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Abandoned rails in the road.....(or elsewhere...)


33C
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3 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Many MDHB locos had a sort of inverted chip basket spark arrester over the chimney, this one has a tarpaulin cover fixed over it, presumably the loco was out of use at the time - it's outside Princes Dock shed.

 

Some kind of temporary spark arrester was one of the things I thought it might be, but I'd have thought that a tarp would affect the draw of the fire quite severely*, even for short periods, which is why I guessed that the loco might have been out of use at the time the photo was taken and the tarp might have been for weather protection.

 

* Based on personal experience with a jackdaw nest in our chimney!

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5 hours ago, bécasse said:

whose principle purpose was to prevent sparks setting fire to the decking of the Liverpool Overhead Railway whose viaducts often ran over the top of dock lines. The locally-based L&Y Pugs had a circular metal plate on a "stick" which could be swung over their funnels and which served the same purpose.

No, all the locos, MDHB and L&Y, had the circular plate while the Overhead (which ran almost all the way along the MDHB running lines) was there, it was to deflect the exhaust blast from under the deck plates, nothing to do with sparks. It would have been rather difficult to set the steel structure of the LOR on fire. The "chip basket" was a spark arrester, fitted for working around warehouses with flammable goods.

The tarp would have been for a loco out of use to keep the rain out and stop birds nesting in there, it just looks a bit odd in the photo because of what's underneath it. You would have to take it off to light the fire again.

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Wells Harbour branch yesterday 

I think it officially closed in the mid 50s but didn't see much use after the 30s. I'm not sure if it was actually tarmacced at this point when the line was open and may have been done over the rails after closure 

20210924_123053.jpg

20210924_123116.jpg

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29 minutes ago, 33C said:

Whatever it is, a good spot!

 

I was trying to compare it with the aerial view but still couldn’t work out if it was a turntable or a building. I think that a building would usually be shaded on the map though.

 

Also, any idea of gauge? It looks quite wide.

Edited by 009 micro modeller
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Took a walk around to the erstwhile Andrew Barclay Caledonia Works this morning. The mixed gauge lines still run across the road into the old works, now luxury flats, and a wee Barclay pug is in the foyer. One of the works hoists is still in the “yard” too. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another stretching of this topic.

 

Today, a planned trip was aborted, thanks to a cancellation en route.  Instead, in a limited time I explored areas of Plymouth I'd not visited before.  I realise now there is much more to see if time had permitted further detours.

 

I walked as far as Turnchapel and Mount Batten, part of the way using a footpath on the alignment of the Turnchapel branch.  It felt like a scaled-down version of the Weymouth-Portland railway path, and unfortunately the Turnchapel route lacks interpretation boards.  At one place, the track path is crossed by a local footpath which runs for quite a distance around the area and its waters' edges and is marked by several purpose-made signposts.  One of these is the excuse for posting in this thread. 

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The signposts use worn bullhead rail, well cleaned and with the path name cut crisply in the web.  

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I didn't spot any remaining railway features in the pathway, though beyond its end there are the substantial remains of the rail bridge leading to Turnchapel station.  Alas, I'd not done any preliminary research, but I did recall some of the content of the excellent thread to do with the area: 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/118820-turnchapel-branch/&tab=comments#comment-2574051

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  • 4 weeks later...

Rua Reidh Lighthouse, Gairloch, Scotland. Narrow gauge railway incline from the quay...with sturdy buffer stops. The rails were secured to the occasional wooden cross sleeper and then concreted up to the underside of the rail...which is why you can still make out the ghost shadows of the rails.1464239964_7803178C-FFD5-4EA8-A425-12608015A075(1).jpeg.1b26fa1a35018e3718e755e298b76b35.jpeg

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On 14/11/2021 at 08:11, Axlebox said:

Rua Reidh Lighthouse, Gairloch, Scotland. Narrow gauge railway incline from the quay...with sturdy buffer stops. The rails were secured to the occasional wooden cross sleeper and then concreted up to the underside of the rail...which is why you can still make out the ghost shadows of the rails.1464239964_7803178C-FFD5-4EA8-A425-12608015A075(1).jpeg.1b26fa1a35018e3718e755e298b76b35.jpeg

...the view from the top (from 'Sheila' on Flickr)

Former jetty and railway at Rua Reidh lighthouse

...and the broken haulage 'engine'... (from 'Sheila' on Flickr)

Railway winch at Rua Reidh lighthouse

 

Edited by Axlebox
pics credited
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48 minutes ago, Ramblin Rich said:

That's amazing considering it's pretty much 60 years since the line closed. It looks like you could just brush out the flange ways and run trains again!

I kick myself for living in the area for so long and never photographing this.  There can't be too many many buried double slips in the UK?

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Strand Road Preston Lancashire where 

English Electric Deltic prototype rolled out on these metals. 
 

989CC38D-2226-41CB-B644-D376D520E00E.jpeg.38b906dd2f927b76143b8ea47779a5d8.jpeg
 

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Ironic that the long gone sadly missed retail shop Transport Models was in this alleyway until it’s demise. 

 

Edited by Crisis Rail
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  • 3 weeks later...

The Woolwich and South East London horse tramway at Plumstead was narrow gauge, 3'-6", because of the narrowness of some of the streets it traversed and ran through Woolwich to the LCC Tramways terminus in East Greenwich. It was purchased by the LCC in the Edwardian era, converted to standard gauge and electrified and then formed part of the last (old) route to be operated by tram in 1952. My grandfather drove horse-trams on the route which was also one of the last horse-tram routes in south London.

Edited by bécasse
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  • 2 weeks later...

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