Castle Aching

[Nearholmer]

4 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

any train graphs I've seen have had time on the x axis and distance on the y, so a stationary train shots as a horizontal line.

I wrote that wrong - a stationary train is indeed horizontal. I will correct it.

[Regularity]

One thing to note, Norman Eagles once advised that you start by establishing your bottlenecks, as these will drive everything else. 
That’s also the essence of project management.

[St Enodoc]

46 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m afraid you almost certainly need to draw train-planning graphs, because you have so much single-line and a terrible plethora of junctions.

 

Here is a very quick sketch of the sort of thing, and because of all the junctions I’m not totally sure I’ve represented it in the best way (I think St Enodoc is better at this than I am, so wait for his suggestions), but the basics are there …… a sloping line is a moving train, a vertical line a stationary train, or a train not passing particular locations (it probably ought to be dotted in that instance).

 

Can you see what I’m driving at?

 

It will quickly highlight your line-occupancy and terminal-capacity constraints.

 

 

The crossing out is symptomatic of the fiddling about and re-casting that tends to be needed (and of me making a mistake).

You rang?

 

Yes, a time/distance graph is the best starting point. However, Kevin, as Jim said and you acknowledged, you've mixed up your verticals and horizontals. With time along the horizontal axis (Time's Arrow flying from left to right) and distance along the vertical (Up being up and Down being down makes life simpler) a stationary train will show as a horizontal line - i.e. no distance is covered for a given time (if the line were vertical, it woudl imply the train had covered an actual distance in zero time, at infinite speed).

 

Here's one I prepared earlier as part of a talk I gave on timetables. It represents the aforementioned Kingsbridge branch on Mondays to Fridays in Summer 1952 and was drawn up from the actual working timetable.

 

Class B trains are passenger and class K are freight. There was just one passing loop at Gara Bridge, which is the only place other than Brent and Kingsbridge where trains could cross (represented by a line dexter crossing a line sinister). The graph would be slightly more complex with more junctions but not impossibly so.

 

Hope that makes sense.

[Nearholmer]

2 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

With time along the horizontal axis (Time's Arrow flying from left to right) and distance along the vertical (Up being up and Down being down makes life simpler) a stationary train will show as a horizontal line

That’s how I’ve drawn it - it was just the wordy description I codsed-up!

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

6 minutes ago, Regularity said:

start by establishing your bottlenecks,

Precisely why I homed-in on the section under discussion - it smells like trouble just looking at the map and knowing the track layout at CA.

[Edwardian]

Not for the first time, the Parish has identified a need for a level of skill, complexity and sophistication of which I fear I am incapable. 

[Regularity]

17 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Not for the first time, the Parish has identified a need for a level of skill, complexity and sophistication of which I fear I am incapable. 

Was quatsch!

[St Enodoc]

5 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

That’s how I’ve drawn it - it was just the wordy description I codsed-up!

 

 

I think I see what you've tried to do, showing all the lines in the same plane vertically. As Simon and Kevin said, you only need to worry about the three lines converging towards CA. I'd therefore be inclined to show junctions A and B as controlled by a single signal box (Junction AB), then show the Aching Constable, Birchoverham and Achingham lines separately.

 

Assuming that trains to CA are all up trains, you might have a vertical axis looking something like this:

 

Name                          Distance

 

Castle Aching              0m 00c    x     y     z    

Junction AB                 2m 00c    x     y     z
Aching Constable      5m 00c     x                 

Junction C                   1m 40c            y       

Doughton Abbey       7m 00c                  z

Achingham               12m 40c                  z

 

All trains appear in the first section; Aching Constable line trains (x) appear only in the first and second sections; Birchoverham line trains (y) appear only in the first and third sections; and Achingham line trains (z) appear only in the first and fourth sections.

 

A bit tricky to do in words but I could put a simple sketch together tomorrow if that would be of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

[uax6]

The things that will really need to be nailed down are the distances and speeds of each train, and that will also require the setting of the tonnages of the trains too, as the longer/heavier the train, the more time it needs to get up to speed and slow down again. These are really important factors as these are known facts, the drivers wife having given him cheese and pickle sandwiches that he loathes, and causes him to have a cob on, thereby driving slower than normal, of course can't be factored in....

 

Get all the known facts for train length, weights, and then the relevant details for your loco stud (ie how quickly they can accelerate and stop each train weight) and then you can start getting timing right for each section. 

 

At a guess most unfitted goods trains will probably never touch 20 mph, and on short sections probably not get above 10 mph either. Passenger trains probably didn't get much above 30mph either (but this is all guesswork on my behalf).

 

Andy G

[ChrisN]

It is how complicated you wish to make it.  What Andy says is true, but the timetable in Bradshaws has the times that trains should arrive, and that is what you are after as you are not going to run your trains to a timetable, you just need it to work out the loco stock.

[Nearholmer]

A quick elaboration, which I think works, and begins to illustrate some of the issues.

 

 

Notice that on this one we get a goods train, then first one, then a second, passenger train at CA in the period 1000-1125ish, which will make quite a snarl.

 

I tried pulling the goods departure back so that it could cross with train 7 at Doughton, but that leaves insufficient time for it to shunt at CA.

 

Next move might be to pull train 7 earlier, to cross with 8 at Doughton, but that means we need an extra set and loco in service. So, to avoid that, pull train 8 earlier, maybe 0910 off CA, allowing 7 to leave Achingham at c1015, arrive CA c1050, allowing the goods away at 1055 …….

 

And so it will go on: lots of juggling!

 

I randomly added trains to/from Aching Constable and towards Birchoverham, just to illustrate how they fit/look.

 

One thing you need to decide with timetabling BTW is which route to use as the cardinal, the one that you plan first and attempt to optimise most. Here, I’ve started with CA-A, but if Birchoverham is a more important place, you might swing everything around CA-B. To me, it isn’t clear which the ‘main’ line of the WNR is.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Nearholmer

[uax6]

Another factor is are the services symmetric? (ie is there the same number of up trains as down trains)

 

When reading through Backtrack, I note that quite often the timetables aren't symmetric, and have some very strange sized gaps during the day.

 

Andy G

[Nearholmer]

The strange gaps in public timetables are often goods trains, but there are even gaps in WTT that are hard to understand at this distance in time.

 

Unbalanced and odd services intrigue me - I mentioned in my own thread a railmotor service from Bletchley to Buckingham at about one in the morning, Fridays only, unbalanced. My only conclusion was that it was effectively a private service for The Duke, who was after all chairman of the LNWR.

[Andy Hayter]

Gaps in the WTT.

 

Once upon a time in France large sections of the country had no train movements during the middle of the day.  This could of course have been due to lunch, but in fact the 4 hour or so gap was used by maintenance teams to do small but essential track or trackside jobs.

 

Given that much of early operations was obtained from the UK, I wonder whether that was also a UK practice.

[Tom Burnham]

Branch line passenger trains averaged about 20mph including stops around the period, I believe.

[Edwardian]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

A quick elaboration, which I think works, and begins to illustrate some of the issues.

 

 

Notice that on this one we get a goods train, then first one, then a second, passenger train at CA in the period 1000-1125ish, which will make quite a snarl.

 

I tried pulling the goods departure back so that it could cross with train 7 at Doughton, but that leaves insufficient time for it to shunt at CA.

 

Next move might be to pull train 7 earlier, to cross with 8 at Doughton, but that means we need an extra set and loco in service. So, to avoid that, pull train 8 earlier, maybe 0910 off CA, allowing 7 to leave Achingham at c1015, arrive CA c1050, allowing the goods away at 1055 …….

 

And so it will go on: lots of juggling!

 

I randomly added trains to/from Aching Constable and towards Birchoverham, just to illustrate how they fit/look.

 

One thing you need to decide with timetabling BTW is which route to use as the cardinal, the one that you plan first and attempt to optimise most. Here, I’ve started with CA-A, but if Birchoverham is a more important place, you might swing everything around CA-B. To me, it isn’t clear which the ‘main’ line of the WNR is.

 

 

I can't visualise this entirely successfully, but think I'm getting some of it.

 

Please can you explain which junctions are designated by A, B and C?

 

A train can only go via one junction at a time, so lumping A and B together really throws me.

 

So let me see if I can work out what is going in in your table/graph thingy:

 

#1. The Branch train leaves Achingham at 8.05am. It crosses 'Juncs A & B' at 8.35am, suggesting that one of these must be the Achingham branch junction  (which I shall call "ABJ" to reduce my confusion).  It then arrives at CA at 8.40am.  It does not seem to return to Achingham however until it forms service #8, departing CA at 9.45am.  The branch set could set in the run-round loop allowing the platform face to be used by a mainline train, as the shed loop tends to be the de facto run-round, though quite how you swop it for service #2 I'm unsure, as the next mainline train is a departure, not an arrival. 

 

#2. Meanwhile, at 8.25am a mainline service has left CA.  It clears ABJ at 8.30am, five minutes ahead of the incoming branch service.  Once clear of ABJ, the mainline service is free to go up to Birchoverham Market, or, as you have it, Aching Constable via another junction.  I don't know how you have designated this, though I shall call it Aching Constable South Junction ("ACSJ" for short).  The junction on the mainline to the north, in the direction of BM, is thus Aching Constable North Junction ("ACNJ" for short). 

 

#3. Appears to me to be an ex-Birchoverhams mainline service travelling south to CA and reaching ABJ at 8.50am , arriving CA 8.55am.  It does not appear to turn up at Achingham at any point, so I assume it's not one of the through services reversing out of CA for the branch.  However, in either case, I would expect it to depart CA a reasonably short time after arrival.  I under that thus train forms service #6, which does not depart CA until 9.30am, but then appears to retrace its revolutions to the Birchoverhams. 

 

#4.  Has me stumped, because I don't know where  'Junc C' is and because, intriguingly, it never seems to turn up at CA.

 

#5.  The Goods. This emanates from Aching Constable (though perhaps this should be BM - something else to determine), departing 9.35am. It passes what I infer will be ABJ at 9.50am. It arrives CA at 10am.   This is given until 11.05am to shunt before departing for Achingham as service #10. The revision of the CA track plan to include a headshunt would be necessary if CA is required  to receive passenger traffic in the meantime. 

 

#6. The mainline train departs CA 9.30am on its way back towards the Birchoverhams.

 

#7. The branch train returning once more from Achingham to CA 

 

#8. The branch train running from CA to Achingham, so should actually precede #7.

 

#9. Mainline train into CA from AC.

 

#10. Goods heading for Achingham, where it will probably need an hour or so shunting before returning via CA to BM or AC later in the day.

 

#11. Mainline train into CA from BM.  The point here showing how it must be timed to pass ABJ on the mainline after the Goods, service #10, has cleared ABJ en route to Achingham.

 

Clearly there are some missing outward passenger services for CA that would need to be in the sequence, because at a couple of points CA appears to collect incoming trains that it cannot accommodate. 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling

[Nearholmer]

Junctions are lettered in order from CA northwards:

 

A - towards Achingham

B - towards Aching Constable 

C - where the line from Aching Constable joins that towards Hillingham and on to Birchoverham.

 

I lumped A&B together, because I got the impression from something you said earlier that they were very close together, and under the control of one 'box.

 

As I've plotted the service (bear in mind it isn't meant to be THE service yet, because I've still not fully got my head around what you really want, it is merely A service to illustrate how the graphs and planning work), it has:

 

- trains shuttling between Achingham and CA;

 

- a suggestion of trains shuttling between Birchoverham and CA;

 

- an odd train (2) that goes CA to Aching Constable "and beyond", mainly to show how such a train appears on the diagram;

 

- an odd train (4) that appears from Aching Constable to head in the direction of the Birchoverhams, for the same reason;

 

- an odd train (9) coming fro Aching Constable to CA, likewise.

 

- a goods train, to see how that weaves its way through.

 

Here is a zoom-in, with added detail of where to put trains at CA so that it all works ......... which it just about can, with quick shunting, by using the three parallel roads that converge on the turntable. If you look at the time around 1100, you will see that the goods must finish shunting and form-up ready to leave from one loop, then a passenger train arrives, runs round, and is moved as ECS to the other loop, leaving the platform free for the next passenger train, after which the goods departs, allowing the loco from that train to escape via the now empty loop.

 

 

I think I'm beginning to understand that the "main line" service is Achingham - CA - Aching Constable  (and beyond), with a portion (or is it a connection?) coming from Birchoverham to Aching Constable to join with that. Have I got that right?

 

Here is what I think you want in Harry Beck style:

 

 

If that isn't right, perhaps you could draw what you would like similarly, then we can have  a bash at graphing a bit of it.

 

PS: trains are numbered odd in one direction, even in the other, which is why they sometimes appear in reverse of numerical order.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Edwardian]

Thanks, Kevin

 

This is progress.  

 

I realise that your diagram was 'for illustrative purposes', but I did want to make sure I was able to follow it.

 

You have some necessary questions and I have to study the 'zoom'.  I am too tired for the level of concentration my slow brain requires, so I will have a look with a fresh(er) eye tomorrow.

 

(I'm also a bit zoned out because I haven't been sleeping being a bit laid low and now on drugs.  On the plus side, it's given me time over the last 2-3 days to explore these important issues for CA, so thanks for the support).

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Junctions are lettered in order from CA northwards:

 

A - towards Achingham

B - towards Aching Constable 

C - where the line from Aching Constable joins that towards Hillingham and on to Birchoverham.

 

I lumped A&B together, because I got the impression from something you said earlier that they were very close together, and under the control of one 'box.

 

As I've plotted the service (bear in mind it isn't meant to be THE service yet, because I've still not fully got my head around what you really want, it is merely A service to illustrate how the graphs and planning work), it has:

 

- trains shuttling between Achingham and CA;

 

- a suggestion of trains shuttling between Birchoverham and CA;

 

- an odd train (2) that goes CA to Aching Constable "and beyond", mainly to show how such a train appears on the diagram;

 

- an odd train (4) that appears from Aching Constable to head in the direction of the Birchoverhams, for the same reason;

 

- an odd train (9) coming fro Aching Constable to CA, likewise.

 

- a goods train, to see how that weaves its way through.

 

Here is a zoom-in, with added detail of where to put trains at CA so that it all works ......... which it just about can, with quick shunting, by using the three parallel roads that converge on the turntable. If you look at the time around 1100, you will see that the goods must finish shunting and form-up ready to leave from one loop, then a passenger train arrives, runs round, and is moved as ECS to the other loop, leaving the platform free for the next passenger train, after which the goods departs, allowing the loco from that train to escape via the now empty loop.

 

 

I think I'm beginning to understand that the "main line" service is Achingham - CA - Aching Constable  (and beyond), with a portion (or is it a connection?) coming from Birchoverham to Aching Constable to join with that. Have I got that right?

 

Here is what I think you want in Harry Beck style:

 

 

If that isn't right, perhaps you could draw what you would like similarly, then we can have  a bash at graphing a bit of it.

 

PS: trains are numbered odd in one direction, even in the other, which is why they sometimes appear in reverse of numerical order.

 

 

 

 

Excellent work Kevin. Your efforts on the night shift (my time zone) are exactly what I was trying to describe earlier (and more).

 

Regarding Junction AB, looking at the layout plan again simple single track junctions would seem to make sense as the loops aren't long enough and the junctions not far enough apart to give them any practical value.

[Edwardian]

7 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 

I think I'm beginning to understand that the "main line" service is Achingham - CA - Aching Constable  (and beyond), with a portion (or is it a connection?) coming from Birchoverham to Aching Constable to join with that. Have I got that right?

 

Here is what I think you want in Harry Beck style:

 

 

If that isn't right, perhaps you could draw what you would like similarly, then we can have  a bash at graphing a bit of it.

 

I will try to produce drawing(s) like this later today.

 

For the moment, let me try to answer your points by explaining the way I see things.  Now, the way I see things may well prove to be Wrong Headed, so is open to revision in the face of the knowledge and wisdom of others!

 

In the meantime, however:

 

1. Junctions.  You mention ''I lumped A&B together, because I got the impression from something you said earlier that they were very close together, and under the control of one 'box''.

 

This is not a thought I have had, if only because I really have not turned my mind to signalling, sections, 'boxes and my knowledge thereof is pretty rudimentary. You may, of course, be quite right!

 

I confess, I am still finding it easier in my mind to separate out the junctions and to confer more descriptive designations. Have I got this right, south to north?

 

- Junction A: Achingham Branch Junction (ABJ)

- Junction B: Aching Constable South Junction (ACSJ)

- Junction C: Aching Constable North Junction (ACNJ)

 

This list will be a helpful reference for me given my current Slow Brain Sickness!

 

2. Cardinal Line(s)!

 

In my mind this is complex. 

 

If I might make some general observations, and then turn to the relative priorities of places:

 

(a) Which is the mainline? While the original mainline was built between CA and BM, CA was a relative backwater.  It is a large and prosperous village serving an important district, but BM and Achingham are each larger; bustling market towns. So, in reality, you could argue that, in status terms, the mainline hereabouts is BM-Achingham with CA as a passing station between the two.  Of course CA has a terminus station layout, so it works as a passing station by way of the reversal of services passing between BM and Achingham.

 

(b)  Two types of service. There are, thus, two ways to connect between BM and Achingham:

 

(i) Mainline trains BM-CA connecting with branch trains CA-Achingham

 

(ii) Mainline through trains between BM and Achingham, reversing at CA

 

(c) Aching Constable.  AC is on the mainlines and is significant in two ways:

 

(i) It is the gateway for through traffic from the GER (either from the south (London/Cambridge/Ely or the north GN-GE Jnt Ry/March/Wisbech)).  I foresee all regular GER services taking ACNJ/Junc C north to BM, so will not affect CA or Juncs A&B. Nevertheless, specials or excursions for CA or Achingham could, on occasion, take ACSJ/B to CA.

 

(ii) It is the where WN Bury and Norwich services stop and where BL Tram and Wolfringahm Branch services ordinarily terminate. 

 

Because of all the trains stopping/terminating at AC, it seemed sensible to route a BM-Achingham service via AC.  I suspect, however, that the priority would be to connect with BLT and Wolfringham Branch terminating services at AC; passengers on Bury/Norwich and GER trains should probably stay on the train to BM and then take the next service south to CA.

 

Priority of places:

 

1. Birchoverham Market.  This is the most important place under consideration.  it is important both in itself and in terms of the traffic from beyond the town:

 

- It has a market, let us say on Tuesdays and Saturdays.  It will have some industry and serve the regular army Birchoverham Heath Barracks.

 

- It is en route to the resort at Birchoverham Next the Sea, whence most of the foreign through services want to go, and has branches serving two minor north coast ports. 

 

2. Achingham. This is another substantial market town, second only to BM.  Let us say it has a Thursday market.

 

3. Aching Constable.  This was a speck on the map until the WNR built a junction station, works and railway village.  it is not significant in traffic terms for itself, but as the terminating point for two branches and the route through which all mainline trains, WN and GE, pass en route to the Birchoverhams. 

 

4. Castle Aching.  A substantial village.  It has a some industry (brewery and agricultural engineers) but is also important as the centre of a rich agricultural district, the Achings, comprising several villages and estates and linked by the WNR with CA station via horse 'bus and goods cartage services.  Thus, I would say it is rather more important than its immediate appearance might suggest!

 

This suggests to me that we have the following timetables:

 

- Monday, Wednesday and Friday

- Tuesday

- Thursday

- Saturday

- Sunday

 

I hope this is of some help!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

PS: trains are numbered odd in one direction, even in the other, which is why they sometimes appear in reverse of numerical order.

 

 

Ah!

[Nearholmer]

Well, having one timetable would be an achievement!

 

Where is the grammar school serving the area? They seem to have been important in timetabling terms, because scholars were often the only significant population of commuters.

 

I’m now seeing the ‘tube map’ more like this:

 

 

Hillingham becomes quite important, because if we ensure that trains to/from “beyond” cross local-area trains there, we can get quite a nice set of connections, without the need to send local-area trains to Aching Constable with all the reversals and wasted time that would involve.

 

Ideally, Hillingham would have an island platform to allow this interchange, but it probably doesn’t, so passengers and their luggage will have to go over a barrow-crossing.

 

Or, since you are actually intending to build a model of it, do you want Birchoverham to be the interchange?

 

I’ve got rather a lot to do in the real world today, so I doubt I will be able to return to West Norfolk until late this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

5 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Well, having one timetable would be an achievement!

 

Where is the grammar school serving the area? They seem to have been important in timetabling terms, because scholars were often the only significant population of commuters.

 

I’m now seeing the ‘tube map’ more like this:

 

 

Hillingham becomes quite important, because if we ensure that trains to/from “beyond” cross local-area trains there, we can get quite a nice set of connections, without the need to send local-area trains to Aching Constable with all the reversals and wasted time that would involve.

 

Ideally, Hillingham would have an island platform to allow this interchange, but it probably doesn’t, so passengers and their luggage will have to go over a barrow-crossing.

 

Or, since you are actually intending to build a model of it, do you want Birchoverham to be the interchange?

 

I’ve got rather a lot to do in the real world today, so I doubt I will be able to return to West Norfolk until late this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks very much, Kevin

 

To answer you:

 

1) I had been thinking of a school and should have mentioned it yesterday; Birchoverham Market, I think, please.

 

2) Interchange:

 

(i) I agree Aching Constable is not the best place to do this (I wonder if Wolfringham and Bishop's Lynn trains might even terminate at Birchoverham Market, but a lot of strain is being put on that station on a single line as it is!).

 

(ii) I think Birchoverham Market makes more sense as the interchange.  Hillington is a village. I don't think the longer-distance trains would stop there, whereas all trains probably call at BM in any case.  So, either you want to go to BM or you want to connect there. It is the one place where someone from, say, both Achingham and Fakeney could go to connect with services to either each other's town or pick up a London train!

 

(iii) Goods traffic from GER and WN Beyond (via AC) I see concentrating at BM and being remarshalled there for (a) trip goods down to Achingham via CA, (b) goods to the 3 northerly spurs (B-N-t-S, B-Staithe and Fakeney Branch), and (c) trip goods back to AC to serve AC itself and traffic for the BLT, and onto Wolfringham. Does that make sense?

 

Much of my re-think, since you pointed out the limitations at CA, has been to transfer all that activity to BM, where we have the scope to plan and include as much capacity as we need. 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Well, having one timetable would be an achievement!

 

Where is the grammar school serving the area? They seem to have been important in timetabling terms, because scholars were often the only significant population of commuters.

 

I’m now seeing the ‘tube map’ more like this:

 

 

Hillingham becomes quite important, because if we ensure that trains to/from “beyond” cross local-area trains there, we can get quite a nice set of connections, without the need to send local-area trains to Aching Constable with all the reversals and wasted time that would involve.

 

Ideally, Hillingham would have an island platform to allow this interchange, but it probably doesn’t, so passengers and their luggage will have to go over a barrow-crossing.

 

Or, since you are actually intending to build a model of it, do you want Birchoverham to be the interchange?

 

I’ve got rather a lot to do in the real world today, so I doubt I will be able to return to West Norfolk until late this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

No direct service between CA and AC?

[Adam88]

Earlier this week I read the obituary for Sir Timothy Colman, scion of the Norfolk mustard making family which led me to thinking of the requirement to run private saloons for the great and good gentlefolk of west Norfolk.  Would they have owned their own saloons like the Duke of Sutherland or hired them from the railway?  Would the WNR even own private saloons?  If not, they in turn would have had to hire them from one of their neighbours.  Which of the neighbours are cooperative allies and which are competing rivals?  Would the west Norfolk gentry have one or two directorial sinecures and were they able to run private trains at low cost and short notice?  I see a need for special trains for shooting parties, peasants (rarely I hope), pheasants (more often) and decamping to Yorkshire and Scotland every August for grouse.

 

Did any of Sir Timothy's ancestors use the WNR for mustard trains?  Did those colourful yellow vans really exist or are they but a figment of model railway salesmens' minds?  If so, what does a mustard factory need and how much arrives and departs by rail?

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

No direct service between CA and AC?

 

Whilst looking through accident reports, I came across the method of working the Stroud and Nailsworth branches in the 1890s. These branches form a fish-tail from the main line at Stonehouse, with the junction at Dudbridge. Trains from Stonehouse, Stroud, and Nailsworth were each composed of portions for both of the other two destinations, with re-marshalling at Dudbridge. There was evidently sufficiently important passenger traffic between Stroud and Nailsworth to make this procedure worth-while, rather than getting passengers to change trains.