rogerfarnworth

I continue to find tramways and railways in the Forest of Dean of great interest. For this next post we return to Mr Brain's Tramway which primarily served Trafalgar Colliery in the Forest. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/26/brains-tramway-forest-of-dean Further research has resulted in a bit more information about the locomotives that worked on the Tramway. ....

A second installment of the review of old tramways in the area in and around what is now Telford Town Park. This article covers the tramway which ran North from the site of Dawley & Stirchley Railway Station on the LNWR Coalport Branch through the site of Jerry Furnace(s) and Stirchley Ironworks to the site of Old Park Ironworks with its myriad of tramway lines in the mid- to late-19th century. ... These tramways were known locally as 'Jerry Rails' and a new estates in Hinkshay bears that name. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/24/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-6-malinslee-part-2-jerry-rails

A second installment of the review of old tramways in the area in and around what is now Telford Town Park. This article covers the tramway which ran North from the site of Dawley & Stirchley Railway Station on the LNWR Coalport Branch through the site of Jerry Furnace(s) and Stirchley Ironworks to the site of Old Park Ironworks with its myriad of tramway lines in the mid- to late-19th century. ... These tramways were known locally as 'Jerry Rails' and a new estates in Hinkshay bears that name. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/24/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-6-malinslee-part-2-jerry-rails/

Sitting alone and seemingly unconnected to the wider network of tramways in the Telford Area is Newdale Bridge. A structure built in the 18th century to carry a tramway over a stream in Ketley Dingle. ... Built circa 1759, Newdale Bridge is actually a last remaining remnant of a significant tramway network in the Ketley/Lawley area. ... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/17/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-5-the-newdale-bridge/

As far as I am aware, there are a number of relatively short tramways for which there is a strong argument for a date in 1600s, there is very little remaining of any of these. There is a possibility that they were not highly engineered with timber rails being laid over existing contours. These seem predominantly to have been on the Southern side of the Severn. I have been trying to pick up information about these and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust Archive Office is being really helpful!

Sitting alone and seemingly unconnected to the wider network of tramways in the Telford Area is Newdale Bridge. A structure built in the 18th century to carry a tramway over a stream in Ketley Dingle. ... Built circa 1759, Newdale Bridge is actually a last remaining remnant of a significant tramway network in the Ketley/Lawley area. ... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/17/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-5-the-newdale-bridge/

Early Tramroads in East Shropshire (Telford) again ..... Just a short distance from our home, no more than 200 metres, is the site of what was Little Eyton Colliery. The colliery was served by a tramway/tramroad which was used to carry coal/ironstone to the Coalport Branch of the Shropshire Canal and later to the LNWR's Coalport Branch which followed the route of the erstwhile canal. The linked article below follows the route of the tramway down into what is now Telford Town Park. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/15/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-4-malinslee-part-1 The featured image shows typical trams and pit head gear at Blists Hill Victorian Museum.

Just a short distance from our home, no more than 200 metres, is the site of what was Little Eyton Colliery. The colliery was served by a tramway/tramroad which was used to carry coal/ironstone to the Coalport Branch of the Shropshire Canal and later to the LNWR's Coalport Branch which followed the route of the erstwhile canal. The linked article below follows the route of the tramway down into what is now Telford Town Park. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/15/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-4-malinslee-part-1 The featured image shows typical trams and pit head gear at Blists Hill Victorian Museum.

Hereford in N again, the Move. ... Moving felt like a major exercise. I have a large amount of stock and initially could not imagine how I might be best getting it all from one home to another. ... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/13/n-gauge-hereford-2022-stock-boxes-for-moving/

I mentioned the staging for the layout which makes use of IKEA Ivar. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/10/n-gauge-hereford-2022-again

Pictures of the Layout room in Telford. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/09/n-gauge-hereford-2022

Some time back I was posting about modelling Hereford in N Gauge. We were living in Ashton-under-Lyne and the modelling took place in the Vicarage loft. I am now retired with my wife still working. The last few years of ministry did not see me in the loft very often and modelling definitely took a back seat. Particular apologies to craigowen1976 whose post on this thread I have just read now. We have now moved to Telford and the powers that be have generously allocated a relatively large bedroom for the layout. Some compromises are inevitable as the space is smaller than the loft in the Vicarage in Ashton-under-Lyne. Staging has been built and my library is close to being sorted out. I will need one new fiddle yard, the electrics will need connecting board to board for the layout and some damage will need to be rectified. Completing the staging is a good step forward! I will post pictures over the next little while. ..

A recent local walk took in possible and probable Tramroad routes and a remaining length of the Ketley Canal. ..... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/04/ketley-tramways-plateways-waggonways-and-canal-part-1

A recent local walk took in possible and probable Tramroad routes and a remaining length of the Ketley Canal. ..... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/04/ketley-tramways-plateways-waggonways-and-canal-part-1

The latest issue of "The Narrow Gauge", the journal of the Narrow Gauge Society, carried an article by Iain Logie about the trams of Khartoum. The city was served by a narrow gauge steam tram network which was later replaced by Electric tram network. This prompted some research into the railways of Sudan and first of Khartoum. The national system used trackwork set at a 3ft 6in gauge. There are plans to introduce standard gauge to Sudan, but in the meantime work to refurbish the present network is taking priority. My first article centres on Khartoum and looks at the national network in the vicinity of the city. ..... The 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge railways in and around Khartoum. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/31/railways-of-khartoum-part-1-the-3ft-6in-1067mm-gauge

A comment by an acquaintance brought to mind the horse tram which served Fintona. I thought it would be good to look at what was a very short branch line. ..... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/01/the-fintona-line

A comment by an acquaintance brought to mind the horse tram which served Fintona. I thought it would be good to look at what was a very short branch line. ..... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/06/01/the-fintona-line

In order to construct the network of reservoirs in the Elan Valley in mid-Wales, a contractor's railway was essential. This thread focusses on that railway. The first article provides a general introduction and then follows the first length of the line. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/25/the-elan-valley-railway-part-1

After 1914 and the reintroduction of steam power on the branch, there was a short period during the later part of the First World War when the line to Port Carlisle was closed. When it reopened, the hoped for increased passenger traffic never materialised. As the 1920s wore on, the LNER decided that it would replace locomotive power on the branch with steam railcars. The first was 'Nettle', the second, 'Flower of Yarrow'. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/19/the-port-carlisle-railway-part-3 Sadly, their introduction did not significantly improve the financial position and the length of the line from Drumburgh to Port Carlisle was closed in 1932. .....

For around fifty years the passenger rail service to Port Carlisle was provided by a a horse drawn dandy carriages. .... One of these Dandy carriages is preserved in the National Railway Museum in York. The linked article focusses on this horse-drawn service. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/18/the-port-carlisle-railway-part-2

The second post in this tramroad/tramway series covers the Coalbrookdale Company Tramroads which appear on the 6" OS Maps from 1882/83 and later map series, particularly the 25" series from the turn of the 20th century. I have walked a major part of the network as it existed in around 1882 and have provided present day photographs of the routes where ever possible. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/26/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-2-the-coalbrookdale-company-tramroads-shown-on-the-1882-83-6-os-maps-published-in-1887-and-later-surveys

Having moved to Telford relatively recently, I have started to look in detail at the railway heritage of the area. This starts with a waggonway being in existence by at least 1605 (but maybe earlier). Over four centuries of various forms of railway! My first offering on the Railways of Telford was a review of a book by David Clarke with the same title, see this link .... https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/12/26/the-railways-of-telford-part-1-a-book-review This second offering begins a series looking at the waggonways/plateways/tramways/tramroads which preceded the coming of the more modern railways. There is probably a debate to be had over the correct names to use for these lines. I have not decided but I have used the word 'tramroad' in the title of the series. Perhaps 'plateways' would be better as most of these lines were in the end made up of a series of short L-shaped rails sitting on stone blocks and were used by trams/wagons which had wheels without flanges. Others may have firm opinions about this!? OS Maps seem invariably to use the word 'Tramway' for these old lines. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/25/ancient-tramroads-near-telford-part-1-tramroads

A visit to Abergavenny on 25th April 2022 for a meeting gave me an hour so so to start a look at the historic transport hub that is the village of Govilon where Bailey's Tramroad, and the Llanvihangel Tramroad met on the side of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The site also includes the remains of the later Heads of the Valley Railway Line. The linked post comes from just an hour spent in Govilon, following the line of the railway, the Canal and Bailey's Tramroad. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/04/27/baileys-tramroad-part-1-the-monmouthshire-and-brecon-canal-and-an-introduction-to-the-heads-of-the-valley-line-or-more-succinctly-a-short-walk-at-govilon

Hi pH No problems. This is the caption which came with the photo. However, the train does seem to be coming off the Waverly Route! I wonder if others might be able to shed a little more light on this? Best wishes Roger

Our long holiday in 2022 was spent in the far North of Scotland. We stopped off to break the return journey close to Carlisle at a B&B in a hamlet called Boustead Hill adjacent to the Solway Firth. This gave me an opportunity to find out more about the Port Carlisle Branch which was built on the line of the old canal between Carlisle and Port Carlisle. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2022/05/18/the-port-carlisle-railway-part-1