RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) They did work semi-fasts between Swansea and Carmarthen; they also worked the 'Pembroke Coast Express, which mid--week was a four-coach set as far as Swansea And "The Red Dragon " also between Carmarthen and Swansea. In 1953,one worked the Royal Train over The Vale Of Neath line on HRH & Duke visit to Aberdare & adjacent valleys shortly after Coronation. If memory is correct it was 5080 (?).The Royal couple boarded the train at Hirwaun en route for Swansea Edited February 10, 2017 by Ian Hargrave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanem44 Posted February 10, 2017 Author Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) I have found a highly detailed route map that might shed some light on this, or at least theoretically what might have been possible in actual "real life" operations. http://www.michaelclemensrailways.co.uk/article/gwr-route-availability-map-worcester/634 That being said, for the purpose of my layout it might be best that I incorporate creative license rather than base it off of prototype. As its during the WWII era, I will just say that the branch line had a 10 kmph restriction imposed (for red) to raise the line up to a red route in support of the war effort.... or something to that effect. Really I just want an excuse to run a Castle with it not being too incredibly far-fetched. Edited February 10, 2017 by Seanem44 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Wrong west country line - if you want a 7P tender first on a one coach train then the lines to Bude & Padstow would be a good place to look Wouldn't there have been big engines on the Fishguard line and other south west Wales routes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Chris116 Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10, 2017 Wrong sort of Castle but the Swanage branch passes Corfe Castle! Hat, coat, exit stage left...... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Prism Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 You'd need about 40' in length to do Fishguard any justice... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Henley? Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) Henley? True, some good shots of Castles at Henley here. Mind you, those were 8-coach trains they used to pull so not quite what the OP was after either. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66922-the-stationmaster-says-goodbye-to-steam-at-henley-on-thames/ I think we can agree that Castles pulled short trains and that they could be found at some BLTs. It was just harder to find them doing both at the same time. Edited February 10, 2017 by Karhedron 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2017 Henley? Ed Will fit into 18 feet in 4mm scale (with part of the station building omitted) and a nice convenient road overbridge at the other end. But as already noted the 'Castles' only ever worked 'big' trains onto/from the branch. Windsor of course did see shorter trains worked by 'Castles' but they were for very special purposes in connection with the activities of the residents of the castle across the road from the station. 4-6-0s definitely worked to Fishguard so quite likely 'Castles' got there. However the place with very distinct probabilities is Neyland - a place which surprisingly never seems to have been modelled despite its very considerable attractions with a good mixture of traffics and a fascinating track layout with the loco depot partly between the arrival and departure platforms (which it retained to the end) and the rest of the loco depot on the far side of the Up Line. It boasted relatively short (but more than two coach) portions of trains headed much further afield and although I don't think it ever had any 'Castles' allocated there is clear photographic evidence that they could be seen there, certainly in later BR steam period years. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Miles Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 South Wales fokelore has it that castles worked to Pembroke Dock. I have no way of confirming this, not being a GWR fan. The story goes that the first one they tried just fitted on the turntable, the second one was about a foot too long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Metr0Land Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2017 South Wales fokelore has it that castles worked to Pembroke Dock. I have no way of confirming this, not being a GWR fan. The story goes that the first one they tried just fitted on the turntable, the second one was about a foot too long. I never knew the Castles had a mazak problem! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2017 Wrong west country line - if you want a 7P tender first on a one coach train then the lines to Bude & Padstow would be a good place to look But no more than once a day and not in both directions............... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjnewitt Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Hereford to Gloucester is a possibility. This was a dotted red route and I've certainly seen pictures of Halls working local passenger trains and even a Britannia on a pigeon special. It's possible that Castles worked passenger trains, especially towards the end when Hereford Shed had an allocation. Talk of Castles on milk trains is all very interesting but I can't think of any creamery on a single track branch line where Castle's would have got to. All the lines talked about are double track main lines. Was there even a creamery on the GWR that was located on a single track red or dotted red route? Justin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 All very interesting, but hardly anything mentioned so far can be classed as 'branch line' in the sense envisaged by the OP. Karhedron of Basingstoke brings up the well known fact that running in turns were invariably carried out from Swindon on the main line, so why bother with branch lines? Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 One single-line branch that regularly saw Castles, and other large engines, was the Morriston branch, from Landore to Felin Fran (Swansea District Line). Workings were of two sorts. The first were relieving engines for workings like the Whitland- Kensington Milk, which were scheduled to run several times a day. The second, more spectacular, type were the diverted Paddington- Swansea High St and return workings, when the main line via Neath could not be accessed. Imagine the South Wales Pullman, or the Red Dragon, running along a single-track branch, between rows of terraced houses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted February 10, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2017 Another non main line environment for Castles and other big GW tender locos were some of the access routes to sheds, notably Cardiff East Dock, for a few years the steam outshed for the rebuilt Canton diesel depot, and Llanelli, another docklands shed. Not what the OP wants of course, but a good way of working big engines into a small dock type layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzyo Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 South Wales fokelore has it that castles worked to Pembroke Dock. I have no way of confirming this, not being a GWR fan. The story goes that the first one they tried just fitted on the turntable, the second one was about a foot too long. The first one had a 3500 gallon tender and then the second one had a 4000 gallon tender, Or the TT shrunk in the rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 One answer is to model a heritage station and so one could have the occasional 'funny hour' running whatever one liked. In fact a 'Castle' was on the first train into Carrog on it's reopening in 1996, but on rather more than three coaches! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted February 11, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 11, 2017 The first one had a 3500 gallon tender and then the second one had a 4000 gallon tender, Or the TT shrunk in the rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does it rain in Wales? or do they get the same sort of sunshine, as in Cornwall? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 I haven't been to south Wales much (3 times that I remember), but it has rained pretty much every minute that I have been there. It was quite funny the way it started raining as we crossed the Severn bridge into Wales, and the sun finally came out as we crossed the bridge on the way back. North Wales was a different story, not that much rain for me when I've visited. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Does it rain in Wales? or do they get the same sort of sunshine, as in Cornwall? The perception amongst holiday makers is it rains a lot in North Wales. This of course is encouraged .... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 12, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 12, 2017 Does it rain in Wales? or do they get the same sort of sunshine, as in Cornwall? Yes, and no. I didn't get the impression that it rained any more down there than in the West of England when I worked there. Oddly there was an interesting variant on Zomboid's observation about difference in the weather on the different sides of the Severn as I found it quite common for that to be the case when going up or down on the train, didn't matter whether it was raining or not raining at one end of the Severn Tunnel but it was often the opposite way round at the other end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Miles Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Some parts of Wales do get quite a lot of rain but interestingly, South Wales also gets a lot of sunshine. We used to have a palm tree in our garden when we lived in Sully. The wet parts tend to be the heads of the valleys (e.g. Merthyr). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 'Wales; green for a reason' Those palm trees like the relatively mild winters around Cornwall and the South Wales coast; they're not adverse to a drop of rain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 'Wales; green for a reason' Yup....It rains at night! The days are beautiful haha.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted February 12, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 12, 2017 Will fit into 18 feet in 4mm scale (with part of the station building omitted) and a nice convenient road overbridge at the other end. But as already noted the 'Castles' only ever worked 'big' trains onto/from the branch. Windsor of course did see shorter trains worked by 'Castles' but they were for very special purposes in connection with the activities of the residents of the castle across the road from the station. 4-6-0s definitely worked to Fishguard so quite likely 'Castles' got there. However the place with very distinct probabilities is Neyland - a place which surprisingly never seems to have been modelled despite its very considerable attractions with a good mixture of traffics and a fascinating track layout with the loco depot partly between the arrival and departure platforms (which it retained to the end) and the rest of the loco depot on the far side of the Up Line. It boasted relatively short (but more than two coach) portions of trains headed much further afield and although I don't think it ever had any 'Castles' allocated there is clear photographic evidence that they could be seen there, certainly in later BR steam period years. The GW 4-6-0 best associated with Neyland 87H were the Hawksworth Counties.It had a small allocation .I believed they worked parcels and milk trains.They were not often spotted in Cardiff that much I can recall. If Castles worked west of Carmarthen then they were in all probability a rarity.Fishguard boat train a distinct possibility though with through working avoiding reversal at both Swansea High Street and Carmarthen.Certainly by 1964 "Western" type 52's had charge of it through to Paddington Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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