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Brampton Railway


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The Brampton Railway, as many here will know, was a private mineral system of some antiquity, and represented a fascinating collection of motive power over the years (including Rocket at one time, I believe!).  I wondered if anyone here had any idea of the livery or liveries applied by the Brampton to their locomotives?

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Not sure of the loco livery Edwardian, but there is a useful site about the railway, with plenty of photos of the locos etc.: 

 

http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway.html

 

Thanks, Neil. This site represents most of what I've found, though I have both the books cited on order.

 

There is a locomotive pictures page (http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway_locomotives.html), and the pictures of Dandie Dinmount and Sheriff show a common lining style in the 1900s.  I don't know if either of the books will mention the colour(s); I don't see that the website does. I'll have to wait and see!

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I've had Lord Carlisle's Railway on my bookshelf for some time, and this post has made me dig it out and read it properly. What an interesting line, with some intriguing locos and rolling stock! I can see its dandy car being an inspiration for Castle Aching.

I won't spoil the ending regarding loco liveries!

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I've had Lord Carlisle's Railway on my bookshelf for some time, and this post has made me dig it out and read it properly. What an interesting line, with some intriguing locos and rolling stock! I can see its dandy car being an inspiration for Castle Aching.

I won't spoil the ending regarding loco liveries!

 

It is a fascinating read.  I note that we have colours for Dandie Dinmount and Sheriff, but not for Tichborne and No.5.

 

That is a pity, because I would love to model one of those long-boilers with the 4-wheel tenders.

 

The short-lived passenger service of the 1880s, with Dandie Dinmount and the aged ex-LNWR 4-wheelers is an irresistible subject, however. 

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I note that Nearholmer has paid a visit!

 

And there is something in the Brampton story that may be right up his street!

 

By way of background, Brampton is low lying and impossible for a railway line to reach.  Some distance to the south was the coal depot of Brampton Staith, and, from the 1830s, a horse-drawn 'dandy' coach took passenger the 1 and something miles from the Staith to the junction with the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway.

 

The Brampton railway or railways were in Lord Carlisle's Barony, but, along with the collieries they served, were leased.  In short, the town folk of Brampton clamoured for a proper passenger service but the lessee was luke warm and very resistant to giving up control of the line from the Staith to the N&C.

 

As a result, there were only two brief periods of steam-hauled passenger trains on the line:

 

(1) 1881-1890.  The little 0-4-0 tank pictured was specially purchased, as were three, from the looks of it, 1850s vintage LNWR coaches.  There was no run round facility, so the service was propelled in one direction. With no signals, interlocking etc, at a, rather contrived, BoT inspection of 1890, the inspector no doubt narrowly avoided heart attack and promptly closed the service down. 

 

(2) Upgraded and run by the NER 1913-1923 (with wartime suspensions), with a BTP push-pull service.

 

However, one of the 'might have been' revival schemes seriously considered between these two dates was a tramway proposed in1903.  This would convert Brampton Staith to a through station and actually reach the town.

 

In relation to motive power, both an overhead electric trolley and a steam railmotor were ruled out as too expensive, so the intention was to employ a petrol motor-tramcar of 10 h.p. with a capacity of 16 passengers. Two of these would be used, the second as back-up and relief during busy periods, together with 2 trailer cars, also for 16 passengers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought a copy of Lord Carlisle' Railways, today but have yet to read it. Looking through the photos there is a very interesting long boiler box saddletank 0-6-0, which, apart from the wheel arrangement, is identical to the 4-4-0 box saddletank that worked at a Peckfield Colliery. One or both are on the list to be built in 4mm...

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I bought a copy of Lord Carlisle' Railways, today but have yet to read it. Looking through the photos there is a very interesting long boiler box saddletank 0-6-0, which, apart from the wheel arrangement, is identical to the 4-4-0 box saddletank that worked at a Peckfield Colliery. One or both are on the list to be built in 4mm...

 

This is the Stephenson long boiler tank, rebuilt to a tender engine.

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I have been considering modelling the wagon works / foundry at Kirkhouse.  I recently ended up looking at the properties around there (professionally as a structural engineer) and became fascinated by the reuse of the buildings.  There are pretty interesting to model.

 

I had also done some work at RSPB Geltsdale which was the site of the Clowsgill Limeworks.  We ended up inspecting some of the original railway bridges in the area as there was some limited collapses of the spandrel walls.

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Thanks, Neil. This site represents most of what I've found, though I have both the books cited on order.

 

There is a locomotive pictures page (http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/brampton_railway_locomotives.html), and the pictures of Dandie Dinmount and Sheriff show a common lining style in the 1900s.  I don't know if either of the books will mention the colour(s); I don't see that the website does. I'll have to wait and see!

According to the book Lord Carlisle's Railways, by Brian Webb and David A. Gordon, Dandie Dinmont was originally finished in green with two concave corner-lined panels on its tank sides and it had the name painted on the leading panel.  After rebuild by Barclays, in 1906, it was painted Caledonian blue and lined out with only one convex curved panel on the tank sides.

 

The only other loco that livery details are given for is the AB 0-6-0ST Sheriff, which was painted dark blue with concave-cornered panels lined black, edged both sides with white. A brass nameplate was fitted, with 4-in. high letters.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You don't see many pictures of the Brampton railway...apart fromt he same 2 dozen or so photographs, until now....

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/irishswissernie/albums/72157665810570739

 

These views are all held in the Armstrong Trust and they have another series taken at Kirkhouse just before the line closed...if you catch one of Dave Dunn's talks (hes at the Mining Institute in Newcastle this weekend) you can get to see them projected onto a large screen.

 

Duncan

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Many of these photographs are from the camera of the late Fleetwood Shawe, who lived on Station Road in Brampton. His photographic collection was legendary as he had always taken pictures of the mundane for all the years he was alive, he passed away a few years at the age of 90+. This meant his collection contained many pictures going back to a time before many of us would remember. The diversity of the pictures he took are shown to great effect in Ernie Bracks' album.

 

When Fleetwood passed away, there was the potential horror that the collection might be lost, but thankfully his son found a good home for with the Armstrong Trust, and there were many other organisations who would have offered it a home. 

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Fleetwood Shawe, a real name from the past.  An early innovator in model railways in the 40's, 50's and 60's. I hadn't realised that he was a railway photographer as well.  Great photos.  A good job that some people had the forethought to photograph what was at the time a very mundane and unglamorous bit of minor railway.  What else is in his collection?

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  • 9 months later...

Finally made it over for a day's walking selected bits of the Brampton.  We had a nose around various places and met some helpful and interesting folk, not least the garage owner at the former Brampton Staith site. He abandoned a customer to walk us round what was left, with said customer, whose interest was by now piqued, in tow!

 

Only the foundations of the former coal cells building and the retaining wall for the former platform lines remain.  The little office at the front of the site was said to have been taken away by the folk at York.  What, I wonder, has happened to it?   Bridge abutments, elegantl stonework dating from 1836, were also extant.  A resident informed us that he had been there when they took the (1912 NER) plate girders off to (allegedly) melt down for Spitfires. 

 

I must take this opportunity to thank 87029 and his father for the information provides some months back.

 

Among the relics surviving, recognised (I think) are the cottages at Kirkhouse, by which the workman's coal siding was formerly laid.  

 

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Brampton Staith, foundation of the coal cells building.  This was elevated, as these were coal-drops. There was originally a pitched roof stone structure at this point.  The garage owner said that a loco had once ventured too far along the drops and gone off the end.  Hard to imagine from what's left.

 

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Now forming the back wall of a lean-to shed, while Lancias decay into the soils, is the retaining wall for further drops and the former platform lines:  

 

579196284_20190413(100)-Small.JPG.edc6d7eb6a2e37a711e0bf87fc395283.JPG

 

Along the line eastwards, the former railway offices, Kirkhouse:

 

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Did you find any fish bellied rail? There are still a few lengths lying about plus quite a few stone sleeper blocks, especially up the Gairs branch.

Here's the M&CR version of  Dandy D. cut down for running on the Maryport Harbour Branch. (Not my photo).

 

IMG_20190415_0001_NEW.jpg

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On 15/04/2019 at 15:18, Ian Blenk said:

Did you find any fish bellied rail? There are still a few lengths lying about plus quite a few stone sleeper blocks, especially up the Gairs branch.

Here's the M&CR version of  Dandy D. cut down for running on the Maryport Harbour Branch. (Not my photo).

 

IMG_20190415_0001_NEW.jpg

I don't suppose anyone knows of any drawings for this engine?  I would like to build one

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13 hours ago, Ruston said:

I don't suppose anyone knows of any drawings for this engine

had a google etc.. and thats a can of worms. most of there documents where archived in glasgow so might be there https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/c9fe4f28-f14f-3b22-9a5f-65f98d6b9db9 and that loco made it all the way to LMS days 

 

http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/maryport_david_hey.html

 

but i would guess you lot know that.. :) 

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8 hours ago, calvin Streeting said:

had a google etc.. and thats a can of worms. most of there documents where archived in glasgow so might be there https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/c9fe4f28-f14f-3b22-9a5f-65f98d6b9db9 and that loco made it all the way to LMS days 

 

http://www.cumbria-railways.co.uk/maryport_david_hey.html

 

but i would guess you lot know that.. :) 

I didn't know that but it's not worth going all the way to Glasgow for. I have just remembered that there's a sketch  diagram in Lord Carlisle's Railways that gives all of the major dimensions in side view. That, and photos, will do for me. In fact I'm thinking of cheating somewhat and may use a RTR mechanism in the form of a Dapol LSWR B4. The wheelbases are identical but the B4's wheels are 3ft. 9in as opposed to Dandie Dinmont's 4ft. 0 ins. It's only 1mm in scale and who's going to know the difference from "normal viewing distances"? Yes, the wheels themselves are of different styles but we'll gloss over that one for now. DD was 7 ins longer than a B4, so overall dimensions aren't too far out at all and it's far easier to fit a shorter chassis into a longer body than vice versa.

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