Ffarquhar - North Western Region of British Railways

[Tom F]

5 hours ago, Aire Head said:

 

Do you have a track plan for the model. I'd be interested to see your interpretation of the Station 

 

This a plan I drew up from about a year ago.

 

[Tom F]

4 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Very fetching shade of pink, that wagon behind Mavis.

 

Yes, I'll stick to red!
The Rev cut and shut an existing peco wagon transfer I believe (B Q C becoming F Q C). Granaphast was cut to become 'Anopha' the name of the quarry.
 

[Tom F]

Going to do some painting work on the 3 plank (primarily the black iron work).

 

Merry Christmas from the North Western Region of British Railways, December 1959.

 

 

 

[Bucoops]

Merry Christmas, Tom

[PaulRhB]

This may be of interest to followers of this thread. The Narrow Gauge Rly Museum posted this video of operating the original layout as a Christmas special. Enjoy

 

 

[andyram]

I have just found this thread. Love the quality of modelling and the way you have depicted some of the scenes from the books.

[Tortuga]

On 20/12/2020 at 19:23, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Folks,

 

Perhaps these maps may help in ascertaining the type of stone quarried on an imaginary island in the Irish Sea!!!:

 

http://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/images/5/55/P916042.jpg

 

https://cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/538/755/1929/17716/17717/42117103947.PDF

 

It would seem having had a look the maps West Cumbria is either mudstone, millstone grit, sandstone with coal mixed in, and eastern Isle of Man is also mudstones and sandstones. 

 

I'm sure a geologist will turn up and put us all straight !

 

Gibbo.

Geologist here. Apologies for taking some time to respond; I’ve been following the discussion on stone and wagons with interest for a while and I’m going to put in my tupence-worth.

 

Lets assume Sodor has similar geology to the actual geology either side of it - predominantly mudstone and sandstone as previously mentioned - so the stone quarried could be either of those; most probably sandstone as mudstone isn’t the best building stone.

 

However, we know from the books that both slate and china clay are also produced on Sodor. Now “slate” is a term used to refer to stone roofing material as well as a definitive rock type, so “Sodor Slate” could be a name for the mudstones quarried for roofing material rather than actual slate.  China clay (or Kaolinite) on the other hand is a product of weathered granite (hence its predominance in Cornwall), therefore there must be granite outcropping somewhere on Sodor.

 

I’m going to suggest that in addition to sandstones and mudstones, Sodor’s geology also includes a granite intrusion, which is the source of the stone from the quarry on the Farquhar branch (and possibly the small engines branch) as well as the source of the china clay. The Isle of Man has an outcrop of granite (seen on the geological map in the link quoted) that could be part of the same intrusion.

[RJS1977]

There were lead mines up the Arlesdale valley as well.

 

I have a recollection of there being an ironworks somewhere in the middle of the island (I think referred to in "Sodor: Reading Between The Lines" by Christopher Awdry).

 

I dare say "The Island of Sodor: Its People History and Railways" has more about the geology of Sodor, unfortunately as it's an extremely rare book and commands a high price, I've never had chance to read it!

 

[Corbs]

2 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

There were lead mines up the Arlesdale valley as well.

 

I have a recollection of there being an ironworks somewhere in the middle of the island (I think referred to in "Sodor: Reading Between The Lines" by Christopher Awdry).

 

I dare say "The Island of Sodor: Its People History and Railways" has more about the geology of Sodor, unfortunately as it's an extremely rare book and commands a high price, I've never had chance to read it!

 

I'll send you a PDF copy if you message me your email address

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Corbs

[RJS1977]

3 minutes ago, Corbs said:

I'll send you a PDF copy if you message me your email address

 

 

Thanks for the offer, but Kumata has already beaten you to it!

[Tortuga]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

There were lead mines up the Arlesdale valley as well.

 

I have a recollection of there being an ironworks somewhere in the middle of the island

I’d say the presence of lead could be taken as further proof of an intrusion of granite

 

This has got me thinking now: I’m going to stick my neck out and say that Sodor’s geology would probably be predominantly Ordovician mudstones and sandstones (bear with me!), which, being weakly metamorphosed due to their great age, would account for the slate traffic from the Skarloey Railway.  A granite intrusion underlying the western half of the island gives us the building stone quarry at Ffarquhar, the ballast quarry and lead mines in the Arlesdale Valley and the china clay from the Brendam branch.

 

I’m not sure how the iron works would fit in. Although the Triassic sandstones that make up the west coast of Cumbria (and I propose, also the east coast of Sodor) are iron rich (iron oxide holds the grains together giving the orange/red colouration), they are not a source of iron ore.

 

Bringing this back to railway traffic, I’d say the waste from Ffarquhar quarry would be suitable as railway ballast or roadstone. Wagons for roadstone would probably be pooled 13t ex-private owners without end doors, while I imagine ballast would be carried in catfish/dogfish/<suitably-aquatic-named-ballast-wagons>. For the rough stone to be shaped and the finished building stone, I’d say the private owner liveried 3-plank wagons with black number patches is the way forward - technically they’d be pooled after 1948 (as the BQC ones were), so would be renumbered, gain a black patch and (possibly) be repainted - but the Ffarquhar Quarry Company is based in the NW Region of BR, a region notorious for following its own rules!

 

I imagine renumbering/repainting of the wagons of the former FQC is on the “to do list” of Sodor’s Wagon Works, but surely only when they come in for repair? Obviously the “Return Empty to Ffarquhar Quarry, Isle of Sodor” branding prevents them from straying into other wagon repair depots where the edicts of ‘The Other Railway’ are more closely adhered to!

[RJS1977]

To correct myself. it was an aluminium works rather than an iron works.

[Tortuga]

16 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

To correct myself. it was an aluminium works rather than an iron works.

In that case, I’d say the aluminium ore (bauxite) would be one of Sodor’s imports; most likely unloaded at Tidmouth Docks from a vessel fresh from Australia then moved by rail to the works.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Tortuga
Poor grammar

[Aire Head]

7 hours ago, Tortuga said:

In that case, I’d say the aluminium ore (bauxite) would be one of Sodor’s imports; most likely unloaded at Tidmouth Docks from a vessel fresh from Australia then moved by rail to the works.

 

Either that or its brought up from the likes of Liverpool.

[Fair Oak Junction]

I know it's been a while since this thread was posted on, but I was wondering what kits did you use for Terrance and Trevor? Thanks.