Hando

Hi Paul; At the minute there are plenty of Google street view images of Hurst Castle which include parts of the narrow gauge railway, including an aerial photo which was made with a drone, which is particularly useful for tracing the route of the old line. Also - Google doesn't actually make the off-road street view themselves, but people with 360-degree-view multiple-lensed cameras do. Anyone can contribute imagery so long as you have that kind of camera. Because of this, some of the locations where the imagery is said to be on the map is not where it actually was taken on the 360 photos, since there are often errors with the GPS positioning by the camera. I recommend clicking on distant street view "blue dots" even if they aren't in the right spot as they could still give you useful photos. Hope that helped, Alex

Let's hope we'll see Siraphite run down that bit of the (real) line some time in the not-so-distant future

The angle you took that photo from there feels a bit Oliver!-esque, I have to say!

Lovely layout! Is it a passenger or goods station? it's just that I can't tell if the office on the far left is a station building or not...

Hello! Here's some photos of my OO gauge micro-layout "Crow Hill", a rural light railway station constructed in a Bolla Wine box. The layout is still a work in progress and any further work will be mentioned on this thread. The layout pre-ballasting being worked on in the garden. The ballast is in! The Triang Bridge has been weathered and the road surface has been created with sandpaper.

Or narrow gauge passenger railway..? But if so, where?

Would that bit of line have once gone off to serve the cement mill (now the Heritage Coast Centre) by the beach? https://www.freshford.com/heritage_centre.htm

Is it just me or does the bloke in the suit there look a little bit like Sir Sam Fay?

I think these are the only two S gauge locos that are even close to being referred to as match mass-produced: The E4 doesn't even have a tender! (unsurprisingly), I reckon that it would be able to be adapted into a working model by attaching a scratchbuilt motorised tender to it. Of course; the garish gold would definitely need re-hashing into silver with the addition of certain features, such as smoke-box door darts and the like... Damn it! Too slow to reply!

Funnily enough, a railway was planned by the LSWR to run between Crewkerne and Bridport via Beaminster, almost entirely along your route! A layout of a Beaminster in an alternate universe where it had a railway was in Railway Modeller quite a while ago, but sadly I can't remember who built it. Secondly, there were also many proposals over the years to construct lines between Axminster, Lyme Regis, Charmouth and Bridport; here's a link -->https://www.freshford.com/railway_charmouth.htm. You might want to include them in some way or another into your backstory plan... Good luck with your layout and happy modelling! Alex

Straying away from the complexities of categorisation and what kind of railways should be included in the forum, my next question is how should the forum be structured? MrWolf previously mentioned on page 2 that... My idea is that it should be made up of two smaller sections: Modelling Prototype This would be so as to prevent muddling up of information and make for a useful resource to the Minor Independent Standard Gauge and Light Railway modeller (?MIStaGLiRM?).

I would extend rule 1 to include minor independent standard gauge railways (railways that were not operated by big four companies or their larger predecessors (i.e. Lambourn Valley Railway, Railways of the Isle of Wight pre-grouping, Mawddwy Railway etc.)) or railways of sufficient character that was operated by rolling stock non-existent on other parts of their larger operators (Bodmin and Wenford Railway before its connection to the North Cornwall Railway and the Lee-on-the-Solent Railway, both lines were operated by the LSWR, but each maintained their own distinct rolling stock for a long period of their lives. *A notable other example is the Wisbeach and Upwell Tramway as previously mentioned on the thread.

The Tramways Act of 1870, brought around stricter regulations on the construction of horse drawn tramways, meaning that the tram company had a 21 year lease of their line, which also involved them having to pay for the upkeep of the entirety public highways that the lines ran over, after the 21 years was over, the local authority had the power to buy out the whole concession (including rolling stock) if its operation was not up to their standards, allowing them operate it themselves. This act created a legal loophole, which allowed the Rye and Camber Tramway and later the Hundred of Manhood and Selsey Tramway to be constructed without needing gated level crossings and other safety features that were required on "normal" railways. In 1896, the Light Railways Act was passed, superseding the use of the Tramways Act by adding legislation that was provided explicitly for minor standard gauge railways. The Act of Parliament was simpler, easier to obtain than the 1870 act (the act allowed for local authorities were allowed to veto proposals) and lowered the minimum costs to construct such railways. One notable difference between the Tramways Act and Light Railway Act was that; under the Tramways Act, on railways/tramways that ran on roadsides or in the middle of streets, their locomotives were required to have some sort of way of protecting their running gear or wheels. The R&CT went to the bare minimum on their Bagnall 2-4-0s by fixing a plate that simply guarded the valve gear, but nothing else. Other lines like the BA&WH!R, W&UT, GVT all had skirted locos.

Would the W&U still be included in the forum, and by your definition, was the Bideford, Appledore and Westward Ho! Railway was a tramway?

Yes, due to its very distinctive rolling stock and its nature of being a part-roadside tramway, part-railway