6892 Oakhill Grange Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 Just been reading on the Beeb about the GCR's replacement bridge to join the railway back together. The GCR was described as Britain's only mainline railway! I am disgusted! I think all the residents of Torbay and Dartmouth areas should be writing to their MP to have the BBC's licence revoked so that nice Mr Murdoch can tell us the truth instead. Oakhill Sorry there is a preserved missing from the title and the content. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold griffgriff Posted August 6, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 6, 2016 I guess it depends on your perspective. I just think the residents of that part of Devon were very fortunate to have their branch line repaired after it was washed out by the sea a couple of years ago Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jub45565 Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 Only European loading gauge line was the GCR as far as I know. Also nicely built without level crossings too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cary hill Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 They probably mean Britain's only double track heritage railway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 "Britain's only mainline steam railway" is what the GCR described as itself as. Nothing wrong with the BBCs use of that description. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 Surely the clue is in the name that the Torbay And Dartmouth used for the vast majority of it's existence, which is The Kingswear Branch. To be a mainline then you have to go from one major place to another. Liverpool to Manchester, London to Birmingham and Nottingham to Leicester all count. Paignton to Kingswear, not so much. Jason 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted August 6, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 6, 2016 How do you get from Nottingham to Leicester right now? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamport Southport Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 East Midlands Trains via Loughborough. It only takes about half an hour. Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NCB Posted August 6, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 6, 2016 Come on, the Kingswear line was never a branch! And unlike the GCR (who never completed its underused London terminus), it was popular. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted August 7, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 7, 2016 Only European loading gauge line was the GCR as far as I know. Also nicely built without level crossings too. Not quite true, Berne gauge wasn't developed until some time later, but the GCR London Extension was built to a much more generous loading gauge than the normal UK one. The London Extension had but one Level Crossing, but I can't remember where that was now... Andy G 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
asmay2002 Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Come on, the Kingswear line was never a branch! And unlike the GCR (who never completed its underused London terminus), it was popular. Of course it was. There is no significant town on it - Kingswear is a village. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Not quite true, Berne gauge wasn't developed until some time later, but the GCR London Extension was built to a much more generous loading gauge than the normal UK one. The London Extension had but one Level Crossing, but I can't remember where that was now... Andy G Beighton. It's still in use Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 (edited) Come on, the Kingswear line was never a branch! Doubt there were mass complaints to Ian Krause /Ian Allan in 1969 when it was included in 'Great Western Branch Line Album'. Edited August 7, 2016 by Butler Henderson 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted August 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 7, 2016 (edited) Count the tracks. To the layman (and, where railways are concerned, the BBC doesn't have anything better) one means a branch line and two or more, a main line. However large the through trains that ran (and still run on some summer Sundays) to Kingswear, there were never that many of them. Within the industry AFAIK, it was always referred to as the Kingswear Branch. John Edited August 7, 2016 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 unlike the GCR (who never completed its underused London terminus) The GWR never completed its extension to Dartmouth either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 7, 2016 The GWR never completed its extension to Dartmouth either. Well it did have a station there so clearly it got there - so doesn't that count? (like their branch to Jersey for example ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete_mcfarlane Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 They probably mean Britain's only double track heritage railway. Even that isn't unique - most of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch is double track. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold griffgriff Posted August 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 7, 2016 Even that isn't unique - most of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch is double track. Now if we are talking minitures and models then my little 2 track terminus layout must count too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Well it did have a station there so clearly it got there - so doesn't that count? (like their branch to Jersey for example ) Maybe, but Dartmouth definitely wasn't on a main line... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 7, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 7, 2016 Maybe, but Dartmouth definitely wasn't on a main line... Oh I dunno, the Dart was quite an important river commercially - or doesn't that count? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flipper Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Not quite true, Berne gauge wasn't developed until some time later, but the GCR London Extension was built to a much more generous loading gauge than the normal UK one. The London Extension had but one Level Crossing, but I can't remember where that was now... Andy G Hi Andy, It is not the case that the GCR’s extension to London was built to a much more generous loading gauge than the normal UK one (notwithstanding that there was no such thing as a normal UK loading gauge when the line opened). The LE was constructed to exactly the same loading gauge as the rest of the GCR’s network, a gauge that was demonstrably smaller than that used by several contemporary companies such as the GWR and the GNR. The myth that it was otherwise appears to have arisen in the 1960s, when campaigners were seeking reasons to justify their position that the line should not be closed. One pamphlet contained this statement regarding loading gauges and others picked it up. The loading gauge used during construction is a matter of public record as the 1895 drawings detailing it, signed by Alexander Ross, survive in the National Archives. Apologies for the thread revival, but worth challenging this one when it appears . . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
28XX Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 It is probably reasonable to assert that the GWSR Cheltenham to Broadway line is a preserved main line. Although only single track at present the possibility of doubling remains, there have been no major civils works done or losses of land which preclude this. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulzer27jd Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 The Strathspey Railway is the former Inverness and Perth Junction Railway and was for many years the mainline between those towns. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenB Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 I’m glad 28xx set the record straight re the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, part of the old GWR’s mainline from Birmingham to the south west. Stephen 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted June 20, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) Even that isn't unique - most of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch is double track. True, and the RH&D still operates at around the speed it was designed to... Riding their trains at 25 mph (since all their engines got GPS), it feels much more like a "real railway" than any of the standard gauge light railways. John Edited June 20, 2018 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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