Seaside & Holiday Island Narrow Gauge

[whart57]

The thing that shocked us was how well the little Hornby shunter shuttled up and down the flooded track. We had planned to insulate with paint and glue all but the top surface of the rail so that just being wet wouldn't overload the controller, but it wasn't necessary. With that loco still running while pushing a bow wave in front of it we were confident the electrics were OK.

 

For those who are cynical about how real "reality TV" is, I can only say that on this occasion when the cameras were running it was the first time we tried it. The producers wouldn't let us do a sneaky test off-camera and had a runner watching us to make sure that we didn't.

[laurenceb]

A good way of cleaning a motor is to immerse it in distilled watwe

[Tim Hall]

4 hours ago, 6990WitherslackHall said:

I don't know if this railway has already been mentioned, But another one is the Hayling Seaside Railway. Its gauge is 2 ft (610 mm) and operates passenger trains between Beachlands and Eastoke Corner. Although it is mainly a diesel operated railway, the railway sometimes hires steam locomotives from other railways.

 

Work started in October 2001 on the building of Beachlands Station on land leased from the nearby amusement park. Work continued through 2002 and the line finally opened to passengers on 5 July 2003.

 

The line currently has four locos and as previously mentioned, they are all diesels.

 

Motor Rail 14wDH No. 1  Alan B Built in 1937

Alan Keef 0-4-0DH No. 3 Jack Built in 1988

Ruston & Hornsby 4wDM No. 4 Alistair Built in 1940

Ruston & Hornsby 4wDMAn No. 5 Edwin Built in 1967 

 

They also have four coaches and a few wagons. 

 

 

0-4-0DH Jack built by Alan Keef

 

 

All four locomotives (left to right): No. 1 Alan B, No. 5 Edwin, No. 4 Alistair and No. 3 Jack. 

 

 

 

In September 2019, the owners put the business up for sale by lease or outright purchase in regard to their wishes to retire and travel.

Yes, I posted my little film from 2018 on page 6 on this thread.

[whart57]

Apparently I was wrong about railways on the Dutch Frisian islands (which they call the Waddeneilanden). This line was in existence on Terschelling around 1910 as part of the construction works for the Badweg, a road cut through the dunes to link the beach with the main settlements.

 

 

No locomotives, just muscle power.

 

The Germans also built a line on Terschelling during their occupation of the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945. Very little is known about it but this photograph showing the German occupation forces leaving the island after the German surrender shows a nice pile of Feldbahn rail sections on the quayside.

 

 

Part of the line remained in use until 1946 or 47 to carry materials to a building site a few hundred yards from the harbour. It was nicknamed De Duw (The Push) which strongly suggests that any locomotives used on Terschelling left with the Germans.

[Pacific231G]

On 07/03/2021 at 17:07, Nearholmer said:

Just struck me that these are actually a form of U-bahn, as in unterseebahn.

Possibly more S-Bahn (Seebahn) 

[Pacific231G]

On 08/03/2021 at 09:52, 6990WitherslackHall said:

 

How they managed that without frying the locomotives just shocked me.

I've seen it done on several layouts. Stuart Robinson had one he used to exhibit regularly and he just used ordinary tap water up to well above rail height.  Ordinary tap water has sufficiently higher resistance than the motor for it to work. 

[009 micro modeller]

34 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I've seen it done on several layouts. Stuart Robinson had one he used to exhibit regularly and he just used ordinary tap water up to well above rail height.  Ordinary tap water has sufficiently higher resistance than the motor for it to work. 

 

See also this one, with distilled water: https://lone.net/trains/carendt.morphoist.com/scrapbook/page60a/index.html

[Northroader]

One place that might qualify, as an island system, rather than a seaside railway, is Bornholm, a Danish Island to the east of the rest of Denmark, below Sweden, in the Baltic Sea. I tend to relate islands to the Isle of Wight for comparison, which might give an idea:

                                                     Bornholm.                 Isle of Wight.

area.                                          227 sq.miles.             148 sq. miles

population.                              39,439.                        141,538

highest point.                           531’ asl.                      791’ asl.

its more granite than chalk, but the islands were alike in that both were originally served by three different  railway companies, in Bornholms case they merged into one private company, and all were metre gauge. Originally steam worked, then diesel, locos and railcars, but I’m afraid as an isolated rural system it folded when the economics of competing road traffic set in. Now there’s just a museum left, here’s an idea of some of their stock to give a flavour,

 

This link will give full words and music, it’s in Danish, but well illustrated, so you should cotton on. In the opening you’ll find links to the original company lines:

http://evp.dk/index.php?page=de-bornholmske-jernbaner---dbj

[Nearholmer]

I'm pretty sure that was outside the remit of the thread, but what a fascinating diversion.

 

Some really interesting station architecture, I particularly like the ones that seemed to be Viking cricket pavilions, and now I want to add a suitably ornate-ended beam to the apex of the garden shed.

 

Start an "island railways" thread, IoM, IoW, Sodor, Majorca, that sort of thing? Bornholm does seem very Sodoresque.

[009 micro modeller]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Start an "island railways" thread, IoM, IoW, Sodor, Majorca, that sort of thing? Bornholm does seem very Sodoresque.

 

Steep Holm as well? This is in the Bristol Channel and had some interesting railways on it.

http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/holm.htm

Edited March 11, 2021 by 009 micro modeller

[Northroader]

Your thread, Kevin, I reckon keep to one glorious “seaside and islands narrow gauge” thread rather than worry about big or small, mixing happy memories, wanderlust, history, juicy prototypes, and having your bare toes in warm sand.

[Northroader]

Oohh, ta, that was quick! You won’t regret it, guv’nor, grovel, grovel.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Northroader

[Pacific231G]

I earlier offered a couple of photos of the Cap Ferret tramway but forgot some much shorter railways on the Cap, Not totally different from the fishermen's railways of Dungeness but in a far sunnier spot.

Most of them ran from the oyster fishers' houses down to their oyster beds which are uncovered at low tide. Nowadays they are worked using tractors but, when I took these picturses in 2013, they didn't look to have been out of use for all that long. Usually, a single flat wagon was lowered and raised by a small winch at the top of the completely straight railway line. 

 

 

I did though see the remains of at least one rather longer line, maybe 100-150m that had run across the road to a larger oyster production facility. I assume that the wagons were winched up from the oyster beds then hand propelled to the packing works.

These were in one of the traditional oyster fishing villages a little to the north of Belisaire - the bassin terminus of the TFCF. They're on the opposite side of the Cap from the Atlantic beaches but on the Baie d'Arcachon so still arguably seaside.

[Johann Marsbar]

This doesn't really fit this thread, as it isn't "seaside" but it is in a Tourist area - the Tigre River Delta, and it is an interesting bit of trackwork.....

 

 

 

[Pacific231G]

16 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

This doesn't really fit this thread, as it isn't "seaside" but it is in a Tourist area - the Tigre River Delta, and it is an interesting bit of trackwork.....

 

 

 

Hi Johann

It's a fascinating bit of trackwork and there are boats. What more do you know about it? is it by any chance a portage railway for carrying boats past  a weir or up to a boathouse?  I looked at your Flickr collection but couldn't find it.

 

[009 micro modeller]

20 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

This doesn't really fit this thread, as it isn't "seaside" but it is in a Tourist area - the Tigre River Delta, and it is an interesting bit of trackwork.....

 

 

 

 

What’s it for?

[Johann Marsbar]

17 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

Hi Johann

It's a fascinating bit of trackwork and there are boats. What more do you know about it? is it by any chance a portage railway for carrying boats past  a weir or up to a boathouse?  I looked at your Flickr collection but couldn't find it.

 

 

Assuming this google streetview thing works...

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@-34.4206903,-58.5787103,3a,75y,9.03h,65.61t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNLhjd4WgUVvejg3MHK2J5w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

It seems to be used for transporting boats belonging to the Buenos Aires Rowing Club between some large boat storage sheds behind their HQ down to the river.

Double track crossing of the roadway as well.  Seems rather involved with all that pointwork compared with a straight run between the sheds and the river.

I'm guessing the boats have their own allocated trolley/cradle and are kept in the boat sheds on that trolley rather than being removed inside those sheds, which could explain the complexity of the trackwork.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Johann Marsbar

[Pacific231G]

40 minutes ago, 009 micro modeller said:

 

What’s it for?

I found a few more images of the Buenos Aires Rowing Club and it does appears to run right through their HQ, which is set back from the river, and right into their boathouse. It was obviously used to move their boats (on trolleys) quickly and efficently to the river and the complex point work would be toget a good flow of boats to the water at the start of each day. I wonder if it's still used ?

From an interior view of the boathouse it looks as though the rowing boats ate kept on racks so, if you were moving a  lot of them out for an event, you'd want to get the empty trollies back as quickly as possible hence, presumably, the double 

It's hard to be sure but the rails don't appear to go all the way down the wide slipway into the water. The boats are light enough to be manhandled but it would be a long carry from the boathouse. 

As usual at level crossings, Street View manages to have images from each side but not one centred on the track.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Pacific231G

[Johann Marsbar]

11 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I found a few more images of the Buenos Aires Rowing Club and it does appears to run right through their HQ, which is set back from the river, and right into their boathouse. It was obviously used to move their boats (on trolleys) quickly and efficently to the river and the complex point work would be toget a good flow of boats to the water at the start of each day. I wonder if it's still used ?

From an interior view of the boathouse it looks as though the rowing boats ate kept on racks so, if you were moving a  lot of them out for an event, you'd want to get the empty trollies back as quickly as possible hence, presumably, the double 

It's hard to be sure but the rails don't appear to go down the wide slipway into the water. The boats are light enough to be manhandled but it would be a long carry from the boathouse. 

As usual at level crossings, Street View manages to have images from each side but not one centred on the track.

 

I took my photo in late 2007 as I found the tracks whilst walking between the two rail stations in Tigre and there was no sign of any activity at the Rowing Club that particular day.  My guess, as it still looks complete on the GE shots is that it is still used whenever the Club has activities in progress there.

[Nearholmer]

What a brilliant find!

[Pacific231G]

On 12/03/2021 at 18:39, Johann Marsbar said:

 

I took my photo in late 2007 as I found the tracks whilst walking between the two rail stations in Tigre and there was no sign of any activity at the Rowing Club that particular day.  My guess, as it still looks complete on the GE shots is that it is still used whenever the Club has activities in progress there.

Hi Johann

I found a few more images of it and it clearly is still in use. One image from Flickr showed seven rowing boats on trolleys each consisting of  two very small wheeled bogies joined by a rod each with a transverse timber to support one end of the boat. They look to be carrying rather than launching trolleys.

 

I've drawn this with mainly Setrack so this is schematic and not to scale in terms of proportion but the overall length is about right as is the arrangement of left and right hand points and the three way points that access the lines into each of five doors into the boathouse which is about the same distance from the road (General Bartolome Mitre) as the slipway/launching ramp.  The point doubling the track and the first three way are back to back. I found two Creative Commons images of the railway on Wiki.

 

On the river side of the road there is a slight clockwise turn (Correction- I now think the right hand track in the image below is actually more or less dead straight from the central boathouse "siding" to the launching ramp. The curvature of the other line that widens its separation from what I suspect to be the original single line between the level crossing and the ramp end pointwork is far gentler than my mostly Setrack schematic)  and I think the points at the top left of my plan are closer to the top of the launching ramp than I've drawn them

 

The boathouse doors are also further apart than I've drawn the fan of sidings at that end with room for boat storage racks (three or four high)  between the railway lines. I'm not sure what gauge it is, it looks too narrow to be 60cm so I'd hazard a guess at 40cms (16 inch more or less) which was Decauville's narrowest gauge for hand pushed railways though, being an originally British initiated club it may be Hudson.

 

Essentially, the trackplan is equivalent to a three platform double track terminus (so operationally Minories) with a five road fiddle yard. It also looks like it may have been designed for left hand running.

 

Operationally, it looks like rowing boats are lifted onto small four wheel trolleys from the racks in the boathouse and pushed along the line to one of the three track that go varying distances down the slipway with one going right down into the river and a fourth - not connected to the others- that does the same which is probably probably for larger boats (the officials' motor boat for races probably) and that track does seem to be equipped with a winch. 

https://www.alamy.com/buenos-aires-rowing-club-tigre-buenos-aires-argentina-image211927490.html

On the two lines that only go part wat down the ramp, I think I can make out wheel stops that prevent the trolley from descending too far and the boats can then be lifted off and launched into the river. The trolley can then be returned on the other "mainline" track to pick up another rowing boat from the boathouse. The only bottleneck is the singling before the first three way point but curiously I've just been looking at one of CJF's plans and he suggests that as the easiest way to connect a double track line to a fiddle yard siding fan. (There'a prototype for everything! ) 

 

An early photo shows the original boathouse with just three tracks (and three doors) fed from a three way point but with a single track across the road. I couldn't make out how deep the boathouse is but it looks from the roofs on Google Earth to be about  fifteen metres.  The cobbles on the "level crossing" that can be seen in Street View suggest that this railway is quite old, but light rowing boats on trolleys would probably need geological time to wear out the track (rust could be a different matter) 

 

The whole thing looks like one of those "limited only by your imagination" drawings in early Decauvile catalogues. 

Intriguingly I did find images of two other rowing clubs in Tigre with boat carrying railways- the Beneficio Rowing Club Argentino

https://www.casi.com.ar/beneficio/beneficio-rowing-club-argentino

and the The Italian Rowing Club. The latter's railway has an even  more complex arrangement of track at the boathouse end than the BA Rowing club .

https://www.alamy.com/italian-rowing-club-tigre-la-plata-delta-buenos-aires-argentina-latin-america-image342087223.html

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by Pacific231G
correction from closer study of more photos

[Ben B]

Not sure you can classify it as a railway as such (according to descriptions, it only ever carried passengers in an unofficial capacity as dares!) but has anybody heard of the little tramway on St.Michael's Mount?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael's_Mount_Tramway

 

I read about it some years ago when I worked for the NT, it's a fascinating and practical solution to the need to drag goods up from the dock to the castle. 

 

Mentioned because the equivalent location on the other side of the English Channel, Mont Saint Michel, was served by a (rather more substantial, and very characterful) light railway once.  Having travelled on the electric buses over there from the carpark, over the causeway, to the island, it struck me it would have been nicer to travel by light railway

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Ben B said:

Not sure you can classify it as a railway as such (according to descriptions, it only ever carried passengers in an unofficial capacity as dares!) but has anybody heard of the little tramway on St.Michael's Mount?

Grabbed these off Google Earth:

 

 

 

[Pacific231G]

3 hours ago, Ben B said:

Not sure you can classify it as a railway as such (according to descriptions, it only ever carried passengers in an unofficial capacity as dares!) but has anybody heard of the little tramway on St.Michael's Mount?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael's_Mount_Tramway

 

I read about it some years ago when I worked for the NT, it's a fascinating and practical solution to the need to drag goods up from the dock to the castle. 

 

Mentioned because the equivalent location on the other side of the English Channel, Mont Saint Michel, was served by a (rather more substantial, and very characterful) light railway once.  Having travelled on the electric buses over there from the carpark, over the causeway, to the island, it struck me it would have been nicer to travel by light railway

No problem. If it involves flanged wheels running on rails it's a railway.

[Nearholmer]

St Michael's Mount? Half railway, half dumb-waiter. 

 

Mont St Michel? If ever a railway ought to be reinstated, that's one. There were some other very characterful little lines not far away too.

 

BTW, the latest edition of the NGRS journal seems to have caught the spirit of this thread, containing good articles about St Kitts and Majorca.