Mosspaul (was Linhope Siding)

['CHARD]

It's been a while since I toyed with layout planning - an enforced house move and immovable distractions have seen to that.  'Whitehill New Yard L.I.P' is stuttering along as part of much larger layout aspirations - I have been continually honing my fleet in anticipation, now just possibly at long last there could be opportunity for a layout build.  It is dependent on all manner of variables, not least creating space in a garage and extension, but it's now more feasible than at any time in the previous decade.

 

I have neither the skills nor time to scratchbuild and kit-bash my way to faithful recreations of the prototype Waverley route, neither can I do any cameo of the real thing justice without the compromise of selective compression.  Almost any aspect of the real line exists in widescreen, the scenic grandeur lends itself to N-gauge really, but I've spent twenty years accumulating suitable stock in OO, so 4mm it is.  To this end, I am contemplating an alternative but plausible fiction, based on the premise that the alternative alignment of the main line through Langholm was built.  Although this was surveyed by the Caledonian Railway, my chosen narrative envisages that it was actually a North British build.

 

I've long had a 'wants-list' of signature features that embody the WR, as a backdrop for actual WTT-based activity in its last 24 months of operation.  These include a couple of stations (one principal and one minor), a parallel trunk road (A7) with dog-leg overbridge, a still functioning goods yard at the larger station and defunct one at the minor station, a watercourse (the River Teviot), viaduct and tunnel - the usual fare really.  There are plenty more that I will add...

 

The working name is an echo of Whitrope of course, taken from the dwelling at Linhope on the A7 between Mosspaul Hotel and Teviothead.  This would be the envisaged summit of the line on its journey from Longtown, via Langholm north-eastwards to Hawick.  The possibility for stations include Canonbie, Langholm and Hawick (Lower Haugh).  I intend to pore over OS maps to get the contours right and plot a potential route.  At the same time, I will see what signature features could be incorporated and where.  This should give me plenty to keep me occupied during the dark Yuletide nights....

 

Those familiar with my research methods will know the importance I attach to social context.  The chequered history of Mosspaul Inn (Hotel) is at this link - amazing how it fell into disrepair after the Waverley route was opened and rendered mail coach technology obsolete at a stroke...

https://electricscotland.com/history/articles/mosspaul.htm

 

More anon.  This is likely to be a long smoulder rather than a flare! 

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by 'CHARD

[coronach]

I look forward to seeing progress. I wil add this topic to my 'following' list .

[Richard Hall]

I like your thinking.  I too have spent a lot of time thinking about what constitutes "essence of Waverley".  Gradients and curves, traffic patterns and the people who worked and used the line. I want to build a model of a railway, which is not quite the same thing as a model railway.  Good luck with the planning and remember to make it portable - see if we can get my layout and yours to the Hawick exhibition in around 2022...

 

Richard

['CHARD]

Right, I've been doing a bit of surveying and started to profile the western detour via Mosspaul. 

 

My version of the alternative route starts at Thistle viaduct north of Scotch Dyke, which structure I've taken as my zero point.  There are 30-odd miles from here until the line enters Hawick via Wilton Dean and the Teviot Glen.

 

The line follows the route of the A7 for much of its course, climbing northwards towards the summit at Mosspaul using the hillside contours to gain height more gradually than the turnpike as it traverses the pass.  Usefully in terms of capturing the character of the line, the A7 road crosses and recrosses the line, this pattern being repeated on the descent to Vales Bridge.

 

I gave a decent depth of analysis to the broad corridor for the route.  To that extent, I have been able to provide approximate locations for the mileage posts of the imagined line, as follows:

1. North Lodge  
   
2. Priorslynn Cottage 
   
3. Bogle Gill
   
4. Gilnockie Tower 
   
5. Irvineburn
   
6. Broomholm 
   
7. Skippers Bridge
   
8. Langholm Station 
   
9. Ewes Water 
   
10. Tarrona
    
11. Hoghill Farm
    
12. Kirkstile 
    
13. Sandyhaugh (northbound climb starts here)
    
14. Mosspeeble 
    
15. Blackhall Wood 
    
16. Mosspaul Burn 
    
17. Whin Fell
    
18. Mosspaul Inn (summit attained after a climb of 5 ¹/₂ miles at 1 in 77 - 1 in 78, less arduous than the climb to Whitrope)
    
19. Linhope
    
20. Meg's Hill 
    
21. Slateturn
    
22. Bowanhill
    
23. Cotterscleugh
    
24. Mossyknowe
    
25. Teindside
    
26. Vales Bridge (start of southbound climb)
    
27. Branxholme
    
28. Haysike
    
29. Crumhaugh
    
30. Wilton Dean
    

Canonbie Station on the main line is at 2m 25ch and actually in the settlement it serves rather than at Rowanburn on the Langholm branch.  Precise location for this is to be researched using old maps.

 

Now I've satisfied myself this will work, using various Google tools and GPS data, it's time to invest in an old school OS Map and play with crayons for the weekend!  That way I'll be able to compile a long shortlist of interesting imagineered structures that the line's promoters would have needed to fund to get the trains over the hill!

 

Please NOTE, the above list was edited in subsequent post dated 03/01/2019 after careful plotting on OS Explorer Sheet 323 'Eskdale and Castle O'Er Forest' as far as MP21.

Edited January 3, 2019 by 'CHARD

[Richard Hall]

Obvious places for stations are Branxholme, Teviothead and Arkleton.  If anything the Mosspaul Pass route is even more lacking in human habitation than Liddesdale. One of my planned but never built layouts was the Teviot Light Railway - a Lauder-style enterprise running from Hawick up to Teviothead.  There didn't seem to be a lot of point in extending it much further south unless it was possible to sell tickets to sheep. My OS map (dated 1976, Lynwood and Sandholm still intact) also has a line from Hawick to Ettrick pencilled in, and I don't even remember coming up with that idea.

['CHARD]

I've been up to more planning, attempting to set the right topographic context for the line as it climbs the Esk valley through Canonbie and into Langholm, before heading along the valley of Ewes Water.  My thoughts are now to site Langholm's through station north-west of the actual 1864 branch terminus, with the station building sited in David Street, alongside the Eskdale Hotel and close to the Town Square.  Had this been built in reality, it would have been ideally sited for the Muckle Town's sprawling fairs.

 

The approach from the Canonbie direction follows the approximate line of the as built branch route from Skipper's Bridge, then crossing the A7 and using the area between the river and road to accommodate a scaled down version of Galashiels' yards and other facilities, including a loco shed for the Mosspaul bankers, plus goods sidngs.  I have in mind that the Canonbie coalfield had continued to be worked beyond the 1950s, and due to lack of space at Canonbie, sorting and reversing sidings would be provided at Langholm, meaning a couple of loops in the yard.  I don't envisage much at Canonbie, really only the sort of level of facilities that Stow had, and these will be portyrayed as out of use by 1967.

 

Judging by the 1859 1:2500 map, the relevant part of Langholm was fields, so would have been ideal for acquisition by the railway company to develop as operational assets. 

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/336500/584500/12/100135

 

Gala yards, pretty much as I would wish them, in 1964, here:  https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/349500/636500/12/100954

These could be usefully simplified.  I have in mind a bridge over the Esk to enable road traffic to service the goods yard, pretty much where the footbridge is situated today, linking George Street with Caroline Street either side of the water.

 

The as-built roadside properties along the A7 could have happily co-existed with the railway behind them.  Towards the Thomas Telford bridge, my working assumption is that the NBR compulsorily purchased the properties in George, John and Charles Streets, enabling the main line to leave town on the east bank of the Esk, with the A7 (Townhead) alongside.  The Thomas Telford bridge would be modified to enable the main line to pass beneath.

 

EDIT: detail above in red reviewed and modified, see entry for 03/01/2019 below.

Edited January 3, 2019 by 'CHARD

['CHARD]

Field trip planned for the 50th anniversary weekend 5th-6th January 2019, coinciding with various odds and ends on the line of route...

['CHARD]

Now here's a thing; if (and it's a big 'if') I end up with two (possibly three) short tunnels on the Langholm - Hawick (via Mosspaul) route, then I can build them to accommodate early Freightliner traffic, yes?

 

Yours Seasonally,

Rhett Oracle.

Edited December 20, 2018 by 'CHARD

[Richard Hall]

Now here's a thing; if (and it's a big 'if') I end up with two (possibly three) short tunnels on the Langholm - Hawick (via Mosspaul) route, then I can build them to accommodate early Freightliner traffic, yes?

 

Yours Seasonally,

Rhett Oracle.

 

The WR purist in me says no.  I know those new Bachmann Freightliner flats look tempting but it's a slippery slope.  Start changing the prototype to accomodate the latest shiny things from China, and next thing you know, Mosspaul will evolve into a six-road TMD full of garishly painted diesels with glittery LED headlights, thirty of them all farting and fizzing through tiny little speakers.  Stick to Conflat As. Pretty little things they are.

['CHARD]

The WR purist in me says no.  I know those new Bachmann Freightliner flats look tempting but it's a slippery slope.  Start changing the prototype to accomodate the latest shiny things from China, and next thing you know, Mosspaul will evolve into a six-road TMD full of garishly painted diesels with glittery LED headlights, thirty of them all farting and fizzing through tiny little speakers.  Stick to Conflat As. Pretty little things they are.

 

Oh that has made me laugh! 

[62440]

I've finished off my past couple of talks on the Waverley Route with a photo of Donald Trump, mentioning the possibility of golf course, hotel, leisure complex &c at Mosspaul and suggesting that he sponsors the double track line from Hawick to Carlisle to service the thronging multitude of visitors to 'Trump Mosspaul'.

 

 

... well, I can dream!

 

Bruce.

 

Langholm.

[Richard Hall]

I've finished off my past couple of talks on the Waverley Route with a photo of Donald Trump, mentioning the possibility of golf course, hotel, leisure complex &c at Mosspaul and suggesting that he sponsors the double track line from Hawick to Carlisle to service the thronging multitude of visitors to 'Trump Mosspaul'.

 

 

... well, I can dream!

 

Bruce.

 

Langholm.

 

No more far-fetched than the promoters of the original route explaining how it would serve all the industrial towns of Liddesdale... 

 

Richard

[37175]

No more far-fetched than the promoters of the original route explaining how it would serve all the industrial towns of Liddesdale... 

 

Richard

 

 

Not sure where you got that idea; they didn't say that. Here's part of the (lengthy!) debate that I recently typed out, and featured in the latest issue of The Waverley magazine that goes some way to explaining the virtues of the Liddesdale scheme.

 

[19/11/1858]

 

In preparing for the Parliamentary struggle, the advocates of the Langholm scheme have shown at least capital “pluck,” vigorous self-reliance, and a determination not to be over-crowed by their opponents. But that is about the most that can be said on their behalf. They have, it is true, so far conceded to their antagonists as to propose carrying their line somewhat nearer Longtown. That, however, is all; and no amount of subscriptions at Langholm, of jokes about the one miner at the Plashetts, and his probable consumption of “pork from Annan and herrings from Dunbar,” or of sarcasms about miraculous “seams of soft soap” having been found intersecting the limestone beds of Liddesdale, will make up for the inherent deficiencies of their project. Their line would, it is granted, accommodate Langholm better than the opposing one, but it would accomplish none of the other objects which ought to be kept in view in forming such a railway, and which, we take leave to say, are not at all secondary in importance even to the convenience of the principal town of the district. 

 

The Liddesdale line would accommodate both Langholm and Newcastleton; it would not merely open up the coalfields of Canonbie, but it would give free access to the lime-kilns of the Liddel, and an outlet to their productions; it would, moreover, give access to a virgin coal-field that is but waiting for the operations of the engineer and the navvy to pour forth its riches, and would bring Hawick 40 miles nearer to Newcastle and the eastern ports whence it draws its materials and whither it sends its manufactures. In addition to this, there would be security that the line would be managed so as to develop to the utmost extent the traffic that could be brought to it, and that exertions would be made to give it a beneficial place in the railway system of the country – a security that is totally absent in the other project, which has indeed been concocted expressly with a view to exclude these advantages. All the clever speeches of Mr. Chisholme and his supporters cannot talk away the solid reasons for giving precedence to the Liddesdale line which Sir James Graham so forcibly put before the meeting at Edinburgh on Monday. : - “I am glad that your plan of this year embraces a branch to Langholm. I adhere to the opinion expressed by me before the committees of last session, that this alone was wanting to render your scheme of railroad accommodation for this border district of England and Scotland as good as local circumstances would admit. You will tap every source of traffic; you will open up new supplies of coal and lime, breaking down existing monopolies; you will afford to passengers throughout a large tract of country new access to railway accommodation; and you will bring to Carlisle as to a common centre, without deviation from a direct line, the largest amount of passengers and goods seeking transport, whether west or south – to Ireland or England. The combination of these advantages is the strength of your case.”

 

Among the many mistakes that have been made in the course of this complicated and violent contest, not the least important is that which the Caledonian railway and its allies and adherents have made as to the view that ought to be taken of their rights and position. Mr. Chisholme, the other evening, in his speech at Langholm stated that “at the last conference meeting Sir James Graham frankly admitted that the Caledonian railway were fairly entitled to protection for their through traffic;” and from this he drew the hasty inference that it was inconsistent in Sir James, holding these views, to support the North British line. But, even admitting that Mr. Chisholme has rightly put the admission of Sir James Graham, to what does it amount? Surely not that the Caledonian has a vested right in all the traffic between the north-west of England and the east and north of Scotland. It once set up the same claim as regards Glasgow and the west of Scotland, with what success is testified by the present existence of a competing line running straight from its own station in Carlisle to its most important Scotch terminus. Because the Caledonian Railway Company have constructed, greatly to the public benefit, a line from Carlisle to Edinburgh, have they thereby acquired an interest in all the traffic between Carlisle and Hawick, Melrose, Selkirk, Galashiels, Kelso and Berwick?

 

Is it not, as Sir James Graham puts it, as reasonable to say that the North British, by virtue of its existing line to Hawick, has a right to carry all the traffic going from Tweedside to the south-west? In truth there never was a clearer case of competing schemes which ought to be decided solely as they benefitted the public. If the Parliamentary committees can devise a method of “protection for the through traffic” of the Caledonian that would save it from such reckless and mad competition as it was itself the first to introduce into Scotland, in its attempts to drive the Edinburgh and Glasgow to terms, everybody will be satisfied; for it can never be the interest of the public to diminish the reasonable profits of an important railway so as to slacken the energy of its management, and, by consequence, to lessen the benefits conferred by it upon the districts which it traverses or connects. But if, in the event of the decision going against it upon the main question, the Caledonian should find some difficulty in obtaining such protection, it will have itself chiefly to blame.

 

The line from Carlisle to Hawick, by the vale of Liddel, as now laid down, is entirely independent of any connection with the Caledonian – which, therefore can no longer put in the plea that it would be unfair to allow a part of its own rails to be employed in carrying out a direct system of competition against its own interest. The “Border Union Railway” is now planned to enter Carlisle by crossing the Eden near Stainton and joining the Port Carlisle line, while its branch to the west would simply cross the Caledonian at Gretna. The features of the new line are thus those of an independent and directly competing one, and while we should grieve to see such a competition spring up as would cause loss to both companies, and ultimate disadvantage to the public, it is to be confessed that, by their own obstinacy, the Caledonian Directors have rendered that result a great deal more probable than it was. 

[Richard Hall]

Not sure where you got that idea; they didn't say that. 

 

An un-named NB chairman in 1858, quoted in "Rails Across The Border" By Alexander Mullay. The actual phrase was "the flourishing manufacturing towns along the line by Liddesdale". It would be interesting to have the full context of this quote.

 

Richard

[37175]

An un-named NB chairman in 1858, quoted in "Rails Across The Border" By Alexander Mullay. The actual phrase was "the flourishing manufacturing towns along the line by Liddesdale". It would be interesting to have the full context of this quote.

 

Richard

 

 

I'll see if I can find the full debate from which that quote was taken.

[Ross60103]

I'll see if I can find the full debate from which that quote was taken.

 

Hello all, 

 

Fascinating thread, some of the claims from RH (Hodgson not Hall!!) remind me so much of the "Brexit Bus" and the huge financial benefits to be gained from leaving the EU....another interesting source also referred to in A J Mullay is the MA Dissertation by John J Elliot entitled "The Border Railways- their growth and decline", University of Edinburgh 1969, specifically 'the exaggerated belief in the development momentum created by railways'.

Meanwhile hope all my fellow anoraks are preparing for a very merry Christmas, all the best from New Zealand.

[37175]

An un-named NB chairman in 1858, quoted in "Rails Across The Border" By Alexander Mullay. The actual phrase was "the flourishing manufacturing towns along the line by Liddesdale". It would be interesting to have the full context of this quote.

 

Richard

 

 

The closest I can find is from 22nd April 1858 when Sir James Graham (Netherby Hall, just north of Longtown) was cross examined by the House of Commons Select Committee, questioned by the counsel Mr Denison. Here is the only time I can find "flourish/ing" and "manufacture/ing" mentioned at the same time. It may well be that I've missed it elsewhere, but there are hundreds if not thousands of pages to go through and this is the only text I keep coming back to - hope it's of interest:

 

 

Is there any local reason why manufacturers should not flourish at Longtown as much as at Langholm? - No ; I should confidently hope, if railroad communication were obtained, manufacturers might be encouraged there and might thrive; there is a population inadequately employed, and poor from the want of employment.

 

The population is about 2,400, I think! - Yes ; it was 2,050 at the last census, and I believe from enquiries I have made, that it may be fairly now put at about 2,400.

 

As far as population goes, there is no very great difference between Longtown and Langholm, though Langholm is no doubt a more flourishing place! - I should think not ; there is a woollen manufactory at Langholm which has been very advantageous to it indeed, and it was the success of what I had seen at Langholm that made me more anxious to confer, if possible, on Longtown similar benefits.

['CHARD]

Well, although this topic should possibly be better handled as a blog, my pre-work continues apace....  albeit a languid pace, truth be told.

 

I have spent a week plotting and prevaricating over OS Explorer maps 323 and 331, both numbers to be the principal classes of Northern EMU before too long!

 

Whereas previously I had used GPS altitude measurements of the A7 alongside Google Earth and other resources, I now have the luxury of the printed cartography. And it seems on face value to offer precisely the range of modelling cameos and signature features that I believe are essential to my layout needs. 

 

It's interesting that the route selected for 'development' is somewhat different when one returns to the traditional tools of contour and curve - as these are the variables that drive line-speed and therefore route commercial viability.  I have restricted maximum incline to 1:100 rather than 1:75. with slightly more generous curves than the Liddesdale solum as built.

 

Once I have a way of scanning the marked-up maps in, I shall share!

Edited December 27, 2018 by 'CHARD

['CHARD]

Update after much old school map play, during which I relived the innocence of the pre-digital age, poring over the trusty OS maps and pencilling-in various alternative routes until, this lunchtime, I can say with a degree of certainty that I'm now happy with the route topography from Scotsdike to Mosspaul summit, at a ruling gradient of no more than 1:100 and on which basis I've sketched the route.

 

So, without further ado, here's a recast of the mileages from post 4 above. 

 

1. North Lodge 
2. Priorslynn Cottages (line crosses Esk and passes to the east of Canonbie cemetery)
3. Canonbie Saw Mill (alignment on the fields east of River Esk)
4. Gilnockie Tower (line recrosses Esk at Byreburnfoot to pass to the west of Gilnockie Bridge)
5. Auchenrivock (Irvineburn)
6. Broomholm (line then tunnels for 590 yards beneath the promontory of Middleholm Hill around which the Esk flows, this will become clear from picture posted later)
7. Skippers Bridge (line stays on west side of Esk, crossing just north of this point at Murtholm viaduct)
8. Langholm Station (line hugs A7 before crossing to west of Ewes Water at Langholm Mill)
9. Ewes Water (Highmill) (A7 crosses the route which thence runs between the road and Ewes Water)
10. Terrona (north of this point, the A7 recrosses the line which begins its climb on the hillside to the west of the road)
11. Hoghill (line diverges to the west of the A7 to continue its climb)
12. Kirkstile (line climbing along hillside to the rear of Sorbie Cottage and Kirkton House)
13. Sandyhaugh (line behind and above settlement)
14. Mosspeeble (line cut into hillside above and west of A7)
15. Ewes Water Sykefoot (opposite Blackhall Wood)
16. Glenvarren Cottage (line then crosses viaduct behind and above Eweslees farm before entering Whin Fell tunnel (415 yds) and crossing A7 and Mosspaul Burn)
17. Mosspaul Burn (line hugs the contour across the watercourse from the A7 and climbs towards the summit)
18. Mosspaul Inn (summit attained after a climb of 8 miles at approx 1 in 100, less arduous than the climb to Whitrope, marked by the A7 dog-leg bridge back to the east of the line)
19. Linhope
20. Frostlie Burn (Meg's Hill, line crosses back to east of the A7 to take advantage of the contours again for the descent of the upper Teviot watershed)

The analysis has demonstrated a workable and viable alternative route with convincing and appealing modelling opportunities, applying the basic principles, styles and parameters of the actual Waverley line.  I'll follow-up with some photos showing the working, and this forthcoming weekend I'm hoping to capture some fieldwork research photos as well.

['CHARD]

This year has seen the following pre-work so far:

• coarse plot of the route via Mosspaul on OS Landranger 79 'Hawick & Eskdale'
• finessed plot on OS Explorer maps 323 and 331, Eskdale & Castle O'er and Teviotdale South (Hawick)
• field trip on 50th anniversary of the line 's closure including site visits and traverse of the A7 route via Mosspaul summit
• purchase of digital copies of the 1857 deposition of the Caledonian Railway's plans (including sections and elevations), from the Cumbrian Archive Service, totalling 22 plans, these landed today

Given this last development (I discovered by chance that the actual plans were available a few weeks ago), I am now in the curious position of comparing my layman's surveying skills to the conclusions of the mighty Caley, and seeing which, if any, of my conclusions and assumptions were solid!