing the Spean River on a 4 span 290 feet long bridge at 80 feet above the river.
The line then heads northeast to Fort Augustus along the south bank of Loch Lochy and Loch Oich. As the line passes Loch Oich you can see the castle of the Chiefs of Clan McDonell on the north bank. It has been a ruin since 1746 following the reprisals taken by the Duke of Cumberland subsequent to the Civil War of 1745/6.
Fort Augustus main station has a 2 dock platform and a through road which runs down to the Pier Station where access could be gained to steamers for Inverness. The 1 mile line from the main station to the Pier was extremely expensive to build. Leaving the main station the line crosses the Caledonian Canal on a swing bridge and then the River Oich on a 4 span steel lattice girder viaduct 300 feet long. The line crosses the main Inverness road and then continues down at 1 in 66 along a ledge cut in the cliff face to the Pier Station.
Pier Station has one passenger platform, a run round loop and a cattle siding which gave access for cattle and sheep to the holds of the steamers. (if any modellers are interested, I measured the site in 1974 and the station and approaches can be modelled fullsize in OO/EM at 13 feet long and running to a fiddle yard. 4 points only are required )
Stations on the line from the Spean Bridge end were at:
Gairlochy 2.85 miles
Invergloy 7.52 miles (opened around 1905/6 as a request
stop)
Invergarry 15.31 miles
Aberchalder 19.54 miles
Fort Augustus Main 23.45 miles
Fort Augustus Pier 24.28 miles
Train Services
The Highland Railway during its period of working from 1903 till 1907 operated 4 trains each way per day Monday to Saturday and their times were as follows:
Fort Augustus Pier Station dep - - 14.20
19.05
Fort Augustus Main Station dep 7.25 10.55 14.25 19.10
Aberchalder dep 7.34 11.04 14.34
19.19
Invergarry dep 7.49 11.16 14.46
19.31
Gairlochy dep 8.21 11.46 15.16
20.01
Spean Bridge arr 8.30 11.55 15.25
20.10
Spean Bridge dep 9.35 12.15 17.30
21.25
Gairlochy dep 9.44 12.24 17.42
21.34
Invergarry dep 10.14 12.54 18.15
22.04
Aberchalder dep 10.26 13.06 18.27
22.16
Fort Augustus Main Station dep 10.35 13.15 18.40 22.25
Fort Augustus Pier Station arr - - 18.45
-
Into the routes on the simulator for both up and down lines I have included in the station names, the running times based on the 65 minute fastest schedule.
The 17.30 from Spean Bridge was allowed an extra 10 minutes on its schedule. It may have been a mixed train with cattle or sheep for transport to Inverness. However that is only my supposition. There was no road access to the Pier Station so presumably the trains only ran there to connect with the steamers although why there was a 14.20 departure from the Pier Station but no corresponding arrival, I cannot guess.
By the time the North British took over in 1907 there was an extra station at Invergloy which was a request stop. Sometime in 1907 trains on the section from Fort Augustus Main Station to the Pier station were withdrawn by the North British and this part of the line never saw regular trains thereafter.
The North British after 1907 offered only 2 trains in the winter, increasing this to 3 in the summer. They also ran a through coach from Glasgow in the summer.
In September 1905 King Edward the 7th visited Invergarry and the Highland Railway took over the (shortened) Royal Train from the North British at Spean Bridge and worked it on the branch.
The Locomotives:
The motive power from 1903 till 1907 was supplied by the Highland Railway and I know of only 2 locomotives that were sent to the line. There was no physical connection between the Highland Railway lines and the branch, and the engines would probably have worked from Perth westwards on the Caledonian line via Crieff and Balquidder to Crianlarich. There they would have gained the West Highland line and thence to Spean Bridge via Tyndrum Upper and across Rannoch Moor and the 1347 feet summit at Courrour.
Highland Railway "Yankee" Tank 4-4-0T.
This was the engine that the Highland Railway sent, in the beginning, to work the branch.
The first 2 locos of this class of 5 had been built by Dubs in 1891 for the Uruguay Great Eastern Railway but they never accepted delivery and the Highland took them on trial. They liked them and ordered 3 more to a slightly modified and more powerful design and no. 52 of this later batch is the one sent to Fort Augustus. The tank capacity was 900 gallons although the minimum possible on the loco build program is 1000 gallons.
As they had been ordered for South America they were known as "Yankee Tanks." I suppose that if you lived in Scotland in the 19th century the difference between North and South America was not something you knew or cared about.
No. 52 was based at Fort Augustus shed and covering 4 return trips on 6 days per week would have amassed around 1200 miles per week. As far as I know it was never relieved for several years and any more information about this would be gladly received.
The last one was scrapped in 1934 and they were used on many of the Highland Railway branches.
It is available on the simulator as "HR_YTANK".
Highland Railway Skye Bogie 4-4-0
This is the well known Jones design introduced in 1882 and designed specially for the Kyle of Lochalsh line which abounded in steep grades, sharp curves and numerous speed restrictions. It was a powerful locomotive having only a 5 ft 3 inch wheel and 9 were built in all, with the last 4 being built after Jones had retired in 1896.
No. 48 was the last one and was built in 1901. Sometime around 1905 it was sent to work the branch and presumably this was to have a prestigious and powerful engine available for the Royal train working to Invergarry in September 1905. I do not know if no. 48 replaced the tank or if they both remained there. Certainly, the Highland Railway always ran a pilot engine 20 minutes ahead of any Royal train for safety reasons, so perhaps the tank fulfilled that role.
Any information on how long the Skye Bogie remained on the branch would be welcome.
This engine is available on the simulator as "HRSKYEBG".
North British Railway class R 4-4-0 Tank (LNER class D51)
Numbers 19 and 74 of this class were sent to work the line when the North British took over in 1907. They were built in 1882 and were designed by Dugald Drummond. They had a tank capacity of 655 gallons.
In the summer workings they took 5 coaches and a through coach from Glasgow.
They would not have amassed as many miles as the Highland engine since there were only 2 trains in the winter and 3 in the summer. Perhaps they double headed heavier trains.
This engine is available on the simulator as "LNER_D51". I had no data on adhesive weight, boiler diameter and tube length. These are all assumed and corrections are welcomed.
Other Locos used
The North British used also the NBR class M 4-4-2 tank (LNER
C15) and after 1933 for the freight service, the NBR class C
0-6-0 tender engine (LNER J36).
Train Loads:
I find the Yankee tank copes with 150 tons, the NB Class R
with 130 and the powerful Sky Bogie with 250 tons on up trains. I
would estimate that trains would have been around 100 tons
maximum.
Jim McDonell
January 27, 2000
Sources of data for routes: mileages and speed restrictions from
employee's timetables of the 1960's (Diesel era), elevations from
Altitudes in Canada (1915 edition). Some additional mileage
points have been added from Altitudes in Canada to better define
the gradients; these include a number of stations long since
closed, river crossings and the summits of important grades.
CP_WINCH.RUT - Canadian Pacific's Winchester Subdivision from Montreal to Smiths Falls, Ontario, the first leg of the CP line from Montreal to Toronto. This was the site of the Canadian steam speed record in 1937: a four-car air brake test train, weighing about 200 English tons and pulled by F2a 4-4-4 No. 3003, reached a speed of 112.5 mph eastbound between St. Telesphore and Soulanges. During the summer of 1931, this line also boasted the world's fastest scheduled train, timed at 108 minutes for the 124 miles from Montreal West to Smiths Falls, an average of 68.9 mph, with typical train weights of 600 English tons drawn by H1 class 4-6-4's. The schedule was often bettered, with times as low as 102.5 minutes being recorded. Unfortunately, the crown passed back to the Great Western in England when it accelerated the timing of the Cheltenham Flyer in the fall of 1931. It was CPR practice on fast main lines like this to set speed limits for locomotive classes rather than for the line itself. The fastest speed allowed was 90 mph for most passenger engines, but this appears not to have been enforced, as running at well over 90 mph was commonplace, particularly for the H1's. I have therefore given this route a line speed limit of 120.
CP_HAVEL.RUT - Canadian Pacific's Havelock Subdivision from Smiths Falls to Havelock, the second leg of the Toronto-Montreal journey on the old main line (now mostly abandoned). A good rollercoaster ride through a sparsely populated area. Tonnage ratings as given by Railway and Shipping World, 1901: westbound (ruling grade near Tweed): SA class 4-4-0 380 long tons, SE3 class 2-8-0 840 tons, SN class 4-6-0 550 tons, SR class 4-6-0 580 tons; eastbound (ruling grades near Tweed and Sharbot Lake) about 7% higher.
CP_GALT.RUT - Canadian Pacific's Galt Subdivision, the main line from Toronto to London, Ontario. The section west of Woodstock was known for fast running, and as with CP_WINCH.RUT I have given this route a line speed limit well over what was actually allowed.
CP_PRESC.RUT - Canadian Pacific's Prescott Subdivision from Ottawa to Prescott, Ontario. Provided the connection from Ottawa to the main line at Bedell (CP_WINCH.RUT) plus a line to the St. Lawrence at Prescott.
CP_FIELD.RUT - Canadian Pacific's Field Hill in the Rocky Mountains with the famed Spiral Tunnels, the most difficult crossing of the Rockies on the continent, and a hill "which makes Shap look like a billiard table", in the words of one English writer. The grade is nominally 1:45 (2.2%), but is reduced in numerous places to compensate for the curvature. In the Spiral Tunnels themselves compensation reduces the grade to 1.60%. In steam days most trains were double- or triple-headed with various combinations of 2-10-4's, 2-10-2's, 2-10-0's and 2-8-2's. On one occasion four 2-10-4's were used for a 3000 long ton train. Tonnage ratings eastbound: T1 class 2-10-4's (with booster) 900 long tons, S2 class 2-10-2's 730 tons, P2 class 2-8-2's 640 tons.
Bill Hallett
2/2/2000
Owen has greatly extended the route that comprises the Cumbres
and Toltec Scenic railway. His extended route goes from Alamosa
via Chama to Durango. He has set the speed limit at 30mph, but
admits that this is conjecture based upon the severe gradients
and curvature. Any advice would be welcome.
Prior to the grouping of 1923 into the big four of the LMS, LNER, SR and GWR there were quite a number of smaller railway companies.
In Scotland the Caledonian Railway was one of the bigger railways along with the North British. The other Scottish railways - the Highland, the Great North of Scotland and the Glasgow and South Western were all much smaller concerns.
The Caledonian main lines were from Carlisle to Glasgow Central, Carlisle to Edinburgh Princes Street and Glasgow Buchanan Street to Aberdeen. The main line to Edinburgh branched off the Carlisle to Glasgow line at Strawfrank Junction near Carstairs.
The line built for the simulator is as it was in Caledonian railway days. The differences between Caledonian and LMS/BR days were water troughs and more speed restrictions.
Troughs were installed by the LMS some time after the grouping of 1923 at Floriston near Carlisle and at Strawfrank Junction near Carstairs. There were extra speed restrictions imposed as well on both sides of Beattock summit.
The line from Carlisle to Edinburgh was the last lap on the West Coast route from London to Edinburgh during the railway race of August 1888. The only engine that the Caledonian used in the race was the single wheeler no. 123 built in 1886.
Leaving Carlisle going north, there is a handy 1 in 100 down for 1/3 of a mile to get the train into speed. Two miles from the station on the right hand side is the Caledonian running shed at Kingmoor where there will be a variety of blue passenger locos and black goods locos. The Waverley route crosses the line just past the sheds.
At 8.6 miles, just on the Scottish border is Gretna Junction for Dumfries and the Glasgow and South Western line to Glasgow (St. Enoch). Gretna is a facing junction and I have assumed a speed restriction of 50 mph, although I imagine that 123 would not have slowed very much at this point.
At 10.20 miles is Quintinshill signal box with up and down loops which was the scene of the worst disaster in British railway history, when, in 1915 a troop train from Edinburgh to Liverpool was involved in a triple collision with the down Tourist train and a down local. 227 persons lost their lives, mostly the soldiers on the troop train who were headed for the trenches. (Cynics said that it saved them the trouble of getting killed on the Somme).
The line is on a rising tendency all the way toWamphray at 34.50 miles where after a further mile of level the real climbing to Beattock summit commences with 4 miles at 1 in 200 to Beattock station (39.70 miles) then 10 miles of 1 in 75 to the summit at 49.70 miles. Heavier trains would stop at Beattock for banking assistance to the summit but if they were not stopping the driver would be going as fast as possible at this point with speed in the sixties/seventies to get a run at the bank. (BR standard 2-6-4 tanks were in use as bankers until early 1967).
From Beattock summit to Strawfrank Junction at 73.20 miles the line is downhill with only the odd uphill section. At Strawfrank, the Edinburgh line branches off to the right avoiding Carstairs station and joining the Carstairs to Edinburgh line at Dolphinton Junction. The 528 yard section from Strawfrank to Dolphinton had a 15 mph restriction in LMS days but as this is the Caledonian I have assumed a more generous 25 mph. Certain trains ran into Carstairs station where they would be divided with portions for Edinburgh and Glasgow. Similarily, some trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow were combined at Carstairs. The distance to Edinburgh is 101.20 miles via Carstairs but 100.60 miles if Carstairs is avoided and this is the way the 1888 racing train went.
From Dolphinton the line climbs for 8.50 miles to Cobbinshaw summit and then the final 19 miles to Edinburgh Princes Street Station (closed in 1965) is downhill ranging from 1 in 100 to 1 in 143 apart from the final level 2 miles. The 1888 racer would be well into the 80s after Cobbinshaw.
Locomotives of the Caledonian which were used on this line were allocated to Edinburgh's Dalry Road shed. These included the single wheeler no. 123, Drummond class 66 4-4-0s and the 4 variants of McIntosh's Dunalastair 4-4-0s namely Dunalastair 1, 2, 3 and 4 and for a short period no. 905 which was one of the six Cardean Class 4-6-0s. The best of the Dunalastairs performance-wise is the Dunalastair 3 which, although not the final development of the class had the biggest grate and this certainly aids steaming. There is a separate text file giving a brief history of these locos.
Performance in Caledonian days was at its peak during the race
of 1888. During August 1888 the average time for 123 for the
100.6 miles to Edinburgh was 107.75 minutes and her best time was
on the 9th August when, with a tare load of 80 tons she completed
the journey in 102 mins and 33 secs. The timings of this run
follow and for comparison I have included one of my simulated
runs (which was made without reference to the timings of the
record). I used 32%, 42% and 52% cut-off, 25% to 75% regulator,
max. firing rate of 2500 lbs/hour and max speed of 83 mph.
9th August
1888 20th March 2000
Gross 90
tons Gross 100 tons
4-2-2
No.123 4-2-2 No.123
Mins
Secs Mins Secs
Carlisle Citadel 0
00 0 00
Rockcliffe 5
35 5 49
Gretna Junction 9
38 9 43
Kirkpatrick 14
07 14 30
Kirtlebridge 17 46
Ecclefechan 21
04 20 53
Lockerbie 26
46 25 52
Dinwoodie 31
54 30 38
Wamphray 34
26 33 01
Beattock Station 39
13 37 19
Milepost 44 44
20 41 57
Milepost 46 47
17 44 53
Beattock Summit 53
04 52 17
Strawfrank Junction 74
44 73 17
Edinburgh Princes Street 102
33 101 45
Coal lbs/mile +/-
31
25.4
Max
speed
83 at Midcalder
Lbs/Dbhr
7.73
Max
DH
396
Water
1961 gallons
The 10 .05 am to Carlisle on one occasion in 1905 was loaded to 404 tons gross. It was piloted to Cobbinshaw summit and then ran the final 82.2 miles to Carlisle in 87 mins and 21 secs. The loco was Dunalstair 4 No.140.
In 1896 when the Dunalstair 1 was introduced, the 10.15 am to Carlisle was allowed 115 mins and the 4.30 pm to Edinburgh was allowed 120 mins. Loads were around 200 tons and the return trip comprised a days work for the locomotive and the crew.
I have no records of the Cardean Class on the trains but they
were a well engineered loco and could stand the heavy work
required without overheating. In 1911 they were tested between
Crewe and Carlisle on the LNWR with some astounding
performances.
Jim McDonell
6 April 2000
This data was derived from numerous sources, and was originally done to drive a diesel-electric locomotive and train on a simulator for a 1982 Commodore-64 computer program I purchased. It is my original work.
The main route travels between Hoboken and East Stroudsburg, the route file is PA.RUT.
I have included the more detailed files, from Hoboken to Summit (PA_HO_SU) and from Summit to Dover (PA_SU_DO); today I ran the drill up to Millburn, and the journey log was much better. But there was no coal available at Summit, at least not that I know of in the modern era.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This route was drawn from a track diagram book for 1974. When steam was operated, there were slight differences. For example, from Slateford to Bell's Bridge there was a major washout from hurricane Diane in 1955, and the line was single-tracked; also, the cut-off (Port Morris to Slateford) was single-tracked about the same time, with a passing siding kept between E Greendell and the A signal just west of Greendell. For the most part, the mileages were almost identical, and when I drew the route data for the C-64 I adjusted for this. (The signals were not re-numbered, nor moved)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The steam locomotive parameter data was derived from locomotive diagrams and a roster in "The Lackawanna in the 20th Century" (Volume 2) by Tom T. Tabor
I knew Mr. Tabor, and I found him to be extremely accurate; these three books have recently been re-printed by the
Steamtown Museum Association Giftshop
350 Cliff Street
Scranton PA 18503
phone (570) 346-0660
fax (570) 346 7093
there are 3 volumes,
Lackawanna in the 19th Century
Lackawanna in the 20th Century Vol I
Lackawanna in the 20th Century Vol II
I just received the 19th century book yesterday, and there are grade profiles for all of the routes in that, with numbers corresponding to feet per mile, for most of the ruling grades, but the diagrams are very small.
Vol I (20th century) covers operations.....
Vol II covers equipment
I mention these because they cover a trunk line railroad and its operations in great detail.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The 1940 emp tt shows tonnage ratings in M's, which are 1000 - Lb. units. This is due to the way the weights of cars were derived. According to the Equipment Registers, (a reprint of the 1953 issue is available from the NMRA in Chattanooga TN) three weights were stenciled on freight cars; a car was weighed to derive the freight charge(s). The Light Weight (LT WT) was subtracted, and the result was multiplied by the freight tariff for the commodity. But the Yard Master's clerk gave the total weight of the car to the YM, to determine how many cars could be carried on a train that day. And this figure was used to see what loco could be assigned, based on what loco's were readily available at that location.
In many cases, a specific loco was assigned to a train; for example, a 790-class was usually assigned to the Gladstone Branch drill (way Freight).A 790 was rated at 1100 M's, or 500 tons, from Millburn to Summit (NJ). Most often, there were not that many cars carried from Kearney to Summit, in fact this train seldom carried more than a couple of cars, plus a 25-28 ton caboose. Most of the cars for this train were handled from Port Morris to Summit, left over-night, and picked up by the drill there, to be delivered out on the Branch. Similarly, cars picked up were left at Summit, to go to Port Morris, and the engine/caboose ran light back to Kearney.
An 0-8-0 switcher was used to handle cars from Kearney to Millburn; there is an article in Trains Magazine (Sept 1965) which mentions that this class could stagger up the 1.7% grade through Roseville Avenue with about 50 cars. Tabor's books has a photo caption that says this grade was 1.2% up to Roseville Avenue (after the grade crossing elimination, which is the same era). Examining the profiles in "19th Century" shows a 76-foot rise from Roseville Avenue to East Orange, and a 61-feet per mile Ruling Grade.
61 per mile is 1.1553%
The track diagram book says 1.55% for this section. And 1.45%
from Newark to Roseville Avenue....... Personal observation shows
the grade starting at slightly west of the west end of the
Roseville Avenue platforms, and tapering off at the Parkway
Viaduct; the viaduct west of there, through Brick Church and
Orange curve, is almost level. Based on bridge mileages,
topographical maps, and other data, I think the grade of 1.55% is
more accurate, with the 0.2 section of 1.0%
over the Parkway curve. Besides which, the grade from Millburn to
Summit is shown on the profile as 80/mile, or 1.51515, which the
track book says is 1.57%.
And there is a listed M rating for that grade, but none for the Newark - Roseville Ave - E Orange grade.
One of the things that can account for this discrepancy is curve compensations. Each degree of curvature adds the effect of 0.3% increase in grade, according to my mechanical engineer's handbooks, and the C-64 program. I factored this in to my listings, which is why the Parkway segment is only 1%; there is a (about) 2-degree curve there.
In other words, I have tried for accuracy, but admit that there MAY be some slight errors. And without better sources, I cannot do any better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
LOCATIONS: Names that are Capitalized are Stations, but the steam trains after 1930 they ran electric MU's, only stopped at Newark, Brick Church, Summit, Dover, Blairstown and East Stroudsburg; times for those are given in real time for #3, the Lackawanna Limited, later the dieselized PHOEBE SNOW. In 1940, there was one train that also stopped at Morristown; at some time, there were trains that also stopped at the Water Gap station, but I do not have a schedule prepared for them.
As far as I know, nothing ever stopped at Johnsonburg, or Greendell, except a milk train or a freight; in the 1940's, there was a passing track in each direction, just west of Blairstown; for freights to be overtaken as necessary.
From Newark to Millburn, there was a reversable 3rd track, controlled from Newark Tower; Millburn Tower was closed, and its interlocking was controlled from Summit. The third track handled express MU's, some of the through passenger trains, and the Orange Drill (Kearney to Millburn and back).
E Orange, Brick Church, Maplewood, and for a time, Millburn, had station platforms for all 3 tracks. The 3rd track between Wyoming and Millburn was removed about 1961.
(Locations) in parentheses are sidings, most are shown, but there were others. Some were served eastbound, and I did not differentiate; but since you cannot reverse, if you stop for all, the consumptions will about equal out.
)Locations( in reversed parentheses are over passes usually of
street names;
]Locations[ in brackets are underpasses, again usually of
streets;
<60 or something similar is a speed board;
#M335 is a block signal; interlocking or absolute signals are
indicated by the code letter "A" with about 4 spaces in front,
after the name of something, like a tower or other feature.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I also have purchased several employee's timetables for the DL&W. One, for 1940, gives drag tonnage ratings for freight trains for the various ruling grades east of Slateford. This is why I have a numeric prefix on my steam loco data files, there were 9 weight classes, with number 1 representing the most and 9 the least powerful. There were also letter classes for steamers, but these were seldom used in day to day operations, the numbers were used much more often.
7F790 means:
7 = weight class, for tonnage ratings
F = Freight (P = Passenger; S = Switcher)
790 = number series
When you choose a loco from these type listing, and display through the LOCO program, you will see a Class Letter, and the wheel arrangement. By coincidence, a #790 happens to be a Class F-14; a 4-6-2 Pacific is a Class N something, and a Mikado is a Class M; one of the Pocono 4-8-4's is a Class Q. Again, this has little meaning. I used the F, P and S to more readily remind me of what the loco was used for.
The tonnage ratings are in M's, or 1000 LB units, not tons. Empty cars were about 25 - 30 tons Lt Wt, with up to 50 - 60 tons of lading. Average ladings were about 35 - 40 tons, except for coal, which ran about 70. Most Lackawanna coal cars ran about 70 - 75 tons total, but there were a few heavier cars, in the steam era.
The Mikado's were used mostly on coal drags, and were restricted to 30 mph; other freights were restricted to 50, except west of Port Morris, where they were allowed up to 65, especially later, in the 1950's or so. All steam was gone by 1953.
DL&W 9/29/1940 TRAIN WEIGHTS Trains Magazine July 1971: 1M = 1000 LBs
Class Engine Numbers
1 2201-2235
2 201-260, 1601-1650, 2101-2150
3 1223-1262, 1401-1405, 1450-1454, 1501-1505
4 385-399, 1151-1155
5 1189, 1191-1193
6 156-185, 1101-1140
7 350-373, 724-799 (1100/1375)
8 534-569, 1008-1025
9 82-145, 952,992
SLOW FREIGHT RATING
Class Secaucus-Lincoln Park Lincoln Park-Pt.Morris
Pt.Morris-Slateford Slateford-Pt.Morris
|
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
|
|
1 |
6800 |
1020 |
680 |
3975 |
595 |
397 |
13600 |
2040 |
1360 |
7500 |
1125 |
750 |
|
2 |
6000 |
900 |
600 |
3610 |
541 |
361 |
11750 |
1762 |
1175 |
6400 |
960 |
640 |
|
3 |
5200 |
780 |
520 |
3060 |
459 |
306 |
10000 |
1500 |
1000 |
5500 |
825 |
550 |
|
4 |
4575 |
686 |
457 |
2280 |
405 |
270 |
8500 |
1275 |
850 |
4400 |
660 |
440 |
|
5 |
3860 |
579 |
386 |
2280 |
342 |
228 |
7650 |
1147 |
765 |
3600 |
540 |
360 |
|
6 |
3500 |
525 |
350 |
2050 |
307 |
205 |
7000 |
1050 |
700 |
3400 |
510 |
340 |
|
7 |
3050 |
457 |
305 |
1800 |
270 |
180 |
6000 |
900 |
600 |
3000 |
450 |
300 |
|
8 |
2000 |
390 |
260 |
1550 |
232 |
155 |
5200 |
780 |
520 |
2600 |
390 |
260 |
|
9 |
1750 |
262 |
175 |
960 |
144 |
96 |
3600 |
540 |
360 |
1800 |
270 |
180 |
A-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of more than
3/4 empties, or when weather is extremely bad.
B-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of from 1/3 to
3/4 empties, or when weather is bad.
Class South Orange-Summit Madison-Convent Morristown-Denville
Morristown-Convent Chatham-Summit
|
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
|
|
1 |
2620 |
393 |
262 |
2970 |
445 |
297 |
4000 |
600 |
400 |
4500 |
675 |
450 |
3400 |
510 |
340 |
|
2 |
2380 |
357 |
238 |
2700 |
405 |
270 |
3650 |
550 |
365 |
4000 |
600 |
400 |
3000 |
450 |
300 |
|
3 |
2100 |
315 |
210 |
2400 |
360 |
240 |
3100 |
465 |
310 |
3250 |
487 |
325 |
2500 |
375 |
250 |
|
4 |
1755 |
263 |
175 |
1995 |
298 |
199 |
2580 |
387 |
258 |
2805 |
420 |
280 |
2025 |
305 |
205 |
|
5 |
1460 |
219 |
146 |
1750 |
262 |
175 |
2300 |
345 |
230 |
2400 |
360 |
240 |
1975 |
295 |
200 |
|
6 |
1420 |
213 |
142 |
1600 |
240 |
160 |
2120 |
318 |
212 |
2220 |
333 |
222 |
1600 |
240 |
160 |
|
7 |
1170 |
175 |
117 |
1330 |
199 |
133 |
1720 |
258 |
172 |
1870 |
280 |
187 |
1250 |
190 |
125 |
|
8 |
980 |
147 |
98 |
1110 |
166 |
111 |
1500 |
255 |
150 |
1570 |
235 |
157 |
1190 |
185 |
120 |
|
9 |
620 |
93 |
62 |
710 |
106 |
71 |
960 |
144 |
96 |
1000 |
150 |
100 |
840 |
125 |
85 |
A-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of more than
3/4 empties, or when weather is extremely bad.
B-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of from 1/2 to
3/4 empties, or when weather is bad.
Class Port Morris-Washington Washington-Port Morris
|
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
|
|
1 |
6400 |
960 |
640 |
5500 |
825 |
550 |
|
2 |
5500 |
825 |
550 |
4700 |
705 |
470 |
|
3 |
5000 |
750 |
500 |
4300 |
645 |
430 |
|
4 |
4000 |
600 |
400 |
3375 |
505 |
340 |
|
5 |
3500 |
525 |
350 |
2900 |
435 |
290 |
|
6 |
3100 |
465 |
310 |
2650 |
400 |
265 |
|
7 |
2800 |
420 |
280 |
2250 |
340 |
225 |
|
8 |
2400 |
360 |
240 |
2000 |
300 |
200 |
|
9 |
1500 |
255 |
150 |
1200 |
180 |
120 |
A-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of more than
3/4 empties, or when weather is extremely bad.
B-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of from 1/2 to
3/4 empties, or when weather is bad.
Class Port Morris-Newton Newton-Port Morris
NewVillage-P'burg P'burg-Port Morris
|
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
Rating |
A |
B |
|
|
1 |
3040 |
456 |
304 |
2465 |
369 |
246 |
4500 |
675 |
450 |
4500 |
675 |
450 |
|
2 |
2760 |
414 |
276 |
2240 |
335 |
224 |
4000 |
600 |
400 |
4000 |
600 |
400 |
|
3 |
2400 |
360 |
240 |
1870 |
280 |
187 |
3250 |
487 |
325 |
3250 |
487 |
325 |
|
4 |
2025 |
303 |
202 |
1650 |
247 |
165 |
2865 |
430 |
286 |
2805 |
421 |
280 |
|
5 |
1700 |
255 |
170 |
1350 |
202 |
135 |
2500 |
375 |
250 |
2400 |
360 |
240 |
|
6 |
1575 |
236 |
157 |
1300 |
195 |
130 |
2350 |
352 |
235 |
2220 |
333 |
222 |
|
7 |
1350 |
202 |
135 |
1000 |
150 |
100 |
1910 |
286 |
191 |
1870 |
280 |
187 |
|
8 |
1100 |
165 |
110 |
800 |
120 |
80 |
1670 |
250 |
167 |
1570 |
235 |
157 |
|
9 |
850 |
127 |
85 |
550 |
82 |
55 |
1000 |
150 |
100 |
|
|
|
A-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of more than
3/4 empties, or when weather is extremely bad.
B-Deduct from rating in M's when train consists of from 1/2 to
3/4 empties, or when weather is bad.
end 73's, Charlie.....
harebridle@juno.com
Two of the hardest steam turns on the London Midland &
Scottish Railway and latterly British Railways were the two night
sleepers from Crewe to Perth.
The Royal Highlander originating at London conveyed through coaches to Inverness - a total distance of 568 miles. The second train, leaving London 10 minutes after the Royal Highlander terminated at Perth. The load limit for an unassisted 8P loco on Beattock bank was 570 tons. Shap, I believe is the same and Kinbuck bank north of Stirling is 500 tons. With passengers the gross weight would be around 625 tons which both the Duchess and Princess can manage throughout.
In BR days both trains were worked by Crewe North men using Duchess Pacifics or on occasions the Princess Royal Class. The locos and men worked through to Perth and returned the next evening on the up sleeper trains. The two locos were used by Perth shed on various fill in turns to Glasgow and Aberdeen. One of the regular turns in the 1950s was a morning train from Perth to Aberdeen returning to Perth on the 3.30 pm West Coast Postal train.
The Duchesses were heavy on water as the superheat never got above 600 degrees. The standard Duchess on the simulator does not recognise this so I have attached a modified Duchess file "LmCorLS" where I have altered the ratio of superheat surface. This makes her quite heavy on water and coal and much like the real thing. The Princess Royal Pacifics were the same so I have attached a similarly modified loco file " LmPrinLS".
The working timetables are attached for the two trains. The times are from the 1958 BR winter timetable but over the years the times never varied much. Station times only were available so I completed the other passing times after conducting a test run.
Also attached is a sheet giving speed restrictions and the location of water troughs and this can be printed along with the timetables as an aid to driving the route. [I have not included this sheet, as I am very aware of the size of this file. You can print out the speed restrictions using the GETROUTE program B.A].
It was normal to pick up water from all the troughs as you can never be sure about the availability of water at the next set. In addition the stop at Carlisle allows you to top up the tender and the Royal Highlander which was nominally non-stop from Carlisle to Perth was allowed a special stop at Motherwell to fill the tender. You need this as the 79 miles from Pettinain troughs to Perth is not really possible with a 4000 gallon tender especially if there were signal checks. It was also not unusual on these trains, for the tender to be emptied of coal by Perth.
Crewe to Perth includes the heavy climbs to Shap and Beattock and to Kinbuck on the Scottish section as well as running through the industrial belts of Lancashire, the coal and steel belt of Lanarkshire and the rolling agricultural areas north of Preston and in Scotland.
I had to weight average quite a lot of sections as 200 is the limit, e.g. Beattock bank has 12 sections with different grades from 1 in 69 to 1 in 88 but I used 1 long section at 1 in 78. This should not, I believe, affect performance over the route.
The hardest work is north of Carlisle up to Beattock summit. There are long stretches of around 1 in 200 up as well as the 10 miles of Beattock at 1 in 78. I found the Duchess copes well but with the Princess you need to build up a big fire and get the pressure and water level right before the climb to Beattock. This means firing at around 4500 lbs per hour all the way from Carlisle and easing the engine on the easier stretches. I found that 6.75" of fire is about right before starting the climb. Most of Beattock bank can be climbed at around 25 mph.
Upon arrival at Perth, if 381 or 414 minutes driving is not enough for you, you can always complete the journey to Inverness using a Stanier class 5. The load limit for them is 255 tons so they were used in pairs on the Royal Highlander.
JMcD. 15th June 2000
Lines Trieste-Udine-Tarvisio, Trieste-Venice and Trieste C.M.-Erpelle
The railway lines of the North-Eastern part of Italy were mainly built in the second half of the 19th century, when most of these lands still belonged to the Austrian Empire. In fact, Venice and the Friuli lowlands passed to the Kingdom of Italy only after the war of 1866 between the two states, while the passage to Italy of the easternmost territories of the region, with the town of Trieste, took place only in 1918, after WW1.
The first railway line reached Trieste in 1857, so connecting the main harbour of the Empire with Wien, via Graz and Ljubljana. In 1860 a branch starting near the station of Nabresina (now Aurisina) was built, to connect Trieste with Udine, the main town of Friuli. The first 14 km of the line Trieste-Udine show a constant rise, with gradients up to 14% (the main line, in fact, continues its ascent toward Ljubljana), but after the bifurcation the height above sea level decreases progressively when entering the Friuli plain. Then it slowly rises again to the 108 m of Udine.
The line connecting Udine with Tarvisio via Pontebba - and therefore named "Pontebbana" - was built as a consequence of the peace treaty following the above cited war of 1866, which engaged the two countries to build a railway connection in this area. In fact, after the war, the ends of the line to be built were located in Italy and in Austria, while the border between the two states passed through Pontebba. Therefore the Italians and Austrians built their own sections separately, being of 68.3 and 24.9 km length respectively, with a total single-track length of 93.2 km. The construction was completed in 1897, and the first international train made its run on October, 30. After World War 1, the whole line passed to the Italian Railways which in 1935 carried out its complete electrification (3000 V, DC).
The first 40 km, from Udine to Carnia, run through the upper part of the Friuli lowlands, while from Carnia to Tarvisio the line shows the features of a real mountain railway, with gradients up to 22%0 in its last kilometres. The top of the line (817 m above sea level) is located after 87 km, between the stations of Valbruna and Camporosso. In recent years the path of the line, now fully double-tracked, has been modified, to allow speeds up to 180 km/h.
The first 30 km of the line connecting Trieste to Venice are
the same of the line Trieste-Udine, till the station of
Monfalcone. Then the line continues through the plain toward
Venice. It was completed in 1897, electrified from Trieste to
Cervignano in 1936 and to Venice in 1959.
Until this year the famous Orient-Express was here pulled by the
fastest Italian locos 685 and 691, which closed their career on
this line.
The line Trieste C.Marzio-Erpelle was built in 1887 to shorten
the path toward Pola, at that time the most important harbour of
the Austrian Military Navy. It is only 20km long, but with
gradients up to 33%0, as it climbs along the Rosandra Valley, the
only furrow in the step of the Karst plateau surrounding Trieste.
The locos employed were the KuK80-900 and KuK270, afterwards
named FS476 and FS728 by the Italian Railways which got the line
after WW1.
The line was employed till 1945, when it was cut into two parts
by the new border between Italy and Yugoslavia. A very scarce
traffic persisted on the Italian part till 1958, when the line
was closed, abandoned and then dismantled.
Paolo Scarazzato spaolo@ogs.trieste.it
31-10-00
The Line from Trieste to Jesenice
This latest contribution deals with a line connecting Trieste with the countries of the Central Europe, whose construction was completed in 1906.
The filelist is as follows:
- tscm_je.rut line from Trieste Campo Marzio to Jesenice
(in Slovenia)
- je_tscm.rut line from Jesenice to Trieste Campo Marzio
- kk109.loc loco for passenger trains
- kk270.loc loco for goods trains
- kk80-900.loc loco for goods trains
As for the files sent some months ago, the sections corresponding to stations are written in capital letters, and a number in square brackets indicates the new speed limit (km/h) starting from the next section.
I suggest that the locos might be inserted among the Italian ones, as after WW1 they were acquired by Italian Railways.
A brief description of the line follows.
The line Trieste C. Marzio-Jesenice is the southern part of the second railway connection between the harbor of Trieste and the countries of the Central Europe. This single-track line, completed in 1906 and known as "Wocheinerbahn", runs through the Karst plateau surrounding Trieste, along the valley of the Isonzo River and with three long tunnels underpasses Alps, Karawanken and Tauern Chains.
With this line the paths from Trieste to Innsbruck, Munchen, Prague and Saltzburg were shortened by 86, 207, 137 and 286 km, respectively.
After the end of WW1, the line was divided into three parts among Italy, Yugoslavia and Austria, and owing to the different geo-political conditions most of its importance was lost. It remains however a noticeable example of a mountain railway, whose technical features remain still valid.
In 1914 the time-table of two express trains was like this:
07.30 Trieste C. Marzio 11.25
08.02 Opicina 11.05
08.23 Stanjel 10.46
08.41 Prvacina 10.20
08.56 | | 10.06
Nova Gorica <
09.00 | | 09.59
09.45 Most na Soci 09.20
10.34 Bohiniska Bistrica 08.47
10.56 Bled Jezero 08.25
11.10 Jesenice 08.12
(The station names are according to the present situation)
Unfortunately the typical passenger locos of the Austrian Railways running the line were of the compound design, which the simulator cannot presently represent. Provided in their stead is a small stud of Austrian simple expansion machines, the KKStB 109 (4-6-0 or 2-3-0 to taste) for passenger trains and KKStB 270 (2-8-0) and 80-900 (0-10-0) for goods trains. After WW1 they passed to the Italian Railways as FS 653, FS 728 and FS 476, respectively.
You will find that the severe gradients require the use of double headed locomotives, and that this condition is simply represented by halving the train weight in the simulation.
I would like to thank Prof. Mladen Bogic, the Director of the Railway Museum of the Slovenian Railways, for his kindness in supplying data related to the KKStB locos.
For further details about the line, the excellent book by Paolo Petronio ("Transalpina", Edizioni Italo Svevo, Trieste, 1997) is recommended.
Paolo Scarazzato spaolo@ogs.trieste.it
30-01-01
WATERLOO-SALISBURY WAT_SALS
This route is the first part of three routes which together
form the LSWR route from Waterloo to Plymouth.
This is the premier route of the Southern Railway and as such
carried its major expresses to the south west of England.
Up to 1941 the top link expresses would be hauled by King Arthur and Lord Nelson class locomotives and after this date Merchant Navy class were added to the fleet to be joined by the West Country/Battle of Britain class in 1945.
The most famous named train on this route was the Atlantic Coast Express which boasted a through coach to all the stations west of Exeter. Another of equal note was the all Pullman Devon Belle and this train had the distinction of being the only train that did not stop at Salisbury. It stopped at the next station along the line, Wilton, to change engines.
Loads were between 250 and 300 tons up to the arrival of the Merchant Navy class when 400 tons plus was the order of the day.
Secondary expresses were handled by the S15 or U classes but with this program at our disposal there is no such restriction apart from your imagination! As an aside you might like to try and re-enact the locomotive exchanges of 1948.
[There is a collection of journey logs in O.S. Nock's book Southern Steam. Here are some example data: -
Atlantic Coast Express
Place Schedule (mins)
Salisbury 0
Andover 22
Basingstoke 41.5
Woking 62.5
Hampton Court Jnct 73
Clapham Junction 84
Waterloo 92
Typical runs, Lord Nelson 415 tons 85.5 mins, Lord Hawke 450 tons 93.5 mins Lord Hawke 415 tons 90.167 mins. Schools 4-4-0 305 tons 81.833 mins. MN 4-6-2 Bibby Line 465 tons 81.5 mins (net).
BA]
SALISBURY TO EXETER SAL_EXE
This is the second part of the Waterloo-Plymouth 'trilogy'.
Salisbury to Exeter is considerably more hilly than the Waterloo Salisbury section and as such requires more expert enginemanship. There are several long climbs, the most severe being the Honiton incline which has a ruling gradient of 1 in 80 for 4.5 miles.
The loads and motive power is the same as the notes for Waterloo to Salisbury.
[Again citing Nock's book we have:-
Atlantic Coast Express
Exeter 0
Sidmouth Jnct. 18
Yeovil Jnct. 39
Salisbury 79
MN Bibby Line 385 tons 74.22 mins
King Arthur 450 tons Salisbury to Exeter 92 min (Schedule 94.85
mins)
Lord Nelson 410 tons Salisbury to Exeter 97.75 min (Schedule 98
mins)
BA]
EXETER TO PLYMOUTH EXE_PLY
This is the third route in the Waterloo to Plymouth 'trilogy' and is completely different from the first two parts. A quick look at the gradient profile will show there is only one major incline which climbs for 27 miles to the summit at Meldon with approximately half of the gradient in the 1 in 80 bracket, but don't think you can rush down the other side to Plymouth as there is a 50mph limit for most of the way.
Motive power west of Exeter tended to use the smaller passenger locos. I.e. N, U, and West Country/Battle of Britain. The Merchant Navy class was banned west of Exeter as were the rebuilt West Country/Battle of Britain class due to their high axle load. The route was also used by GWR locomotives as an alternative to the coastal GWR route in times of need.
As for loads they were lighter than Waterloo to Exeter and
Exeter to Plymouth as trains were split at Exeter for the many
destinations along the various branches to the Atlantic
Coast.
Richard Keene
March 2001
The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway "High Flier" 4­4­2 Tender Locomotives
This tender locomotive could not strictly be called an "Atlantic" because, although it had the 4-4-2 wheel arrangement, a true Atlantic has cylinders outside the main frame, whereas this locomotive had inside cylinders. Designed by J. A. F. Aspinall (later Sir John) they were built at Horwich works and a first batch of twenty locomotives put into service in 1899. A further batch of twenty followed in 1902. At the time of their introduction they were the largest express passenger engines in this country, being nearly a ton heavier than the "small" Atlantic engines of the Great Northern Railway that had previously entered service. The boiler was large for the period and being very high-pitched the locomotives were given the nickname of "High Fliers". The six-wheel tender was considered somewhat small for such a locomotive but they were fitted with an ingenious water scoop arrangement, which was partly controlled by vacuum.
Aspinall was the first locomotive engineer in Britain to apply some kind of superheating to express engines in regular traffic. To his 4-4-2 No 737 he fitted an apparatus giving a very moderate degree of superheating and following experience with this he also fitted the arrangement to a further five High Fliers. Although not an efficient superheater the equipment made a small saving in fuel.
The "High Fliers" were considered a very successful class and, because of their large driving wheels, proved to be very speedy when the occasion allowed, especially with the light trains of that period. For a long time there was a rumour that No. 1392 of the class reached a speed of 100 mph. when hauling a train between Liverpool and Southport on the 15th July 1899. The first 17 miles were reported as being covered in 12¾ minutes. This however is considered unlikely, especially with the nature of the road considered, it is thought more probable that the speed reached the upper eighties.
All the Atlantics were in service when the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was absorbed into the LMS. The first of these engines to be withdrawn were Nos. 702 and 1395, broken up in 1927. The last survivor was No. 10316 (LMS numbering) that ran until 1934. Sadly no example was preserved.
The principle dimensions, in the order required for the
simulator, were as follows:
Cylinder Diameter
|
19 in. |
|
|
Piston Stroke |
26 in |
|
Number of Cylinders |
2 |
|
Maximum Cut Off |
not known, assume 75% |
|
Clearance Volume |
not known, assume 9% |
|
Driving wheel Diameter |
7ft 3in diameter |
|
Total Evaporation Surface |
2052.8 sq ft |
|
Grate Area |
26.05 sq ft |
|
Superheat Area |
none |
|
Maximum Boiler Pressure |
180 psig |
|
Length Between Tube-plates |
15 ft |
|
Mean Boiler Diameter |
4 ft 10 in |
|
Injector |
assume medium |
|
Tender Coal Capacity |
5 tons |
|
Tender Water Capacity |
2290 gallons |
|
Adhesive Mass |
35 tons |
|
Total Mass, Loco + Tender |
89 tons 8 cwt |
A number of fine runs between Manchester and Liverpool were formally recorded. An example of fast running is given below, it occurred in 1914 covering the 36½ miles in less than "even" time.
Aspinall 4-4-2 Locomotive No 1403 Load 105 tons gross
Driver J. Syfas
Station
|
Miles |
min. sec. |
Max, speeds |
|
|
MANCHESTER VICTORIA |
-
|
0 00
|
-
|
|
Salford |
¾
|
4 19
|
-
|
|
Pendleton |
2¼
|
4 10
|
-
|
|
Swinton |
5
|
7 23
|
-
|
|
Atherton |
11
|
12 38
|
77
|
|
Daisy Hill |
12¾
|
14 04
|
-
|
|
Pemberton19 |
19¼
|
19 36
|
-
|
|
Orrell |
21
|
21 22
|
-
|
|
Upholland |
22½
|
22 46
|
-
|
|
Rainford Junct. |
24¼
|
24 32
|
-
|
|
Fazakerley |
31½
|
29 36
|
85
|
|
Preston Road |
32¾
|
30 40
|
-
|
|
Kirkdale |
34
|
31 57
|
-
|
|
LIVERPOOL EXCHANGE |
36½
|
36 10
|
-
|
Anyone who would like to attempt to reproduce this run can find the locomotive in LY_442 and the route in MAN_LIV.
For more information about the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and its locomotives visit the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Society’s web site at www.lyrs.org.uk.
Some references are:
"Atlantic Era, the British Atlantic Locomotive" by Martin Evans.
"Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Society in the 20th Century" by Eric Mason.
David Fryer
david.fryer@totalise.co.uk
Here's a test of enginemanship. This line goes up and down
like a roller coaster like no other in the British Isles. There
is one massive climb to Masbury and down again to Evercreech with
ruling gradients in the 1 in 50 bracket; then a switch back ride
all the way to the seaside at Bournemouth. Add to that the many
speed limits, generally where the line changes from double to
single and back again. By the time you have finished the run you
will know how a pianist feels after a concert!
This cross country railway has always been popular with railway
enthusiasts and there are many books about it from driving on the
line (Mendips Engineman by Peter Smith) to photographic albums
(Ivo Peters being the acknowledged expert). It was known for its
friendly staff, unique engines and pristine stations. The
automatic tablet catching apparatus was developed on this line so
that trains would not have to stop to change tablets. It was a
joint railway with the rolling stock and motive power provided by
the MR/LMS and the permanent way the responsibility of the
LSWR/SR with similar arrangements under BR until the regional
boundaries were changed and it was handed to the Western Region.
The WR then set about running it down by diverting through
traffic away from the S&D through Oxford. The line closed
much to the dismay of enthusiasts in 1966.
I have had to take a few liberties to get the whole line in the 200 sections allowed in the program. The full line takes 217 sections. I have therefore removed 17 sections of level track between .05 and .15 in length. This has had the effect of lengthening some of the gradients but I feel that the character of the line has not been compromised. I have also put in advance warning of speed limits thus 30mph indicates that there is a 30mph speed limit in 0.1 of a mile. More chevrons indicate extra tenths of a mile warning. This warning system works best if the program is run at real time mode.
Motive power before 1945 was the unique to the line MR7F, MR3F
and MR2P all designed especially for the line. After 1945 Bulleid
light pacifics were used on the heavier trains often double
headed with either 2P or 3F. When the BR standards became
available in the 1950's they were also used 4MT and 5MT 4-6-0's
and eventually the 9F (Evening Star spent some time on this
line). This last design was the loco for the line and could haul
up to 400ton trains single handed over the gradients but had the
disadvantage of no steam heating so could not be used in the
winter. NB This list is not exhaustive. The prestige train was
the Pines Express which ran from Manchester to Bournemouth. Loads
have to be adjusted as most trains were double headed to
Evercreech. I would recommend no heavier than 300 tons unless you
have a 9F on the front. The Pines was timed at 2h17m with four
stops;.Evercreech,Templecombe, Blanford and Poole (I think).
Enough of this, it's time for you to try your hand, but be
warned; watch your water level, those changes in gradient are
quite severe.
Richard Keene
10/6/01
This route has been chosen as it is a genuine non stop route for at least one train, i.e. The Golden Arrow; in the days of the Southern at any rate. The return route (prewar Southern) used Folkestone Harbour but that introduces engine changes at Folkestone Junction to negotiate the 1:36 gradient to the harbour. There was also another non stop train, the Night Ferry, but that was often double headed so would be difficult to simulate with this program.
Motive power was, in chronological order, King Arthur, Lord Nelson, Merchant Navy, West Country/Battle of Britain (unrebuilt and in latter BR days the boiler pressure was reduced to 250lb/sq. in.), Britannia.
Loads were quite heavy for the era with 425tons the order of the day for Arthurs and Nelsons and 450tons for other classes allowed. A more normal load would have been 375tons.
The timings for the Golden Arrow were 95mins in the down
direction (Victoria to Dover marine) and 106 mins in the up
direction (Folkestone Junction to Victoria).
The difficulties of the route are easily seen when the complete
gradient profile is viewed. The climb out of London is quite
severe and it is more or less obligatory to get the engine well
prepared before you leave Victoria. i.e. have a full head of
steam, a full glass and a healthy fire otherwise you will stall
on the banks and Southern's prestige express will make the news
papers for all the wrong reasons!!! The rush down to Tonbridge is
a great relief but it is spoilt by the speed restriction through
Tonbridge. After Tonbridge it is almost plain sailing until
Headcorn where the climb to Westernhanger begins but the gradient
is not as bad as from Victoria.
ENJOY!
Richard Keene
8/2/01
Doncaster to Newcastle - Martin Greenland
The Doncaster to Newcastle route completes the ECML from London to Edinburgh to enable the running of the famous trains between those two capital cities. OK – you have to make stops at Doncaster and Newcastle, which automatically refills the tender and firebox, but at least you can have a fair crack at the Elizabethan. I use the 1955 timings, below, which is actually pretty simple for an A4 and 450 tons.
Up Elizabethan 1955 Edinburgh to Newcastle
|
Place |
Distance |
Elapsed Time |
Avg. Speed |
|
Waverley |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Portobello |
3.13 |
5 |
40 |
|
Monktonhall Jnc |
6.12 |
10 |
36 |
|
Drem |
17.60 |
21 |
63 |
|
Dunbar |
29.20 |
31 |
69 |
|
Grantshouse |
41.20 |
45 |
51 |
|
Reston |
46.22 |
50 |
60 |
|
Marshall Meadows |
56.40 |
59 |
68 |
|
Berwick upon Tweed |
57.42 |
61 |
30 |
|
Belford |
72.70 |
75 |
64 |
|
Alnmouth |
89.53 |
91 |
65 |
|
Morpeth |
107.72 |
108 |
65 |
|
Newcastle |
124.42 |
126 |
55 |
Up Elizabethan 1955 Newcastle to Doncaster
|
Place |
Distance |
Elapsed Time |
Avg. Speed |
|
Newcastle |
0 |
0 |
|
|
King Edward Bridge |
0.68 |
2 |
18 |
|
Durham |
14.03 |
16 |
58 |
|
Ferryhill |
23.18 |
26.5 |
52 |
|
Darlington |
36.06 |
38.5 |
64 |
|
Eryholme |
41.21 |
43 |
69 |
|
Northallerton |
50.2 |
50.5 |
72 |
|
Thirsk |
58 |
57 |
72 |
|
Alne |
69.02 |
66 |
74 |
|
Skelton |
78.67 |
73.5 |
76 |
|
York |
80.16 |
80.16 |
32 |
|
Selby |
94.02 |
91.5 |
55 |
|
Shaftholme Jnc |
108.94 |
107.5 |
56 |
|
Doncaster |
112.3 |
112 |
46 |
Up Elizabethan 1955 Doncaster to Kings X
|
Place |
Distance |
Elapsed Time |
Avg. Speed |
|
Doncaster |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Retford |
17.2 |
17 |
61 |
|
Newark |
36.9 |
34 |
65 |
|
Barkston |
46 |
43 |
61 |
|
Grantham |
51 |
47 |
75 |
|
Essendine |
67.5 |
61 |
71 |
|
Werrington Junc. |
76.2 |
68 |
74 |
|
Peterborough |
79.3 |
72 |
47 |
|
Huntingdon |
97.6 |
90 |
70 |
|
Hitchin |
124.5 |
113 |
70 |
|
Knebworth |
131.3 |
120 |
58 |
|
Hatfield |
138.6 |
127 |
63 |
|
Potters Bar |
143.9 |
133 |
53 |
|
Finsbury Park |
153 |
147 |
39 |
|
Kings Cross |
156 |
152 |
42 |
Turning to the Ffestiniog Railway (FR), this is a line steeped in history and drama. Built in 1836 to a gauge of 1ft. 11.5 ins. it was laid out on a continuous downhill gradient with a ruling grade of about 1:80 (steeper on curves) from the slate quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog to the newly created port of Porthmadog, some 13 miles away, to allow slate trains to run all the way by gravity. Horses pulled the empties back up to Blaenau. Traffic grew and steam locomotives were introduced in 1863; a novelty on this gauge at the time. Traffic grew further and line doubling was considered but in 1869 a ‘double engine’, designed to Fairlie's patent was introduced which solved the problem. This locomotive was ‘Little Wonder’ and its descendants can still be seen working the Ffestiniog Railway today. Three are operable at various times between overhauls, one originally built in 1879, one in 1979 and the other in 1993.
A double Fairlie is an articulated locomotive with two power bogies supporting a boiler that looks like two conventional locomotive boilers joined back to back. There are two fireboxes in the middle and two sets of boiler tubes leading to two smokeboxes and chimneys, one at each end of the machine. Each power bogie exhausts into its own chimney. However it is only a single boiler because the water space is common throughout. The concept is more remarkable when one considers that bogie railway vehicles of any type were unknown at the time. All the machines on the FR, from Little Wonder to David Lloyd George (the latest) are 0-4-4-0s.
The railway declined with the slate trade and closed for all traffic in 1949 but was revived by preservationists in 1954/55. In the 1960s the original route was severed by a CEGB pumped hydroelectric power station the lake of which flooded part of the original route, including the infamous Moelwyn tunnel where clearances (never a strong point of the FR) were so tight that any necessary entry or exit from the locomotive had to be via the cab windows. The new owners eventually had to build a deviation line (which includes a spiral – a unique feature in the UK) to circumnavigate the CEGB lake to complete the route back to Blaenau Ffestiniog but this destroyed the continuously downhill (or uphill) nature of the original route.
Very few of the original locomotives survived. Apart from the Fairlies, most of the steam running is now done by the Linda, the Blanche (both ex Penrhyn Quarry ‘main line’ Hunslets) and an ex 1st World War 2-6-2 manufactured by ALCO of the USA in 1916 and renamed by the FR as Mountaineer. After a few initial problems and inconveniences Linda and Blanche were and are very useful and willing machines. Originally built with a large front overhang, they were rebuilt by the FR as 2-4-0s and, with free steaming boilers (both before and after superheating) and large water spaces they are great friends to firemen. In the early 70s (when I was there) they were normally booked for a maximum of 7 (approx 56 tons) but on one exceptional occasion Blanche had to take 10 (approx 80 tons) which we did without drama but at 10-11 mph instead of the usually required 15mph or so.
The ALCO by contrast was a bit of a pig. It has bigger driving wheels and bigger cylinders than the Hunslet ‘Ladies’ but the original boiler was a nightmare. It had boiler tubes that were too large in diameter for efficient long hard running and only had a narrow range of acceptable water levels! It (it was never a ‘she’) had just been converted to oil firing when I knew it, which certainly made the job a lot less strenuous, but was still restricted to 5 coaches (40 tons) and was a bit marginal at this! The original boiler eventually wore out and was replaced by an FR ‘standard’ boiler (with superheat) based on that of the Hunslets. The loco has also benefited from revised valve events and piston valves and is now transformed – being (I believe but am open to correction) rated a little stronger than a ‘Lady’.
Working of the route has naturally changed considerably over the years but the timetabling has remained surprisingly constant. The modern timetable is the most demanding because the deviation route above Dduallt climbs higher than the original and the modern trains are both longer and heavier. However with the demise of the original Moelwyn tunnel (there is a new, shorter one built to larger clearances) the modern locomotives have the benefit of a larger loading gauge and the new Fairlies in particular seem to be built to a scale of 13 inches to the foot!
Various timetables, in minutes, are as follows:
|
|
1878 |
1900 |
1924 |
1936 |
2001 |
|
Porthmadog |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Minfordd |
10 |
10 |
15 |
10 |
10 |
|
Penrhyn |
20 |
15 |
21 |
|
15 |
|
Tan y Bwlch |
42 |
35 |
41 |
35 |
40 |
|
Dduallt |
|
45 |
|
|
|
|
Tan y Grisiau |
67 |
53 |
61 |
|
|
|
LNWR |
|
58 |
67 |
57 |
|
|
GWR |
|
59 |
69 |
60 |
60 |
|
Duffws |
75 |
60 |
|
|
Turning to the simulator, I have tried to model the ALCO and the first double Fairlie, Little Wonder. I did not do any great research; the basic published data on dimensions and weight had to suffice.
The FR ALCO is based on a guess of how it is running now with a boiler the same as those on the Linda and the Blanche. The dimensions of the boiler were copied from those of Linda, which was already on the simulator.
My ‘hands-on’ experience of the ALCO was in the early seventies (seems like yesterday!) when it was oil fired but on its original (non-superheated) boiler. The simulated version certainly performs better than the version I remember but then, so does the prototype.
The WD version was an attempt to recreate my memory but failed because I could not find details of the boiler. This version is therefore exactly the same as the ‘FR’ one except for being saturated.
Working the two versions shows the effect of superheating with the superheat engine being significantly more economical but poorer steaming. It also seems to me that the saturated engine is a little stronger and quicker but this is counter intuitive and I may be mistaken.
The Little Wonder is a late addition and I do not have experience of running it except to see if it works. Modelling the double boiler is open to question. I have used the published total double grate area and heating surface but used the boiler length of one end and a diameter calculated to give a cross sectional area equal to the sum of the cross sectional areas of both ends. Hopefully this gives somewhere near the correct draughting but I am open to better ideas.
Routes
Again I have done very little research and so please let me know if I am in error. The FR is largely based on information in ‘Boyd’ for gradients and distances between major places. Locations of intermediate places are based on a mixture of info from ‘Boyd’ and memory! Speed limits are fictitious apart form those which I vividly remember at Gysgfa (a sharp ‘S’ in a narrow rock cutting with not much ballast beneath the sleepers), Tylers Curve (the sharpest on the FR main line) and the Short Tunnel. Speed limits in the ‘old days’ (before the Light railway Order and with full signalling) were much higher, particularly for gravity slate trains, and the super-elevation on the curves was achieved with rail chairs with super-thick bases. Most trains that I remember did about 23-25mph across the Cob then about 15mph from there on up.
Best regards
Martin Greenland
This is the route that the 'Schools' class were designed for although not before some modifications were made to certain civil engineering structures. Before the Schools class was introduced the motive power was an L or L1, (and possibly U) and the trains would have been light (100 to 150 tons). The main operating problem was the tunnel at Mountfield which had a width restriction of 8'6" necessitating rolling stock specifically designed for the line (restriction 0). This accounts for the unique cab profile of the Schools class. The line also has some severe speed restrictions and the climb out of Tonbridge is particularly difficult.
Below is a log of a journey with a Schools Class (30906 Dulwich) hauling a 395 ton commuter train from Cannon Street to Hastings, reproduced from 'Locomotive Performance' by Ronald Nelson. This is the nearest I can get to a log of the route; it is 99.5% of the route and shows what a School was capable of. As yet I have not been able to reproduce this performance. The exit from Tonbridge is the problem. I suspect a more normal load would have been 250 to 300 tons.
| SPEED | BOILER | STEAM CHEST | C/OFF | |||||
| MLS | PLACE | SCH | TIME | MPH | LB/"2 | LB/"2 | REG | % |
| 0.0 | CANNON ST | 0 | 0:0 | 0 | 220 | 183 | 0.25 | 65 |
| 220 | 0 | shut | 55 | |||||
| sigs | 5* | 217 | 188 | 0.25 | 55 | |||
| 0.7 | LONDON BRIDGE | 2:30 | 3;09 | - | 215 | 200 | 0.5 | 32 |
| 3.7 | New Cross | 6:30 | 7:43 | 53 | 207 | 190 | 0.50 | 30 |
| 4.4 | St Johns | - | 8:27 | 54.75 | 210 | 193 | 0.50 | 30 |
| 6.0 | Hither Green | 9:30 | 10:16 | 50.25 | 210 | 200 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 7.8 | Grove Park | - | 12:37 | 44 | 220 | 210 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 9.1 | Elmstead Woods | - | 14:38 | 34.25 | 220 | 210 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 10.1 | Chislehurst | 16 | 16:15 | 40 | 218 | 208 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 11.1 | Petts Wood Jn | - | 17:49 | 41.75 | 213 | 203 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 12.6 | ORPINGTON | 19 | 19:57 | 48.5 | 215 | 205 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 14.1 | Chelsfield | - | 21:54 | 41 | 220 | 210 | 0.75 | 30 |
| 15.4 | Knockholt | - | 23:42 | 37 | 210 | 142 | 1st.vlv | 30 |
| 18.1 | Polhill | - | 26:56 | 67.5 | 215 | 125 | 1st.vlv | 30 |
| 19.4 | Dunton Green | - | 28:05 | 73.25 | 220 | 0 | shut | 45 |
| 20.9 | SEVENOAKS | 29 | 29:42 | - | 220 | 0 | shut | 45 |
| pws | 15* | 212 | 145 | 1st.vlv | 38 | |||
| 21.5 | Sevenoaks Tnl | - | 31:14 | - | 220 | 128 | 1st.vlv | 30 |
| 23.9 | Weald | - | 34:38 | 62 | 220 | 115 | 1st.vlv | 30 |
| 25.8 | Hildenborough | - | 36:16 | 74.5 | 218 | 75 | 1st.vlv | 30 |
| sig | 81.25 | 220 | 0 | shut | 50 | |||
| 38.25 | ||||||||
| 41:09 | - | 220 | 185 | 0.25 | 60 | |||
| 28.3 | TONBRIDGE | 37 | 43:26 | - | 210 | 205 | full | 45 |
| 29.8 | Milepost 31 | - | 46:57:30 | 24.75 | 221 | 210 | full | 40 |
| 30.8 | Milepost 32 | - | 49:22 | 26.75 | 217 | 212 | full | 40 |
| 31.7 | Highbrooms | - | 51:27 | 24.25 | 215 | 210 | full | 40 |
| 33.2 | T'BRIDGE WLS | 47:30 | 55:19 | - | - | - | - | - |
| MLS | PLACE | SCH | TIME | MPH | LB/"2 | LB/"2 | REG | % |
| 0 | 220 | 180 | 0.25 | 68 | ||||
| 215 | 210 | full | 47 | |||||
| 215 | 210 | full | 40 | |||||
| 34.3 | Milepost 35.5 | - | 58:54 | 25.75 | 212 | 207 | full | 30 |
| 60:49 | 47.25 | 208 | 135 | 1st vlv | 30 | |||
| 35.5 | Frant | 44 | 210 | 145 | 1st vlv | 30 | ||
| 53.5 | 207 | 145 | 1st vlv | 30 | ||||
| 46 | 205 | 145 | 1st vlv | 30 | ||||
| 42.6 | Ticehurst Road | - | 69:03 | 71.25 | 205 | 85 | 1st vlv | 30 |
| 83 | 198 | 0 | shut | 45 | ||||
| 46.2 | ETCHINGHAM | 66:30 | 72:44 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 220 | 180 | 0.25 | 65 | |||||
| 212 | 207 | full | 38 | |||||
| 210 | 205 | full | 30 | |||||
| 48.4 | Robertsbridge | - | 76:54 | 45.25 | 207 | 202 | full | 32 |
| 52.75 | 200 | 195 | full | 32 | ||||
| 50.8 | Milepost 52 | - | 80:03 | 43 | 210 | 140 | 1st vlv | 30 |
| 51.5 | Mountfield | - | 80:55 | 49 | 210 | 140 | 1st vlv | 30 |
| 54.25 | 207 | 202 | full | 30 | ||||
| 54.3 | Battle | - | 84:18 | 47.25 | 205 | 200 | full | 30 |
| 45.25 | 203 | 0 | shut | 55 | ||||
| 56.3 | CROWHURST | 82:30 | 87:04 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 213 | 160 | 1st vlv | 60 | |||||
| 215 | 138 | 1st vlv | 30 | |||||
| 53.75 | 215 | 0 | shut | 50 | ||||
| sigs | 15* | 215 | 0 | shut | 50 | |||
| 59.5 | 87:30 | 93:16 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 215 | 180 | 0.25 | 65 | |||||
| 215 | 180 | 0.25 | 45 | |||||
| 60.4 | WARRIOR SQ. | 90:30 | 96:32 | - - - | - | - | - | - |
| 210 | 178 | 0.25 | 60 | |||||
| 210 | 175 | 0.25 | 38 | |||||
| 61.1 | HASTINGS | 93:30 | 9:21 | - - - | - | - | - | - |
This route completes the Southern's route to Weymouth and compliments and overlaps Jim McDonell's London to Bournemouth Route. It is a route that I have many happy associations with as I was born in Dorchester in a house overlooking the railway.
Historically the route was going to form the LSWR route to Exeter until the
GWR built a route (Yeovil to Weymouth) across its path at Dorchester at which
point an agreement was reached between the railways and a connection was
made at Dorchester Junction to continue on to Weymouth and the LSWR route
to Exeter went via Salisbury. The Southampton and Dorchester Railway was
known as Castleman's Corkscrew in its early days due to its circuitous route
via Poole and Ringwood but a cut-off was built via Hamorthy Junction and
this is the route modeled.
The connection at Dorchester caused an operating problem in the up direction
as the platform used was the old terminus platform and the trains had to
run throught the station and reverse back in to the platform. This operation
finally ended when a new platform was built in 1986, long after the last
BR steam service. For passengers who did not know of this operation there
was mild panic as they thought they had missed their stop. This is not simulated
in the program but should be born in mind when reading timetables.
As speed restrictions are the same in both directions the route can be reversed using the program.
In Southern days the main motive power was King Arthurs and Lord Nelsons
on expresses and T9s on locals with Bulleid Pacifics of all configurations
after 1942. In the latter days of steam operation Schools and BR standards
(5MT and 4MT) were to be seen. I can only recall one named express in BR
days and that was the Royal Wessex and this was always hauled by a Bulleid
Pacific.
Loads are a bit of a problem program wise as most trains were split at Bournemouth
and loads were relatively light for the motive power in use. Typical loads
in BR days would be 400tons from Southampton to Bournemouth, circa 200tons
Bournemouth to Weymouth. There was sometimes another division at Wareham
for the Swanage branch. It is quite probable that boat trains to and from
Weymouth would remain unsplit but I have no firm evidence of this. The other
point to mention is that all trains stopped at Dorchester and most stopped
at Poole and Wareham, (boat trains excepted).
Appended are two logs, one in each direction, extracts of Waterloo to
Weymouth expresses. (1) The 10:30 ex Waterloo calling at Southampton, Bournemouth,
Poole, Wareham, Dorchester South and Weymouth. The load was 430tons Waterloo
to Bournemouth; 210tons Bournemouth to Wareham; 210tons Wareham to Weymouth.
(2) The 17:35 Weymouth-Waterloo calling at Dorchester South, Wareham, Poole,
Bournemouth, Southampton and Waterloo. The loads were Weymouth-Bournemouth
215 tons; Bournemouth-Waterloo 430 tons. Hauled by 35030 Elder Dempster Lines
(MN rebuilt) in both directions. Copied from Locomotive Performance by Ronald
I Nelson.
Richard Keene
2/03/02
| Station |
Sched |
Act. |
Speed |
B.P |
S.C |
Reg. |
C.O. |
| (mph) |
(psi) |
(psi) |
% |
% |
|||
| Southampton Central |
00:00 |
00:00 |
0 |
250 |
180 |
5/8 M |
74 |
| 235 |
162 |
1/2 M |
40 |
||||
| Millbrook |
02:43 |
230 |
153 |
1/2 M |
33 |
||
| 41.25 |
235 |
0 |
Shut |
33 |
|||
| sigs |
30* |
235 |
107 |
1/4 M |
31 |
||
| Redbridge |
05:30 |
40 |
230 |
145 |
1/2 M |
31 |
|
| Totton |
06:24 |
44.75 |
225 |
160 |
5/8 M |
31 |
|
| 48.25 |
220 |
180 |
3/4 M |
29 |
|||
| 51 |
220 |
210 |
Full |
29 |
|||
| Lyndhurst Road |
09:51 |
52 |
230 |
220 |
Full |
29 |
|
| 64 |
230 |
160 |
1/2 M |
29 |
|||
| Beaulieu Road |
12:27 |
61.25 |
235 |
163 |
1/2 M |
29 |
|
| Woodfidley Gates |
13:54 |
70.75 |
240 |
148 |
3/8 M |
29 |
|
| 69.25 |
240 |
148 |
3/8 M | 29 |
|||
| 73 |
235 |
195 |
3/4 M |
29 |
|||
| BROCKENHURST |
16:34 |
69.75 |
225 |
215 |
Full |
29 |
|
| Lymington Junction |
17:30 |
17:26 |
64.25 |
220 |
210 |
Full |
29 |
| MP 94.5 |
18:10 |
59.5 |
220 |
165 |
1/2 M |
29 |
|
| Sway |
19:11 |
62.25 |
225 |
168 |
1/2 M |
25 |
|
| 73 |
237 |
168 |
3/8 M |
25 |
|||
| New Milton |
21:49 |
69.25 |
235 |
168 |
3/8 M |
25 |
|
| Hinton Admiral |
23:53 |
75.75 |
240 |
170 |
3/8 M | 25 |
|
| 85.5 |
245 |
0 |
Shut |
30 |
|||
| Christchurch |
26:21 |
60* |
225 |
185 |
3/4 M |
30 |
|
| 64.25 |
235 |
190 |
3/4 M |
30 |
|||
| Pokesdown |
28:13 |
53.5 |
230 |
140 |
3/8 M |
30 |
|
| Boscombe |
28:54 |
240 |
150 |
3/8 M |
30 |
||
| BOURNEMOUTH CENTRAL |
34:00 |
31:11 |
|||||
| 00:00 |
00:00 |
0 |
250 |
160 |
5/8 M |
75 |
|
| 240 |
120 |
3/8 M |
29 |
||||
| MP 109 |
02:29 |
36 |
238 |
158 |
1/2 M |
25 |
|
| Gas Works Junction |
05:00 |
04:09 |
47.25 |
225 |
0 |
Shut |
30 |
| Branksome |
04:47 |
30* |
222 |
155 |
1/2 M |
25 |
|
| 220 |
115 |
1/4 M |
25 |
||||
| Parkstone |
06:36 |
49.75 |
210 |
0 |
Shut |
40 |
|
| POOL |
10:00 |
09:14 |
|||||
| 00:00 |
00:00 |
0 |
225 |
10 |
3/8 M | 72 |
|
| Hamworthy Junction |
04:11 |
30 |
230 |
137 |
1/2 M |
25 |
|
| Holton Heath |
07:30 |
58.75 |
210 |
120 |
1/4 M |
25 |
|
| WAREHAM |
10:00 |
10:06 |
|||||
| 00:00 |
00:00 |
250 |
190 |
5/8 M |
70 |
||
| Worgret Junction |
3:00 |
02:46 |
39.25 |
235 |
155 |
3/8 M |
20 |
| Wool |
06:59 |
60.5 |
220 |
150 |
3/8 M |
20 |
|
| MP 126.75 |
07:50 |
62 |
220 |
150 |
3/8 M |
20 |
|
| MP 127.75 |
08:48 |
62.25 |
220 |
155 |
3/8 M |
25 |
|
| MP 128.75 |
09:46 |
64 |
230 |
160 |
3/8 M |
25 |
|
| MP 129.75 |
10:45 |
60.75 |
230 |
162 |
3/8 M |
20 |
|
| Moreton |
11:17 |
63 |
230 |
162 |
3/8 M |
20 |
|
| 73 |
200 |
0 |
Shut |
43 |
|||
| DORCHESTER SOUTH |
18:00 |
16:38 |
|||||
| 00:00 |
00:00 |
0 |
250 |
135 |
3/8 M |
71 |
|
| 240 |
100 |
1/4 M |
40 |
||||
| Dorchester Junction |
01:30 |
01:12 |
242 |
155 |
1/2 M |
28 |
|
| Monkton & Came |
02:44 |
47.25 |
240 |
190 |
5/8 M |
28 |
|
| Bincombe Tunnel |
04:31 |
43 |
230 |
90 |
1/8 M |
28 |
|
| Upwey & Wishing Well |
05:27 |
60.5 |
225 |
60 |
1/8 M |
40 |
|
| Upwey Junction |
06:33 |
69.75 |
220 |
0 |
Shut |
40 |
|
| Radipole Halt |
07:54 |
215 |
0 |
Shut |
40 |
||
| Weymouth Junction |
08:43 |
215 |
0 |
Shut |
40 |
||
| WEYMOUTH |
11:00 |
09:57 |
| Waypoint | Schedule | Actual | Speed | BP | SChest | Reg | CO |
| Min | Min:sec | mph | psi | psi | % | ||
| WEYMOUTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 250 | 110 | 3/4 | 73 |
| 240 | 190 | 3/4 | 40 | ||||
| sig stop | |||||||
| Weymouth Junc. | 1:33 | ||||||
| 1:56 | 245 | 135 | 1/2 | 70 | |||
| 235 | 180 | 3/4 | 45 | ||||
| Radipole Halt | 3:50 | 225 | 215 | Full | 40 | ||
| Upwey Junc. | 5:54 | 20.25 | 220 | 210 | Full | 40 | |
| Upwey and Wishing Well | 7:51 | 35 | 230 | 220 | Full | 40 | |
| Bincombe Tunnel | 9:31 | 30.25 | 225 | 150 | 1/2 | 25 | |
| 54.75 | 235 | 0 | Shut | 41 | |||
| Monkton & Cam | 11:12 | 240 | 0 | Shut | 41 | ||
| Dorchester Junc. | 12 | 12:28 | 240 | 0 | Shut | 41 | |
| (Stop to set back) | |||||||
| 13:27 | |||||||
| 13:41 | |||||||
| DORCHESTER SOUTH | 14:30 | 14:36 | |||||
| DORCHESTER SOUTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 220 | 185 | 3/4 | 72 |
| 218 | 175 | 3/4 | 40 | ||||
| 230 | 115 | 1/4 | 25 | ||||
| Moreton | 6:37 | 69.25 | 233 | 80 | 1/8 | 25 | |
| 75.75 | 217 | 0 | Shut | 38 | |||
| WOOL | 11:30 | 10:50 | |||||
| WOOL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 237 | 190 | 3/4 | 68 |
| 240 | 185 | 5/8 | 28 | ||||
| 240 | 142 | 3/8 | 25 | ||||
| M.P. 124 | 3:20 | 53.25 | 230 | 135 | |||
| Worgret Junc. | 5 | 5:29 | 228 | 0 | Shut | 37 | |
| WAREHAM | 7:30 | 7:21 | |||||
| WAREHAM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 220 | 155 | 1/2 | 69 |
| 223 | 175 | 5/8 | 28 | ||||
| 38 | 240 | 162 | 1/2 | 25 | |||
| Holton Heath | 3:51 | 54.5 | 230 | 155 | 1/2 | 25 | |
| 63.5 | 235 | 0 | Shut | 30 | |||
| Hamworthy Junc. | 6:49 | 30* | 238 | 150 | 1/2 | 27 | |
| 49.5 | 230 | 0 | Shut | 35 | |||
| Holes Bay Junc. | 8:54 | 235 | 0 | Shut | 35 | ||
| POOLE | 10 | 10:11 | |||||
| POOLE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 250 | 168 | 5/8 | 70 |
| 243 | 197 | 3/4 | 32 | ||||
| M.P. 113 | 2:05 | 34.25 | 230 | 185 | 3/4 | 32 | |
| M.P. 112 | 3:44 | 32.5 | 240 | 192 | 3/4 | 32 | |
| Parkstone | 3:49 | 31 | 240 | 192 | 3/4 | 32 | |
| M.P. 111.5 | 4:41 | 30.75 | 245 | 120 | 1/4 | 32 | |
| 250 | 0 | Shut | 30 | ||||
| Branksome | 6:03 | 30* | 235 | 80 | 1/4 | 25 | |
| Gas Works Junc. | 6:44 | 240 | 0 | Shut | 33 | ||
| BOURNEMOUTH CENTRAL | 10 | 10:03 | |||||
| BOURNEMOUTH CENTRAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 250 | 160 | 1/2 | 75 |
| 240 | 230 | Full | 31 | ||||
| 240 | 230 | Full | 28 | ||||
| Boscombe | 3:21 | 34.5 | 235 | 225 | Full | 22 | |
| Pokesdown | 4:09 | 50.75 | 237 | 227 | Full | 15 | |
| 67.25 | 240 | 50 | 1/10 | 15 | |||
| Christchurch | 6:04 | 60* | 245 | 235 | Full | 18 | |
| 65.25 | 245 | 235 | Full | 21 | |||
| Hinton Admiral | 9:13 | 62.5 | 235 | 225 | Full | 25 | |
| M.P. 100 | 10:21 | 54.75 | 233 | 223 | Full | 22 | |
| 59 | 235 | 223 | Full | 18 | |||
| New Milton | 11:49 | 63.5 | 240 | 230 | Full | 15 | |
| Sway | 14:30 | 71 | 230 | 220 | Full | 18 | |
| Lymington Junc. | 17 | 16:05 | 74 | 235 | 50 | 1/10 | 18 |
| 77.75 | 240 | 0 | Shut | 35 | |||
| (Emergency stop - signal failure) | |||||||
| Woodfidley Gates | 20:31 | ||||||
| 21:24 | 245 | 180 | 5/8 | 75 | |||
| 243 | 210 | 3/4 | 33 | ||||
| 230 | 220 | Full | 30 | ||||
| Beaulieu Road | 24:56 | 39.5 | 235 | 225 | Full | 22 | |
| 67 | 220 | 0 | Shut | 30 | |||
| sigs | 54* | 225 | 215 | Full | 25 | ||
| Lyndhurst Road | 27:59 | 58.25 | 230 | 220 | Full | 15 | |
| 69.5 | 243 | 0 | Shut | 30 | |||
| Totton | 30:49 | 240 | 0 | Shut | 30 | ||
| sigs | 10* | 230 | 190 | 3/4 | 30 | ||
| Redbridge | 32:41 | 228 | 0 | Shut | 30 | ||
| sig stop | 34:24 | ||||||
| 36:21 | 225 | 180 | 5/8 | 67 | |||
| 220 | 185 | 5/8 | 30 | ||||
| 215 | 205 | Full | 20 | ||||
| Millbrook | | 39:37 | 215 | 0 | Shut | 30 | |
| sigs | 20* | 217 | 0 | Shut | |||
| SOUTHAMPTON CENTRAL | 32 | 42:10 |
This is a NER route that follows the course of the river Wear over much of its distance. Built to carry primarily mineral traffic from the quarries in Weardale, the line also provided a passenger service. The railway has survived intact as far as Eastgate because of the cement factory located there, although in recent years the owners had transfered their traffic from rail to road.. It now appears that the factory is going to close down, but the Weardale Railway Company hopes to reopen the section between Bishop Auckland and Eastgate. The track has long been lifted between Eastgate and Wearhead, but with the simulator you can drive all of the way up the valley. Thanks are due to Frank Holmes (membership secretary and host of the Weardale Railway Trust web site) for the gradient profile of the line.
Good old NER locomotives were used until the bitter end as far as the western extent of the line was concerned, with J21 (0-6-0) and G5 (0-4-4T) locomotives dominating the passenger traffic. LNER A8 4-6-2T locos were also seen, while J25 0-6-0 locos handled freight traffic. Other known types include J39 0-6-0s and BR standard class 3 2-6-0s. The proximity to Darlington works probably meant that many of the smaller LNER types might have had running in turns along the branch, so you can feel free to drive your favourite locos along this route. In recent times, special trains worked by the K1 2-6-0 62005 and an Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 have traversed the line. Passenger trains would be composed of 3 and 4 coach sets of non corridor ex NER stock, weighing perhaps 105 to 140 tons. If anyone has any speed limit information I would love to see it.
Bryan Attewell
22/3/02
Attached is a table showing timings and loadings between Euston & Crewe and return. (loadings same both ways). This is taken from an article in "Trains Illustrated" May 1961 by "45671". The writer was trying to work out why so many delays and what are more realistic timings. The table is the actual timings in use in 1960 before the reductions due to work in preparation for electrification. There is no mention of recovery times in these timings!
One or two pertinent points from the article:
"It has long been known that, in the down direction, the Rugby-Crewe timings were easier than from Euston to Rugby, and it has also been pointed out on numerous occasions that the down Nuneaton - Tamworth timings were generous to the point of absurdity, while the up Rugby - Weedon timings were in many cases impossibly tight....-could the excess on the Nuneaton - Tamworth stretch be a legacy of the pre-war Polesworth 45 mph subsidence slack that has never been cut out?"
The writer gave quite a few more examples of poor timings against what actually happened in practice, some too tight, some too slack, but there you are!
Spencer Jackson
27/07/02
Dist | Loco. Power Class | Full Load | Limited Load | Special Limit | XL Limit | ‘Caledonian’ |
5 | 435 | 380 | 370 | 310 | ¾ | |
6 | 495 | 430 | 415 | 350 | ¾ | |
7 | 550 | 495 | 475 | 405 | ¾ | |
8 | ¾ | 655 | 600 | 510 | 270 | |
miles | Down | min. | min. | min. | min. | min. |
0.0 | EUSTON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5.39 | WILLESDEN | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
17.37 | WATFORD | 26 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 21 |
31.55 | Tring | 44 | 41 | 38 | 35 | 33 |
46.53 | BLETCHLEY | 58 | 55 | 51 | 47 | 45 |
59.77 | Roade | 72 | 68 | 63 | 58 | 56 |
62.76 | Blisworth | 75 | 71 | 66 | 61 | 59 |
70.15 | Weedon | 83 | 78 | 73 | 67 | 64 |
82.79 | RUGBY | 97 | 92 | 86 | 79 | 76 |
97.39 | NUNEATON | 114 | 108 | 101 | 93 | 90 |
109.44 | Tamworth | 128 | 122 | 114 | 106 | 102 |
116.58 | Lichfield | 135 | 129 | 120 | 112 | 107 |
124.49 | RUGELEY | 144 | 137 | 128 | 119 | 113 |
129.86 | Milford & B. | 150 | 142 | 133 | 124 | 117 |
133.85 | STAFFORD | 155 | 147 | 138 | 129 | 122 |
139.32 | Norton Bridge | 162 | 154 | 145 | 135 | 127 |
147.96 | Whitmore | 174 | 165 | 154 | 144 | 136 |
158.39 | CREWE | 187* | 176* | 165* | 155* | 145† |
| Up |
|
|
|
|
|
0.0 | CREWE | 0‡ | 0‡ | 0‡ | 0‡ | 0† |
10.43 | Whitmore | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 12 |
19.07 | Norton Bridge | 25 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 19 |
24.54 | STAFFORD | 31 | 30 | 29 | 29 | 24 |
28.53 | Milford & B. | 36 | 35 | 34 | 33 | 28 |
33.90 | RUGELEY | 42 | 40 | 39 | 38 | 33 |
41.81 | Lichfield | 51 | 48 | 46 | 45 | 39 |
48.95 | Tamworth | 58 | 54 | 52 | 51 | 45 |
61.0 | NUNEATON | 73 | 68 | 66 | 63 | 57 |
75.6 | RUGBY | 90 | 84 | 82 | 78 | 71 |
88.24 | Weedon | 106 | 99 | 96 | 90 | 82 |
95.63 | Blisworth | 114 | 106 | 102 | 96 | 87 |
98.62 | Roade | 117 | 109 | 105 | 99 | 90 |
111.86 | BLETCHLEY | 131 | 122 | 118 | 110 | 101 |
126.84 | Tring | 149 | 139 | 135 | 124 | 114 |
141.02 | WATFORD | 163 | 152 | 148 | 136 | 125 |
153.0 | WILLESDEN | 175 | 163 | 159 | 147 | 135 |
158.39 | EUSTON―stop | 184 | 172 | 167 | 155 | 143 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Stop† Passing time ‡Start
This was an imporant cross country route built by the LSWR. Its importance lay in its military traffic as it carried military traffic from Salisbury Plain to Portsmouth and Southampton. There was also considerable non military traffic and freight including through trains from the GWR (Cardiff) which had to change engines at Salisbury.
Operationally it will be seen as quite hilly and therefore quite challenging in terms of driving.
Loads were obviously variable depending on traffic demands, anything from local all stations stopping 100tons to through trains to Portsmouth and Southampton with 300+tons. And freight anything from all stations pick-up goods to through freight.
Motive power would be mostly second string, probably H15 or S15 for heavy trains, T9 for the lighter duties. Bulleid's light pacifics were not unknown in the 1950's. It was also the last stamping ground for the 'Brighton Atlantics. Freight was probably handled by 700 or Q1 class locos.
It has to be admitted that most of the above is mostly guesswork and more accurate information would be welcome.
The speed limits are the same in both directions so that the route can be reversed using the program.
The time-tables below are from working time-tables of LSWR 1909. This will provide a guide to the timing of trains on this line. The times are valid for the steam era as the only difference was that as the motive power improved the loads increased.
| ARR | DEP | ARR | DEP | |
| Salisbury | 8:50 | 7:30 | ||
| Dean | 9:09 | 9:10 | ||
| Dunbridge | 9:17 | 9:18 | ||
| Romsey | 9:24 | 9:27 | ||
| Nursling | 9:33 | 9:34 | ||
| Redbridge | 9:37 | 9:38 | ||
| Millbrook | 9:42 | 9:43 | ||
| Southampton Central | 9:46 | 9:51 | 8:10 | 8:14 |
| St Denys | 9:57 | 9:59 | 8:20 | 8:21 |
| Bitterne | 10:01 | 10:05 | 8:23 | 8:24 |
| Woolston | 10:08 | 10:09 | 8:28 | 8:29 |
| Sholing | 10:11 | 10:12 | ||
| Netley | 10:16 | 10:17 | 8:35 | 8:36 |
| Bursledon | 10:21 | 10:22 | ||
| Swanwick | 10:27 | 10:28 | ||
| Fareham | 10:35 | 10:37 | 8:49 | 8:51 |
| Portchester | 10:43 | 10:44 | ||
| Cosham | 10:49 | 10:51 | 9:01 | 9:03 |
| Fratton | 10:59 | 11:01 | 9:11 | 9:14 |
| Portsmouth | 11:04 | 9:17 | ||
| Portsmouth | 5:00 | 12:20 | ||
| Fratton | 5:02 | 5:04 | 12:23 | 12:25 |
| Cosham | 12:33 | 12:36 | ||
| Portchester | 12:42 | 12:43 | ||
| Fareham | 5:20 | 5:22 | 12:49 | 12:52 |
| Swanwick | 1:00 | 1:01 | ||
| Burlesdon | 1:05 | 1:06 | ||
| Netley | 5:37 | 5:40 | 1:11 | 1:13 |
| Sholing | 1:17 | 1:18 | ||
| Woolston | 1:20 | 1:21 | ||
| Bitterne | 5:50 | 5:51 | 1:25 | 1:26 |
| St Denys | 5:53 | 5:55 | 1:28 | 1:30 |
| Southampton | 6:00 | 6:04 | 1:35 | 1:40 |
| Millbrook | ||||
| Redbridge | ||||
| Nursling | ||||
| Romsey | 1:55 | 1:58 | ||
| Dunbridge | 2:04 | 2:05 | ||
| Dean | 2:12 | 2:13 | ||
| Salisbury | 6:47 | 2:32 |
The through (Salisbury-Southampton section) is applicable to GWR through trains as the LSWR used the Romsey-Eastleigh through route for its trains. This may have changed during SR/BR days but I do not have any information on this.
The St Denys-Fareham section was single at the time of this timetable.
Richard Keene
28/08/02
This line originated with the transformation of tram roads from the coal mines of South Gloucestershire clustered around the north and east of Bristol.
As Bristol was a substantial international port, the need for a connection to the Midlands was pressing, as the GWR had to pass via Swindon to reach Gloucester (prior to the Severn Tunnel). Most of the goods from the various ports of Bristol (city docks and subsequently Portishead and then Avonmouth) moved by rail, so this was a lucrative objective.
The line was built out through east Bristol and, like all exits from the city, had either to climb over, or tunnel through, hills. Both methods were expensive, either on capital investment, or operating costs.
The line passed through two Bristol pits, the first at Easton, which subsequently became the wagon works, and Kingswood and Deep-pit mines. In between the pits and adjacent to the line were substantial clay pits for brick making. Nestling alongside were two locomotive manufacturers, Pecketts and Avonside. Several historians have credited Bristol with a greater output of steam locos than Swindon!
The proposed S&DJR saw its way to the north via this line at Mangotsfield, a small village but with substantial stone quarries and coal connections, not to neglect Carsons, a very large chocolate manufacturer.
The advantage did not last very long as the GWR built its direct route to South Wales from Wootton Bassett to Patchway crossing the Midland just south of Yate, another growing industrial centre. The GWR demanded, and the War Office supported, an interchange which was duly completed. A similar linkage at the Standish - Stonehouse section, where the two systems ran parallel, further reduced the commercial advantage. The Severn and Wye Railway had extended itself over the river Severn to Sharpness and to a junction at Berkeley Road. The subsequent absorption of the S&W by the GWR led to yet another Midland-GWR joint operation on this route.
At the turn of the century the joint line from Kingswood Junction to Montpelier on the GW to Avonmouth finally made the whole route rather unnecessary.
When the infamous Dr. Beeching closed the S&DJR, and in the BR scheme the whole line fell under Western Admin. from Birmingham down, it was no surprise that all traffic was routed via Stoke Gifford and Yate thus eliminating the need for the most difficult section from Bristol to Mangotsfield.
Even now a little remains of the Barrow Road site as Bristol Corporation built a rubbish transfer station at the St. Phillips site but this passes into the old GW system at Lawrence Hill.
Of the Severn Bridge route little remains except interesting humps, bumps and rust although it was employed for the transfer of nuclear waste from Berkeley Power Station (maybe still is even although the station has been closed a long time).
A rather unique feature at the outset was the provision of a barge dock at Avon St. in Bristol, which was always short of space and which even in my youth provided work for 2 L&Y pugs and a Sentinel. The original depot had facilities to lift the barges into the yard in lieu of platforms and enabled direct trans-loading. This was all in sight of the GW covered goods yard adjacent to the Sir Daniel Gooch station at Temple Meads. This has been claimed as the biggest covered goods facility in Britain.
Despite the very heavy summer passenger trains from Yorkshire there was never any loco bigger than a Jubilee allocated to Barrow Road. Now and then an old Patriot would bring a pigeon train down from Lancashire. My mentor claimed that the Scots were too long for the curves of Mangotsfield and Glos. Eastgate but in the dying days of steam the Bullied WC’s came and went without problems. Having such small locos led to many infringements of the rules including the bankers running to catch up with a moving train (the rule book demanded a stop but stopping often meant not starting again in the 1950s when maintenance was poor due to lack of investment). The needs of train crews were met by a superb crew of fitters who are largely responsible for the continued survival of a great number of Bristol engines.
Peter Abraham
09/01/03
BA
19/03/2003