Imaginary Railways

[The White Rabbit]

And in a parallel universe, somewhere, there is... 

 

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/railway-ribaldry-w-heath-robinson.html 

[Andy Kirkham]

One thing I dabble in is the idea that the mainline pregrouping companies actually had narrow gauge sections that mirrored the standard gauge system but were, well, narrow gauge. On16.5 is the basis, coupled with OO chassis of the Nellie or Desmond persuasion. As a result prototype tank locos are modelled, but sized down to 040s of about W&L earl and countess size. The line happens to be in the parent systems domain, but no real places are involved, and the layout will be a circle with a couple of spurs. So far, the Highland Rly is getting a makeover, which might appal a lot of folks.IMG_1178.JPG

One authentic 'might-have-been' of this kind was the Conway Valley line. The LNWR originally planned that the standard gauge would extend only as far as Bettws-y-Coed, with the continuation to Blaenau as 2ft gauge. On top of that, imagine that the General Undertaking of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways had actually been built (Corwen - Bettws-y-Coed - Beddgelert - Portmadoc). A model of that counterfactual Bettws would be a fascinating project.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just imagine if a line had been built linking Lancashire with Lincolnshire........  

 

It could've started somewhere around, say Warrington, then driven across the Pennines, maybe through Chesterfield and Bolsover, onto Lincoln and ending on the coast at, say Sutton-on-Sea.

 

Of course no-one would've planned a crazy route such as that would they?

[runs as required]

Of course no-one would've planned a crazy route such as that would they?

 

Plotting the ruling grades of an alignment from Rainow/Kerridge across the Cheshire highlands/Derbyshire  watershed north of the Cat & Fiddle to reach Ladmanlow is one of my all time favourite time wasters on a large scale contour map.

 

dh

[brack]

I struggle on this, as in the populated parts of northumberland/durham every valley, stream bed, moorland or hill you could find had had a standard gauge railway shoved up it by 1840. But part of me likes to imagine that all the sg lines to alston, weardale and allendale weren't built, the lead industry didn't collapse and a big 2'6" network running from stanhope to alston via nenthead, with a branch through rookhope to allenheads and a line over hartside into penrith. In WW2 the government might've even diverted a couple of the garratts and 4-8-0s it was building for Sierra Leone in order to help with the traffic...

 

But I always struggle to make it believable, I suspect a temparate colonial system somewhere on an unknown island might be the answer.

[KeithHC]

A few from me that I have considered. LB&SCR Branch from Redhill to Godstone would have a lot of mineral traffic Fullers Earth and Sand. GWR narrow gauge from Haverfordwest to St Davids. Connecting line from Newcastle Emlyn to Cardigan. Completion of the Ouse valley railway in Sussex. Line from Southwater to Worthing electrified as part of the Mid-Sussex scheme. There would be a new terminus called Worthing North with direct services to London.

 

Keith

[MikeOxon]

Does a railway that was planned but not built count as 'imaginary'?  My own pre-grouping layout 'North Leigh' is based on a branch from the OW&W main line to Witney, which even appears on a local map of the period.  I have commented before that if this line had been built, the much-loved Fairford branch might never have come into existence - a loss to many modellers!

[Mark Saunders]

Any thing that was never built must be imaginary just in this case it was planned and never built! Just a different version as there is less for you to imagine.The final version could have ended up totally different as circumstances change even during planning and building.

 

Mark Saunders

[eastglosmog]

Does a railway that was planned but not built count as 'imaginary'?  My own pre-grouping layout 'North Leigh' is based on a branch from the OW&W main line to Witney, which even appears on a local map of the period.  I have commented before that if this line had been built, the much-loved Fairford branch might never have come into existence - a loss to many modellers!

Interesting you should mention that, Mike.  In my version of history, where the original East Gloucestershire railway scheme got built from Cheltenham to Faringdon in the 1860s, the Fairford branch doesn't get built, either (apart from the bit from Fairford to Lechlade which would have been on the main line).  Part of the GWR's original price for support was to abandon the branch from Lechlade to Witney and substitute it with one from Andoversford to join the OWW branch at Bourton in the Water.  An amusing quirk, that the only bit of the EG to get built, does not get built!

[Poggy1165]

The Hull, Barnsley and West Riding Junction Railway and Dock Co. had some pretty impressive ideas for western extensions. Say they had got to, well, Huddersfield. Nice modest terminal with goods yards and maybe a link to the neighbours. The only snag I can see is that Dapol have not yet announced their plans for a range of Hull and Barnsley locos and stock!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The announcement of a little GER tram engine commissioned by MR has led to me proposing a tramroad between the ECML south of Hatfield and Hertford, simply for the joy of having a tram loco with a few wagons pottering into Hatfield up side yard. The tramroad itself will be notional, unmodelled, but is already nicknamed 'The Swish' for locations along the route. Not yet decided what economic justification it had, probably sands and gravel extraction will come into it, and timber alongside annual agriculture.

[CKPR]

A couple of Cumbrian possibilities which were actually contemplated and quickly shelved:

 - A Maryport & Carlisle branch to Caldbeck

- A  LNWR line from Windermere to Keswick via / under Dunmail Raise

[ForestPines]

When I was a teenager I covered large numbers of OS maps with implausible fictional railways, across the Lincolnshire Wolds, up the centre of the Pennines.

 

I haven't changed much: my current half-formed modelling plans are based around the thought of a fictional narrow gauge line to serve the manganese ore mines that briefly existed in the Rhinog hills east of Harlech.

[cctransuk]

When I was a teenager I covered large numbers of OS maps with implausible fictional railways, across the Lincolnshire Wolds, up the centre of the Pennines.

 

I haven't changed much: my current half-formed modelling plans are based around the thought of a fictional narrow gauge line to serve the manganese ore mines that briefly existed in the Rhinog hills east of Harlech.

 

Can't remember if I've posted this before ......

 

The Oakington & Cottenham Light Railway was intended to be a roadside tramway, as per the Wisbech & Upwell, but narrow gauge. The proposal was made at the end of the 19th Century.

 

It would have run from Oakington station, (on the Cambridge - St. Ives SG line), to Cottenham village.

 

In Cottenham it would have run the length of the village in the main road and terminated at Cottenham Lode, near to the church and rectory; there was to have been a branch to the Cottenham brickworks.

 

Road improvements ensured that it was not built, but the large-scale deposited plans, showing the nominal route and limits of deviation are with the Cambridgeshire Archive; I produced copies for my own use, years ago; http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/234b3d2c-df7f-4461-bbb3-c679c854d587 .

 

Study of the contemporary loco and rolling stock manufacturers' catalogues for the relevant period suggests some interesting tram locos and stock may have been acquired if the railway had come to pass.

 

My, ultimately uncompleted, efforts : http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68396-unbuilt-railways/page-2 .

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[runs as required]

A couple of Cumbrian possibilities which were actually contemplated and quickly shelved:

 - A Maryport & Carlisle branch to Caldbeck

- A  LNWR line from Windermere to Keswick via / under Dunmail Raise

From N&C Brampton ( junction) across to Longtown. IIIRC this has appeared on earlier maps

 

dh

[SD85]

It's really fascinating to speculate on what might have or might not have been built. So many ideas and proposals down the years. One of my favourites is a railway that would have traversed much of the country that was served by the S&C, which would have entailed a tunnel three miles in length in the Mallerstang region and a viaduct a quarter of a mile long near Appleby.

 

Another one is the idea that the Stainmore line had its junction for the Eden Valley branch at Maiden Castle high on South Stainmore, and not at Kirkby Stephen East. In reality Maiden Castle was considered too remote a spot for a junction, but if they had built it there then in all probability there would have been a station at Brough which could have been fairly substantial.

 

Yet another good idea for a model would have been the MR's proposed station at Mallerstang between KS and Garsdale, which was abandoned when the local community were asked to pay for the construction of the access road to it, and refused.

 

Even more interesting is when certain lines got under way in terms of construction, but then were abandoned. The most obvious example near where I live is the Ouse Valley Line. This was actually started, but then the financial crisis of 1866/67 happened and work was abandoned. There are some remnants near Haywards Heath, a bridge and embankment leading to nowhere. I think several layouts have been constructed on this particular what if. Similarly, I also noticed recently that some of the old OS maps from the 1870s showed earthworks and tunnels along the route of the South Croydon to Oxted line, supposedly not built until the 1880s. This route was actually started as a Croydon - Tunbridge Wells line in the 1860s, but the financial crisis and other factors put paid to that. When the Oxted line was constructed they simply utilised the existing earthworks and structures which had been abandoned.

[SD85]

On a theme closer to my model railway, I have read that originally the post war electrification of the Southern Region would have entailed a gradual westward creep of the juice, starting with the Kent lines. Apparently the idea was that eventually all the remaining SR steam locos would have been gathered at Exmouth Junction shed or thereabouts serving the Withered Arm lines as a sort of steam redoubt. This would have entailed phasing out steam traction in the 1970s or so. I think what put paid to the idea was the transfer of the SR lines west of Salisbury to WR control, which meant that everything west of Salisbury ended up under diesels after 64/65, and the SR just electrified what they needed to in 1967 and got rid of steam then.

 

I think the Irwell Press book on the history of the Bulleid WC/BB engines mentions this, but I can't find much else about it. Could someone enlighten me on this further if possible? It would be an interesting modelling challenge - I'm currently planning a Southern Region shed layout set around 1966/67 or so, but I'm getting intrigued by the idea of modelling a 'last bastion' of Bulleids circa 1971 or so - some still in steam era BR livery, others maybe in plain green or possibly corporate blue with the double arrow symbol on their tenders, perhaps a bunch of Standard 5s in unlined black with the same logo - it sounds quite fun.

[BG John]

Plenty of inspiration in Whimshire!

http://titfield.co.uk/Barnfield/PB_main.htm

[Antony Farrell]

I'm looking at a re-imagined Princes Risborough using the assumption that the Midland had actually managed to get the London, Buckinghamshire and East Gloucestershire railway built which could have turned the Princes Risborough to Thame into a joint route, Thame becoming a junction. The southern end where the line from Amersham would enter Princes Risborough would probably need to be amended but I'm not sure northen end heading for Thame would need any alteration of the track plan. (I'm looking at 1913 for the setting)

As far as I can tell this would allow me to run GWR, GCR, Midland and L,B & E.G. stock into the re-imagined Princes Risborough.

[Corbs]

Lots of good ideas here.

Nile has done something similar with the London and Mid Western Railway and the West Midlands Railway.

 

I'm modelling my version of the North Western Railway, also imaginary.

 

An imaginary feature of my imaginary line is the train ferry at Arlesburgh. In this universe most goods bound for the Isle of Man come via the NWR. To avoid double handling, a train ferry service runs from Arlesburgh (IoS) where standard gauge wagons are shunted directly onto the ferry, to Douglas (IoM).

At Douglas a lone SG loco is kept busy unloading the ferry and shunting the wagons into a transhipment shed alongside the IOMR station, where the loads are put on to the 3' gauge trains and vice versa.

This service was carried out 1921-1940 (when the ferry was requisitioned for war service) and 1945-1970.

[MikeOxon]

...............................

Nile has done something similar with the London and Mid Western Railway and the West Midlands Railway.

 

I remember Nile started a blog on the LMWR, which interested me since my own North Leigh is in the same neck of the woods.  Any chance of an update?

[Northmoor]

A few from me that I have considered. LB&SCR Branch from Redhill to Godstone would have a lot of mineral traffic Fullers Earth and Sand. GWR narrow gauge from Haverfordwest to St Davids. Connecting line from Newcastle Emlyn to Cardigan. Completion of the Ouse valley railway in Sussex. Line from Southwater to Worthing electrified as part of the Mid-Sussex scheme. There would be a new terminus called Worthing North with direct services to London.

 

Keith

 

Being brought up in "Little England beyond Wales" I always liked the idea of the Carmarthen and Cardigan as well - the Cardi-Bach would never have existed and I'm sure the passenger services would have lasted at least as long.  I am currently building "St.Davids" myself, but as terminus of a standard gauge branch from Mathry Junction (first station just at the top of the incline from Abermawr Harbour).

[BG John]

Somewhere on the to-do list for when I discover the secret of eternal life, is either Cardigan or Newcastle Emlyn in broad gauge, on the assumption that the whole Carmarthen & Cardigan was built at the start, rather than only getting as far as Llandysul.

[Northmoor]

Just been in my library and the figures for the C&C could make sense.

 

Intermediate stations at Cenarth, Abercych and Llechyd wouldn't contribute much, but in 1925 Kilgerran and Cardigan contributed half the passengers and three-quarters of the freight traffic for the whole Whitland and Cardigan (which admittedly wasn't that great).  Transfer that to the Newcastle Emlyn branch and it might have survived beyond 1952 (and 1972 for freight).

 

Off topic but noteworthy is that traffic receipts from some Pembrokeshire stations fell by 70% in a decade during the 1920s/30s.  The idea that rail traffic only declined after WW2 and was run down by BR is 30-40 years off.

[Compound2632]

See here for the not-quite-nearly-was LMS of the 1880s.