rogerfarnworth Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 My wife and I are on holiday on Orkney (April 2019). Naively we thought that this would be a holiday away from railways ..... No chance! http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/04/29/the-railways-of-orkney 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dana Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 thanks for the articles. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sulzer27jd Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 The length of track shown was laid in the early 90's (approx) by Scotrail PW staff. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamysandy Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 I've had a contact in Orkney for many years.When I was up there in 1979,I visited Lyness Quayside and saw the crane on the original track there along with two wagon chassis which were red with rust.This was before the museum was set up at Lyness Lying on the foreshore at Longhope was a 4wheel two foot gauge chassis and at Rhinnigill there was a ricketty pier with two foot gauge track on it.It was about that time that a standard gauge 0-4-0ST was returned to mainland Scotland after a spell up there I met Wilf Simms on a trip to Poland in 1992 and we discussed the Lyness set up as it was at that time I purchased a copy of Wilfs book at Lyness Museum in 1999.The Access road to the Linkspan was simply tarred over the original rails. Much of the site had been tidied up including removal of the oil tanks and I believe more has been done but due to circumstances,I haven't been able to return but I keep in touch with going on 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerfarnworth Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 So much for a holiday away from everything (including railways). ... Here is the second attempt to get railways out of the system for the holidays here on Orkney! http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/03/the-railways-of-orkney-part-2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamysandy Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 The broken steel pier with the railway track plated over was complete in 1979,hence my previous comment about not walking on it! The plan was to have an operating Passenger carrying line at Lyness but they hit a number of snags including I believe the cost of insurance. The Narrow Gauge rolling stock wasn't native to the lines- it was collected by Wilf Simms who had a house in Orkney.,from a variety of sources Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steamysandy Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 I've just received this morning an advance copy of a new book "The Great Scuttle : the end of the German High Seas Fleet" published by Amberley in which is a photo of an 0-4-0t steam loco at Lyness,originally published in Scapa and a Camera by Country Life in 1921. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerfarnworth Posted May 18, 2019 Author Share Posted May 18, 2019 This is, I think, likely to be my last post about the railways in Orkney. It has been prompted by finding a secondhand copy of Wilfred Simms book. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/05/18/the-railways-of-orkney-part-3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now