Bermuda Railway

[rue_d_etropal]

Just been asked about railway on Bermuda. It only ran from 1931 to 1948, possibly why I had not heard of it. Quite a few photos online, but interested in finding drawings of the locos, railcars and coaches/stock.

https://www.bermudarailway.net/then/history/history.html

 

Also found that the Astor estate had a narrow/minimum gauge railway(for fun). I think gauge is less than 2ft, possibly 15in.

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_0002ca.htm

 

[009 micro modeller]

Also found that the Astor estate had a narrow/minimum gauge railway(for fun). I think gauge is less than 2ft, possibly 15in.

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_0002ca.htm

I think I read somewhere that it was 2ft.

[rue_d_etropal]

looks narrower than that, and certainly ran a miniature loco(US style Baldwin).

[brianusa]

When we went there, there wasn't a lot to be seen.  Short lived but as cars were prohibited in those days, it made sense; only small ones allowed even, these days.  I did bring back a tee shirt emblazoned with the BR logo though!  A more interesting aspect of Bermuda is the Dockyard, which is similar to H.M Dockyards everywhere; just odd to find it in such a lovely locale

 

Brian.

[PhilJ W]

There is a book about it >> The Bermuda Railway, Gone but not Forgotten! by Colin A. Pomeroy ISBN0952129809. I have a copy of my own and there is one currently available from Amazon.

[PhilJ W]

Just been asked about railway on Bermuda. It only ran from 1931 to 1948, possibly why I had not heard of it. Quite a few photos online, but interested in finding drawings of the locos, railcars and coaches/stock.

https://www.bermudarailway.net/then/history/history.html

 

Also found that the Astor estate had a narrow/minimum gauge railway(for fun). I think gauge is less than 2ft, possibly 15in.

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_0002ca.htm

The Astor estate line was 18" gauge according to some publications (including the Pomeroy book mentioned above). It had but three items of rolling stock, the steam locomotive, a miniature replica of a B&O 'Mainliner' 2-6-0, a 'utility', a boxy battery electric that seated six persons and a replica American box car for carrying visitors baggage.

The Pomeroy book gives some of the basic measurements of the stock and this combined with the side view photographs it should be possible to create some workable drawings.

[009 micro modeller]

When we went there, there wasn't a lot to be seen. Short lived but as cars were prohibited in those days, it made sense; only small ones allowed even, these days. I did bring back a tee shirt emblazoned with the BR logo though! A more interesting aspect of Bermuda is the Dockyard, which is similar to H.M Dockyards everywhere; just odd to find it in such a lovely locale

 

Brian.

Was there ever a dockyard railway, like those in Gibraltar and Singapore?

[rue_d_etropal]

There is a book about it >> The Bermuda Railway, Gone but not Forgotten! by Colin A. Pomeroy ISBN0952129809. I have a copy of my own and there is one currently available from Amazon.

I have only seen it available from USA, but would only be interested if there are drawings. Many of the photos are online(some are good side views). Even found an article in a Canadien journal from 1963 onlne, which has some measurements. Original stock was built by Drewry with Cravens bodies. I have the Drewy book, so might be able to get chassis dimensions9wheebase and diameter)

There is a new book due out next year, from the Bermuda museum, so I think the possible interest in models(3D printed?)comes partly because of their interest.

[PhilJ W]

I had a 00 scale card 'kit' prepared of the 100/101 motor vans. They are a bit crude and/or basic but the proportions are OK. I will try to dig them out if you are interested.

[rue_d_etropal]

OK thanks.

[JeremyC]

This postcard shows one of the Drewry petrol railcars on the Bermuda Railway.

The liner is either the 'Queen of Bermuda' or the 'Monarch of Bermuda'; my grandfather served as second engineer then chief engineer on these ships.

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by JeremyC

[PhilJ W]

OK thanks.

Simon, I've PM'd you.

[ianmianmianm]

Greetings all. I'm currently on a contract in Bermuda for a couple of years.

 

I'm modeling but not the Bermuda Railway (bet I'll get round to that but only after I leave in all likelihood). Currently modeling Portuguese where I lived for 2 years if you see my point.

 

I am in contact with Simon on this one. If anyone is interested in modeling or already doing so and needs a local source of help, PM me by all means. There's lots of modeling potential including the main line running through inset track in the high street. And all our houses are rendered with white roofs and pastel coloured, so you won't even need to scribe your scratchbuilds! I too would be interested in seeing the card kit and I suspect our local (non-railway) model shop would sell them locally for you if you wanted.

 

Many thanks

Ian M

[ianmianmianm]

Just been asked about railway on Bermuda. It only ran from 1931 to 1948, possibly why I had not heard of it. Quite a few photos online, but interested in finding drawings of the locos, railcars and coaches/stock.

https://www.bermudarailway.net/then/history/history.html

 

Also found that the Astor estate had a narrow/minimum gauge railway(for fun). I think gauge is less than 2ft, possibly 15in.

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_0002ca.htm

 

Simon, does this mean you've bitten the bait?!

If you are serious I will see if I can get copies from the national archive or ministry - they must be there somewhere.

Edited December 22, 2018 by ianmianmianm

[PhilJ W]

The card kit was a one-off produced many years ago before 3D printing was advanced to the level it has reached today. Only three were produced and two of those had serious errors and the third will need some modification to produce an accurate model.

[rue_d_etropal]

Simon, does this mean you've bitten the bait?!

If you are serious I will see if I can get copies from the national archive or ministry - they must be there somewhere.

Ian, I am always interested, and the style of the locos/railcars and coaches fits in very well with my other interests. Finding good drawings is essential, I think it was Cravens who built bodywork, on Drewry chassis. Drewry records are held in Stafford, but would only be of limited use. Not sure about Cravens.

[ianmianmianm]

Ian, I am always interested, and the style of the locos/railcars and coaches fits in very well with my other interests. Finding good drawings is essential, I think it was Cravens who built bodywork, on Drewry chassis. Drewry records are held in Stafford, but would only be of limited use. Not sure about Cravens.

 

I'll dig a bit at this end. The railway was effectively absorbed into the bus company and I wonder what drawings they still have her - I wonder if they obtained the drawings or specs, and since they sold the trains on to Guyana, whether there were drawings retrieved her, or even new ones made, to do the sale. If you want to get hold a copy of Colin's book, let me know, I can pick one up for you and post it either from here or from the UK in early March. Ta4now

[ianmianmianm]

Me again - there appears to be a space of around 70cm x 20cm x 20cm in the packing case that will be used to transport my Portuguese layout home in a year or two. So I think I might be up for the challenge for something small if you could produce a motor car and trailer or so.....!

 

In 4mm ..... would be ideal in terms of trying to find road vehicles of the right period.

 

Not to mention with a bit of sanding and re-scribing of roofs, and chimney amputation, this https://www.walthers.com/mission-style-bungalow-house-kit-4-15-16-x-5-9-16-x-2-13-16-quot-12-5-x-14-1-x-7-1cm and this https://www.Dapol.co.uk/c021-detached-bungalow-554 would do me nicely along with a scratchbuilt halt and lots of trees. Aiming for a very run down end of the war era.

 

My job here involves driving every day so what an awesome souvenir of my time here this could be!

[rue_d_etropal]

Hi Ian, I have a copy of the book on its way, having found a copy at a reasonable price.

I try to do my designs in scales from N up to G1, includng HO, my preferred scale to British items at the moment. If you plan to use Walthers building kits they are HO so might be worth considering HO. Also there is a pretty good range of typical horse drawn vehicles in HO.

It is a pity Drewry did not build the complete trains, as their drawings are held by Stafford museum. As the dies wee built elaewhere there may be drawings , but not sure where.I will have a search.The shuntinf loco, a Planet(but might actually be a Hibbard), I might be ble to finf a drawing, as at least one is preserved in the UK.

[PhilJ W]

Hi Ian, I have a copy of the book on its way, having found a copy at a reasonable price.

I try to do my designs in scales from N up to G1, includng HO, my preferred scale to British items at the moment. If you plan to use Walthers building kits they are HO so might be worth considering HO. Also there is a pretty good range of typical horse drawn vehicles in HO.

It is a pity Drewry did not build the complete trains, as their drawings are held by Stafford museum. As the dies wee built elaewhere there may be drawings , but not sure where.I will have a search.The shuntinf loco, a Planet(but might actually be a Hibbard), I might be ble to finf a drawing, as at least one is preserved in the UK.

I could not locate any drawings, the card kit I had made was designed using the full side photographs on the website and a few published basic dimensions, principally those in Colin Pomeroy's book. I have the IRS book on Drewry-Baugley but the information in there is somewhat scant. I am sending you the card kit today as promised, it is as accurate as we could make it the only error was in the colours, the livery should be bright yellow and the roof should be white. Incidently the maker of the kit included the exhausts but because the roof was finished in dark grey it was not very noticeable.

[rue_d_etropal]

Thanks.

The photos are surprisingly good. Rare to find so many that are flat on , side or end.

I am not sure if there are any records from English Electric remaining, but for me they were only just down the road at Preston, and it is 100 years since EE was created so there might be some local interest. Imight be able to stir up some local interest, especially as a couple of the freight railcar bodies still appear to exist in Guyana, and they were hoping to get the back to Bermuda.

It is a pity the drewry book is not full of drawings, but even having basic dimensons such as wheel diameter and wheebase can be useful.

In this case it is more complicated with drewery suppliying chassis, Cravens the bodies and English Electric putting them together. That might hopefully mean there is more documentation .

[PhilJ W]

Colin Pomeroy gives enough measurements to go by, for example the twin engined motor luggage vans (100/101) had a bogie wheelbase of 7 feet on bogie centres of 19' 6" and the width of the passenger cars is given as 9 feet and as the photographs show uniform trains it can be safely assumed that all the stock was the same width.

[EddieB]

It is a pity the drewry book is not full of drawings, but even having basic dimensons such as wheel diameter and wheebase can be useful.

In this case it is more complicated with drewery suppliying chassis, Cravens the bodies and English Electric putting them together. That might hopefully mean there is more documentation .

The IRS book notes that almost all drawings (tracings) for that period were destroyed in 1965.  Some material, which includes photographs and drawing registers, is available to be viewed by appointment at the Lichfield

Record Office.

 

It is interesting tht the railcars ran trials on the LMS Longridge branch before shipment.  I wonder whether there are surviving photographic records of them from that deployment?

[rue_d_etropal]

Colin Pomeroy gives enough measurements to go by, for example the twin engined motor luggage vans (100/101) had a bogie wheelbase of 7 feet on bogie centres of 19' 6" and the width of the passenger cars is given as 9 feet and as the photographs show uniform trains it can be safely assumed that all the stock was the same width.

Phil,

your card prints arrived OK, thanks. Really makes you realuse how small they were. Height of body seems too high, as it includes chassis,The side view photos , I presume taken at Preston,are very useful(I should be able to work out missing details), and I printed off photo of railcar and pullman coach( at Preston?). They are definitely taller than the freight locos, but would be same width. Roof shape of loco is very similar to British coach profile. The roof for railcar and coach looks very simlar to those found on Mersey Railway and Southport line(local influence?).

Although Drewry were involved I think they were all more English Electric. Cetainly documentation seems to suggest that. The EE records went to GEC, then NRM, so probably no drawings, as none have been found  I wonder if they went to Bermuda.

With respect to tests on Longridge line, this is probably a good time to find something  as it is centenary of creation of EE, and I am sure there will be more effort put into locating anything to do with EE locally.

[PhilJ W]

There were some colour photographs taken by a Japanese tourist c. 1938 I found them quite by accident on the internet but I now cannot locate them. The passenger cars were longer than the locomotives, the length is quoted by Colin Pomeroy in his book. Despite their size they must have looked quite impressive when moving especially in the earlier bright yellow livery and their red painted connecting rods. The yellow livery though didn't wear to well and was replaced with crimson lake. Someone mentioned the possibility of one of the luggage vans surviving in Guyana, I very much doubt that there would be much left as the Guyana rolling stock was abandoned to the jungle over 60 years ago.